150 Years Ago: Rebel Raider Captain Makes Admiral (and General)

150 Years Ago:  Rebel Raider Captain Makes Admiral (& General)

February 10, 1865 -    Perhaps no Confederate naval officer did more to hurt the North and give hope to the South than Raphael Semmes, and in February 1865 President Jefferson Davis turned to Semmes once more for salvation - promoting him to rear admiral and giving the former raider captain command of the rebel ironclad fleet on the James River.

As captain of the rebel commerce raider CSS Alabama,  Raphael Semmes had taken or destroyed more than 60 Yankee merchant ships. He had also had twice fought Union warships - one of which (USS Hatteras) he sank.  Although defeated in his engagement with the USS Kearsarge in June 1864, Semmes was rescued by an English yachtsman and managed to make his way back home to the Confederacy.  After Commodore James Mitchell failed in an attempt in late January to fight his way down the James River to attack the Union base at City Point, President Davis called in Semmes, promoted him to admiral and gave him  command of Mitchell's fleet.   Semmes flew his flag from the ironclad CSS Virginia II, oversaw repairs to flotilla and made preparations to launch another attack down the river.

Semmes never got to lead the squadron into the epic battle he sought.  When General Robert E. Lee was forced to give up Richmond on April 2,  Semmes gave the order to scuttle and burn his squadron, then formed his men into the "Naval Brigade."  Cut off from Lee, Semmes put his men on a train and headed south to joined General Joseph E. Johnston.  As effectively there was no longer  a Confederate Navy to be an admiral of, Davis commissioned Semmes a brigadier general - making Semmes the only Confederate officer to hold the rank of both admiral in the navy and general in the army.

Semmes and his men surrendered along with Johnston's army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at Durham, N.C.  Initially held as a prisoner of war, he was charged with treason and expected to also be charged with piracy - but all charges were dropped the following April and he was released from custody.   Semmes became a professor of literature and philosophy at what is now Louisiana State University and served as a judge.  He died of food poisoning in 1877 - the victim of a batch of bad shrimp.

The CSS Alabama is one of the Confederate warships represented in GMT's strategic naval game of the Civil War, Rebel Raiders on the High Seas,   Semmes' famous ship appears as a card and a counter and also graces the cover of the game.  Generals Lee, Johnston, Grant and Sherman are also present as cards in the game, which although focused on the naval side of the conflict also allows players to fight the entire war on land and at sea.

  

Like CSS Alabama and USS Kearsarge, Rebel Raiders Goes to France

Like CSS Alabama & USS Kearsarge, Rebel Raiders Goes to France

150 Years Ago the CSS Alabama limped into European waters, having made what would be her final pair of captures in late April.  The Rockingham and Tycoon, were the 64th and 65th prize of the storied rebel raider (whose picture graces the cover of my game, Rebel Raiders on the High Seas). Badly in need of repairs for her overworked engines and an overhaul of her befouled bottom, the Confederate warship sought refuge in the French port of Cherbourg.  Within days, the Union steam frigate USS Kearsarge arrived to blockade and taunt CSS Alabama and her captain, Raphael Semmes, into coming out for what would be a fateful yet epic duel on June 24. (The two warships appear in the game as individual counters and as cards USN 14 and CSN 63, respectively.)

In the meantime, Semmes and his crew were well-received and feted by the French, who saw the Confederates as figures out of a romance or adventure story.   Just as the French of 150 years were kind to and appreciative of Semmes, his crew and ship, so, too, are wargamers in France saying nice things about Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, as an article in the latest C3i magazine notes - and as the picture shown below indicates.  On behalf of myself, my editor, my publisher and in memory of the gallant men of the CSS Alabama and USS Kearsarge, both of which appear in the game, a hearty "Vive La France" and a "merci" to mes amis Francais!

March 20, 1864 – CSS Alabama Returns to Cape Town

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.

