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. 

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