I recently played my first CROSSFIRE game. I have a copy of the rules, and have seen one run in part at one of the local conventions. As an long time WW2 gamer, I was interested in this set of rules, since the sets I have played before in 15mm-25mm have all been detailed in the extreme (TRACTICS, BREW UP, COMMAND DECISION, BATTLEGROUND). CROSSFIRE doesn’t use tape measures for movement or fire. This would be different.
Dale had a nice table set up, although I noticed it had a lot of open space on it. CROSSFIRE is discussed quite a bit on the SPEARHEAD web site on egroups. One item always mentioned is to play CROSSFIRE, you need a lot of terrain. We would see. Unlimited gun ranges and movement is used in CROSSFIRE, although there are some limitations. The infantry may pivot before moving, but must then move in a straight line. Vehicles may pivot either before moving or (house rule)after moving. You can see into terrain, but not through it. So if in a woods, you can be seen and see out, but if behind the woods you cannot be seen through the woods. However, Dale also uses hidden units.
The table (see map) had a river at the north end which covered about an eighth of the table, curving from the north to the east table edge. A road came from the east going across a heavy stone bridge over the river and into a village on the other side. The road then went north and south. Towards the south was another large village, with the Church. The road branched to go towards the southeast table corner, crossing another river there. However, the bridge over that river was blown. There were woods and fields scattered across the table. Each river was lined with woods and brush.
Who's Who
We rolled to see who was on which side. I was teamed with Jim Harkonen. Against us was Bob Zobal, Jamie Woods and Eric Bates. Eric was new, but I had gamed with Jim, Bob, and Jamie since 1974. Jim and I were Soviet. We divided our forces to defend the area. Jim had both 45mm ATG, one of the Heavy Companies MMG, and the AA truck and one AA cart from the AA Company. I had the Battalion HQ and one Infantry Company, Jim the other Infantry Company. I also had the tank company and light infantry gun company. Jim positioned his two guns to cover the open areas near the center and on his left flank. Two platoons of infantry and the HQ went into the village to hold the Church. The other platoon defended the buildings near the destroyed bridge. The AA weapons were attached to support both of these forces. They also defended his guns.
I placed the AA cart I had behind a building to fire down the length of the table into the village Jim was defending. One platoon of infantry was dug-in to cover the fords. I placed the three infantry guns there as well to support Jim’s right flank and cover the open area. The mortars went behind the river. One platoon, the Coy HQ, and the MMG were placed on the river to cover the bridge. The other infantry platoon from my company was placed in the buildings just within the village. I placed the tank platoon along the river, with one 45mm gun tank able to shoot over the bridge and the others close. (house rule - Soviet tanks without radios had to be within sight of each other in order to operate, otherwise they were limited to moving back into sight of the majority of the company.) Our positions were good except for my placement of the tanks. I had not placed them in a good spot to support the battalion, although their fire dominated the river bank on the village side of the river.
Dale uses TRACTICS for the armor and anti-tank rules. Crossfire has a fairly rudimentary armor versus armor combat resolution. It works, but the rules are infantry oriented (this is NOT a bad thing) and reflect this. The interesting rule in TRACTICS is that you don’t tell a player what affect a penetration has on the target vehicle - just what he sees. Since the rules allow for a penetrating hit to do no or little actual damage, and crew casualties are done separately from the vehicle damage, if the target vehicle doesn’t burn it can still be operational even if you hit and penetrated its armor. Only the vehicle commander and judge know. Dale was also using hidden movement and units, so Jim and I had the location of our forces written on a map and the Germans simply told Dale where they starting from. Any unit that moved or fired would be seen and the models placed on the table. Crossfire allows units to search for hidden units, by rolling one die per HQ, squad, or vehicle searching. You chose the terrain feature, indicate the number of units looking, and then roll one six-sided die per unit for a “6” to see any hidden units. If seen, the owning player then places the model in the terrain feature where he wants. ED NOTE:This is “recon by fire”. If you fail a sighting check - initiative goes to your opponent.
