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…

Rebel Raiders Replay  (Turn 6)

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

When we left off last time, the Union blockade had become so formidable that nearly half of the vessels trying to run it were caught - most with their cargo.  The net suitably tight, now the North is starting to send out packs of screw sloops to hunt down Raiders....

Four more Blockade Runners go down --- Brandon is capturing them faster than the South can build them.  Twelve victory points are acquired by the South this turn, bust mostly from Raiding, not Running.  Memphis is strengthened by the Gunboat the South built last turn (which was built in Vicksburg, as I failed to mention, as an Ironclad appeared in Memphis last turn and the South may only place one ship per port per Build Phase, other than through card play).

Beauregard (Card 88) again appears, with that blessed third battery, and Nashville and Memphis are now brought up to full strength with three batteries each, and another is placed in Richmond, just to safeguard the capital.   The South builds four Blockade Runners, one for each lost this turn, and builds a Gunboat in Memphis.

Brandon decides it is time to start chipping away at the Atlantic, and goes for an Amphibious Assault on Wilmington.  His fleet of four Gunboats and the Screw Sloop Brooklyn (Card 13) gets a surprise as the Ring of Fire (Card 101) adds a second battery to the defenses…although Mark rolls horribly (even with the bonuses from the card) and sinks only one Gunboat, Brandon backs off rather than take on two batteries with his under-gunned force.

Diplomatic Pressure  (Card 55) is applied through the card of the same name, which sends the Trent and Royal Navy (Cards 83 and 62) to the Discard Pile - this frees up the three screw sloops that were on the later card, giving the North yet more big warships to go a'Raider-hunting.

Brandon buys an extra Attack for next turn, as well as another Ironclad and some Gunboats.   Turn 7 apparently is going to be the start of the "big push," as it will be 1863 - which means the North increases its attack dice from two to three - giving it the edge on the South, which remains at two.  The Union is learning the art of war...and how to use its massive industrial base to powerful effect.

Images below:  The big map situation early in Turn 6, before the Union play...

...and some of the cards played on Turn 6....

Rebel Raiders Replay  (Turn 4)

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

When we last left our happy warriors,, the Union had taken Louisville only to suffer a horrifying defeat at Nashville – costing them 10 Victory Points and a key Card.  The South, however, is not smiling too broadly, as the Blockade is tightening and the Union is capturing Blockade Runners almost as fast as the Confederacy can build them…

Turn 4 – April 1862   The Battle of Island No. 10

The South’s joy over holding Nashville is tempered by the loss of FOUR Blockade Runners, all fully loaded with 2 VP each!  Still, despite those losses 10 VP of cargo make it through the blockade, and the Raiders manage to squeeze 3 more VP.     The South places the Ironclad built last turn in Memphis, and spends 20 VP to start building another Ironclad.  Once again, a Raider and four Blockade Runners are built. (As it is now 1862, two of those Blockade Runners may be and are built in foreign ports).

Beauregard  (Card 88) shows up, allowing placement of a third battery instead of the usual two a turn, and these go in Nashville, Chattanooga and Memphis, as Brandon has been steadily building up Ironclads and gunboats in the West.

Brandon, repulsed by land, is now eager to push on the river, as he has accumulated a strong fleet.

The Battle for Island No. 10 --

Brandon takes his Cairo fleet of 1 Ironclad and 5 Gunboats to fight the two Rebel Gunboats and Battery at Island No. 10.

On the first round, two Union and one Confederate Gunboat are sunk.

On the second round, another Union Gunboat goes down – but the Yankees destroy the Battery and sink the other Rebel Gunboat.

This paves the way for the attack on the fort space itself.  As it is now 1862 the North is no longer at a disadvantage and is rolling two dice a turn in combat, the same number of basic dice as the South. To make sure the Confederacy can’t change the odds Brandon plays “Three Cigars” (Card 45) (as that Union card prevents the South from playing cards in the fight.    Island No. 10 falls; it is the first piece of Southern territory to be reintegrated into the Union.   (See photo of game map below).

…but not without company; St. Augustine falls to the Union Navy in an amphibious assault.   It is the first Southern city to fall.

 All the South can do to take its revenge is to play Royal Navy (Card  62) (as allowed by the previous play of the Trent Card) – forcing the North to build 3 Screw Sloops to put on the Royal Navy card  (to “watch” the British fleet that was assembled at Halifax).