"Measurements in Crossfire" Topic

Is there anyone playing Crossfire with any "Move" and/or "Fire range" limitation?

Roby

I think the heart of the rules is that the terrain is what limits movement and fire range. To add an arbitrary limit would make it so you're not playing Crossfire.

I think the heart of the rules is that the terrain is what limits movement and fire range. To add an arbitrary limit would make it so you're not playing Crossfire.

Well,
the idea is to "enlarge" the battlefield over the canonic "small arms effectiveness" (a sort of zoom-out) and to reduce the number of the Terrain Features.
Obviously, I don't want to "distort" Crossfire philosophy (heresy!!!). I'm trying to "create" a personalized homemade game, based on Crossfire principles.

Roby

Yes, I have…. I divided the board into 6 areas…

Bazookas could only fire into their own area… or an adjacent area. Tank guns received a negative modifier for firing over one area away.

To stop infantry movement…
I give each side 3-4 sniper chits. At any time one can interrupt movement with a sniper chit…. on a 5 or 6.. the initiative changes sides….

Seems to work.

Joe Collins

Roby, We usually play on a 6'x4' board, made of 6 2'x2' boards put together. We have put in a rule (from Tim, I think) that our Inf can only move in 2 of those squares during an initiative. It limits movement to 4' of the board(still a lot of room, but it also means you can no longer run around the entire board on those wild end runs!) Also, like Tim, our tanks are limited to the number of actions per initiative. 6 for light, 5 for medium & 4 actions for the heavies. The only fire limits are for anti tank gun fire. Panzerfausts and such. If dead close, (we call that 2 stands or less) we increase the ACC die. Instead of -2 we make it -1. Here are some pics of one of our latest games. link

If there are any measurements involved, it's no longer crossfire.
Buuuuuut, l have used 'handspans' for PIAT ranges, so l should say,
No rulers/ tapes are used in my games!

John

Yes, mainly to limit panzerfausts etc so 6" max range for PFs.

In my WW1 version I went the whole hog with range bands etc, only way I could make rifle grenades work sensibly.

Didn't seem to stop it being 'Crossfire'.

Never found a particualr need to limit moves as they are straight lines anyway and usually bump into 'something', the only thing was a max of 10" in the open in a single move action.

Lloyd Nikolas has a variant on his website to limit bazookas and the like to 2 terrain features in range, I've not tried it but his explanation sounds quite reasonable. I've never tried to limit movement ranges as Crossfire initiatives don't measure a set time increment but the period where one side or the other is dictating the pace of the battle.

Hi, having a skirmish set based on Crossfire I came up with what I call bound sticks for movement. If your main concern is about having to use so much terrain I also dealt with this. I added a Cautious Advance movement. This basically gives you a cover bonus. You can see the rules at my Yahoo group. They have been around for a decade now.

Company Commander:

link

Thanks,

John

But, but, crossfire is unique because of…no measurement.

Jaz
6sided.net

@ 6sided,

You can take the rulers out of the rules, but you cannot take the rulers from the players. :)

Nice, