Amazon’s rush to eliminate any non-book products bearing the Confederate flag appears to have claimed several innocent victims: Historical board games allowing players to recreate historic Civil War battles.
The game, called Battle Cry, is published by Wizards of the Coast (also behind popular games like Magic: The Gathering) and was available on Amazon as recently as June 23, the day Amazon announced it would take down Confederate flag products for being offensive. Now, the game’s product page has disappeared entirely.
The likely reason for its disappearance? The game’s artwork contains several Confederate battle flags, as befits the fact the game is about the Civil War (several Union flags are visible as well). Supporting this possibility is the fact that a single copy of an older Battle Cry print run is still available; its artwork does feature any Confederate flags on its box art.
It’s difficult to argue that Battle Cry promotes hate in any way. The game simply allows two players to play 30 different scenarios based on major engagements of the Civil War. In that regard, it is little different from hundreds of other games recreating World War 2, the American Revolution, or even the ongoing war on terrorism.
Battle Cry isn’t the only game that’s disappeared. Also vanishing is The Guns of Gettysburg, a more detailed strategy game focused on the three-day Battle of Gettysburg. The game was also available just two days ago, and has now vanished. Also gone is a Civil War version of the classic strategy game Stratego.
Some other Civil War games, such as A House Divided and For the People, have survived for the time being.
Civil War-themed games have also been vanishing from the Apple’s app store, with one developer being told it was “because [the game] includes images of the confederate flag used in offensive and mean-spirited ways.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out Wizards of the Coast to see if it was aware of its game’s takedown, and has not yet received a reply.
6/26 Update: Amazon has restored Battle Cry’s listing, though The Guns of Gettysburg and Civil War Stratego remain unavailable.
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