John (well, one of our Johns, we’ve got a few) reports on the Spanish Civil War games he ran at our recent open day.
Crossfire is an innovative ruleset for World War 2 concentrating on infantry actions for Company level. There are no fixed game turns and no rulers, the player with initiative moves squads (bases) from terrain item to terrain item. As the squad moves, it can be subjected to reactive fire from the opponent and if suppressed the initiative is transferred to the opponent. Small arms range is anywhere on the playing area so doesn’t need to be measured.
The game is terrain intensive and true to form the pieces were ready at the 11th hour.
During lockdown a series of mini scenarios had been published on Stephen’s Bagalan website based on a 2ft square board, each scenario lasting about an hour and Open Day seemed an ideal opportunity to try out the rules. I’d last played Crossfire in 2005 and having painted some Peter Pig Spanish Civil War figures was keen to give the rules another go.
Each scenario begins with the same forces:
Defender
One platoon – three rifle squads, a platoon commander, a heavy machine gun, a small on-table mortar and a sniper. There is a forward observation officer for an off-table mortar and a minefield. The defender deploys his troops hidden.
Attacker
Two platoons – each of three rifle squads and a platoon commander, plus a heavy machine gun, an Engineer rifle squad, a small on-table mortar and a forward officer for an off-table infantry gun. The attacker deploys on table and starts with initiative.
During the day we managed to play three scenarios, so how would two relative beginners get on?
Scenario 1 The Woods
The attacker used 6 fire missions from the off table infantry gun to lay smoke screens which prevented the defender targeting a platoon which was used to attack the defender in the flank. The further use of smoke and close assault eliminated outnumbered squads. It proved to be a convincing win for the attacker though the defender was hampered by the placement of the minefield and some unfortunate dice rolls.
Scenario 2 The Hill
This was a much closer game where the attacker got bogged down and made some poor tactical choices. The two woods closest to the hill were selected as jumping off points. In the rules there is a tactic called ‘recon by fire’ where the attacker fires at a terrain item hoping to flush out hidden defenders. Failure to employ this meant that the two attacking platoons got bogged down with pins and suppressions. The attacker hesitated to eliminate a revealed forward observer and paid the penalty when one of the platoon commanders was killed. The attacking platoons were recovered under smoke before the hill was finally taken. Again, better placement of the minefield would have proved costly for the attacker.
Scenario 3 The Town
This was over very quickly and immediately afterward we wondered whether the scenario was unbalanced.
For this scenario the attacker had checked out ‘recon by fire’ and used this tactic to great effect. The forward officer for the off table mortar was quickly located along with a supporting squad. Under cover of smoke the church where they were hidden was assaulted and they were eliminated. The defender’s on table mortar suppressed one squad but was itself eliminated when the initiative changed. Hidden squads and empty buildings were identified by ‘recon by fire’ then assaulted under cover of smoke. Short and brutal. In retrospect, the defender had deployed his forward observation officer in an exposed location and it’s early elimination made the game easier for the attacker. Perhaps the defender should have deployed the minefield in front of this building to slow the advance.
Conclusions
The game has a good flow where the players have to think about tactical options as the game unfolds and by the end of the third game we had a good grasp of the infantry rules. It appeared to be easier for the attacker and it would be good to replay these scenarios with different ideas for defender deployment. The game proved interesting to other club members and I’m sure that further reinforcements from Peter Pig will appear in coming months.
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