Low Fire – No Fire Replacement in Crossfire

Some people don’t like the No Fire rule in Crossfire. Some people just drop it completely and others suggest variations on ‘Low Fire’.

Rob Wolski’s ‘Low Fire’

Based on comments from Rob Wolski on Crossfire Discussion forum. Rob points out that going ‘No Fire’ is so catastrophic for the defender that it is often not worth risking a shot. Rob outlined a possible solution:

  • Veterans and SMG – subtract one die for each ‘No-Fire’ marker. Minimum of one die always available for reactive fire.
  • Regulars – subtract two dice for each ‘No-Fire’.
  • Green – subtract three dice for each ‘No-Fire’. (The equivalent of the current rule.)

Michael Stringer’s ‘Low Fire’

Michael Stringer offers the “Low Fire” alterative on the Yahoo Crossfire WW2 Discussion Forum:

Currently at NWA we play a LOW FIRE rule, which is popular with CrossFIre players who have experienced the NO FIRE rules. (It has brought a couple of players back to CrossFire). Under our LOW FIRE rule, if a reactive firing squad fails to PIN, it drops a die from further reactive fire. This is cumulative to cover effects, and so means that the minimum number of dice a squad can roll is 1. We find the many PIN results that occur make a significant impact on the game, even for veterans. We have laughed often at a 1 rolled at the crucial moment.

We have also played the rule that a squad pinned in the open automatically ‘ground hugs’ at the first pin result. A HMG section or mortar team can ‘ground hug’, but if so it cannot fire.

We have been using the LOW FIRE rule for a couple of years, and found it a good balance of fast play and realism. We discussed the idea of each squad’s reactive fire occurring along a fire lane 1 base width wide, and only being applied to stands that enter the fire lane. The LOW FIRE and NO FIRE rules would not apply. However we have not play tested fire lanes, as it would require laying markers to show fire lanes when reacting to group moves, which would slow the game significantly.

5 thoughts on “Low Fire – No Fire Replacement in Crossfire”

    • Yes, that is correct. But if you are learning CF I recommend you stick to the rules as published. In particular most players play the standard NO FIRE rule rather than variants like Low Fire.

      Reply
  1. What about the no fire rule is only applied on rifle squads?. HMGs can shoot everytime doing reactive fire.

    Reply

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