March 20, 1864 – CSS Alabama Returns to Cape Town

Historical Event:  On March 20, 1864 the Confederate cruiser CSS Alabama returned to Cape Town, from which she departed the previous August to go raiding in the Indian Ocean, Straits of Malacca and as far as Borneo and Singapore.  Pickings had been slim; only nine Union ships had been found in those seven months, compared to the 55 captures CSS Alabama had made in the nine months before setting out from Cape Town.)

 Captain Raphael Semmes and his crew were again hailed as heroes by the people of Cape Town, but they found British officials far less welcoming.  Much had changed in the last half year, and Semmes and his ship were both worn and in need of rest and a refit.  Unable to find either in Cape Town, and forewarned not to go to England and risk being seized, four days later Semmes set his course for France.  CSS Alabama would take only two more prizes on what would become her final voyage, for shortly after arriving in Cherbourg she would be challenged by USS Kearsarge, which the raider fought in an epic and fateful duel in June 1864.

Game Connection:  The CSS Alabama is not only one of the ships for whom the game Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is named; she graces the cover.  The Confederate cruiser appears in the strategic naval game as a unique counter and card (CSN 63).  The many oceans of the world are presented on the map for CSS Alabama to raid – provided she can stay clear of the Union warships sent to hunt her down – among them, USS Kearsarge – as represented by USN Card 14.

January 14, 1864 – CSS Alabama Burns The Emma Jane Off Coast of India

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.

January 14, 1864 –  CSS Alabama Burns The Emma Jane Off Coast of India

Historical Event:  On January 14 1864 the Confederate cruiser CSS Alabama intercepted and burned the Union merchantman Emma Jane while raiding off the coast of British India.  Three days later Captain Raphael Semmes put in to the Indian port of Anjenga to take on supplies and to disembark the passengers and crew of the Emma Jane whom he had taken aboard prior to destroying their vessel.  The CSS Alabama continued  westward on her Indian Ocean raid, reaching the Comoros Islands on February 9, a Muslim settlement of which he and his men soon grew tired, noting in his log that  “There was no such thing as a glass of grog to be found in the whole town.”   

Game Connection:    CSS Alabama not only graces the cover of Rebel Raiders of the High Seas, but also is represented by a named counter and card (CSN Card 63).  Recreating Semmes’ storied acts of piracy (as Union newspapers, diplomats, shipowners and naval officers called them) in the Indian Ocean and other sea zones shown on the map board is part of the fun and the strategy of the game – as is the hunt for the elusive raider, whose actions across the world’s oceans can otherwise reap great rewards for the Confederate cause in Rebel Raiders of the High Seas.

Rebel Raiders Lead Article in New Issue of C3i Magazine

"There should be ships, lots of ships..." Rebel Raiders Lead Article in C3i Magazine

The new issue of C3i magazine is showing up in mailboxes and store newsstands this week.  The lead article in Issue 27 is on Rebel Raiders - as is the next pair.  Not only are the first 11 pages of the magazine devoted to my Civil War naval strategy game, but there are also bonus counters and a bonus Player Aid Chart among the many inserts in the issue.

Publisher Rodger MacGowan asked me to write the lead article on how the design came to be, and editor/developer Fred Schachter added a second piece, a full-length article entitled "Player's Notes" in which he explores the whys and wherefores of the game.  The third piece is an offering of optional rules by gamer and Rebel Raiders' fan Steve Carey.

C3i is available through GMT at http://www.gmtgames.com/p-462-c3i-magazine-issue-27.aspx

December 20, 1863 – CSS Alabama Reaches Singapore

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.

December 20, 1863 – CSS Alabama Reaches Singapore

Historical Event:  Not content with wreaking havoc among Union shipping in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes pushes his now infamous (or famous, depending on the point of view of the commentator) commerce raider CSS Alabama through the Sunda Strait and in to Singapore harbor to take on supplies – and sniff out the scent of fresh prey.    Hastily departing the British colony two days later after learning that the USS Wyoming, which he had eluded in three close calls in November, was fast approaching, Semmes took his ship through the Straits of Malacca, making three captures that Christmas week.

