2 Foot City – A Crossfire Scenario

It occurred to John Mclennan and I that you could pack a lot of buildings onto a 2′ x 2′ table so we set one up to have a look. We liked the end result so much we invented a Crossfire scenario for WW2 and played a game. This is the scenario, but there is also a battle report.


Situation

Setting: A city, Anywhere; WW2

Lots of battles were fought in built up areas. The gist of these battles was the streets were killing zones, and the fighting was in the buildings, and involved lots of close combats. This scenario could be played in virtually any theatre with any troops.


Map/Terrain

Table - 2 Foot City - Crossfire
Table – 2 Foot City – Crossfire
2 Foot City 107 Set up
2 Foot City 107 Set up

Key features are:

  • 2′ x 2′ table.
  • Buildings. Lots of them.
  • The buildings should be clumped into eight city blocks, each of which is a building complex.
  • Each side has a base, comprising a city block in opposite corners of the table.
  • The other six city blocks are numbered 1 through 6 – this is used for both deployment and random artillery fire.
  • The gaps between buildings are assumed to be roads, and are the only open ground in the game.

Pre-game preparation

None.


Both Russian & German Player

Objective

Capture city blocks.

Forces Available

We didn’t spend a lot of time creating the scenario so the opposing sides have identical forces. Effectively each side has a reinforced rifle company.


Soviet and German Order of Battle

  • Reinforced Rifle Company:
    • 1 x CC (+1)
    • 3 x HMG
    • 1 x FO for off table 81mm or 82 mm Mortar (12 FM)
    • 3 x Rifle Platoon: PC (+1), 3 x Rifle Squad
  • Morale: Regular
    Command & Control: Adventurous (i.e. German) for both sides.

The HMG component is beefed up as troops in urban combat tended to have high proportions of automatic weapons.

Deployment

All stands are deployed visible. Deployment happens in the following order:

  1. Deploy each CC anywhere in the appropriate base city block.
  2. Deploy Platoons randomly across table in non-base city blocks. The players roll to see who deploys first; high roller deploys first. When it is the player’s turn, roll a die for the city block the platoon deploys in. Normal building capacity rules apply (i.e. two squads/HMG plus commanders/FOs). Russians and Germans may deploy within the same city block, but can not deploy in the same building. The entire platoon must be deployed within the target city block, unless there is insufficient capacity, in which case the overflow is placed in the nearest adjacent city block.
  3. Deploy the FO with any friendly stand.
  4. The first player that deployed a platoon takes the first initiative. (The other player is the “second” player.)

Reinforcements

None.


Victory Conditions

Terrain and Casualty (AD) objectives

The game ends after a certain real time period (e.g. an hour) or after one side is wiped out.

At the end of the game the player with undisputed control of the greater number of city blocks is the winner. Disputed city blocks are those with forces of both sides anywhere within the city block. Empty city blocks are not controlled by either side – there must be a stand within the block to control it.


Scenario Special Rules

  • Deployment is random. See above.
  • At the end of the “second” player’s initiative roll for a heavy artillery barrage. It lands in a random location. Roll one die for the city block (1-6) and roll again for the building within the city block. If the target building is occupied then the owner of those stands picks which stand to target.
  • Don’t forget the Building complex rules, i.e. you:
    • Can’t shoot between adjacent sectors of the same building complex.
    • Can’t reactive fire at movement between sectors of a building complex (not even from outside).
    • Can conduct phasing fire, from outside, at troops in a building complex.

Notes

  • Accounts from Stalingrad suggest that the both sides quickly adopted small independent assault parties. For the Russians these were 6-8 men, i.e. a Crossfire Squad, and they were expected to act independently. Because of this I’ve allowed the Russians more flexibility in command and control than they’d normally get.
  • If we played it again we’d make some tweaks to the above – see the battle report.
  • Used my Generic Building Sectors.

Leave a Reply