PRINCESS RYAN is 30 Today...

PRINCESS RYAN is 30 Today...

although the character of Princess Ryan will forever be a teen, the REAL Princess Ryan (my daughter) turns 30 tonight!
-when she was 3, Ryan tugged on my shirt and said "someday you make a game for me Daddy?"...well, i did -- twice...and then made a novel out of it!


For those who have read my novel....Thank You!   For the rest, it is on Amazon and Kindle, and you can read the reviews (which are all very good, and very much appreciated). -- For the link, scroll down on and look on the right hand side of the blog.....or clik here...http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Ryans-Star-Marines-Save/dp/1466218487

Happy Birthday Princess Ryan!
http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Ryans-Star-Marines-Save/dp/1466218487

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, 

November 23-24-25, 1863:  Lookout Mountain & Missionary Ridge

Historical Event:  Union troops stormed Lookout Mountain (24^th) and Missionary Ridge (25^th), finally breaking the long Confederate siege of Chattanooga and opening the way for the Federal advance out of Tennessee and into Georgia.  The two assaults were made possible by a preparatory attack on the Rebel defensive position on Orchard Knob on the 23^rd.

Game Connection:    Although primarily a naval game, the land war is represented in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, and Chattanooga is a key defensive position for the South.  Three of the Union generals who participated in the battles there are represented by cards:  Ulysses Simpson Grant (USN Card 8 – Grant Takes Command), William Tecumseh Sherman (USN Card 50) and Philip Sheridan (USN Card 11).  The courage and resilience of the Union soldiers who stormed those heights is also represented by a card (USN Card 46 – One More Effort Boys!) as is the “Lack of Brains” by a certain ill-starred Confederate general, one Braxton Bragg, whose picture appears on the card of that name (USN Card 7).

November 15, 1863: Five crewmen on USS Lehigh Each Earn Medal of Honor

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, 

November 15, 1863: Five crewmen on USS Lehigh Each Earn Medal of Honor

Historical Event:  On this day in 1863, the mighty Federal ironclad USS Lehigh was driven aground off Sullivan’s Island by heavy fire from Confederate batteries at Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor.  Thanks to the courage and dedication of her crew, and the aid of the captain and crew of USS Nahant, the ironclad, though battered, was rescued and lived to fight another day.  Five members of her crew received the Medal of Honor for their courage under fire in that action.

Game Connection:     The USS Lehigh is represented in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas by a special counter and card (USN Card 22).  Ironclads play a vital role in Union attacks on fortified ports, engaging both Rebel batteries and Confederate warships.

No ship in U.S. Naval history has had more crew members receive the Medal of Honor for a single action than the ironclad monitor USS Lehigh.  Among the five was one with a name he had – and did – live up to:  Seaman Horatio Nelson Young.

When John Dahlgren (USN Card 31) took over command of the Union the fleet opposite Charleston from Samuel Francis DuPont (USN Card 54) in the summer of 1863, he brought with him an exceptionally powerful new ironclad monitor: the USS Lehigh (USN Card 22).  Mounting a 15-inch Dahlgren smoothbore and an 8-inch (or 150-pound) Parrott Rifle inside a turret protected with 11 inches of armor, USS Lehigh was one of the lead ships in Dahlgren’s repeated attempts to knock out Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, two of the most important of the man guardians of Charleston Harbor.  

The ironclad engaged with Forts Sumter and Moultrie many times between September 1 and late November, including engaging in an almost daily duel over a three week period.  On November 15 the ship was so badly pounded that she was driven aground – and it was for freeing her while under deadly fire the next morning that Seaman Young and four other crewman were honored with the nation’s highest decoration.  The sailors risked their lives under fire in a small boat that brought hawsers over from USS Nahant – hawsers that were repeatedly cut by Rebel shot and shell.

 Sent back to Port Royal for repairs, the Medal of Honor ship returned to duty off Charleston in January, where she continued to pound away at Rebel batteries and forts until the city succumbed to Sherman’s advancing armies.

November 14, 1863: Ex-Blockade Runner USS Granite City Takes a Prize

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, 

November 14, 1863:  Ex-Blockade Runner USS Granite City Takes a Prize

Historical Event:  On this day in 1863 the Federal gunboat (and former Rebel blockade Runner) USS Granite City captured the Confederate Blockade Runner Terista off the mouth of the Rio Grande.  The gunboat, ironically, would end the war once again running under Rebel colors...