Game Connection:   CSS Alabama not only graces the cover of Rebel Raiders of the High Seas, but also is represented by a named counter and card (CSN Card 63).  Recreating Semmes’ storied acts of piracy (as Union newspapers, diplomats, shipowners and naval officers called them) is part of the fun and the strategy of the game – as is the hunt for the elusive raider, whose actions across the world’s oceans can otherwise reap great rewards for the Confederate cause in Rebel Raiders of the High Seas.

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)   

France and England in the Civil War – and in Rebel Raiders

Last week a gamer asked about how Rebel Raiders on the High Seas handles “the interplay between Southern military fortunes and how far Britain and France would risk war by building Southern ships?" 

As a strategic naval game of the war, Rebel Raiders has to account for the role played by the great powers of Europe.  It does this in several ways:

-1. Ship Building: One Raider a Turn

-Each turn the Confederacy can build one Raider in either of the two overseas map spaces that represent England and France.  Doing so uses up one of the South’s allotted builds (usually five a turn, but fewer as the South loses cities), and also requires the expenditure of a Victory Point (this reflects the cost of purchasing and arming the Raider).  There are also cards that provide the South with a free Raider in one of those ports, and special Raiders at that (CSN Card 63 – CSS Alabama, CSN Card 64- CSS Shenandoah and CSN Card 74-CSS Stonewall).

-2. Ship Building: Blockade Runners

-Each turn the Confederacy may build one or more Blockade Runners overseas.  In 1861 the South builds one abroad, in 1862 they may build two, in 1863, three and in 1864, up to four.  Again, these count toward the South’s allotted builds (although by 1864 the South usually has been reduced below its original build level, and is also less likely to build Blockade Runners as there are either few ports left to unload in, or those ports are so heavily blockaded by the Union as to make getting in or out of them extremely risky. There are also cards that give the South free Blockade Runners in Europe (CSN Card 84 – The Douglas) and in the other overseas boxes, most of which were part of the British, French or Spanish empires (CSN Card 108-War Profiteers)

-3.  Investment: European Front Companies provide Arms to the South

The South relied on European companies for much of its war material (as well as luxury goods and civilian necessities).  The loading/unloading of Victory Points (VPs) reflects that, as these VPs may be used to purchase ships and batteries and counterattacks, and are needed to fend off the degradations of the Supply Roll and penalties for losing cities.  Several cards reflect this trade, and the establishment of front companies in their colonies by European interests which fed arms and other goods to the South.  These include CSN Card 99 – The Queen’s Artillery – which allows the South to cash in one 2 VP European cargo counter for a battery …which normally costs 20 VPs, and Cards 87 –Cotton is King, 93 – Herrera & Co. and 94 – To the Dark Shores, each of which offers the South increased opportunities to gain additional VPs. 

-4. “Intervention”: Trent Affair, Maximillian, and Royal Navy  

-While some games and novelists like to toy with the ‘what if’ of French or British armies or navies fighting for the Southern cause, Rebel Raiders sticks to what these great powers did do, as is reflected in the Cards in the game.  The play of the Trent Affair (CSN Card 83) provides an opening for the play of Maximillian (CSN Card 61) and Royal Navy (CSN Card 62).  The first makes Mexico, where the French had installed Maximillian as emperor, very friendly to the South: providing one free Blockade Runner a turn plus a modifier to the Southern Supply Roll die.  The second simulates the movement of British warships and troops to Canada (which occurred as part of Britain’s angry response to the Trent debacle) by requiring the Union to take warships out of play to guard against this threat (as also occurred).   

-5. The Emancipation Proclamation and Diplomatic Pressure

-The Emancipation Proclamation event changes how Europe viewed the war, and reduces European support to the Confederacy.  It  removes Trent, Maximillian and Royal Navy from the game (and if Royal Navy has been played, frees up the Union warships which responded to it).  It also removes two of the six  VP cargo markers from play, which makes it more difficult for the South to bring home large amounts of Victory Points each turn.   Diplomatic Pressure (USN Card 55) forces the discard of Trent or Royal Navy and, if played after The Emancipation Proclamation, closes one of the two European ports.  Any Confederate ships in that closed port are either chased out (where they can be intercepted) or seized by the European government.

