Red Sash Games

Red Sash Games Red Sash Games is a desktop design and publishing group dedicated to producing quality board wargames. Visit our website for more information.

Our focus is on European and European-style wars, from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries.

Copy of the latest RSG newsletter, featuring the release of our latest game, The Coorg War:Hello everyone,some exciting ...
04/11/2025

Copy of the latest RSG newsletter, featuring the release of our latest game, The Coorg War:

Hello everyone,

some exciting news this time.

New Business

Red Sash Games has just released a new title: The Coorg War.

This game is a one-off, much smaller and simpler than RSG’s usual fare. As always, the subject is as obscure as we can make it. This time, it is 1834 and you are leading an expedition into the mountain kingdom of Coorg (Kodagu) in southwest India to depose an uncooperative raja. Or, if you prefer, you are a Kodavan guerrilla leader defending your land (and I suppose the Raja, too) against an incursion of the East India Company. The game is asymmetric, one player commanding five columns of troops marching on fixed paths toward the center of the country, and the other player manoeuvring guerrilla bands to block and ambush the columns, trying to wear them down and run out the clock.

The game is highly suitable for solitaire. There are no ‘bots’, only suggested guidelines for the opposing side. But, there are enough tense decision points to make the game enjoyable for two players. It is also a short game. With experience, probably no more than two hours, and possibly as short as 90 minutes. (The game covers 9 days or 27 turns, but unless the Expedition player fumbles the ball it should end after 3-4 days.) Table space required is only the usual 22”x34” map sheet, with no extra displays to worry about.

We (RSG and Blue Panther LLC) also managed to keep the price under $100 USD, making the game even more of a one-off.

Blue Panther has the game up for pre-order on their website, and you can also link to the page from the RSG website. BP has the game on sale, I assume until production actually starts, which they tell me will be in a week or so.

The game will also be available as a PnP from the RSG website.

Future Projects

The rest of 2025 will be devoted to the second game in the India set of the Lace Wars series. This will be the Second Carnatic War, followed by the Third Carnatic War. Since both these wars have the same area of operation and much of the same OOB as Dreams of Empire the intention is to produce them as expansions for that game. This should keep their prices reasonable and also speed the development process. The goal is to have the SCW, featuring the contest between Clive of India and Dupleix, ready by the end of the year. Longterm, the Carnatic wars will probably be followed by the concurrent Bengal Wars, also featuring Robert Clive.

That’s all for now. Remember, for production questions and issues, please contact Blue Panther. For rules questions please contact me at [email protected]

Best Regards,

Ian Weir

12/17/2024

For those of you in Canada, BP tells me Board Game Bliss will have RSG games on sale sometime in the first quarter of 2025. It's a trial balloon with single copies of 12 titles, mostly older (and cheaper) ones. The games will be:

Cockpit of Europe
Sport of Kings
Queen's Gambit
Charlies Year
Highland Quorum
Parcel of Rogues
Remember Limerick
Turkenkrieg
Mistral
Somar Skrala
Lesser Wrath
Yellow Jack

Some photos of Dreams of Empire supplied by Blue Panther.
10/21/2024

Some photos of Dreams of Empire supplied by Blue Panther.

10/16/2024

Print and play version of Dreams of Empire now available on the Red Sash website. Look under the Lace Wars section.

10/14/2024

Just a quick reminder that the cut off for ordering Dreams of Empire at the discount rate is 15 October 2024. From what Blue Panther has said publicly I think they will probably continue processing orders after that date, at least while they are focused on manufacturing the game, but orders placed after the 15th will not be discounted - and it is entirely possible they may decide to put late orders on a waiting list.

Print and Play copies will become available on the Red Sash Games website starting 16 October.

09/28/2024

Quick follow up to Dreams of Empire pre-ordering. Blue Panther has announced a 20% discount on the regular price for orders until 15 October 2024. Regular price is $350 USD, so it will be discounted to $300 USD. Because of the high price, you'll also get free shipping if you live in the USA (that would be the case even without the discount). If you're wondering about the high price, there are 8 elephant counters in the game and those elephants consume a lot of peanuts. (Seriously, the game has 6 22x34in map sheets, 840 counters, and a 188 page book, which would be more like 300 pages if it were published in a regular book size.)

