Red Sun Rising (wargame)

Red Sun Rising, subtitled The Russo-Japanese War 1904-05, is a two-player board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. in 1977. One player commands Japanese forces and the other Russian forces, in linked land and naval games that must be coordinated to win. The land map runs from Port Arthur to Vladivostok and from Kirin to Seoul, with 400 land markers and 100 ship counters. A turn covers one month, split into a naval and a land segment, and the game lasts at most 23 turns from February 1904. Supply and command control are its central features: leaders must roll within their Command Value to activate units, and Russian leaders are rated lower to reflect historical sluggishness. Victory is judged by how many of seven Russian cities Japan captures on a set schedule. Designed by Mark Herman and developed by Frank Davis, it entered SPI's bestseller list at number ten on pre-orders but faded after critics found its rules vague.