Ships of Rebel Raiders: CSS Alabama

  

The Raiders   - CSS Alabama 

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a strategic game of the Civil War which focuses on the role of the navies on the rivers, along the coasts and on the oceans.  While most ships are represented by generic counters for Ironclads, Blockade Runners, Gunboats, Screw Sloops and, of course Raiders, there are cards and corresponding counters for many individual vessels.  This series presents those cards and offers a glimpse into the history of these storied ships.

  

Arguably the most iconic of the fleet of cruisers that sailed the high seas as commerce raiders, the CSS Alabama is not only represented by a card (CSN Card 63) but also graces the box cover.   Under Captain Raphael Semmes, already notorious for commanding the Confederacy’s first (and only domestically armed) raider, CSS Sumter, the CSS Alabama began her career as a raider in the North Atlantic in August 1862.  By year’s end Semmes had taken over two dozen prizes, including a mail steamer packed with passengers off Cuba in December. 

Semmes headed into the Gulf and in January fought and sunk a Union warship, the converted heavy steamer USS Hatteras, (USN Card 16 in Rebel Raiders) near Galveston.  Over the course of 1863 he hunted down and captured or sank more than 40 merchantmen.  By the spring of 1864, however, the ship (and the now ailing Semmes) were 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)   reduced her to a fiery wreck.

USS Kearsarge “Semme’s Bane”

The Ships of Rebel Raiders    - The Men o’War

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a strategic game of the Civil War which focuses on the role of the navies on the rivers, along the coasts and on the oceans.  While most ships are represented by generic counters for Ironclads, Blockade Runners, Gunboats, Screw Sloops and, of course Raiders, there are cards and corresponding counters for many individual vessels.  This series presents those cards and offers a glimpse into the history of these storied ships.

   USS Kearsarge  “Semme’s Bane”

Named after a mountain in New Hampshire, USS Kearsarge (USN Card 14 in Rebel Raiders)) is best known for its epic duel with the CSS Alabama (CSN Card 63), in the Battle of Cherbourg, fought off the coast of France in June 1864.   That was not the first day the Union warship plagued the Raider’s captain, Raphael Semmes, as it had been part of the force that blockaded him and his previous ship, CSS Sumter (the Raider counter that starts the Rebel Raiders’ game in New Orleans) when the Union caught up with Semmes at Gibraltar in 1862.  When Semmes took over the CSS Alabama a few months later, it was USS Kearsarge which was tasked with hunting him down.

That hunt took 20 months, during which Semmes sank or captured 65 U.S. merchant ships.  When Semmes, ailing and, like his ship, worn out, went to Cherbourg for a rest and refit, USS Kearsarge followed.  Piqued into action by allegations that he was a mere “pirate,” the Confederate Navy officer accepted the challenge from his Union counterpart, Captain John Winslow, and steamed out to fight.  While CSS Alabama did mount a more powerful 100-pound Blakely pivot rifle, she was otherwise outgunned by the Union sloop-of-war, which carried a pair of 11 inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders and a 30-pound Parrot rifle.  USS Kearsarge had another advantage: an armored belt of single-link iron chaincladding  and chain cables protected her most vital areas.

The duel lasted about an hour, at which point Semmes struck his colors and asked Winslow for help in saving his crew – although Semmes along with 41 other sailors were picked up by a nearby yacht which spirited them to safety in England.   The action was recreated by   Edouard Manet in his famous painting (see illustration below).

USS Kearsarge earned a battle star on her Civil War campaign streamer, and 17 members of the crew received the Medal of Honor for this action.  After repairs, she was sent to hunt down the Confederate ocean-going ironclad ram/raider CSS Stonewall (CSN Card 74), but the war was over before they met.

In the Game….recreating the epic duel

In Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, when a Yankee Sloop meets a Confederate Raider, the Union player has to win a speed roll; the odds are in the Rebel’s favor, as the Confederate ship adds a +3 to its die and wins ties.  CSS Alabama is even harder to catch, as it gets an additional +1 …but so does the USS Kearsarge, making it one of the few sloops that can catch her.

