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,  

A Bad Day on the Mississippi....Union attacks repulsed; Ironclad USS Cincinnati sunk

May 27, 1863

            Historical Event:   Bad day on the Mississippi.   Bank’s ground assault on Port Hudson repulsed with heavy losses.  Porter’s fleet duels with Vicksburg batteries – USS Cincinnati sunk.

            May 27, 1863 was a bad day for the Union on the Mississippi River.  General Nathaniel Banks’s ill-conceived plan to rush the Rebel lines at Port Hudson resulted in the decimation of his army.  After losing nearly 1,850 dead and wounded, Banks called off the attack and resumed his siege.

            At Vicksburg, David Dixon Porter led a powerful force of ironclads to bombard Fort Hill, the city’s chief bastion on the water.  The at first inconclusive pounding turned to tragedy, as Rebel gunners sunk the USS Cincinnati  (pictured below, courtesy of  U.S. Naval Historical Center; the “action” shot is from the new stamp issued last week by the U.S. Postal Service).

            Game Connection:  Vicksburg is one of the key ports on the Mississippi the Union must take to win Rebel Raiders on the High Seas.  Due to the scale of the map Port Hudson itself is not shown, but is represented by the fort space at Baton Rouge, which incorporates both important locales between Vicksburg and New Orleans.

            Porter (USN Card No. 2) is represented as a leader and a card in the game, and counters represent his ironclads and other warships, as well as the Rebel ships and batteries, like that upon Fort Hill, with which they contended for mastery of the great river. 

PBS Airing Rebel, About a Confederate Female Soldier Turned Spy -
-and there are spies for both sides in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas

One of the perks of being a journalist is previewing television shows for PBS, and today on Examiner.com I posted one for Rebel, which airs tomorrow (Friday, May 24) at 10 p.m. on most PBS stations.

Told through dramatic re-enactments Rebel is the true story of Loretta Velazquez, "an Hispanic woman in a white man's war" as she described herself in her memoir, A Woman in Battle, first published in 1876 (and still in print).    Donning her late husband's uniform she enlisted as a lieutenant in the 7th Louisiana and fought at both Bull Run and Shiloh.  She later became a spy for the Confederacy - and eventually may have been turned into a double-agent by the Union.

Two well-known female spies of the war appear on cards in Rebel Raiders:  actress Pauline Cushman (USN Card 39: "All the World's a Stage) and Rose O'Neal Greenhow (CSN Card 82: "A Rose by any other name...")

For more on Rebel, follow the link below to my article:  (the illustration below is of actress Romi Dias, who plays Loretta Velazquez in Rebel; photo courtesy of PBS Voces).

http://www.examiner.com/review/rebel-an-hispanic-woman-a-white-man-s-war-premieres-on-pbs

Silly Ships of the Civil War

As one follower of my blog remarked upon seeing the picture of the USS Choctaw (see the posting for yesterday, May 20)  "it's hard to imagine that was an actual warship!"

Well, it was -- and Civil War ships are indeed a bizarre  and ungainly lot, as there are ironclads, cottonclads, timberclads, putt-putt steamboats, mortar-boats, fire-rafts, paddlewheelers, armed merchantmen, screw sloops, steam frigates, traditional sailing ships, ships that combined two or  three types of propulsion, gunboats, rams, raiders, submarines, dummy warships (like the "Black Terror") ocean-going tugs - and even an ocean-going ironclad raider -- the CSS Stonewall.....

Most of those bizarre ships appear in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, as even a cursory look at the countermix or cards will show.   

One of the things i loved most about designing this game was researching and reading about the ships...and the men who served aboard them...

For a scholarly yet entertaining look at these ships and how they fought, I suggest James McPherson's War on the Waters, which came out last year.  You can hear him (and Craig Symonds, another great Civil War naval historian) talk about it on this link:  I was present at their session at the New York Historical Society last October -- and I am on camera at the 39 minute mark asking a question about Rebel Admiral Buchanan and Commander Montgomery, both of whom appear in the game.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/309606-1

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,  

May 20, 1863

            Historical Event: Siege of Vicksburg.    

            After Pemberton’s retreat from Champion’s Hill (see the May 16 blog entry), Grant pressed forward, overrunning hasty Confederate works on the Big Black River on the 17^th.  Federal engineers bridged the river and three Union corps crossed on the 18^th.   Grant’s attempt to carry the fortified city of Vicksburg by coup de main on the 19^th was a costly failure, resulting in nearly 1,000 casualties.  On May 20 the Union dug in, beginning the formal siege. 

            To complete the siege by water, Porter sent two ironclads (Choctaw and DeKalb) and four gunboats to attack the Rebel shipyard at Yazoo City.  The garrison set fire to the yards and to the three warships under construction rather than surrender them to the Union.

            Game Connection:

            Vicksburg is one of the three keys to the Mississippi, Federal control of which is one of the requirements for a Union victory.  Grant is in the game as a card (USN #8), and Porter appears both as a naval leader marker and as a card (USN#2).  Ironclads and gunboats are vital to both sides when battling for supremacy on the Mississippi.

