Plan Crimson Developer's Notes
By Doug McNair
October 2008

As our first-ever PDF game, the newly released U.S. Navy Plan Crimson is the first in what we hope will be a long line of games specifically designed for Gold Club members. The model for such a game is one that doesn’t pass the mass-marketing test, but which will appeal to the hardcore fans of our various game series.

The Game

This one is about as hardcore as you can get. If Great War at Sea: Mediterranean is a battle in a bathtub and Black Sea Fleets is a battle in the kitchen sink, then Plan Crimson is a battle in a tea set, with the crumpets hopping from cup to cup (OK, I’m stretching the metaphor). The game is played on a very restrictive set of waterways, and action is never more than a couple of turns away. Players will need all their experience and ingenuity to get their transport or bombardment fleets to the target before enemy forces converge to force a grand battle.

The great thing about designing alternative-history games is that you can make up whatever battles you want. But designer Milan Becvar has gone far beyond this, crafting a myriad of rules specific to a Great Lakes campaign. There were far too many for us to playtest in a reasonable amount of time, so we included a selection of them, like the Blockship Mission, shore batteries for minor ports and of course rules for transiting canals.

Many more remain, like rules for lake ice, army air strikes, artillery attacks on ships as they transit canals, and campaign game rules and scenarios. In the latter, the U.S. player determines his objectives before play begins and the Canadian player rolls dice to determine the circumstances at the outbreak of war and thus the dispersal of his forces between the various Lakes. There is huge potential for interesting play here, with players invading and counter-invading canal zones to wrest control of them and thus allow fleets on one lake to support those on other lakes. We will playtest these and send them out to the Gold Club members as they become ready.

The Ships

Since Plan Crimson depicts a war that never took place, it’s perfectly legitimate for the battleline on each side to consist of ships that were never built. The main strength of each side’s navy consists of Lake Battleships (class BL). These are scaled-down pre-dreadnought and dreadnought battleship types, equivalents of larger European Coast Defence vessels. They form the core of the Lake Fleets and are largely manned by reservists. The design came from a need to provide the army with bombardment support and escorts for invasion forces. Their size was restricted by economic constraints and the need to pass canal locks, and their designs compromised by space saving such as reducing onboard accommodation for the crew and avoiding superimposing turrets.

Basic ship specs for the different classes of BL on each side, and the ships that fall into each class, are as follows:

United States

Freedom class (1898)
4-12in. (2x2), 4-8in, 4-5in, 2TT 16kt
BL01 Freedom
BL02 Independence
BL03 Liberty
BL04 Constitution
BL05 Justice
BL-06 Glory
BL07 Patriot
BL08 Columbia

Harrison class (1902)
4-12in (2x2), 6-8in, 4-5in, 2TT 16.5kt
BL09 Harrison
BL10 Macdonough
BL11 Pike
BL12 Porter
BL13 Foote
BL14 Monitor
BL15 Dalhgren

Cushing class (1907)
4-12in (2x2), 8-8in, 4-5in, 2TT 19kt
BL16 Cushing
BL17 OH Perry
BL18 Hull
BL19 Preble
BL20 Farragut
BL21 Ericsson
BL22 Decatur

J.P. Jones class (1911)
8-12in (3x2, 2x1), 6-5in, 2TT 19kt
BL23 J.P. Jones
BL24 DuPont
BL25 Lake Erie
BL26 Lake Champlain
BL27 Elliot
BL28 Lawrence
BL29 Tripoli

Milwaukee class (1915)
7-14in (3x1, 2x2), 6-5in, 2TT 19kt
BL30 Milwaukee
BL31 Buffalo
BL32 Cleveland
BL33 Detroit
BL34 Chicago
BL35 Toledo
BL36 Rochester

Canadian

Windsor class (1898)
3-12in (2x1,1x1), 6-8in, 2-6in 4-3in, 2TT 17kt
BL01 Windsor
BL02 Prevost
BL03 Bathurst
BL04 Bloor
BL05 Byng
BL06 Blenhiem
BL07 York
BL08 London

Port Arthur class (1903)
4-12in (2x2), 2-8in, 4-6in, 6-3in, 2TT 19kt
BL09 Port Arthur
BL10 Port Colborne
BL11 Midland
BL12 Kingston
BL13 Port Stanley

Alberta class (1906)
4-12in (2x2), 2-8in, 4-6in, 6-3in, 4TT 25.5kt
BL14 Alberta
BL15 Athabaska
BL16 Thames
BL17 Mackenzie
BL18 St.Lawrence
BL19 Ottawa

Toronto class (1910)
6-12in (2x3), 6-6in, 4-4.7in, 2TT 20kt
BL20 Toronto
BL21 Winnepeg
BL22 Edmonton
BL23 Regina
BL24 Montreal
BL25 Queenston
BL26 Vancouver

Dufferin class (1914)
6-13.5in (2x3), 6-6in, 4-4.7in, 2TT 20kt
BL27 Dufferin
BL28 Lorne
BL29 Drummond
BL30 Brock
BL31 Macdonald
BL32 Bagot
BL33 Landsdowne
BL34 Simcoe

Tune in next time for Part Two, in which I dig more deeply into War for the Lakes, the strategic situation there and the scenarios of U.S. Navy Plan Crimson.

Not a Gold Club member yet? Join now and get Plan Crimson as soon as we get your membership!