War Plan Crimson: The U.S. Invades Canada and Blood Before Richmond: Beaver Dam Creek are both available for order from our friends at Tiny Battle Publishing. The first title involves the hypothetical invasion of Canada during the late 1930’s while the second tackles the opening battle of the American Civil War campaign known as the Seven Days. Currently you can score War Plan Crimson for $23.99 and Blood Before Richmond for $19.99.
From Tiny Battle:
WAR PLAN CRIMSON is a simulation game of a hypothetical invasion of Canada by the United States some time between 1935 and 1939. The game is for two players, one representing the leader of the armed forces of the United States that could be deployed against Canada (the US player) and the other representing the commander of the Canadian and British forces that would defend against a foreign invasion (the Commonwealth or CW player).
In reality, both countries have enjoyed cordial relations but it is also historical fact that the United States Army did make plans to invade Canada, in the context of the ‘Rainbow’ war plans where potential enemy countries were referenced by colors (Japan was orange, Britain red, and Canada crimson – whence the title of the game). In most cases these plans were created, studied and maintained in order to keep staff officers sharp, but the strategic priorities of an actual plan submitted for consideration in 1935 (seizing Halifax and Montreal in a quick campaign before Britain could intervene decisively) are the obvious ones and have been used as the basic framework for the action in this game.
Game components include:
– 176 tediously square die-cut counters
– a 17×22″ map, showing the environs of Montreal and Halifax at 3 miles per hex
– rules and charts, chock-full of procedural rhetoric
– a plastic bag to smother all of the above
Blood Before Richmond is a series of games recreating some of the Seven Days Battles fought between George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under its daring new commander, Robert E. Lee. McClellan squandered a numerical advantage by demonstrating what would become a characteristic knack for turning tactical victories into strategic failures. Lee’s ambitious battle plans were hindered by subordinates who seemed incapable of carrying them out – chief among them, oddly, the usually exemplary Stonewall Jackson. If either side had been up to snuff, the war might have been decided in Late June 1861. Tiny Battle Publishing is proud to present this series of quick-playing, medium-complexity games about these fascinating and overlooked battles of the American Civil War, starting with Gaines’s Mill.
The first major engagement of the Seven Days set the precedent for the fighting that would follow. You have a small contingent of Union soldiers occupying a strong defensive position; Lee’s plan calls for multiple divisions to coordinate their assaults so as to outflank and destroy the enemy; one or two divisions do all the fighting, abandoning the plan and settling for costly frontal assaults. At least this time, Stonewall Jackson shows up – sort of, anyway: having just marched from the Valley with orders to attack the Union rear, he hears the fighting and promptly sets up camp instead, because of course he does.
The fourth game in our series goes back to the beginning. Though this battle has relatively few special rules, it’s very challenging. It’s much harder for the johnnies to activate more than a single division at a time, while the yankees find their line stretched precariously thin…
Game components include:
– 176 counters
– A stylish and distinctive 11×17 inch map.
– Rules with enough grit for aspiring grognards.
– A spiffy Ziploc bag to store your stack of steps.
– You’ll need to requisition a couple of six-sided dice from the quartermaster.
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