Between April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865 the United States of America were anything but united. For this period they were torn apart by a very bloody Civil War. The 13 states of the Confederacy split away from the Union due to the sticky problem of slavery. The South being a largely agrarian society with huge farms, mostly worked by slaves, was not expected to be able to put up much of a fight against the largely industrialised Northern states. However, due to fighting on home territory and some ingenious workings, the South held out till 1865.
While much of the action, and casualties, took place between large opposing armies both sides navies fought one another from the very first day till the signing of the southern surrender in 1865 (some naval vessels days after that). There were huge casualties on each side and to this day the Civil War has been America’s most costly war in terms of casualties with over 825,000 casualties.
The naval part of the Civil War was fought in several different theatres. Initially the North tried to blockade the ports of the south to stop them from importing raw materials and exporting their crops. There were other serious campaigns, from the battles on the River Mississippi, which lead to splitting the Confederacy in half, to those fought on the Cumberland, Tennessee and James rivers.
The very first ironclad battle took place in Hampton Roads in defence of Norfolk naval base between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia which defined future designs on both sides.
You will find the full rules as well as scenarios in this module, individual ship to ship actions, to small fleets of ships fighting each other as well as many against shore batteries. They are presented in order and are in some cases linked to enable a mini campaign to be completed. There are ‘Special Rules’ to enhance the playability and accuracy of each scenario.
We trust you find this book interesting and for future titles in this series to have many more of the battles from this fascinating period.
In addition, we will be creating 3D printed models, in 1/600 scale, of many of the ships and batteries that are included in these rules.