This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

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

May 4, 1863

            Historical Events:  While in the East Sedgwick struggled to hold the line to give the rest of the battered Army of the Potomac time to retreat after the debacle at Chancellorsville, in the West Grant was suffering a defeat of his own – although one far smaller in scope – along the Red River.  A Union flotilla went up the Red River to attack Fort De Russy and was repulsed with heavy damage to a number of its ships, notably the unfortunately named USS Albatross. (See the sketch below, made by a sailor at the time).

            Game Connection:  Although primarily a naval game, there is a great deal of land combat – attack and counter-attack—in Rebel Raiders.  Chancellorsville can be recreated through the play of the Confederate cards for Lee and Jackson (as noted in the May 2 blog entry).  Gunboats vs. Batteries is a key part of the river combat sequence in the game, as the Union needs to reduce those defenses in order to even the odds when attacking the cities and fort spaces those batteries protect.

           

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

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

May 2, 1863

            Historical Events:  Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville and the capture of the blockade runner Wanderer by the screw sloop USS Sacramento.

            Game Connection:  The interception of blockade runners is vital if the Union is to strangle the Confederacy in a game of Rebel Raiders.  The Playbook is packed with examples of how this is accomplished. For a picture of the USS Sacramento, see below.

            Although Rebel Raiders focuses on the naval action in the war, it is also a broader game of strategy.  Cutting off the South’s supplies is one thing; marching down into Dixie is quite another, and many a Yankee player will find himself thrown back, as Stonewall Jackson did to “Fighting Joe” Hooker at Chancellorsville, especially when the Confederate plays the card named after the gallant Rebel general.

 

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

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

April 30, 1863

            Historical Events:  The Camerone, Stoneman’s Raid and Porter at Grand Gulf.

            Game Connections:  Three big events for one day.

  While the epic last stand of the Foreign Legion at The Camerone is beyond the scope of Rebel Raiders, the French intervention in Mexico is not – as Card 61 Maximillian  (see below), which gives the South a free blockade runner and a bonus to its Supply roll each turn it is in effect attests.

Stoneman’s Raid in which 10,000 Yankee cavalrymen were sent by “Fighting Joe” Hooker to disrupt Lee’s supply lines in Virginia, should have been a huge success, considering how well Colonel Grierson did with a single brigade in Mississippi (see Card 42 The Horse Soldiers – and the blog posts from April 18 and 19 commemorating it – and the John Ford-John Wayne movie based upon that ride).  It was not, however, in part because half the Union cavalry lolled about Rapidan Station celebrating a minor victory and Stoneman, who suffered from piles (perhaps the worst affliction of all for a horseman), failed to push the other half to action.

On the Mississippi, on April 29 Acting Rear Admiral  David Dixon Porter silenced the lower batteries around Grand Gulf in a five-and-a-half hour slugfest, then sent the Lafayette and Carondelet (which appears in the game as Card 15 ) back in an action that continued on into the morning hours of the 30^th to pound the upper batteries.  This opened the river to Grant’s transports.

 

Rebel Raider Shipping Date Confirmed!

GMT announced today that Rebel Raiders will ship in late April, along with Iron & Oak,  a tactical Civil War naval game which gamers can use to play out the battles in Rebel Raiders if they wish.   A section of the Rebel Raiders playbook shows how to use Iron & Oak for such a purpose.  So when Monitor and Virginia clash, or Kearsarge and Alabama meet, or when you are ready to run the gauntlet of guns at Vicksburg, rather than just play a card and roll a few dice for a quick result, you can go to Iron & Oak and fight it out in detail.

Late April, 2013:

Iron & Oak

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas

My Friends at GMT have also put my blog up on their site:

Mark McLaughlin's Blog

Mark just started a new blog covering his various novels and game designs. It includes a feature on Rebel Raiders on the High Seas - 150 Years Ago - that ties in the cards with history. Drop by and say hi to Mark and check out the blog. It's here:

http://markgmclaughlin.blogspot.com/