In The Battle of Cherbourg, however, it was the Rebel who initiated the combat, which a Confederate player may do if he wishes in Rebel Raiders.

When a Sloop and a Raider do fight, the Union ship gets two dice, and the Rebel one.  A “5” or “6” on any one die will sink the other.  Both CSS Alabama and USS Kearsarge each get a plus to their die/dice respectively, and if the Yankee Guns (USN Card 3) is in play, the Union ship also gets to re-roll one die in one round of the combat.   Should the Union player miss, the Confederate can escape...and live to raid another day.

“The Unsinkable” USS Brooklyn

The Ships of Rebel Raiders    - The Men o’War

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a strategic game of the Civil War which focuses on the role of the navies on the rivers, along the coasts and on the oceans.  While most ships are represented by generic counters for Ironclads, Blockade Runners, Gunboats, Screw Sloops and, of course Raiders, there are cards and corresponding counters for many individual vessels.  This series presents those cards and offers a glimpse into the history of these storied ships.

Part IV – The Union Screw Sloops: “The Unsinkable” USS Brooklyn

The sloop-of-war USS Brooklyn  (USN Card 13)  was practically a one-ship Navy; she did it all, and fought everywhere, in every kind of action.   She helped frustrate Confederate attempts to take Fort Pickens in Pensacola in 1861, then captured several blockade runners.  When Raphael Semmes made his initial foray out of New Orleans on the CSS Sumter (the Raider counter that begins the game there) she gave chase – but the elusive Semmes got away, as he always did.

USS Brooklyn caught several blockade runners in 1862, and battled her way up river past the guns of Forts Jackson and St. Philip to engage the Rebel Ironclad Ram CSS Manassas (CSN Card 71 in Rebel Raiders). The ironclad did ram her, but as the captain reported “did us little injury.”  (Only on the USS Brooklyn was a 24-foot long gash in the hull a “little injury.”)    Later in the summer of 1862 she went upriver to run the batteries at Vicksburg and drove the Rebel gunners away while troops landed at Donaldsonville, La.

USS Brooklyn was pulled out of the Mississippi to blockade Galveston, where she again was stymied by Semmes (who returned in the CSS Alabama (CSN Card 63) to trick, engage and sink the USS Brooklyn’s consort, the gunboat USS Hatteras (USN Card 16).   The mighty warship, however, got some measure of revenge by capturing a pair of blockade runners, including the Kate, skippered by the legendary and until then always lucky Thomas Lockwood – until then “the most successful of many Charlestonnians engaged in blockade running” (according to Robert N. Rosen, in his book, Confederate Charleston).  Kate was one of nine blockade runners captured (and one sunk) by the USS Brooklyn during the war.

Mobile Bay in August 1864, however, was where USS Brooklyn would be most sorely tested – as she led the second column into the Bay; when the ironclad USS Tecumseh immediately off her port bow hit a torpedo (i.e. mine) a sank in seconds, the captain stopped and began backing as the USS Brooklyn had also run into a net of mines.  The Rebel Ironclad Ram CSS Tennessee (CSN Card 86) tried to ram her, but she fended off the ram and added her guns to those of the other Union ships that forced the Rebel ship to strike.

Nearly 100 of those aboard USS Brooklyn were killed or wounded in the action, and 23 sailors and marines aboard were awarded the Medals of Honor.

After extensive repairs, USS Brooklyn was sent to aid in the attack on Fort Fisher.  After the war  she became the flagship of the South Atlantic Squadron and later that of the Asiatic Squadron.  For her final service, in 1889, she circumnavigated the globe – running Cape Horn – before returning home to New York to be decommissioned.

USS Iroquois: Ship of War, Ship of Mercy - 50 Years of Service

The Ships of Rebel Raiders    - The Men o’War

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a strategic game of the Civil War which focuses on the role of the navies on the rivers, along the coasts and on the oceans.  While most ships are represented by generic counters for Ironclads, Blockade Runners, Gunboats, Screw Sloops and, of course Raiders, there are cards and corresponding counters for many individual vessels.  This series presents those cards and offers a glimpse into the history of these storied ships.

