Red Poppies: WWI Tactics

About this board game

Red Poppies: WWI Tactics is a two-player game of regimental-sized World War I engagements, played in approximately 90 minutes with company-level units and 10-minute turns.

Set on maps scaled at 200 yards per hex, the game focuses on the command and control trade-offs that shaped combat in World War I. Companies and platoons give the game a small-unit perspective that is rarely represented in World War I strategy games.

The rules cover a broad range of battlefield elements, including tanks, barbed wire, artillery support, infiltration tactics, cavalry, and machine guns. Scenarios feature German, French, Belgian, and British forces, with battles spanning the Western Front throughout the conflict.

The eight included scenarios offer varied situations and dates:

• Opening Day — July 1, 1916, La Boiselle (Somme)
• Storming La Boiselle — July 3, 1916, La Boiselle (Somme)
• Meeting Engagement — August 22, 1914, Neufchateau
• Heavy Section Machine Gun Corps — September 15, 1916, Flers
• Kaiserschlacht — March 1918, Flers
• Cavalry Charge — August 12, 1914, Haelen
• Attack on Mort Homme — April 9, 1916, Mort Homme
• Tank Assault — April 16, 1917, Juvincourt

With its focus on company-scale forces and battlefield coordination, Red Poppies: WWI Tactics presents a compact way to explore the changing tactics and varied engagements of the Western Front.