09/27/2024

Copy of the latest RSG newsletter featuring the release of Dreams of Empire (October 2024):

Hello everyone,

Here is the latest from Red Sash Games.

New Product Release

Dreams of Empire is finally published! You can visit the RSG website to find out more about it. As I mentioned in the last letter, the game deals with a variety of real and potential wars in South India during the 1730s and 1740s, with a sandbox Grand Campaign and four scenarios on specific wars. The game can also be linked to the Sea Lords Carnatic module in the Four Corners expansion box.

Blue Panther LLC is the manufacturer. The game will be available to order October 1st, 2024. I am sure Blue Panther will not mind if you email them with an order before then, but they are not set up to take payment yet. The RSG webpage has information about the game but is likewise not linked to BP’s webpage for the game.

Blue Panther will have a special offer for orders between October 1 and October 14. The exact nature of the offer is still being determined. I will let you know when I have more information.

Dreams of Empire will be available in PnP form by mid October. The Commentary is available to read now (see the Resources page at RSG’s website).

Manufacturing Schedule Change

Blue Panther has decided RSG’s customers can be better served if they only manufacture our games at set times, either annually or semi-annually. Therefore, although you can still order whenever you like, there may be a significant time lag in fulfilment unless you do so when they are going to press.

DISTRIBUTORS. My understanding is that distributors will still be able to order on-demand, meaning no changes to their product flow. This should mean that if you regularly buy from a distributor your buying habits should not change either.

The first print run under this new model will begin in October, matching the release of Dreams of Empire. Because of this I strongly suggest if you want to order any of our games directly from BP that you do so now.

If you have ANY questions regarding this change in the manufacturing routine please contact Blue Panther LLC directly. I have only outlined what I believe the new policy to be and BP reserves the right to change it.

The Print and Play option is unaffected by this change in the manufacturing routine.

New Projects

A new project is already underway for 2025. This is a spin-off from Dreams of Empire, but it will be a stand-alone game using its own rules, small and simple, and probably good for solitaire, with significant asymmetry between the protagonists . India will be the venue, but it will take place further down the road to British rule. The goal is to have it ready by the summer of 2025. I will provide more details once it is out of the concept stage.

That’s all for now. Remember, if you have any rules or design questions contact me any time at this email address, but if you have questions about manufacturing, components, payment, or order fulfilment (other than the PnP versions), please contact Blue Panther LLC.

Best Regards,

Ian Weir

Here's a copy of the latest newsletter:This is just a quick update on the 'Dreams of Empire' Carnatic War game, to let y...
07/06/2024

Here's a copy of the latest newsletter:

This is just a quick update on the 'Dreams of Empire' Carnatic War game, to let you know it is still a thing. According to my records it’s been about a year since the project started. There has been a good deal of progress; I’m not quite sure we're on track for a fall release, but I think so. There are no major delays in the project, just a lot of little issues. I have had to go back and redraw both maps and counters a couple of times after obtaining better data, and I still have a few more sources to reference which may tweak the scenario OOBs. The rules are in 3rd draft so there should be no major revisions now, just a lot of crosschecking. This is why I’m a little uncertain about the time remaining to completion. I remain hopeful.

The game has expanded slightly to include 4 scenarios and a sandbox campaign. Scenarios will be the 1st Carnatic War and the Dutch-Travancore War taking place in the 1740s, plus the escapades of Chanda Sahib among the remnants of the Madurai empire and the Canarese incursion into Kolathunadu, both of which took place in the 1730s. The campaign involves 20 different 'state actors’, from the Marathas and Hyderabad to Calicut and the VOC. This means 6x 22x34 map sheets, but table presence is still moderate since only 2 sheets are needed for the campaign and 1 each for the scenarios. Only 7 counter sheets (in the vain hope of lowering the final price).

(On the subject of expensive counter sheets, I understand the manufacturer has been looking into options, but they have to consider their other clients’ needs, so it’s a slow process.)

In the last update I mentioned some of the scaling challenges for this particular game. Testing seems to show the system can handle matters simply by giving a battalion of sepoys the same punch as a brigade’s-worth of medieval host. For example, simulating the Battle of San Thomé where 1,000 French defeated 10,000 of Arcot’s cavalry can generate the historical outcome, but the Nawab’s men also have a 30% chance of winning. Having the players control randomly activating states in the campaign scenario also seems to work, but I want to run more tests.

