Rebel Raiders Replay  (Turn 11 –August 1864, Part II)

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

The South is being rendered to shreds by the North.  With their stunning and hard-fought naval victory at New Orleans, the Union has complete control of the Mississippi.  Atlanta is next....but first, one more strike at the Coast, as Brandon continues his efforts to sweep the seas of Rebel Raiders and Blockade Runners...

New Bern – and Coeur de Lion

Using the Coeur de Lion (Card 44) to tow a bunch of Ironclads, Brandon hits New Bern on the Atlantic Coast.  The “blizzard of fire” as one bystander watching over Brandon’s shoulder remarks, sweeps the city clean of all traces of the Secession.

For good measure, Brandon hunts down Raiders, sinking one in the chilly waters of the North Atlantic.

The Burning of Atlanta

The Navy done, now it is time for the Army.  Grant takes Atlanta with ease.  The Union plays War is Cruelty (Card 6) to attack out of Atlanta into Montgomery; even with having one fewer die (as the card notes), the city is an easy capture, as there is no Battery and the South has no card to help. The special VP penalty Atlanta's loss entails does not faze the staggering Confederacy from a Victory Points' perspective - as they can not be driven down below negative 5 VP.   

Brandon bought four Assaults and used three (War is Cruelty gave a bonus breakthrough attack).  Seeing Mark’s Counterattack sitting there on the turn record, Brandon takes that fourth and final Assault into Augusta.   This is not a city but a fort space, but by taking it (and Montgomery) he has built a cordon around Atlanta – Mark will not be able to Counterattack that jewel of the South, with its now permanently razed arsenal, as he will have no place from which to launch his assault.

Brandon plays Gideon Welles (Card 29) to draw the top three cards from his deck; he keeps one, discards two, reshuffles and then draws four cards (it is 1864). He buys two more Assaults, and yet another card to build his hand to its maximum size of six (Cards may be purchased at a cost of 2 builds per).

  

To be Continued….