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 17x22" 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