03/17/2024

SOUTH BEND SYW CONVENTION attendees.

For anyone who is planning to attend the SYW convention in South Bend this April, Blue Panther LLC is offering a 25% discount on all RSG titles . But, you will have to pay in advance and pick up at the convention (the on-demand model we use means he won’t be bringing excess stock). Probably best to order early so Steve has time to make them.

03/06/2024

Here's a copy of the latest company newsletter, mainly discussing the latest project, Dreams of Empire.

Hello everyone,

I see the last company newsletter went out in October. Guess it’s time for another one.

Nothing to report re mundane company business. RSG is still chugging along.

The Carnatic War project is proving both interesting and challenging. Fortunately it can be made to fit the Lace Wars game system without much hammering, but it's certainly taking up all the design time. The game should be ready for publication this year, but probably late in the year, although I may have a prototype to bring to Consimworld Expo in July. If the prototype is ready I’ll be happy to guide anyone who wants to try it out.

The working title for the game is Dreams of Empire. It will cover the period from 1739 to 1748, in Southern India. I decided on that time frame so the game would line up with the Austrian Succession quad, but the dates are not entirely arbitrary. 1748 ended one phase of the political churn in India, which resumed in 1749 with a paradigm shift. 1739 saw the start of the Travancore-Dutch War in Malabar and the sack of Delhi by Nadr Shah, which sent Mughal power into a nosedive. So, the dates bookending the game do have meaning.

There will be two 22x34” maps at the old scale of 4 leagues (16 Km) per hex and probably two enlarged maps (1 league hexes), one each for the Carnatic and Malabar, which is where most of the fighting took place. The enlarged maps will be used for mini campaigns - the Carnatic War between Britain and France and the Travancore-Dutch War. The main map will serve for the Grand Campaign and any other scenarios. Warfare was endemic in Malabar throughout the 1730s so there may also be a prequel scenario involving the 20-odd statelets there. The rules will also allow a tie-in to the Sea Lords Carnatic War game in Four Corners.

Unit scale will be both brigade and battalion. European-style battalions and ‘native’ brigades. I’m using those terms loosely. A more accurate description would be detachments of company soldiers versus extremely large war-bands. But, there will also be a lot of fighting of European v. European and Raja v. Raja (or Nawab). It will require some experimentation but the hope is for combat power to be balanced no matter who is fighting whom, without the need for a lot of extra rules. Giving tiny European units the same ‘punch’ as a large but loosely organized ‘Medieval host’ seems the simplest option. (The native armies employed lots of fi****ms and cannon, often of better quality, and their melee fighting skills were superior, so the difference is not so much technology as it is doctrine and cultural mindset.)

The other game mechanic that requires significant testing is player control of the various factions. Unlike every other game in the series so far, it is not possible for the players to control a fixed coalition of political powers. The situation is that chaotic. It will be a two-player game, but each player will gain and lose control of individual state actors as those actors activate and deactivate to fulfill somewhat randomly determined objectives. His opponent will control the target power. While a power is active, the controlling player has the chance to earn Prestige (per the regular game system). It sounds good in principle, but we’ll see if it holds together in practice.

That’s all for now. Remember, if you have questions about anything related to the design process, rules, or any issues with the print and play versions of the games, please contact Red Sash Games. Anything related to production, placing orders, shipping, etc. can only be answered by Blue Panther LLC.

Best Regards, Ian Weir

10/06/2023

As part of their 20-year celebration, Limey Yank Games (https://www.limeyyankgames.co.uk/) will be running a special promotion for Red Sash between 4 November and 2 December 2023. 15% off any physical purchase from Blue Panther LLC. You'll need to visit LYG for the discount code/links, once they're made available. Alas, the offer is not open to UK or EU customers, thanks to the VAT restrictions.

Pics of the Fronde game courtesy of Blue Panther. (Wood cubes not shown; they come in yellow, red, blue, and black.)
06/12/2023

Pics of the Fronde game courtesy of Blue Panther. (Wood cubes not shown; they come in yellow, red, blue, and black.)

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