This is the briefing for the West Table of the Multiplayer Pocket game. There are also briefings for the North and South tables. If you wish you could also use it as a stand alone Crossfire scenario for WW2.
Eastern Front
During World War II the Axis powers tried and failed to defeat the Soviet Union. The Germans called this theatre the “Eastern Front Campaign” or “Russian Front Campaign” but to the Soviet citizens it was the “Great Patriotic War”. The battles on the Eastern Front constituted the largest military confrontation in history. Fighting in this theatre was characterised by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life variously due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. Fighting lasted from the Axis invasion of the USSR (22 June 1941) to until the Soviet capture of Berlin (9 May 1945).
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.
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.
Variable Morale for Soviets in Crossfire
An idea from Rapid Fire. It gives soviet battalions a random quality attribute.
Even “Regular” German Divisions could be Green
An excerpt from “Standing Fast: German Defensive Doctrine on the Russian Front During World War II. Army Group received six brand-new German divisions in Jun 1943 but by 1 Oct the Army group declared these units “no longer fully reliable”.
Cavalry and Mounted Infantry in Crossfire
Some musing on Cavalry and Mounted Infantry in Crossfire. Standard Crossfire doesn’t cover this. My musings are primarily based on ideas by Daniele Varelli on the Crossfire Discussion Forum. Cavalry is divided into Charging Cavalry – who fight mounted – and/or Mounted Infantry – who dismount to fight. Usually a player must choose at deployment whether his Cavalry is “dismounted” or “mounted”; normally they cannot mount/dismount during the game.
WW2 Facts, Tactics, Orders of Battle, etc
I’ve lumped all sorts of tidbits in here.
Scenarios for Arty Conliffe’s Crossfire
You might want to look at my General Scenario Guidelines or go straight to the scenarios and scenario resources themselves:
Various Ideas for Crossfire Scenarios
?? TODO ?? Flesh them out
Books and Memoirs of World War II
I’ve been reading a lot of books and memoirs about World War II lately and I’ve typed up some of them. Mainly with a view to making scenarios for Crossfire.