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: The Mosquito Fleet- Montgomery at Memphis

“The Mosquito Fleet” (CSN Card 81) represents the rag-tag little squadrons the South cobbled together for the defense of Memphis and Mobile Bay.  Civilian vessels to which a gun or two and crew were hastily added, and to which bales of cotton, stacks of lumber or other makeshift defenses were added, these hopelessly outclassed and outgunned little ships and their brave crews performed far better than any could expect or demand. 

The two Confederate naval officers who led those forces --- Commander James Montgomery at Memphis and Admiral Franklin Buchanan at Mobile Bay – are both represented by stand-up Leader counters and Fleet Command Boxes on the lower left of the map.  (Players may take a stack of ships and place them in a Fleet Command Box and replace them on the map with the corresponding Leader – there are two such for the South, four for the North).

Montgomery had eight ships in his “Mosquito Fleet” at Memphis in June 1862.  Undergunned and underpowered, they were no match for Colonel Charles Ellet and his seven ships, which included five ironclads and two rams.   (Two of those ships, the  ironclad USS Carondelet – USN Card 15 – and the ram, USS Queen of the West – USN Card 38, are in the game).    Needless to say, Montgomery, though gallant, did not prevail.

This day 150 Years Ago in Rebel Raiders's History

 This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

Gettysburg, Vicksburg and the Ships of Rebel Raiders.

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

On this, the 150th anniversary of the First Day of Gettysburg, it is easy to forget that at Vicksburg an equally vicious and vital struggle was also reaching its climax.  

As a strategic naval game, Rebel Raiders on the High Seas focuses far more on the epic siege of the fortress on the Mississippi than on the titanic contest that was played out on the fields of Pennsylvania.   The later is represented by the Lee Moves North card (CSN Card 77), while many of the leaders and great ships who fought at Vicksburg are also represented, notably: 

 -David Dixon Porter & His Little Mortar Boats (USN Card 2),

 -Grant Takes Command (USN Card 8),

-the tinclad gunboat USS Black Hawk (USN Card 10), 

-the "Pook's Turtle" ironclad USS Carondelet (USN Card 15), 

-the timberclad gunboat USS Tyler (USN Card 18),

-the phony ironclad Black Terror (USN Card 25)

-the big guns of the Siege Train (USN Card 48),

-and, for the South:

-the mines, torpedoes and other Infernal Machines (CSN Card 56),

-the general who tried to relieve the city, J.E. Johnston (CSN Card 91)

-the hidden batteries on the bluffs of Ring of Fire (CSN Card 101),

--and the only ship to see action on BOTH sides at Vicksburg:

--“Ellet’s Ram” USS Queen of the West (USN Card 38)– which was captured and put into service by the Confederacy as CSS Queen of the West

Rebel Raiders Replay  (Turn 7)

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

When we left off, the South was suffering from an increasingly effective Union blockade, and girding itself for the terrible swift sword the North is preparing to wield at the dawn of the new and fateful year - 1863

Turn 7 – April 1863   “The Yankees Are Coming!”  - The First Battle of Nashville

The Confederate submarine David  (Card 65) tried to open a path on one Blockade Station, but failed. Three more Blockade Runners are caught.  The Raiding fleet, now being hunted and shadowed, manage to snag only 3 VP – and what Blockade Runners made it home brought in a mere 2 VP.     The South is now done to single digit VPs, which means no more heady bonus buys of batteries and ironclads!

Fortunately, the Tredegar Iron Works (Card 95) is once again drawn after having been reshuffled into the deck, and that again means a third battery – so Norfolk, Wilmington and Mobile get strengthened, and 4 Blockade Runners and a Raider are built.

“The Yankees Are Coming! The Yankees Are Coming!”

With the number of dice thrown in land combat now finally to the Union’s advantage (it increases in 1863 and again in 1864) and his wall of ships on blockade firmly in place, Brandon begins the great push – and last turn he paid build points to allow him to make a third attack.   The first target is Nashville:

Battle of Nashville – Ironclads vs. Batteries; Five Card Stud or "You Shall Not Pass!"

Brandon now has FOUR Ironclads on the river, and with a pair of gunboats they sail into Nashville – which has three batteries.

Proclaiming loudly "You shall not pass!" Mark empties half of his hand to defend the city – playing Infernal Machines (56), The Mosquito Fleet (81) (which adds a Gunboat on a die roll) and the Hulks, Rafts and Chains  (110) Cards.  Brandon makes one of his Ironclads The Carondelet (Card 15) and plays Queen of the West (38) to turn a gunboat into a ram.   This makes FIVE cards being played out of the 12 held by the two players.

 The Infernal Machines force one Ironclad and one Gunboat to retreat.  The Queen of the West misses ramming the Rebel Gunboat.   In the exchange of fire the Union loses an Ironclad and a Gunboat, the South loses its sole Gunboat and one of the three batteries.

Brandon decides that his two surviving Ironclads are not enough to take on the remaining two batteries --- as the Union would have but one die each vs. two die per Battery.  He retreats, but only so he can unleash a second, fresh force…as we will see next time in Turn 7 (Part II) – The Second Battle of Nashville.

  

To be continued…