Crossfire Resurrection, little game by little game

We last tried Arty Conliffe’s WWII infantry game Crossfire in 2014. One of the Fencibles didn’t like moving into the period of automatic weapons and another didn’t get the fluid game turns.  We’re a small group; unpopular rules don’t get played. 

One member is no longer with us, another has moved a good three-hour drive away. Bill and I liked the rules from the few games we played back then. Bill suggested we give it another try with the newer Fencibles. I did a little house cleaning of my moribund 20mm East Front project. We used Steve Thomas’ mini-Crossfire Scenarios https://balagan.info/download-crossfire-freebie-1-mini-scenarios#more-11284  Yes, the 20mm figures are rather packed on those 30mm bases. I may redo the project with Victrix 12mm plastic. Or I might just stick with the 20mm stuff I already have.

 

I prepared a reinforced platoon of Russians (Revell plastic infantry with Fantassin/Warmodeling heavy weapons) and two reinforced platoons of Germans (Revell plastic, metal as above). It all fit in a small box that went up to the Catskills. I forgot to bring lichen to dress up the wooded terrain features but it didn’t matter since I also left my camera back in NYC. I had felt terrain for the first scenario, entirely in the woods. I had a small hill along for the second scenario. In all the scenarios, if the defender hangs in for 60 minutes of real time, they win.

 

We started with the first scenario, Bill defending with the Russians, and I on the attack with the Germans. There was a lengthy pause mid-game explaining the difference between pinned (no movement, may fire) and suppression (no movement, no firing, serious problems in close combat). As the allotted hour ran out, Bill said add penalty time a la World Cup Soccer. 9 minutes was added to the clock and I proceeded to mop up the Russians. I was on the verge of dealing with them when the timer went off again. I had lost too much time rallying pinned forces. The attackers lost.

 

Next game saw Bill on the attack, cleaning out my Russians in about 30 minutes. We then switched to the second scenario with the hill. Both games saw the attackers mop up the Russians in about 30 minutes. One last game saw this happen again. I know we alternated sides but cannot recall who played what side in the last game. The games were interspersed with trips into town, preparing meals, smoking a pork shoulder, etc.

 

We ironed out a number of oversights and the inevitable imported rules from other games that don’t belong in Crossfire. We both liked the way the rules flowed. And the mini-games are fast. Perhaps we need to work on defensive tactics.

 

With a better handle on the rules from having played, rather than reading about them in blogs, I set up scenario 1 for Jay. He dropped by yesterday and after lunch we began. Since he had never played before and was working from an online review instead of the actual rules, I used the suggested handicap. He had veteran attackers and I had green defenders. 

Veterans rally easier and have a plus modifier in close combat. Green troops are harder to rally and have a negative modifier in close combat. The first game saw one of his platoons caught in the open while my firing dice were hot. He lost all three squads of the platoon in short order. I then nailed a squad from his other platoon, ending the first game by nailing 4 enemy squads. It was over in 30 minutes without Russian losses. Jay was eager to play it again. The next game saw better German tactics and less heat from the Russian dice. In 30 minutes, he knocked out 3 infantry squads and my mortar while losing 2 squads. The second game  saw one of his squads enter my minefield and get suppressed. But I didn’t have anyone able to finish the squad off. His engineer squad sidled up next to the mines and defused them. He went on to a 4-2 win in about 30 minutes. We still had time for a third game. In 30 minutes, he won 4-2 and was on track to wipe out what little was left of my forces if the game hadn't ended, sparing me that indignity.

 

Jay liked the rules. Simple, fast and requires tactics rather than just dice luck. Next to see if Carl and Andrew like Crossfire. Perhaps we might even sneak a tank onto the table by Fall.

 

Only one photo: the battery for my point-and-shoot camera seems to have given up the ghost. Tomorrow I’ll hit B&H Photo video and see if anyone still makes batteries for a Canon Power shot. I hope so, not interested in buying a new camera. The picture below of my imminent demise was taken using my phone, requiring a different method of using Photoshop.  I like my old camera. We’ve been blogging games for over 20 years together.

                                As you can see, I've been backed into a corner.

Edit: the battery charged when put in a different socket (on the same power strip). All is not lost.