Game Connection:    Running the blockade to bring in vital Victory Points that can be used to purchase additional ships, batteries, cards and counterattacks is a key plank in the Confederate strategy in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, just as intercepting those blockade runners is a major goal for the Union player.   In the game the Confederate player builds ships to run the blockade while the Union builds and moves ships to blockade stations off the Confederate ports and into coastal sea zones outside of those ports – eventually hoping to seal off the Confederacy with two layers of interceptors.

The USS Granite City began the war as a Confederate blockade runner, SS Granite, but was captured by USS Tioga on a run in from the Bahamas in 1863.  Purchased by the Navy and rechristened with a USS in front of her name (as there was already a sloop named USS Granite, the "City" was added), she was armed with six 24-pound howitzers and a rifled gun and sent to the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, where she arrived just in time to participate in the ill-fated Sabine Pass adventure.  Under heavy fire, USS Granite City barely escaped that disaster, and after repairs was sent to patrol the Texas coast, where she captured several blockade runners, including the Terista, which was packed with nearly 300 bales of cotton.

USS Granite City twice supported the landing of a small raiding force of Union troops in early 1864, but during a third operation in April of that year was so heavily damaged by defending Confederate batteries that she was forced to strike her colors.   The Confederates stripped her of her guns and turned her back into a blockade runner, sending her in and out of Galveston on multiple runs…until one foggy night in January 1865 when she was run down and chased onto the rocks by USS Penguin.  The ship broke apart, never to sail again under any flag.

November 10, 1863: CSS Alabama Raids the Sunda Straits: Burns Clipper Ship

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, 

November 10, 1863:  CSS Alabama Raids the Sunda Straits: Burns Clipper Ship

Historical Event:  On this day in 1863 while on patrol in the Java Sea, the Confederate Raider CSS Alabama ran down, caught and burned the merchant Clipper Ship Winged Racer.  The chase ended in the Sunda Straits, where Captain Raphael Semmes forced the merchantman to surrender. She was carrying a valuable cargo of jute, sugar and hides.  The next day Semmes caught another Yankee merchantman, the Contest.  She was bound for New York, and packed with unique goods from Japan.

Game Connection:  CSS Alabama is represented in Rebel Raiders by a counter and card (CSN Card 63) and also appears on the box cover.  Raiders like CSS Alabama roam the oceans hunting Union merchantmen and when successful gain Victory Points for the South.

CSS Alabama was the most successful of the dozen Confederate Raiders.  During her 22-month career she made seven major cruises, conducting raids from New England to the South Atlantic and from the Gulf of Mexico to the South Pacific – rounding the Cape and raiding in the Indian Ocean on her way east.  The raider intercepted and boarded over 400 ships, and captured or burned 65 Union merchant or passenger ships.   By the spring of 1864, however, the ship (and its weary and ailing captain) was badly in need of repair and refit, and the CSS Alabama put into port in Cherbourg, France.

The USS Kearsarge (USN Card 14) followed, and its captain issued a challenge to Semmes, whom the Federal government and Union newspapers derided as a “pirate.”   His sense of honor as a naval officer piqued, Semmes responded to the taunts by sailing out on June 19 to do unequal battle.  Semmes fought his ship for nearly an hour against the much more heavily armed Union warship whose Yankee Guns  (USN Card 3)   

November 9, 1863: CSS Robert E. Lee Runs its Last Blockade

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

-Dedicated to Civil War episodes, battles, people and ships that also appear in my game, GMT’s Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, 

November 9, 1863:  CSS Robert E. Lee Runs its Last Blockade

Historical Event:  On this day in 1863 the CSS Robert E. Lee was caught off the coast of North Carolina while trying to run the blockade.

Game Connection:  While Blockade Runners in Rebel Raiders are represented by generic counters, some can gain special advantages from cards.  The CSS Robert E. Lee is represented in by one such card (CSN Card 69).  This card increases the value of any cargo she unloads by one VP (Victory Point).

The Story of the CSS Robert E. Lee:

Built in Scotland as the merchant ship Giraffe, CSS Robert E. Lee (CSN Card 69) began her career as a blockade runner in the fall of 1862.  For nearly a year the sleek schooner-rigged, iron-hulled, oscillating-engine, double-stack paddle-steamer ran in and out of North Carolina’s inlets and harbors to bring in war materials and other desperately needed supplies.

 Unlike most blockade runners which were either owned by private individuals or commissioned by the states, the Robert E. Lee was part of the regular navy – hence the CSS before its name.   Among the most important of its 21 voyages was a trip to Halifax to deliver cotton and a number of key passengers, including 20 naval officers destined to serve aboard other blockade runners and raiders.  Her most frequent runs, however, were between Bermuda and Wilmington (both of which appear on the game map).

