Rebel Raiders Replay Part III: 1864 Loose the Fateful Lightning

Rebel Raiders Replay:  1862 Jump Start Part III:  1864 Loose the Fateful Lightning

The Developer & A Naval Historian Team Up Against the Designer in the 1862 Scenario

Parts I and II of the replay describe the initially successful Confederate defense, followed by the sweeping of the seas of all things Gray and “The Nightmare Year” of 1863 in which the South was gutted.  Undaunted, the Rebels counterattacked, thus making Union victory far from certain…

With more ships than it had jobs for them to do, throughout 1864 the Union spent most of its builds on buying extra attacks, thus enabling it to make four assaults a turn. Play of Loose the Fateful Lightning (USN Card 34) added yet an additional attack for EACH remaining turn.  The Union used these well, driving still deeper into the South, and then responding to desperate if successful Rebel counterattacks by regaining for the Union what the South had but briefly taken back.

The game was still hanging in the balance in December 1864, normally the final turn of the game.  With five attacks the Union had to conquer three key cities.  Mark played the General Pierre Toussaint Beauregard (CSN Card 88) card to build a battery in newly recaptured Richmond and also deployed the cream of Confederate leadership: Lee, Jackson and even Longstreet! (CSN Card 79), giving the South a total of six dice to defend the ruins of the capital.   He also got Memphis back.  Now, to win, the Union would have to once again take Richmond and the diminished Memphis as well as the very heavily fortified city of New Orleans.  

Fred and Brandon had drawn If It Takes All Summer (USN Card 36), which gives the Union a chance for a possible 13^th Turn.  That led a debate as to whether to go for the game-winning hat trick or attempt to storm Savannah and Charleston from newly captured Augusta.  They were held by three and two Batteries each, respectively, but possession of those ports would greatly improve the Union’s chances to add an extra game turn through play of that card.

Wary of pinning everything on a single die roll to get that extra turn, however, Fred and Brandon decided to go all-out for the three key Confederate cities in a final offensive surge.  One of those attacks was stymied by the Rebel play of Mud-Bound (CSN Card 59).  Undaunted, with Sherman, Grant and other cards in hand, on to Richmond, Memphis and New Orleans they came….

 Damn Yankees – they won all three fights, winning the game with but one attack still left in hand…

Triple-Posting:  Flag Day, This Day in History and Replay Turn 9

Happy Flag Day! 
and
 This Day 150 Years Ago in Rebel Raiders' History: Lee and Longstreet Cross the Potomac

Historical Event:  On June 14, 1863, Lee and Longstreet crossed the Potomac into Maryland, a fateful step that in just over two weeks would bring them to the fields of Gettysburg.

Game Connection:    General Robert E. Lee appears on two cards:  Bobby Lee (Card 60) and Lee Moves North (77); Longstreet has his own card (Card 79).   Bobby Lee allows the South to re-roll dice in combat, while Longstreet adds a die.  In 1861-63 The Lee Moves North card prevents the Union from making attacks near Richmond for the turn (reflecting their need to respond at Antietam and Gettysburg); in 1864 it merely costs the Union an attack pawn (which accounts for Grant sending a corps to Washington to confront Jubal Early).

Rebel Raiders Replay  (Turn 9 –December 1863)

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

When we last left off, the North had driven Southeast from Nashville, taking first Chattanooga and then Kennesaw Mountain, putting the Union adjacent to Atlanta.

The Few Just Keep Getting Fewer – Until There Are None

Eight Blockade Runners go down this turn!  Eight!  That lamentably for the South is EVERY Blockade Runner they had on the map!

Here is how they were lost:

-USS Unadilla (Card 17) catches one coming out of Mobile.  One Blockade Runner gets past the gunboats on the Blockade Station outside Pensacola only to be caught in the Gulf by USS Housatonic (Card 27).  The USS Powhattan (Card 21) picks off another, one loaded with 2 VP cargo, outside Charleston.  Runners are also caught going in or coming out of Tallahassee, Key West, Wilmington, and New Bern.  An eighth is also caught, but by this time Mark is not even bothering to write down where – it is just too sad.

The two Raiders at sea, as if things were not bad enough, manage to snag but a single VP among them.

Brandon is beside himself with glee, and two friends who stopped by to watch the game for a bit, tell him he can no longer complain about not rolling high enough on his dice.

The Southern VP total is so depleted that if not for the play of Lively Little Trade (Card 57) it would be down to zero. 

The South builds Batteries in Atlanta and Vicksburg, places the Ironclad built last turn in Memphis, buys a Raider and Four Blockade Runners and, just to show the South WILL rise again plays Card 63 – CSS Alabama!

(The famous Raider is depicted in full color on the cover of the game, and was along with CSS Shenandoah (depicted on Card 64) one of the most successful of all of the Rebel Raiders on the High Seas.

To be continued....

A Game in Progress....

Many thanks to Marco Arnaudo of Bloomington, Indiana for posting these pictures of a game in progress on his Facebook page.  These are from last night; today he is playing the 1862 scenario, which he just remarked: "is a great way to use a day off!"

Here are shots of the Rebels trying to run the Atlantic blockade, where the Union has placed gunboats in the Blockade Stations and screw sloops in the coastal sea zones, and of the situation around Memphis, Island No. 10 and Forts Henry & Donelson.

Note the Union has taken Louisville and Nashville and Chattanooga are as yet without batteries to aid in their defense, as the Confederate has instead concentrated his forces on holding Memphis, the northern key to the Mississippi.

The Union also appears to have made progress, seizing New Berne and driving inland to Goldsboro (although if they have indeed taken it the Confederate Battery marker there should be removed).  With Longstreet deployed to Richmond, however, the Union will need some strong cards to drive north and take the Confederate capital from the southern approach.