2d6 Armour Rule for Crossfire

Some musing on a 2d6 Armour Rule for Crossfire. The 2d6 Armour Rule merges ACC and PEN together and changes the ARM values correspondingly.

The real benefit of the 2d6 system is that it ignores ratings for specific characteristics (e.g. ACC and PEN) and instead offers an overall effectiveness. And anything can influence this effectiveness, including muzzle velocity, penetration, but also crew efficiency, rate of fire, or whatever.

As it happens the 2d6 roll offers less statistical variation than 2 x 1d6 in succession (ACC then PEN). A +1 on the 2d6 is approximately the same proportional weight as a +2 on either ACC or PEN. That means there is no equivalent of +1 to ACC (or +1 to PEN) in the 2d6 world.

Gun Effectiveness (GUN)

Each gun has a Gun Effectiveness. This ranges from 4 to 9, and for an average gun is 7. Low is good.

Armour (ARM)

Each vehicle has an armour value (ARM). This ranges from 0 to 4, but is typically 2 or 3 for a tank. 0 ARM represents soft skinned vehicles. High is good.

Anti-tank fire

For anti-tank fire add the GUN of the shooter to the ARM of the target. This gives the Kill Potential. The shooter must equal or exceed this on 2d6 to kill the target. Double ones are always a miss, and double sixes are always a kill.

Possible modifiers to die roll

Veteran -1 to Gun Effectiveness
Green +1 to Gun Effectiveness

Shooter stationary -1 to Gun Effectiveness (only counts if stationary the entire initiative)

Target moving fast +1 to ARM

Example Stats

Russian 76 mm field gun Gun = 6.
KV-1 Gun = 6, ARM = 4/2.
Panzer III. Gun = 7, ARM = 3/1
Panzer IV. Gun = 6, ARM = 3/2

Examples of Shooting

Russian 76 mm field gun fires at a Panzer IV frontally.
The Russian gun has a Gun Effectiveness of 6, and the Panzer IV has an ARM of 3, so the Russian
needs 9+ to kill the Panzer.

The same gun firing at a Half-track (ARM = 1) needs a 7+ to kill.

A stationary Russian KV-1 with a green crew is shooting at a fast moving Panzer III.
The KV-1 has a Gun Effectiveness of 6 + 1 (Green) – 1 (Stationary) = 6.
The Panzer III has an ARM of 3 + 1 (fast moving) = 4.
So the KV-1 needs 10+ to kill the Panzer.

2 thoughts on “2d6 Armour Rule for Crossfire”

  1. New to crossfire, found your site…best crossfire info on the web! I see this 2d6 Armor Rule has not been updated in years, but was curious if it has been play tested more, or if anyone is using it. I like that it is simple, keeps to the spirit of crossfire, but gives the ability to add the depth of diferent vehicle armor/armament values. How would this work for faring a main gun at infantry? O for armor? Or is it just better to use rules such as those presented by Chuck Parrott in the Unlimited Actions for Vehicles in Crossfire post? Also on the subject, we like the house rule of unlimited movement/fire for armor, but with a bog check for thick terrain. Any musings or ideas for this would be great. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Thanks for your feedback on the site.

      I’m not sure anybody uses the 2d6 Armor Rule. It was must musing.

      People do try variations on the Crossfire gun/armour rules, but most folk tend to abandon more radical options and revert to the something close to the rules as written. For myself I use the standard rules but tweak the ACC and PEN factors. In fact these give more depth than the 2d6 rule does.

      The 2d6 rule was just about shooting at tanks, not infantry.

      In standard CF a main gun is just a normal HE shot when fired at infantry. So 2d6 or 3d6 or 4d6 or 5d6 depending on the size of the gun. I suggest you’d stick with that even if you play tested the 2d6 armour rule.

      I’ve never been tempted by unlimited vehicle movement. I do give them unlimited shooting but I limit their movement. For me this gives a good balance. But others like unlimited movement. Using the bogging rule to restrict this would probably work. It also depends on infantry anti-tank weapons because ATR will not stop tanks, but bazookas will.

      Reply

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