The Price of Freedom: The American Civil War 1861-1865

About this board game

The Price of Freedom: The American Civil War 1861-1865 is a two-player grand-strategic board game designed for campaigns lasting around 180 minutes. Its card-driven system combines historical flavor, simple rules, and meaningful decisions across the Eastern and Western theaters.

Each military piece represents a corps of 20,000–30,000 men, while armies are organized under historical commanders. Twenty-five leaders are available for theater or field command, each rated for offense, defense, and movement. Players maneuver across a point-to-point map to capture critical territory, defend important positions, and defeat opposing armies.

The game’s 55-card deck ensures that no campaign unfolds exactly like another. Every card can be played by either side, offering a choice between its operational value—used for movement, reorganizing, or reinforcing armies—or its historical event. These events can affect leadership, battle resolution, operational advantage, or major political, economic, and diplomatic developments.

• War Effort: An aggregate measure of economic, political, and diplomatic support that limits army size and hand size.
• Command decisions: Use colorful historical leaders, from Ben “Spoons” Butler to Robert E. Lee, to shape operations.
• Multiple paths to victory: Reduce the opposing War Effort, achieve a substantial troop advantage, or pursue the Confederate political and endurance objectives.

The Union seeks to break Confederate resistance, while the Confederacy can prevail by matching military pressure or holding on long enough to affect the 1864 election or prevent the historical Union outcome. With low counter density and a deliberately constrained force structure, The Price of Freedom offers a focused American Civil War experience suited to repeat play and tournaments.

The game includes a 25-by-19-inch cardstock map, 132 counters, a 55-card deck, two player-aid cards, a rules booklet, and two six-sided dice.