Part IV – The Union Screw Sloops: USS Iroquois: Ship of War, Ship of Mercy - 50 Years of Service

Few ships serve their country for 50 years – and fewer still serve as both men o’ war and ships of mercy.  Such, however, is the legacy of USS Iroquois  (USN Card 12 -  “Sloop of War ” in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas).

USS Iroquois was commissioned in 1859 and sent the Mediterranean – where it hosted no less a figure than the renowned Italian freedom-fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi.  Recalled home as war loomed, she was sent to the Caribbean to seek out commerce raiders  (those very ships for whom Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is named).  She found the first of those, the CSS Sumter (the Raider counter that starts the game in New Orleans) but its wily captain, Raphael Semmes (who would later command the CSS Alabama – CSN Card 63 – and which also appears on the game box cover) gave the mighty Union warship the slip. 

USS Iroquois also later intercepted a British sloop, aboard which were the Confederate ministers James M. Mason and John Slidell (of the Trent Affair – CSN Card 83 fame).  Commander James S. Palmer, however, wisely and diplomatically let them proceed.

USS Iroquois finally got into the shooting war as part of Farragut’s (USN Card 1) squadron during the attacks on Forts Jackson and St. Philip (which appear in the game as well).  She also took part in the shelling of Vicksburg before being recalled downriver for service hunting blockade runners in the Gulf of Mexico (a key role for Union sloops in the game).  USS Iroquois performed that same task in 1863 as part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, catching several blockade runners, notably the Kate and the Merrimac.  After repairs, she was dispatched to the Pacific to hunt the raider CSS Shenandoah (CSN Card 64).

After the war, she became part of the Asiatic Squadron and later the Pacific Squadron, landing her Marines to protect U.S. interests in Panama in 1885.  In 1892 this antique man of war became a hospital ship, a role she performed until finally retired and struck from the Navy List in 1910.

The Ships of Rebel Raiders - The Gunboats

  

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a strategic game of the Civil War which focuses on the role of the navies on the rivers, along the coasts and on the oceans.  While most ships are represented by generic counters for Ironclads, Blockade Runners, Gunboats, Screw Sloops and, of course Raiders, there are cards and corresponding counters for many individual vessels.  This series presents those cards and offers a glimpse into the history of these storied ships.

Part II – The Gunboats: USS Hatteras, The gunboat that took on the CSS Alabama

USS Hatteras (USN Card 16) was a civilian steamer outfitted as a gunboat and sent to blockade Key West and later Galveston.  There she was surprised and sunk by Raphael Semmes and his storied raider, CSS Alabama (CSN Card 63).    Prior to that fatal engagement, however, USS Hatteras captured seven blockade runners (hence her speed advantage as noted on the card).

USS Hatteras died well that day in January 1863.  She was chasing down a vessel that had identified itself as HBMS Petrel – but when Commander Blake brought his ship in close, Semmes showed his true colors and declared by signal “We are the CSS Alabama.”  The duel was fought at under 200 yards, with the USS Hatteras at first giving as good as she got with her 32-pounders…but after being holed and set afire, the Union warship was forced to strike.

Battle on the board: USS Hatteras vs CSS Alabama combat in Rebel Raiders

USS Hatteras is a Gunboat.  In a battle in Rebel Raiders she fires one die.  As her target is a Raider, she needs a 5 or 6 to hit and sink CSS Alabama.   (Her card does not give her any advantage in combat, only in searching for Raiders and Blockade Runners.)

CSS Alabama is a Raider.  In a battle a Raider also fires a single die – but her chances to hit and sink a gunboat are slightly better – a 4,5 or 6.   CSS Alabama, however, being a singularly epic man of war (her commander, Raphael Semmes, bridled at being labeled a “pirate” and sought out the USS Hatteras in part to prove that he was not afraid to take on an armed opponent) adds a plus to her die in combat (as per the bonuses listed on (CSN Card 63) - so, CSS Alabama thus rolls one dice, and with that bonus now needing a 3, 4, 5 or 6 ;  which apparently in the real war she rolled, and down went the USS Hatteras, which rolled her single die – but missed.