The Attack Begins
The engagement started with German units looking for our hidden forces. They were rolling quite a lot of dice so I knew at least two platoons were facing the town I held. Jim had only about a platoon searching his front. Both of us had not placed units in the buildings at the edge of the town. That would only allow the Germans to locate them, then shoot them up with covering forces and rush our suppressed squads to take them out.
The German attack in my sector was slow, methodical, and ruthless. (we later discussed using the HIT THE DIRT* scenario rules on “The Moving Clock” which sets a time limit on the game to force the Germans to use some haste in their attack.) The Germans used a full company to scout the edge of the town, then moved up. I slowed his attack down by sacrificing my lead squad supported by a HMG in a building to the rear. Meanwhile, in the center the Soviets had their hands full. Crossfire allows a side to move until it fails an action, then the other side does the same. Movement is from terrain feature to terrain feature, with opportunity fire allowed by one’s opponent. Fire by most units is done by rolling a number of six-sided dice depending on the situation. Any 5 or 6 on a die is a hit. One hit will pin a unit, two will suppress a unit, three or more will kill the unit. Two suppressions kills a unit. Suppressed units cannot fire or move and have to be rallied to recover, and failing a rally gives the other side the initiative - for example the Green Soviet troops required a 6 on a D6 to rally from suppression, the Regular Germans a 5-6. Troops MUST get a suppression or kill when firing, or the initiative passes.
However, you can have groups fire which means the group has to get a suppression or kill. Conversely, the defenders when they fire must get a pin or better or the firing unit may no longer fire in that initiative. Keep in mind, as long as you continue to successfully suppress or kill when you fire you may keep firing. As long as you can move without having a unit suppressed you can continue to move. In the center the Germans tried to take the Church, and failed horribly. Caught in the street by two platoons of Soviets supported by a heavy machinegun and an AA cart (house rule - the AA cart got 5 dice for firing) they were all suppressed or killed as they tried to cross in a group. When the initiative then passed to the Soviets, Soviet fire successfully shot most of the survivors up, destroying them. The first German company was gone. The Germans then moved up their tanks to fire. The first one out in the open was blown up by a 45mm Soviet anti-tank gun. The Germans tried to knock it out and failed, losing another Panzer II. The other German infantry company tried to reach the gun but suffered heavy losses. Finally, the two German tank platoons managed to knock out the first gun. The tanks then moved up to fire into the Soviet held buildings, killing or driving the Soviets out. The second German company moved up. It didn’t make it, getting caught again by the one unengaged Soviet infantry platoon and its MMG and AA truck. The German attack halted. In front of the bridge German infantry now occupied half of the buildings, but had run into the main Soviet defenses and didn’t dare advance, especially when Soviet tanks were identified. I had committed my tanks to try and stop the infantry on this flank. It didn’t work. The town was too hard to move through and my own roadblocks kept my armor from firing down the road. The move did pull out the German panzerjager which moved to firing positions. Stalemate. In the center what was left of the German infantry pulled back while their tanks moved up and eliminated the remaining Soviets defending near the Church. The Germans then deployed their reserves. One platoon of engineers and the SGIII appeared in front of the town, with the SGIII first coming up the road, then pulling back and moving to go around the south edge of the town. The engineers also probed in that direction. In the center, German engineers moved up to engage the anti-tank gun back by the destroyed bridge. Mortars fired at it as well as HMG. The gun was destroyed, the German armor could advance. As it pulled out in the open supporting the advance of several infantry squads the Soviet 76mm howitzers opened fire with HE. One Panzer I was destroyed and several rounds exploded on the Panzer II. The tanks pulled back as did the infantry. The Germans hooked around to the right, engaging the Soviet platoon and overrunning it, using their HMG and the tanks to pin or suppress the squads. What now? The German left flank was still halted in the town, unable to advance, but they had also pinned the Soviet light tank company in the town. The Germans had cleared the center town around the Church, but was under direct HE fire by the Soviet 76.2mm howitzer battery (unknown to the Germans, almost out of HE) and mortars. On the right they had cleared out the Soviets and taken most of the buildings.
