Rockets Red Glare, subtitled "An Operational and Strategic Study of the War of 1812 in North America", is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1980 that simulates the War of 1812. The game's title is taken from the American national anthem The Star Spangled Banner , written by poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships in 1814.
Rockets Red Glare is a two-person wargame in which one player controls British forces and the other controls American forces. The game is a mixture of operational-level and strategic-level, and uses two hex grid maps to achieve this:
The operational game simulates American attempts to invade Upper Canada and Lower Canada, as well as naval combat on the Great Lakes. Movement in this area of rugged and undeveloped boreal forest is slow, and at both the start and end of a player's turn, units that are out of supply are eliminated. This can happen if a unit travels too far from its supply fort, or if the fort that was supplying it is captured. [1] Units can be supplied via naval transport on the Great Lakes, but are subject to being eliminated if their supply ship is captured or destroyed. [1]
American ships attempt to damage the British fleet. Fourteen of the American ships are classified as of superior quality and receive an advantage during combat. [1] Critic Peter Hatton noted that if the American player keeps all of their ships together, an unhistorical strategy in an age of individual ship-to-ship combat, this inevitably leads to an American victory in this phase of the game. [1]
There are no supply rules for the strategic game. Victory points are for areas occupied, which critic Peter Hatton pointed out is unhistorical — the war along the eastern and south-eastern coast consisted of British amphibious raids, such as the raid that resulted in the Burning of Washington; Hatton believed that by forcing the British to attempt to invade the entire United States, an American victory in this area of the game is guaranteed. [1]
Each phase of the game has separate victory conditions:
The winner of the overall game is the player who accumulates the most Victory Points from all three aspects of the game. [1]
Stephen Newberg designed Rockets Red Glare, trying to "show the military and logistical reasons for the poor showing on the field by all participants that led to a military status quo and the eventual political results." [2] Simulations Canada published it in 1980 with a print run of 1500 copies packaged in ziplock bags. [2] Although reviews were mixed, Newberg later wrote that the game was "one of the favourites of my own design." [2]
In Issue 91 of Strategy & Tactics , Eric Goldberg thought that "The design is original in many places and conveys a sense of one of the more senseless wars in history. The Americans begin by harassing the greatly superior British naval forces, and then watch the American heartland get stomped by powerful British stacks." Goldberg did not like the convoluted Victory Point system, feeling that it "detracts from an otherwise likable — if eccentric — game." Goldberg concluded, "If you are vaguely interested in the situation, the text is worth wading through." [3]
In Issue 34 of Fire & Movement , Bob Proctor found the rule book to be too brief, noting, "Rockets Red Glare demands a lot from its rule book ... Unfortunately, [the rulebook's] brevity has left some areas so vague that without errata there is a good chance for misinterpretation." Despite this, Proctor called it "a very successful game in that it fulfills all of the designer's objectives. It combines a nice blend of historical constraints and strategic choices. It portrays the relationship between sea power (and lake power) and land power extremely well." Proctor concluded "Stephen Newberg has done an excellent job. It is an innovative treatment playable in six to eight hours." [4]
Peter Hatton, writing in The Wargamer , found the slow movement and harsh supply rules in the operational game brought the game to a crawl, writing, "So the conflict here, though a faithful simulation of a difficult backwoods sector, is pretty boring." Hatton was also not thrilled with the ocean strategic game, pointing out that it was an easy American win if the American player grouped all their ships together. And Hatton also found the Americans the clear winners of the land strategic game due to the victory conditions of owning inland areas pointing out that "Scattering 25,000 British troops over 216,000 square miles of the Southern U.S.A. is not a strategy of any historic merit." Hatton concluded "the result plays unhistorically on the strategic map and historicity of the operational map lacks excitement ... not a game to recommend." [1]
In a retrospective review in Issue 10 of Simulacrum, Steve Carey called Rockets Red Glare "one of SimCan's icon games, an ambitious design on an unheralded topic. [Designer Stephen] Newberg stated that he really enjoyed working on the project, and it shows. The interweaving of the various scales and units, both land and naval, provides for a different gaming experience. [2]
Wooden Ships and Iron Men is a naval board wargame simulating naval combat during the Age of Sail that was published by Battleline Publications in 1974, then revised and republished by Avalon Hill the following year.
Invasion: America, subtitled "Death Throes of the Superpower", is a near-future board wargame published by SPI in 1976 that simulates a hypothetical coordinated attack on North America by various factions.
Hitler's War is a strategic level World War II war game for 2 or 3 players, first published by Metagaming Concepts in 1981, and then by Avalon Hill in 1984.
Civil War is an early strategic board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1961 that simulates the American Civil War. Unlike other games produced by Avalon Hill during this period such as Gettysburg, Civil War did not sell well and was dropped from production two years later.
Conquistador, originally subtitled "The Age of Exploration: 1495–1600", is a board game published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1976 that simulates the exploration of the New World in the 16th century. Players take on the role of European countries sending expeditions to find gold and establish colonies. Although the design uses the trappings of board wargames such as a hex map, combat is not a major part of the game.
Chinese Farm, subtitled "Egyptian-Israeli Combat in the '73 War", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates operational level ground combat between Egypt and Israel at the Battle of The Chinese Farm during the just completed Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Chinese Farm was originally published as part of the "quadrigame" Modern Battles: Four Contemporary Conflicts.
A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby developed in 1954 following the publication and commercial success of Tactics. The board wargaming hobby continues to enjoy a sizeable following, with a number of game publishers and gaming conventions dedicated to the hobby both in the English-speaking world and further afield.
NATO: Operational Combat in Europe in the 1970s is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1973 that simulates an invasion of Western Europe by the Warsaw Pact.
Kriegsmarine is a video game published by Simulations Canada in 1989 that simulates naval combat during World War II. It is text-only, unusual for the time, and requires the player to track ship movement on a physical map.
Gulf Strike, subtitled "Land, Air and Sea Combat in the Persian Gulf", is a board wargame published by Victory Games in 1983. The first and second editions were hypothetical games focussed on American responses to Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf. The third edition, published in 1990, was updated to reflect the reality of Operation Desert Shield during the First Gulf War.
Lee at the Crossroads is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada (SimCan) in 1980 that simulates the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Each player takes the role of one of the opposing commanders, Confederate general Robert E. Lee or Union general George Meade.
Kriegsmarine is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada (SimCan) in 1980 that is a simulation of tactical naval comabt in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during World War II.
Dieppe, subtitled "An Operational Game of the Allied Raid on Fortress Europe, August 1942", is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1977 that is a simulation of Operation Jubilee, the disastrous Dieppe Raid made by Canadian and British forces during World War II.
The American Civil War: 1861–1865 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 that is a strategic simulation of the American Civil War.
The Peloponnesian War is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada (SimCan) in 1977 that simulates the 5th century BCE war between the Greek cities of Athens and Sparta.
War in the Pacific, subtitled "The Campaign Against Imperial Japan, 1941–45", is a large and complex strategic board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1978 that simulates the Pacific Campaign during World War II. Critics gave the game positive reviews, praising its use of logistics and "fog of war", and its well-written rules.
Seapower & the State, subtitled "A Strategic Study of World War Three at Sea, 1984–1994", is a Cold War-era board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1982 that simulates potential naval warfare during a hypothetical World War III.
Hannibal: The Italian Campaign is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1983 that simulates Hannibal's eight-year campaign against Rome during the Second Punic War.
The Wilderness, subtitled "Lee Meets Grant: An Operational Study", is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1983 that simulates the Battle of the Wilderness during the American Civil War.
D.A.K.,, is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1982 that simulates the North African Campaign.