Maple Leaf Raggregator
January 10, 2025 7 Comments
For the entertainment of all and sundry who see the comedy behind the schoolyard bluster and distraction of the US President-elect’s (11 days to go) pronouncements about Canada, I’ve collected the posts and items that have appeared here about imagined war between our two countries.
Games
(edition pictured above published in spring 2016)
(variant method of play for this edition that I like better)
(older edition, with not-as-good physical production but an ambiguous cover painting I liked)
Scenarios, Variants and Extras
Scroll down to War Plan Crimson to get the files for The Maple Leaf Forever, an expansion kit made by Bruce McFarlane of Edmonton in 2002 for the very first edition of the game by Microgame Design Group. It depicts “Defence Scheme No. 1”, a plan created in the 1920s by then Colonel J. Sutherland “Buster” Brown while he was working as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence for the Canadian Army. Basically, it is a scheme for a pre-emptive limited incursion into parts of the United States to disrupt an imminent full-scale invasion by the US, in order to win some time for British forces to make their way across the Atlantic to defend the country. 2 maps, 78 counters, charts and rules.
Writing
War Plan Crimson: A Novel of Alternate History
A post about a novel in which Defence Scheme No. 1 is put into action. Haven’t read it but to go by the reviews, could be fun if you like Harry Turtledove’s stuff.
Post about a piece in Walrus magazine about American-invasion fantasy lit. I suppose just about every country in the world that hasn’t actually been invaded and occupied would have some examples of this genre of fiction.
And finally, my contribution to the genre of “joke one-page wargames”, from 1996. I can also assert this is my one definitely errata-free design.
Operation Maple Leaf Rag: the Second War of 1812
(c) 1996 Brian Train
1.0 Introduction
Hi there.
2.0 Components
The game consists of two cards, one representing the American Invaders (Yankforce) and the other the Canadian defenders. (Canuckblock). Players will need one n-sided die (with sides numbered consecutively from 1 to n) to play the game.
3.0 Sequence of Play
The game is one turn long and consists of three phases:
3.1 Movement
3.2 Combat
3.3 Victory Determination
4.0 Movement
Place the Canuckblock card face up on a table between the two players. Place the Yankforce card next to it.
5.0 Combat
Combat is conducted by the Yankforce player rolling the die and matching the result on the following Combat Results Table:
1 to (n-1) = Canuckblock eliminated
n = roll die again.
6.0 Victory Determination
If the Canuckblock card has been eliminated during the combat phase, the Yankforce player wins. The Canuckblock player wins if the Yankforce player fails to win (e.g. if he rolls (n+1) on the die, lightning strikes and turns him into a pillar of salt, he inadvertently inhales the die and chokes, etc.).
7.0 Optional Rule
The Canuckblock player can declare at the beginning of the Combat Phase that Prime Minister Mackenzie King is using his ouija board, and makes a prediction of the next die roll. If he is correct, the Yankforce player must buy him a drink before rolling again. If he is wrong, the Yankforce player wins a Sudden Death Victory and the game is over.
brtrain 
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