Some musing on Direct Fire Mortars in Crossfire. Special Rule 6 in Hit the Dirt (HTD) is Direct Fire Mortars. I queried Bill Rutherford – the author of HTD – on some aspects of this rule. See also my own house rule for Direct Fire Mortars – similar to the HTD version, but some key differences.
World War II
World War II (WWII, WW2, or Second World War) was fought between opposing military alliances – the Allies and the Axis – from 1939 to 1945. The war spanned large chunks of the globe and was both the the largest and deadliest conflict in history. Over 30 different countries fought during the war including all the great powers. More than 100 million people served in military units. Between 50-75 million people died – largely civilians.
I’ve material on the national contributions from Spain, New Zealand, and France. I also cover the battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kharkov, Kursk, and Tarnopol.
Multiplayer Pocket – A Three Table Crossfire Scenario
I was asked to run a one-day Crossfire game for 6-8 members of the Guildford Wargames Club. This is what I came up with. It was designed to use all the WW2 / Eastern Front infantry I had at the time – one battalion a side – plus supporting equipment, however, with play testing I decided to increase the forces of each player to at least 1 company. This meant the total forces on each side ended up being 4 Infantry Companies + 1 Infantry Platoon + 2 AFV + 2 or 3 ATG.
Hidden Deployment in Crossfire
Some musing on hidden deployment in Crossfire. Standard The Fog of War is hard to represent on a wargaming table – the only attempt Crossfire makes in this area is to allow the defender to use Hidden Placement. A Crossfire table has masses of terrain features and depending on the scenario the defender has the option of hidden deployment within those features. Crossfire proposes a particular method for hidden deployment – Numbered Terrain Markers – but some people use Maps or Hidden Placement Cards, and the method I use most often is Hidden Unit Markers.
Moral and Training of WWII Paratroopers in Crossfire
Tim Marshall gives paratroopers “German” Command and Control and good officers. But the troop quality can be Veteran, Regular or even Green.
Political Commissar Rule for Crossfire
The Political Commissar Special Rule for Crossfire. Standard Crossfire doesn’t cover this but it is described in Hit the Dirt (p. 8). The rule is optional but is applicable to Soviets in WWII – in particular between July 1941 and November 1942 – and communists in any number of civil wars and insurgencies, e.g. the Spanish Civil War and the Portuguese Colonial War.
Alternative Morale and Training Rules for Crossfire
Alternative Morale and Training Rules for Crossfire first proposed by Rolf Grein in the Crossfire-WWII discussion forum.