Below is a photograph of USS Choctaw taken off Vicksburg in 1863 (Department of the Navy, Navy Historical Center)

            

GMT Sale -- Get Rebel Raiders for Half Price!

GMT is having a big sale - for a limited time order one or two games and get them at half off the list price...This offer applies to Rebel Raiders and Iron & Oak as well as their other games...this means you can game the Civil War on the strategic level with Rebel Raiders, and fight out most of the naval actions tactically with Iron & Oak  (as the rules in Rebel Raiders' playbook describes) -- all for the price of just one game!

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Hi guys! We're having a ONE WEEK sale!!!! Here are the details: GMT Games Twitter Celebration Sale!! For those of you with Twitter accounts, you may have noticed that our account on Twitter (and Instagram) is now live. We invite you to Follow us to keep up with the GMT news on a daily basis. Here's the link: https://twitter.com/gmtgames We're happy to have expanded our social media outreach this week, and a bunch of you guys have helped us with background details and information and also with spreading the word, so we're going to have a "Twitter Celebration Sale" for EVERYONE to mark the occasion and to thank you all for your help with spreading the word and helping out with our social media expansion. Details: Between now and next Wednesday (May 22nd), you can make ONE ORDER with either ONE or TWO IN-STOCK GMT GAMES, and get those games for 50% OFF the retail (or sale - the games on our Specials page DO qualify) price. Note: this only applies to IN-STOCK games, and only games from GMT, not from the third-party companies (Consimpress, UGG, etc) that we rep on our website. Coupon Code: When you place your order on our website (www.gmtgames.com) or with our office ladies (800-523-6111 or 559-583-1236 or via online chat from our website), use the following Coupon Code at Checkout to get your discount: TW1350 Normal Shipping Costs apply. I hope you guys can use this opportunity to pick up a game or two that you've been wanting at a terrific price! Enjoy!

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,  

May 14, 1863

            Historical Event:   Rebel raiders expelled from England!

Succumbing to growing popular pressure to curtail ties with the South in the wake of Lincoln’s issuing of The Emancipation Proclamation, construction of Confederate raiders in English ports is halted by order of Her Majesty’s Government.  The chief Confederate agent for those in England, Commander James D. Bullock, CSN, is told his ships will not be confiscated, as the Union has asked, but will be allowed to sail for France, where construction may continue, subject to the whim of Emperor Napoleon III.

            Game Connection:  No game of the Civil War would be complete without a nod to The Emancipation Proclamation.  The Union player can enact it starting in 1863 upon capture of a Confederate city or port.  Among the many benefits the Union obtains from this act is the enhanced abilities noted on USN Card 55 (Diplomatic Pressure).   As noted on the card, the Union selects one of the two European port boxes and places a marker there, not only closing it to the South for the duration of the game, but also allowing him to roll a die for each Rebel ship in that port which will result in either it being seized or forced out to sea.

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 26, 1863

            Historical Event:  On this day “Fighting Joe” Hooker began his much anticipated turning movement in a campaign that would lead to his epic and classic humiliation at Chancellorsville.  That the march got off to a bad start, with torrential rains turning the Virginia “roads” into muddy goo was seen by many as a bad omen – and right they were!

            Game Connection:  No strategy survives first contact with the weather, as card 59 “Mud-Bound” which the Confederate player can use to frustrate and so educate his Union opponent shows.

 

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 22, 1863

            Historical Event:  As 18 Union supply ships attempt to run past the guns at Vicksburg, Confederate defender General Pemberton prepares to attack the Union fleet with fire rafts.  Eleven of the transports get through; enough to allow General Grant to maintain his siege.

            Game Connection:  Vicksburg is the key to the Mississippi in Rebel Raiders, and its retention is made even more valuable if playing with the “Mississippi Survival” Bonus Victory Points optional rule.  Taking a fortified Vicksburg requires a strong naval presence on the river, and one way the Confederates can weaken that is through the play of a card that reflects the tactic Pemberton used this day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History….

This day 150 years ago in Rebel Raiders’ History

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-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 17, 1863

            Historical Event: Grierson’s Raid.  On this date in 1863 Colonel Benjamin Grierson set off with a brigade of 1,700 Yankee cavalrymen to ride deep behind Confederate lines.  His mission: to tear up railroads, burn bridges and destroy rolling stock and any military supplies he could find.  The highly successful one-way raid began in Tennessee, roared through Mississippi and ended at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

            Game Connection:  The disruption of Confederate supply and production caused by the raid is recreated through the play of Union Card 42, The Horse Soldiers.  The name is in homage to the popular John Wayne movie of the same name, which in turn was based on the best-selling novel by Harold Sinclair.

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 15, 1863

            Historical Event: “Captain, there be whales here!”  On this date in 1863 the Confederate raider CSS Alabama captured two Union whalers off the Brazilian island of Fernando de Norohna.  Over the course of the war Captain Raphael Semmes almost single-handedly destroyed the American whaling fleet, doing great commercial damage to the Union and New England in particular.

            Game Connection:  The Alabama is not only on the cover of the game but also is a counter and card (Confederate card 63, as depicted below).   Hunting whalers is also what raiders like Alabama do best – and there is even a separate special zone on the map for such activities. 

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/