Mosby's Raiders (game)
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Mosby's Raiders was a solitaire board wargame. The game shown in the accompanying picture is Mosby's Raiders, published by Victory Games in 1985 and developed by Eric Lee Smith. Smith looked for a situation that had historical information he could work into the game play and his research led him to the partisan activities of Confederate cavalry against the Federal troops and supply lines in Northern Virginia between 1862 and 1864. The solitary player assumes the role of John Mosby who selects the targets for raider action from those presented on the map (supply depots, rail lines and bridges) and random historical targets presented by cards that are drawn at the beginning of each turn. Mosby is aided by historical elements shown on cards that are drawn according to a formula which depends on his notoriety from previous successful raids. His ability to recruit members of his raiders from the local countryside depends on his health, notoriety, and the random Federal sweeps of the countryside. Victory is secured by continuing to score a preset number of notoriety and Federal awareness points by the end of a preset number of turns. The Federal army responds to the raids by being activated by Moseby's activities and moving towards the Raider marker by random throws of a die. The game succeeds in presenting the player with a sense of the limitations these early guerillas faced as well as their tactics such as "skedaddling" or scattering in the face of frequently superior forces. Ultimately, Mosby was fairly successful in attempting to slow supplies being delivered to Federal troops and occupy as many troops as possible who could have been used in offensive action against the Confederacy.
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