At this time the Soviets used their reserves to counterattack. The engineer company came in, catching the German engineers in the open and forcing them back. The three T28 tanks moved up, halted and then opened fire. The SGIII was caught trying to outflank the town and knocked out. The Panzer II tanks stayed out of sight. The German Panzerjager didn’t dare move. If they shifted from where they were, the T26 could advance out of the town. Then the other Soviet infantry company came in. The Germans pulled out.
Crossfire can be both fluid or not. In the town it was move up, recon, shoot or advance to the next firing position and then repeat. Very slow and careful. On the right it was move from terrain cover to terrain cover, locate a hole and then exploit to get behind a unit. The Germans did this with both engineers and armor, catching the Soviet infantry in a “Crossfire”. However, it took the loss of two companies of infantry to locate the Soviet positions before the infiltration was successful. When counter-attacking, the Soviets threatened to do the same to the Germans. In defense, you have to cover any open area by fire. If not and the gap is located, the entire enemy force can go through there to come out behind you.
The game I played is provided below. The pictures and my description above should give you an idea of the terrain fought over, but the terrain doesn’t really matter. Just have the towns and bridge, and a lot of cover and the game should go fine. CROSSFIRE is a good set of rules for 15mm.
SCENARIO NOTE: Recommend each time period equaling 1/2 hour with the game starting at 0800 and ending at 2130 hours. At the end of the time period, count the victory points for both sides. As an alternate to the victory points, at the end of the time period the Germans MUST have captured the bridge and have cleared all Soviet units from within 12” of it.
GERMANS
SITUATION: July, 1941, near Smolensk. German armored forces have driven deep into Russian territory on the direct route to Moscow. Enormous Soviet forces have been encircled. German units are now exploiting towards Smolensk on the Moscow highway. Resistance has been stiffening and German air recon reports Soviet armor assembling in the area.
WEATHER: It is early morning with good weather and visibility.
MISSION: Advance to take the bridge, fords (if found on the river), and villages. The bridge is worth 5 points, the Church 4 points, each ford 3 points, and each building 2 points. If the German reserves are committed, the Soviets get 5 added points.
AT START: Within 2 feet of the east table edge on turn 1 (west of the North/South Road)
SOVIETS
SITUATION: July, 1941, near Smolensk. German armored forces have driven deep into Russian territory on the direct route to Moscow. Enormous Soviet forces have been encircled. German units are now exploiting towards Smolensk on the Moscow highway. Armored forces are being assembled in the Smolensk area for a major counter-offensive. Defending Soviet forces must hold until these units are ready to attack.
WEATHER: It is early morning with good weather and visibility.
MISSION: Hold your positions. If necessary, counter-attack to drive the Germans back. The bridge is worth 5 points, the Church 4 points, and each building 2 points. There are two fords on the river, four inches apart and two feet from the end of the river running off the east table edge. The fords are worth 3 points each. Using your reserve adds 5 points to the German victory points.
AT START: Anywhere on the table east of the North/South road. Reserves, if used, will arrive between the northern river and the southern river.
House Armor Rules Used
I’m guessing many of readers have never heard of Tractics since Mike and I are “old” gamers. In a nutshell, a d20 is used for all anti-tank combat.(I dumped the CF armor rules as too simple...our group wanted something a bit more complicated). A base “to-hit” number is modified by cover, movement, and size of target. If a miss is rolled, nothing happens except a better chance to hit on the next turn. If hit, penetration of shell vs. armor is compared. If no penetration - nothing; if penetration, a damage table is rolled on to see what the shell did. Bigger shells have more chance to cause major damage. Damage categories range from No Damage, Temporary Compartment Damage, Permanent Compartment Damage, General KO and then Target Burning.
The rules and charts I used, and modified somewhat to fit in better with CF infantry rules, were from Battalions In Crisis, which is nothing more that a cleaned-up Tractics set.
More Crossfire
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