Naval officer Lt. Richard H. Gayle took command in May 1863 and under his command the ship eluded capture several times, but on November 9, 1863 his luck ran out and CSS Robert E. Lee was finally run down off the North Carolina shore by a pair of Union warships:  USS Iron Age and USS James Adger. 

  As with many captured blockade runners, The U.S. Navy took her as a prize, armed and rechristened her and put her into service on the blockade.  During the second attack on Fort Fisher, the Lee, now flying the federal flag and bearing the name USS Fort Donelson, fired her newly mounted Yankee guns upon the Rebel batteries, making her one of  the comparatively few ships to have fought on both sides in the war.

Rebel Raiders in GMT's C3i Magazine!

  

  

In Civil War Games There Should Be Ships, lots of Ships…

Or “Why Rebel Raiders on the High Seas Came To Be”

By Game Designer Mark G. McLaughlin

(also in this issue, articles by and about two great designers:  

 Mark Herman and Volko Ruhnke)

 ...and this from Rodger MacGowan, the publisher and editor of the magazine, and who also did the cover art for Rebel Raiders - and many other games of mine over the last 30+ years)...

C3i Magazine, Nr27 will be a 64-page, full-color issue.

Below is a list of some of the article highlights, including new variants,

new scenarios, designer’s notes, interviews, a new countersheet,

and a Complete Bonus Game Insert in C3i Magazine Nr27.

We hope you enjoy the new issue.

Rodger B. MacGowan,

Publisher and Editor


Here is the full table of contents:

Table of Contents – C3i Magazine, Nr27

Fire in the Lake – COIN Series in Vietnam

A Fireside Chat with Game Designers

Mark Herman and Volko Ruhnke

By Sam Sheikh

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In Civil War Games There Should Be Ships, lots of Ships…

Or “Why Rebel Raiders on the High Seas Came To Be”

By Game Designer Mark G. McLaughlin

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Rebel Raiders on the High Seas

Players Notes

By Game Developer Fred Schachter

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Cuba Libre – COIN Series

Designer’s Notes, alt-History, and Variants

By Game Designer Jeff Grossman

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Iron & Oak

Two New C3i Scenarios

Scenario C3i-1: Galveston – January 1863

Scenario C3i-2: Cat-and-Mouse (hypothetical)

By Game Designer Jim Day

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The Battle of Dertosa (Ibera), 215 BC

C3i SPQR Deluxe Version GBoH Module

By Game Designer Dan A. Fournie

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Empire of the Sun

Fighting for a Negotiated Peace: Japanese Strategy against the Big Three

By Mark Herman

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Soviet Dawn (C3i Insert Game – States of Siege Series)

Simulating The Russian Civil War

By Game Designer Ted Raicer

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Soviet Dawn (C3i Insert Game)

How the Bolshevik Revolution Survived

By Game Designer Darin A. Leviloff

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Panzer

Two New C3i Scenarios:

• Battle of Kovel, Part I, July 1944

• Battle of Kovel, Part 2, July 1944

By Game Designer Jim Day

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Bloody April

New C3i Nr1 Scenario:

7 June 1917

By Game Designer Terry Simo

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C3i Interview with Hall of Fame Game Designer

Jack Greene

By Sam Sheikh

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Clio’s Corner Nr4:

Ignorance is bliss or how to put the fog back in war

By Mark Herman

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4 new Combat Commander Scenarios:

Scn 117 Avanti, Tridentina, Avanti, Russia, 26 January 1943.  Italians vs Russians

Scn 118 No. 4 Commando, France 1942.  Brits vs Germans

Scn 119 Sky Fall, France 1944.  Partisans vs Germans

Scn 120 Deadly Convoy. France 1944.  Partisans vs Germans

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The New Countersheet included with C3i Magazine Nr27 includes 140 (1/2 inch) and 88 (5/8 inch) full color counters for such games as:

Soviet Dawn (C3i Insert Game); Roads to Moscow; Eutaw/Guilford; Bloody April;Rebel Raiders on the High Seas; No Retreat North Africa; Mr Madison’s War; Cuba Libre; Oriskany; Alesia; Deluxe SPQR; Empire of the Sun; Andean Abyss; Iron & Oak; Devil’s Horsemen; Chariots of Fire; and Flying Colors

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Complete Bonus Game Insert

Soviet Dawn: The Russian Civil War (States of Siege Series)

Color Mapsheet, Counters, Cards, Player Aids & Rulesbook

By Game Designer Darin A. Leviloff