Great War at Sea: Caribbean Empires, Part I (2022)

In 1823, U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wrote to the American Minister to Spain, noting that Spanish-ruled Cuba would likely be annexed by the United States within the next 50 years. Despite several attempts, that did not happen, though in 1898 the U.S. defeated Spain and made Cuba a puppet state. In Caribbean Empires, Part One, the Maine crisis of 1898 brings the United States and Spain to the brink of war, but the newspaper circulation wars do not spill over into an actual armed conflict. That comes a decade later, after both have built up their forces in anticipation of a naval war in the Caribbean basin. And in 1908, the United States finds a pretext to start an invasion of Spain’s Caribbean Empire. Caribbean Empires, Part One is an expansion set for Great War at Sea: Remember the Maine. It adds 80 new pieces (60 “long” ship pieces and 20 standard-sized ones), and uses pieces and the map from Remember the Maine. The Americans have the pre-dreadnought battleships of the Great White Fleet, plus some other designs that were considered but never built. The Spanish have also built a fleet of pre-dreadnoughts, pouring resources into an effort to keep their empire alive and maintain the long-departed illusion of Great Power status. —description from the publisher