Rebel Raiders Replay  (Turn  5)

Designer Mark McLaughlin as CSA; Naval Historian Brandon Musler as USA

When we left off last time, the Union had gained its first big victories, taking the port of St. Augustine and the fort space at Island No. 10…

Turn 5 – August 1862…Blockade Runner Captains Rethinking Career Choices…

Six Blockade Runners are caught in the Union net! Four of them loaded!  The Francis Bonneau card   comes out again, giving the South a much needed free Blockade Runner.  Even with Bonneau, only 8 VP of cargo make it through.  A desperate attempt to clear out the Blockade Station at Norfolk in a one-on-one gunboat sortie fails, and the Blockade Runner in the port has to take its chances getting out – and is promptly intercepted by the Union.

At least now the growing fleet of Raiders is taking a toll – sweeping up 10 VP for the South. 

Batteries are placed in Memphis and Nashville in response to the Union push down the River to Island No. 10.   The new Ironclad appears in Memphis, along with a Gunboat.  Three Blockade Runners and a Raider are built, and 20 VP is spent to place a Battery in Savannah. 

The Rebel spy A Rose by Any Other Name (Card 82) allows Mark a sneak peak at two cards from the Union hand, and Mark chooses to discard the Engine Breakdown  (Card 47) which can immobilize Rebel Ironclads, as this could seriously hamper his defense of Memphis, which now has two Ironclads and two Gunboats with its Batteries.  

...Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet, Wewe Hunting Webel Waiders...eh eh eh eh eh

The Union, its blockade now solid on the Atlantic Coast and with gunboats filtering around into the Gulf ports as well, decides it has such as surfeit of Screw Sloops that it can afford to go hunting Raiders.    Brandon has been sending out single sloops to search for and sit beside Raiders (this later tactic means the South can not just sit in one spot and raid-raid-raid, as it would be subject to increasingly better searches, but must move and thus give up at least one of those raid attempts).   Now he is send out stacks to hunt them…no luck at first, but the “happy time” for Raiders is drawing to its end.

Rather than take on the massive force at Memphis, Brandon sends his river fleet to Henry & Donelson, where he destroys the battery but TWICE fails the attack rolls, leaving it in Rebel hands.  (See Illustration Below).

 Brandon builds two more Ironclads, a Gunboat and two Screw Sloops.

To be continued…..