CF Armour Musing Archives - Steven's Balagan

Almost Fosse Bridge – A Crossfire Battle Report

10 Dec 202210 Dec 2022 by Steven Thomas

fosse-103 Sherman III on overwatch - Banner

Jamie was coming over and I quickly knocked up this Crossfire scenario to continue my experiments with the revised Anti-tank rules. This time I wanted tanks on both sides and we ended up with three Panzers attacking and two Shermans in defence.

The scenario is extremely loosely based on the Coldstream Guards and Scots Greys defence of the Fosse Bridge on 13 September 1943. One of the many small actions following the Salerno landings in the Italian Campaign. Emphasis on the “extremely loosely”. At the time I only knew the battalions/regiments present and the location of the bridge which gave me a modern google map of the modern site. Not much to go on historically, but it gave a good game. I’ll write up the scenario later although a real Fosse Bridge Scenario will be quite different.

Bogging and Anti-tank Mines – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 7

3 Dec 2022 by Steven Thomas

Musing - Revising the Crossfire Anti-tank Rules - Corssfire - Banner

Both the Crossfire minefield rule and the Hit The Dirt bogging rule are special mechanisms using 1d6 and special outcomes. I think it is possible to align these with the normal infantry to hit dice, and without unduly affecting play. Since I’m revising the anti-tank rules to use the normal infantry to hit dice, this is a good time to tweak the bogging and anti-tank mine rules.

Infantry Anti-tank Weapons – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 6

16 Nov 202212 Nov 2022 by Steven Thomas

While I mull over the feedback I got about my previous post to revise Crossfire’s tank rules (Anti-tank Rating – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 5), I thought I’d share my thinking on infantry anti-tank weapons. Bazookas, Panzerfausts, Panzerschrecks, PIATs, and their poor relation, the anti-tank rifle.

Anti-tank Rating – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 5

3 Nov 202213 Aug 2022 by Steven Thomas

Time for the heart of the matter … revising Crossfire’s anti-tank rules and make them more like infantry combat. I want to do this as a bit of journey, from Crossfire’s ACC and PEN, through my mods for that, touching on earlier Gun versus Arm matrix thinking, before landing where I want to today.

Anti-personnel Rating – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 4

3 Nov 202230 Jul 2022 by Steven Thomas

I think tanks should be scary so my latest attempt at revising Crossfire’s tank rules does that … makes tanks grunty. You will see I’ve made tanks, much, much more punchy compared to the standard rules and other Gun vs ARM matrix house rules. While I’m about it I’d also like to fix up a few other weaknesses. For a start I would strengthen lighter guns – I’m very conscious that the Soviets continued to use the 45mm anti-tank gun through out the war and where other weapon systems were abandoned or improved, these stayed in use. Aside from the fact the Soviet had a lot of them, I can only assume the Soviets also saw these as having continued utility. As far as I can see the light anti-tank guns flipped to being used as anti-personnel weapons, something which standard Crossfire makes them unsuitable for. So far this is all terribly speculative and I’m just playing around with possibilities. But I do think it is good enough worth a try.

Monaldini and Monticelli – A Crossfire Battle Report in Italy 1

3 Nov 202223 Jul 2022 by Steven Thomas

Monticelli-151 Kiwi Sherman III and Knocked out Sherman III - Banner

Jamie and I played my Monaldini and Monticelli Scenario. Kiwis and Greeks against Fallschirmjäger and “Turcomen” during the Italian Campaign. And lets not forget the six Shermans.

Summary: Great scenario. Lots of tactical decisions for both players. Nice to get a few tanks on table. Great game. We’d play it again. I won. Or perhaps Jamie did.

Calibre Bands – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 3

3 Nov 202216 Jul 2022 by Steven Thomas

People often talk in calibre bands to rate guns and mortars e.g. light, medium, and heavy artillery. Heavy mortars, that kind of thing. Rules writers quite often follow suit and include calibre bands in their games. Although Crossfire doesn’t make a big song and dance about calibre bands, there is a hint of bands in there. So I thought I’d play around with calibre bands to see if I can find a useful pattern for my emerging revision to the anti-tank rules.

