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Category: Crossfire House RulesIn over 10 years of playing Crossfire, Arty Conliffe’s company level WW2 game, I have built up some well tested House Rules with associated Datasheets (PDF). 
I recently blogged about Assaulting Bunkers in Crossfire – Possible House Rules. But I don’t think I was sufficiently clear on my final recommendation. So I’m having another go at explaining it. Short story is I want to make bunkers (and hard points) much tougher to assault. I’m intending to add this to my Balagan House Rules for Crossfire. 
Although my Crossfire data sheets have been around a while (since 2006), they never had a page of their own to explain why I wrote them. I thought I’d rectify the gap and take the opportunity to add some more vehicles. 
Back in the days when there was no Crossfire Yahoo forum, and we shared a forum with the Spearhead guys, John Moher posted some Crossfire clarifications from Arty Conliffe. Tim M. hosted these clarifications until his site closed down a couple of years ago. I thought they are useful for the community so have reposted them here. 
Who has the bazooka? The red dot guy of course. Very early on it was obvious we needed a way to distinguish stands with infantry anti-tank weapons in Crossfire. We use a red dot next to the unit ID, on the stand label. 
Dick Bryant got in contact this week and said “I just spent an unproductive 1/2 hour looking for your write ups on using points to balance a scenario. Where did you put it?” It isn’t there. Sorry about that Dick. My points system was missing because it is based on the points at the back of the rules. However, on reflection, I think there are sufficient differences between what I do now and what the rules say, that I should share. 
A discussion on the Crossfire Yahoo Forum got me thinking about the protective cover offered by wall features in Crossfire. I think I had it wrong. The difference of interpretation relates to whether or not a wall provides protective cover in direct fire between two squads, neither of which is touching the wall. 
Being hidden helps a lot in Crossfire. But if the attacker knows the defender’s order of battle they also know how many enemy stands are still hidden on table. With few remaining hidden defenders the attacker can be more aggressive. With lots the attacker will be more cautious. But real attackers could never be certain of the size of the defending force so couldn’t number crunch their way to victory. The question is, how to introduce that uncertainty into a game without an umpire? 
At some point Arty Conliffe will put together a version 2 of Crossfire. Just to get some things off my chest, here are some things that would be nice in CF II. Basically I’ve gone through my House Rules and FAQ looking for unclear / annoying things. 
New comers to Crossfire often ask how to base their figures. This is my approach for 15mm figures – see my musing section for how other people base. In general I went for 30mm square bases, rather than the official 32mm, as this is standard for other game systems. and is, well, tidier 
Crossfire needs some markers to show status, hidden deployment and objectives. This page shows what I use although there are lots of alternatives. 
For Crossfire, I’ve got several battalions spread across several periods, so I needed a way to distinguish the battalions on my Stand Labels as part of Unit Identification in Crossfire. Every battalion has a code. 
Standard Crossfire uses large bold Platoon and Company ID numbers on the top-rear the stand. After trying quite a few alternative systems – see my musings on Unit identification – I’ve ended up back with a system quite like the official method – big bold numbers on top-rear of the stand – but with the addition of the Battalion Code. Multi-player games have a number of advantages over 1-on-1 games: They’re big and allow lots of toys on the table; they can more accurately simulate a command hierarchy; they can be more sociable. Crossfire is, however, really designed as a 1-on-1 game. This page lists several suggestions for how to turn Crossfire into a multi-player game. Generally I assume that each player has at least a company of infantry. 
The Crossfire Discussion forum often fields questions from new comers to Arty Conliffe’s Crossfire (and its supplement Hit the Dirt). I’ve noticed a pattern to the questions so thought a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section would make life easier: You might also be interested in my House Rules and Musings on Crossfire, many of which elaborate on the issues described here. I’ve started compiling some Crossfire amendments for refighting the Arab-Israeli conflicts. I’ve also started putting together scenarios – particularly for 1948-49. |
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