Armour Fest – A Crossfire Scenario with lots of Tanks

Rich Wilcox and I were talking about whether a tank heavy scenario would work in Crossfire, so we decided to give it a go. The scenario is loosely based on Kursk, but only because I have a fair amount of Eastern Front kit for 1943, and we wanted to use all of it (or at least, most of it). See also my Battle Report.

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Mission

Setting: Kursk Region, Russia; July 1943

A giant armoured bash up.

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Map/Terrain

Key features are:

• 6’x4′ table.
• Fields (in season)
• Hill (Contour Line with Rough) and Crests.
• Woods and orchards (in season)
• Buildings.
• Hedges.
• Russians deploy north of the line A-A.
• Russian reinforcements arrive on table edge B-B.
• Germans arrive on table edge C-C.

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Pre-game preparation

• Russians deploy hidden.

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Russian Player (Defending)

Objective

Kill Germans.

Forces Available

Initially the Russians have an under strength rifle company supported by anti-tank weapons. All dug in.

Deployment

Deploys first, hidden north of the line A-A.

Reinforcements

Russian start throwing for reinforcements as soon as they have lost at least one stand. The reinforcements arrive on a 6 at the start of any subsequent Russian initiative.

The reinforcements are masses of armour.

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German Player (Attacking)

Begins scenario with initiative.

Objective

Kill Russians.

Forces Available

The Germans get a Panzer Grenadier company and lots of tanks.

Deployment

Deploys second, arriving on southern table edge (C-C).

Reinforcements

None. However, any armoured platoons can be left off table at the start (mainly for congestion reasons) as reserves. At the start of any subsequent initiative the German player can roll to receive a reserve. On a 5+ one off table armoured platoons arrives anywhere on the German base edge.

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Victory Conditions

Casualty (AD) objectives

Fight until one side is wiped out. Survivor wins.

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Scenario Special Rules

• Check out my house rules and in particular the armour section.
• Russian Armour Special Rule (based on “ Hen and Chicks” rule from Flames of War).
  • Russian armour is organised into platoons.
  • Each Russian armoured platoon has a PC.
  • Russian vehicles must start and end within LOS of their PC.
  • If a PC vehicle is destroyed, another vehicle in the platoon is nominated as the PC in the follow initiative.
  • Each Russian armoured platoon can either move or shoot each initiative, and all vehicles within the platoon either move or shoot accordingly. So a vehicle cannot move and shoot in the same initiative, but nor can one vehicle move and another shoot.
• Russian ATG can group fire, either a crossfire or fire group.
• The Russian tank riders can, unsurprisingly, ride on tanks. In fact they must start mounted. One tank or assault gun can carry one squad. The PC rides for free.
• German Panzer Grenadiers must start mounted. They can only dismount when the Russians fire an anti-tank weapon at any German vehicle (and it doesn’t have to be the Panzer Grenadier’s vehicle).
• German Half-tracks count as HMG for attaching to platoons, and can group fire with platoons they are attached to.
• Fields are in season, so block LOS between dismounted infantry (including guns); they also block RBF from infantry. They do not, however, block LOS between vehicles, or between vehicles and infantry, or RBF from vehicles.
• Tanks, and guns on a higher contour, can shoot over infantry that are hidden, in entrenchments, or ground hugging.
• The German SdKfz 231 (8-RAD) is a reconnaissance vehicle and uses the reconnaissance special rule. Specifically:
  • Succeed in Recon by Fire (RBF) on a 5+ not just a 6.
  • German Recon vehicles can retreat move, and can reverse at full speed.
• The Revealing hidden squads on a One [Optional Rule] is in use. Hidden troops are not automatically revealed when they fire. They are only revealed if they throw a one on any dice when firing. Other stands in the same feature are not revealed when one fires. When any moves then all are revealed.

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Weapon stats

Type	When	ARM	ACC	PEN	MG	HE/EFF	Smoke	HD	Spd	CC	Comment
Anti-Tank Rifle		–	-1	-3	–	0	–	–	–	–
Russian
45 mm ATG		–	+1	-1	–	1/1	–		1	-2
57mm ATG (57/73)		–	+1	+1	–	2/1	–	–	0.5	-2
76 mm ATG		–	+1	0	–	4/2	–		1	-2
KV-1		6/3	0	0	4	4/2	–	N	1	+3
T34-76		4/3	-1	0	4	4/2	–	N	3	+3	2 man turret
T-60	41-43	2/1	-1	-3	3	1/1	–	N	2	+3	1 man turret
T-70	42-EW	3/2	-1	-2	3	2/1	–	N	2	+3	1 man turret
SU 76i		3/1	0	0	0	4/2	–	N	2	+1
SU 76 M		2/1	0	0	3	4/2	–	N	2	+1
SU 152		5/3	0	+2	0	5/3	–	N	1	+2
German
SdKfz 231 (8-RAD)	Any	1/1	0	-3	3	1/1	–	Y	3	+3	Recon
Pz III G	Apr40-43	2/1	0	-2	4	2/1	–	Y	2	+3
Pz III H-M	Oct40-44	3/1	0	-1	4	2/1	–	Y	2	+3
Pz IV G		4/2	0	+1	4	4/2	–	Y	2	+3
Pz V Panther	Jul43-EW	6/2	0	+2	4	4/2	–	Y	2	+3
Pz VI, Tiger I	Aug42-EW	5/3	0	+2	4	5/2	–	Y	1	+3
StuG III G		4/2	-1	+1	4	4/2	–	N		+2
251/1 Half-track		1/1	–	–	4	–	–	–	3	+1

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Notes

The combination of hidden anti-tank guns, who can group fire, and who are only revealed when they throw a one, is quite potent.

The intention was to give the defender some fortifications, but on the day we forgot:

The “Hens and Chicks” rule for Russian Armour represents the “Follow Me” command and control approach of the Russian Tankers. It is an idea from the Battle Front site.

See also my Battle Report.

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References

None.