Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey is a Naval Action/RPG game set in time of the American Civil War - the time of last pirate renaissance on the Caribbean. The Union fleet blockaded the Southern ports, rupturing all the trading connections of the Confederacy. In return, Confederate government started giving out the privateer patents, thus building a powerful fleet of commercial raiders, the best example of which was the legendary captain Raphael Semmes. Also, smuggling the goods through the blockade became very profitable, though risky, business and attracted numerous traders to attempts of running the blockade.

Abraham Gray, the main character, starts the game as a blockade-runner, but soon becomes involved into the story of mysterious blockade-runners cartel, military espionage and powerful ironclads, built in Liverpool for the Confederacy. Those ironclads alone could have changed the course of war and bring the victory to the Rebel states. Then Abraham can join either Confederacy as a raider, or a Union as a spy. Also, he can finish the game all by himself, associating neither with the Blue nor the Grey.