Rebel Raiders on the High Seas

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a comparatively short and simple game of the naval conflict at sea and on the great rivers in the American Civil War. Easily playable in less than three hours, Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a strategic contest between two players, one seeking to reunite the Union by force, the other to maintain its new independence in the face of the escalating industrial might and resolve of its northern brother. More of a representation than a detailed simulation of that conflict, the game is intensely engaging, highly interactive and moves along quickly, with players constantly responding and reacting to their opponent’s moves.

As play proceeds, a fast and furious struggle ensues on the high seas as the Kearsarge, Brooklyn, Hartford and other Union sloops chase and hunt down Confederate raiders like the Shenandoah and Alabama. Rebel blockade runners try to shoot past the ever tightening Union net off Southern ports and in coastal waters, racing to destinations as far away as Mexico, Brazil, Africa and Europe to gather the supplies the Confederacy desperately needs to maintain its war effort.

Gunboats and ironclads such as the Tennessee, Arkansas, Monitor and Carondelet, just to name a few, fight it out up and down the Mississippi and into the great ports of New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, Savannah and Norfolk.

While naval forces led by Farragut, Porter, Buchanan and Semmes duel each other on the high seas and rivers; Grant, Sherman, Lee and Johnston pit their vast armies against each other in a simple yet exciting back and forth struggle to save or crush the Confederacy.

Although the majority of ship playing pieces represent generic vessels of a broad type, a deck of cards and special counters allows for many of the unique ships, personalities and events of the war to be represented, as well as rules to give players tactical battle decisions such as whether the Confederates should sortie with warships to protect their land batteries or for the Union whether to use ironclads to screen their more vulnerable wooden vessels. This gives a strategic game an occasionally intensely tactical focus providing players a “best of both worlds” gaming experience.

Although Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is not a card-driven game, the cards ensure that each game is very different, and that a strategy which worked in one game may not prove as efficacious in the next. The game is also customizable with a menu of elective rules to provide each side with a variety of “what if” options to further vary play.

Components:

One 22 x 28 map

One Short Rule Book

Eight six-sided dice

One deck of 110 cards

6 Plastic Stands for Leaders

4 Blue Cannon Pawns

1 Grey Cannon Pawn

176 5/8” ship, leader and battery counters

100 ½” cargo, victory point, control and informational counters

20 small plastic tokens