Great War at Sea: Navy Plan Red

Brettspiel in englischer Sprache,
Thematik: Seekrieg, 1. Weltkrieg

By the time of the First World War, American naval officers had clustered into two camps: those around William Shepherd Benson, the chief of naval operations, disliked the British and saw them as their navy's next enemy. Others followed the lead of William Sims, who admired the Royal Navy and saw Britain as a natural ally. During the war these camps polarized: Some Americans had very positive experiences serving alongside the British, while others burned at the arrogant attitude of some in the Royal Navy.

When the United States formalized its war plans in the early 20th Century, potential foes were coded by color. Japan became Orange, Germany was Black, and Britain was noted as Red. British dominions also drew shades of Red: Canada was Crimson, New Zealand was Garnet, India was Ruby and Australia was Scarlet.

The game's map covers the Eastern Seaboard, from the Labrador coast in the north to Virginia Beach in the south. In addition to the British and American fleets, Plan Red the game also includes Canada's three proposed dreadnoughts.

One of the game's points of popularity, that it shares with Plan Orange and Plan Black, is the inclusion of ships planned or begun but never completed. The Americans receive four examples of the 1919 battleship design, a monstrous ship with eight 18-inch guns, and also four of the South Dakota class, begun but never completed.

There are three examples of the original design of the Lexington-class battle cruiser with 14-inch guns, and five smokestacks. We've also got the American 1914 design of a fast armored cruiser with eight 10-inch guns, which would have been built for commerce raiding.

On the British side, we have the huge N3 design battleships, with nine 18-inch guns, and the similar G3 battle cruiser with nine 16-inch guns. The Royal Navy also gets its proposed F-class cruiser, and the three R-class battleships which were ordered but later cancelled.

In our Dreadnoughts book supplement we included some scenarios featuring Plan Red, plus some excellent advanced tactical rules by Karl Laskas, for those wanting more detail in their combat.