Musing on Victory – and the “immersive experience” of playing Rebel Raiders or

“ I Think Mahan Himself Would Have Heartily Approved”

By Brandon Musler

On the Design:  a “CFG” (Card Flavored Game) vs a CDG (Card Driven Game)

Overall, I was amazed by how immersive an experience playing Rebel Raiders could be. Normally, I do not favor CDG  (Cared Driven Game) designs, and I really like this new thing called a CFG  (Card Flavored Game) because it had its priorities in order: play mechanics informed and spiced up by cards.  I also liked that there were endless decisions to make, and you could recover from mistakes.

 I thought the whole brown water navy aspect to things was brilliantly conceived and designed -- it fascinated me how the designer encapsulated the entire western theater by blending a point to point subsystem with a CDG dynamic.  He really, really distilled a crucial dynamic of the land campaigns in the ACW...in a game primarily focusing on the naval war.  I think Mahan himself would have heartily approved...but more importantly I feel I gained some crucial insights into a subject that I've never really been able to get my arms around before, despite reading Shelby Foote et al! And of course there was learning about the whole mercantile war via the raiders and runners.   

Union Play

First time players really ought to take the Union side because although the choices seem a bit overwhelming in the first half of the war, the enormous power of the Union industrial base makes it relatively easy to recover from a myriad of mistakes and power to victory in 1863 and 1864...or once Grant is on the board.  In other words, in the basic game we played (or without any of the many optional rules) it is a lot harder for the CSA player to keep morale up and get it right...

In the first year of the war when the Feds are down a die,  (and maybe the second when the odds are even,) it's probably a good idea to use Union attacks to take undefended port cities via amphibious assault. (The designer hinted at this repeatedly during our play, I believe, but I didn't hear it at the time.)  The risk is relatively low and late in the game it will leave the door open to pursue the maximum territory approach to victory.
 
Late in the game the designer reminded me that  the Union need not take Richmond to win, provided it has 16 other cities (including Atlanta and the three on the Mississippi, which I did have).  At that point, however,  I had only half of turn 11 and turn 12 ahead of me, and would have had to shoot a 100% from the foul line (6 for 6, I think it was) so I chose the "On To Richmond!" path four years late...and then I got really, really lucky with Jackson getting killed etc...
 

 Final Thought:  Great Fun to Play

It was great fun to play, and refreshingly enlightening...pretty much everything I could expect out of historical board game. 

Vive l'Empereur - and "Happy" Waterloo Day ...at 7 p.m. tonight the Old Guard goes up the hill....

Meanwhile...

Rebel Raiders Replay Turn 10 (Part 2) April 1864 - DuPont, Conqueror of the Mississippi

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

When we left off, the mighty CSS Alabama, upon whom the Confederacy (and Mark) had pinned their last hopes for doing ANYTHING at sea, was caught and sunk on her maiden voyage by the largest warship in the U.S. Navy - USS Mississippi.  Now it is the Union turn, and Brandon is turning his sights to another Mississippi - the river and the Rebel fortresses that dominate it at Memphis and Vicksburg...

It is 1864, and the Union has four dice now in combat.  Brandon knows the clock is ticking, and comes on strong.

He comes back at Memphis again but this time plays DuPont (Card 54) to gain a big advantage (Rebel Batteries only fire one, not two, dice in the first round of combat).  With 5 Ironclads and a Gunboat he faces a Rebel force of 2 Ironclads, 1 Gunboat and 3 Batteries.  Two Batteries are destroyed in the first round, along with an Ironclad and the Gunboat, at no loss to the North.  Mark retreats his remaining Ironclad, sending it down river to Vicksburg.   Brandon completes the destruction of the defenses of Memphis, which falls easily and at great cost in VP to the South.