Monaldini and Monticelli – A Crossfire Scenario in Italy

3 Nov 20229 Jul 2022 by Steven Thomas

I wanted a scenario to play test my emerging revision to the Crossfire armour rules. This scenario simulates the New Zealander and Greek attack on two small settlements – Monaldini farm and Monticelli – south-west of Rimini on 14 Sep 1944, during the Italian Campaign. Defending are Fallschirmjäger and “Turcomen” i.e. Soviet PoWs in German service. It is roughly a company a side in terms of infantry but the Kiwis have six, count them, six Shermans.

Draft Examples – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 2

3 Nov 20222 Jul 2022 by Steven Thomas

I thought I’d share an early view of what some tanks and guns will look like using my new scheme. Just so you can get an idea of what the end result will look like. Each vehicle has three ratings: Armour, Anti-Tank fire, Anti-personnel fire. Some are also superior ATG. My thinking isn’t finished, so these stats are going to change before the end of this little game design journey. This just shows, roughly, what I’ve got in mind.

Design Goals – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 1

3 Nov 202225 Jun 2022 by Steven Thomas

Paul Ward’s video Introduction to Crossfire 5: Indirect Fire and Tanks got me thinking about a Gun versus Arm Matrix in Crossfire again. Lots of people have done this before as it offers a way to align the armour rules with infantry rules. In my earlier Gun versus Arm Matrix in Crossfire there are suggestions from Robert Tesfro, Si Booknek, Steve Phenow, and of course Paul Ward and myself. Plus I know that John Moher has dabbled here as well. I’m sure others have.

The trouble with all these suggestions is they make tanks impotent compared to HMG. I want to address that problem and a few other things at the same time. That is a big job and warrants a few blog posts. So here is part 1 – the design goals

Kiwis vs FJ in Italy – A Crossfire Battle Report 2

3 Nov 202211 Jun 2022 by Steven Thomas

Italy-202 Battlefield German view - Banner

Bruce Stewart (aka Gunnery Sargent Rock) and his mate Clynt had a go at my Kiwis vs FJ in Italy scenario. Crossfire in the Italian Campaign featuring New Zealanders – perfect. All words are Bruce’s.

Kiwis vs FJ in Italy – A Crossfire Scenario and Battle Report 1

3 Nov 202222 Jan 2022 by Steven Thomas

italy-165 Three types of Sherman - Banner

Jamie popped over for a game, and when it is just Jamie and me we try out something more experimental. Jamie wanted to play Crossfire and I wanted to try out my Crossfire Terrain Cards and some draft armour rules. I also wanted to get my 2 Division New Zealanders on table – “Kiwis” in New Zealand slang – and get the German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) out again. This was also the first outing for my Kiwi Armour.

Summary: Great little game. Crossfire Terrain Cards worked well, and happy with the test drive of my armour mods.

Japanese Tank Hunter Teams in Crossfire

3 Nov 20224 Sep 2021 by Steven Thomas

Order of Battle - Japanese Tank Hunters - Crossfire - Banner

Japanese Tank Hunter Teams in Crossfire
A few weeks ago I did some research on “Human bullet” assaults (nikuhaku kōgeki) – Japanese Suicide Anti-tank Teams. Now I have to decide how to simulate them in Crossfire. There are two parts to that: game effect of “Human bullet” assaults (nikuhaku kōgeki) and the organisation of Japanese Suicide Anti-tank Teams.

Planning my New Zealand Carriers In Italy for Crossfire

3 Nov 202227 Jun 2020 by Steven Thomas

Project - New Zealand Carriers In Italy - Crossfire - Banner

My Kiwis in Italy Project isn’t going well. I still haven’t started painting my the New Zealand infantry of 2 (NZ) Division in Italy. Sigh. But I do continue to make plans. I know I’ve got to do at least one carrier platoon when I finally get around to this. So I want to get my thinking straight about carriers in British / Commonwealth Leg Infantry Battalions and Motor Infantry Battalions. And Crossfire has that silly single APC carries a platoon thing, which is doubly silly for a 4-man universal carrier.

Crossfire Probabilities: Percentage Success in each Die Roll Mechanism

3 Nov 202225 Apr 2020 by Steven Thomas

Musing - Probabilities - Crossfire - Banner

My recent interest in Solo Crossfire got me thinking about the probabilities inherent in the Crossfire rules mechanisms. That means infantry direct fire / barrage / minefields, anti-tank direct fire, smoke, close combat, and rallying. Only read this post if you care about statistics of gaming mechanisms.