Red Dragon / Green Crescent

About this board game

Red Dragon / Green Crescent is a strategic-level wargame for 1–2 players, with a typical play time of 180 minutes, covering hypothetical near-future conflicts around Asia’s southern and eastern peripheries.

Set between 2013 and 2021, the game expands the award-winning system first presented in Strategy & Tactics no. 250. It supports two-player, multiplayer, and solitaire play, with a two-map setting that stretches across the Indian Ocean and Middle East—regions important to both the United States and its allies, and the People’s Republic of China and its allies.

Chinese forces may initially be limited in the Indian Ocean, but Myanmar provides China with one reliable ally from the start. Other alignments remain uncertain: Pakistan, Iran, and the troubled Middle East—including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel—can create a varied and unpredictable strategic situation.

• Most ground units represent brigades, including U.S. brigade combat teams.
• Aircraft are generally represented by mixed-type combat wings, while long-range bombers operate as separate mono-type units.
• Naval counters represent mission-oriented groups such as surface action groups, submarine squadrons, and individual capital ships.
• Game turns represent one to three days, and a complete match covers the first month of the conflicts portrayed.

Scenarios range from partial and two-map games to campaigns focused on Korea, the Indo-Pakistan region, or the vast arc from the Red Sea to Alaska. Numerous variants and options add further possibilities, making Red Dragon / Green Crescent adaptable for many different approaches and situations.