The Union keeps going with its second Assault of the turn.  The Union has so many ships on the river it almost does not have space for them…so down to Vicksburg they come.   The single Rebel Ironclad that survived Memphis and the one Battery there are no match for five Yankee Ironclads – actually, six, as Brandon plays the Tyler (USN Card 18) turning his sixth ship, a Gunboat, into a virtual Ironclad for the brief battle.

Vicksburg falls.   The South is once again in the negatives in VP.

Unvexed to the Sea?

With Memphis and Vicksburg gone, the North needs only New Orleans to complete its conquest of the Mississippi.  Six Screw Sloops come up river from Forts Jackson and St. Philip.  One is lost to the Battery before the Union warships smother it in shot and shell.  Incredibly, however, despite the advantage in dice and Union Tactics – New Orleans holds!

Brandon then turns to hunting Raiders, fails to find any, and spends his builds to buy four Assaults and an Screw Sloops.  He draws four cards, as it is 1864 (the Union gets that fourth draw in 1863 turns).Two Ironclads and a free Gunboat are placed in the Navy Yards.

Rebel Raiders Replay  (Turn 10 –April 1864) -The Alabama and "Damn You, John Wayne"

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

When last we saw our valiant gamers at war, the North had swept the seas of Blockade Runners and had every Raider covered and surrounded.  Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the gateway to New Orleans, was burst open, but despite a massive force of Ironclads the Union could not blast away the Batteries at Memphis and assaults there and at Atlanta were both repulsed – narrowly, in ties, but repulsed still.

The South Holds and Now Alabama is in Play!

Although the old Blockade Runner fleet is no more, there are four new ones to try to bring home the desperately needed Cargo, along with five Raiders – four at sea and the Alabama ready to join them.

CSS Alabama is represented by a counter and a card (63).  Raiders get a plus 3 to the Speed Die Roll – making them hard enough to catch as it is – but Alabama gets one better!   There may be four Union Screw Sloops waiting off the Spanish port where Alabama has been readied for her maiden voyage, but Confederate confidence is high.

“Raphael Semmes is a Pirate We Say…”

Alabama was captained by the legendary Raphael Semmes, who had commanded the very first Raider (and only one to be armed in the South).  The Raider that begins the game in New Orleans at set up, is that vessel, the Sumter.   Unlike the real war, Sumter was caught on turn 1 (see turn one replay).  This time, however, Semmes has a better ship.

….unfortunately, Mark rolls a “1” when Alabama comes out to sea.  This is modified to a “5” – and while three of the four Union Screw Sloops roll less than that, one gets a “6” – and worse, it is no less a warship than USS Mississippi (Card 23), which, as the card correctly denotes, is the “Largest Ship in the U.S. Navy.”

Naval combat ensues.  Raiders get a single die, Screw Sloops two – although with Yankee Guns (Card 3) giving a re-roll of one die, this effectively gives the USS Mississippi a three-to-one dice advantage.  Worse, the most Alabama can score with her one shot is one hit – and Mississippi can ignore one hit in a battle.   Semmes’ only hope is that the Union ship misses and Alabama can then retreat and slip off into the night…

So how did the battle go?   Here is the song Brandon made up on the spot:

“Raphael Semmes is a pirate we say!

And we can prove it with his dead bo-day!”

More Bad News for the Confederate Navy

Their hearts broken by the demise of their hero and his fateful ship, the remaining four Raiders manage to scare up a mere two VP.  The four Blockade Runners fare worse: two get through with one VP each, and two others are captured.

Damn You, John Wayne.

In April 1863 Grant directed a Union colonel to take a brigade of cavalry behind Rebel lines to tear up railroads and burn supplies.  Grierson’s Raid was quite successful and one of the books written about it became the inspiration for the John Wayne 1959 movie, The Horse Soldiers.   Card 42 bears the same name.   Brandon plays it successfully at the start of the Confederate Turn 10 Build Phase, and as a result the South will build one fewer Battery this turn….

That single Battery goes – where else, but New Orleans.  Mark builds one Raider and buys a Counterattack, suspecting he will need it.