The more I look at Arty Conliffe's CROSS FIRE (CF), the more fascinated I am with it, in its approach to WW II small-scale (squad) gaming. In early November, Fred Haub suggested we set up a British Colonial game to see if we could somehow incorporate CF's provisions and procedures in a scenario focusing on a different era, different scale. Brits versus Zulus... all units were grouped in 5 figures each for gaming purposes. There were 5 British groups, each of which we termed a 'company' There were 11 Zulu groups, each of which we didn't term anything... simply called 'em Zulu 'bands'. We followed CF guidelines for the casualty assessment procedures... individual men were not removed from the groups, but each time a group was hit, it received a marker: a. One marker pinned a unit... it couldn't move, but it could fire b. Two markers suppressed a unit... it could neither move nor fire. c. Three markers eliminated a unit. In CF, weapon ranges span across the table... anything within line of sight is a target. We limited rifle range to 20 inches On the first turn, in our first battle, I moved a Zulu rifle-carrying band to the top of a ridge within range of the British compound. Yes, we had a British enclosure, and yes, the enclosure was crammed with British troops, and yes, each British company had a finite supply of ammunition. I should note that the enclosure was known as the Doud Farm... it had been crafted out of pebbles and stones and given to me in the early eighties by PW member John Doud. John has since disappeared, but the Doud Farm lives on... it's about a foot square, and countless battles have been fought over it. Anyhoo, up moved my Zulus to the ridge top, when Fred cried "I can see you!" As I've stated before, the side with initiative (which happened to be, in this case, my Zulus) moves his men until the non-active side shouts "I can see you!" and fires. Within the Doud Farm, a British company of 5 men fired away. Each man received a 10-sided die: a. If a target was in the open, a roll of 1, 2, 3 was a hit b. If a target was in cover, a roll of 1, or 2 was a hit. Fred's 5 men scored 2 hits... the Zulu band was suppressed... of more importance, Fred had won the initiative, and now could move and fire his own British troops. All my units were out of the 20 inch British rifle range. The unit that had just incurred casualties had taken a morale test, failed, and run back down behind the ridge. Fred had no more movement or firing to perform so he passed the initiative to me. Now I grabbed 2 of my 5-men Zulu bands, shouted "Charge!", and in they came. Here, too, we were duplicating the CF procedures, which permits the coordinated movement of two or more units. The squads in CF may move together under the auspices of a Platoon Commander. In our set-up, we didn't have too many Platoon Commanders... but I did have a couple of Zulu Chiefs. We ruled that if a Zulu Chief was fairly close to a couple of Zulu bands, he could get them to move together, en masse. One of my Zulu Chiefs, having gotten a good grade in 'Charge Coordination 101' was within 5 inches of both bands... the Chief was permitted to 'coordinate' the charge, and I could, therefore, move more than a single unit at a time. . The bands charged in from some 30 inches out, and as they hit the 20-inch rifle-range line, I halted them, as Fred, in effect, said "I can see you!", and 2 defending British companies (10 men) blazed away. Fred chose to concentrate fire on only one of the bands... his 10 men scored 4 hits... overkill... WHOOMF!, and the band disintegrated. The remaining band made it into contact. Melee followed the firing procedures... each man in combat tossed his die, and a roll of 1, 2, or 3 scored a hit. The British defenders scored 3 hits on my warband... POOF!, they fled to the hinterlands, while I scored 2 hits on the British, suppressing them. But Fred had won the melee, and the initiative. And so it went... as we moved from situation to situation, we adjusted the procedures to fit. One thing we immediately noted was that, unlike CF, which is a 'fire-power-versus-fire-power' game, this was a 'melee-power-versus-fire-power' game. Even so, with 11 Zulu groups to 5 British, we couldn't let too many Zulu bands close with the Brits... otherwise the Brits would be swamped. The other side of the coin was that while we wanted the British firepower to be able to hold the Zulus, we didn't want it to be absolutely overwhelming... otherwise, everytime a Zulu showed his head, he'd get blasted. And so we gradually adopted a number of 'coordinative requirements' for each side. For the Zulus, a Chief needed a toss of 80 or less to coordinate a mass charge. On occasion, the Chief wouldn't toss his 80, and instead of, say, 3 units charging forward, only one would advance. For the Brits. the coordination factor centered on the ability to mass their firepower. A British Officer had to toss 80 or less to permit two of his companies to fire in unison. Another parameter we examined was the ammunition supply given to each British company. We played three scenarios... for the three games, each company was given a total of 15 rounds, i.e., 15 opportunities to fire. Two of the companies fired only half their ammunition supply. The other three companies carried the brunt of the battle. By the end of the third scenario, they were down to 1 or 2 rounds each. Ammunition usage wasn't linear... it depended upon which wall of the compound was being attacked by the Zulus. Back to PW Review November 1997 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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