Raiders, Looters and Card Tricks

[Straight Arrow]

These are some ideas and practices that have come up in a current game. Do they hold true, or is there a better way?


When the foe marches deep into the South, swarm the countryside with partisans. The Federals will find it necessary to protect rail supply lines by stationing units in each area the line runs through. Attack these detachments with fast moving, small cavalry divisions.

Raid the North with Quantrill and his raiders; use the RGD plunder cards. This can earn up to $210 dollars a year with little effort or risk. It is not necessary to control the city or area when playing the card.

Use the Disinformation and Cavalry Screening RGDs to disappear. This might allow you to extract your force from a dangerous encirclement.

If your nation and its rail system is cut in two, it is impossible to use the strategic transfer to quickly move leaders and support units from one theater to another. Prepare for this by ensuring the necessary commanders and supply wagons are in place before your rail network is cut.

[Cardinal Ape]

Yup, sounds fairly solid.

Keep in mind that the percent chance to destroy a railroad is directly relative to the units power. If you really need a specific connection destroyed group up a couple of partisans. If you launch attacks against rail garrisons it may be best to target regions with low opponent MC control - winning a battle may remove enough enemy MC to stop rail movement.

Trying to repair broken rails in bad terrain and weather can be tough. Units like rangers may be able to get there faster than others.

Don't forget about the Indian pillage cards, they don't make as much as the plunder, but it is still something. I'm not so sure about Quantrill and his bushwhackers being good for plunder missions, do they have a trait that causes them to pillage regions? If I remember right you can't use plunder cards on pillaged regions. Maybe a general with the forager trait would be better.

Disinformation and Cavalry Screens seem to be pretty powerful at what they do. The opponent can use Spies and Deep Recon to counter, but chances are they will fail to. Spies are a 50% chance. However, Deep Recon is an oddity to me. One can't play it on regions they control. So if you just lost a battle and are stuck in the same region as the victor then your Cavalry Screen is guaranteed to work.

[Gray Fox]

Several of the cards allow the player to reap Victory Points from their use. In a close game played out to the bitter end, a player who doesn't miss the money might be able to convert cash into VP's to tip the scales back in his favor. Quite a few VP's can be "bought" each year this way.