Crossfire Game 27/06/07
This was the first actual wargame that we've had at the school club I run. Until now we've been painting up figures for a game of Star Mogul but I thought it would be nice to introduce some of the students to a real wargame so they could see if they really did like the idea. I chose Crossfire because it doesn't require you to know the rules in order to play, all the players have to do is decide what they want to do and then we see if they succeed.
I designed a simple, low trooop density scenario which still used several different troop types to keep things interesting. We played with 28mm figures on a roughly 4ft x 4ft board so that battle was joined immediately and nobody had to wait around.
The scenario.
The German player is defending a small farm by a road junction in order to delay the Allied advance and allow the rest of the German forces in the area to regroup. The American player is controlling a Company strength reconnaissance force tasked with clearing the German position.
The Forces.
Germans
All Veterans
1 Platoon of Infantry (+1 PC)
1 Squad of Combat Engineers
2 Machine guns
1 75mm Infantry gun with FOO (6 shots)
1 Company Commander (+1)
1 Panther tank
2 Minefields
Americans
All standard quality troops
2 Platoons of Infantry (+1 PC, +0 PC)
1 Platoon of Combat Engineers, (2 anti-tank and 1 SMG squad, +1 PC)
1 Machine gun
1 FOO for Company mortar (6 HE, unlimited smoke)
1 Company Commander (+1)
1 Sherman tank
Set up.
The German player set up first, unhidden because it was our first game. He was allowed to put his troops anywhere within the 'V' formed by the two roads. The two minefields were hidden and could be placed anywhere on his side of the long road. He put one in the vinyard and one in the field next to the junction. The Americans started with the initiative and set up in the woods on the other side of the long road.
Click on the picture for a bigger version.
The Game
German starting positions.
The Americans opened their offensive by sending their Sherman up to the junction and then down the turn-off in order to engage the German Engineers. It managed to suppress the Engineer squad but was instantly killed by the Panzer when it unnecessarily tried to change position for a better shot.
Having seized the initiative the Germans proceeded to spray the Americans in the woods with machine gun fire from the buildings. This caused several suppressions and the loss of both bazooka-armed Engineer squads.
Initial US placement.
The removal of the Americans' anti-tank capability encouraged the Germans to try an advance of their own.
The Panzer moved forward and started shelling the woods whilst the Infantry Platoon tried to advance on the Germans' right flank and attack the US machine gun.The 75mm Infantry gun started dropping rounds on the already reeling Americans as well.
Things were looking bleak for the Americans and cries of 'We've lost, what's the point of going on?' were heard. Cooler heads prevailed though and heavy mortar fire was called down on the buildings which killed the troublesome German machine gun and allowed the Americans to surge forward across the road, out of sight of both the 75mm spotter and the German tank.
The US attack begins to develop.
Although some well-placed smoke stopped the Americans taking fire from the German Infantry, the German Engineers managed to halt them long enough for the second machine gun to replace the first in the building. Its fire, along with the Engineers', started to cause more casualties amongst the American troops who did their best to shelter behind the covering hedge.
Gleeful German chuckles could be heard as more and more Americans were removed from play.
Undaunted, the Americans switched their focus and sent the SMG squad and some Infantry to try and get around the buildings. Unfortunately they chose to cross the vinyard and the mines pinned the Infantry squad. The Engineer PC and the SMG squad carried on though and, horror of horrors, contacted the German tank from the rear. A quick round of close combat finished with the Germans losing their armour.
Troublesome Germans identified.
On their left flank, the American machine gun was starting to win the firefight with the German Infantry who were mostly pinned or suppressed. Only the single Squad of German Engineers was left to stop the surprising American breakthrough. True to form they killed the SMG squad and suppressed the Infantry who had (finally) caught up to support them.
The winning position.
Once again it looked like the Americans had stalled. The American FOO had other ideas and repositioned himself so that he could call in some fire on to the German Engineer squad. The rounds whistled in and destroyed the Engineers with the first salvo.
Rallying to their Officer, the Americans stormed forward to destroy the 75mm gun in hand-to-hand combat and win the game.
The players. L to R: Sammy and Dean (Americans) and Ali who stepped in at the end to play the Germans because Ethan had to go.
The Re-match
A couple of weeks on and we tried the same scenario again but with the players changing sides.
As an opener the Americans mortared the building by the road junction and suppressed the HMG and Company Commander that were using it for shelter. They then sent a platoon storming across the road hoping to take the building with a quick assault. The attacking platoon came under heavy fire from the Germans though and suffered a squad and CC suppressed and another squad pinned. The Germans failed to rally the suppressed building occupants however and, in a brave move, the unpinned US squad and their PC successfully assaulted the building.
Unfortunately, once there was no chance of hitting friendly units, the German tank quickly cleared the building of its inhabitants. Once it had achieved this it moved on to hunt other enemy units safe in the knowledge that the Sherman had already been destroyed in an unsupported attack on the 75mm gun.
American Engineers stormed the large building by the vinyard now that the Panzer wasn't covering it. The reaction fire from the last defending german squad suppressed a squad but the Germans weren't able to capitalise on this.
An american bazooka round suppressed the German squad who were finished off with the bayonet. The troublesome FOO for the German gun was swept away next and then the gun itself followed. The Engineers finally headed back to the road junction and assaulted the Panzer from the rear. The tank stood no chance and was destroyed easily.
While the assaults had been happening an American platoon and the HMG had been trading shots with a small German force in some woods. Once the American Engineers moved in to join this fight the Germans conceeded the encounter and withdrew giving the Americans a second victory in the series.
The Winners: Ethan and Ali.
This game was very different from the first. For a start it only took 40 minutes including setting up whereas the first game took over two hours. It seemed everyone had a grasp of the rules and individual initiatives were longer with many more 'moves' being strung together as actions were prioritised. There were still cries of despair from the Americans after some initial losses though, these were proved groundless of course and soon changed to cries of 'kill' and 'destroy' once the attack gained momentum.
The loss of both unsupported tanks still seemed to surprise everyone even though we'd discussed this between games.
Dean and Max, both 12, put up a good German defence and made some very good choices even though they eventually lost. Max declared that Crossfire wasn't as easy as Warhammer but he's only young so there's hope for him yet.
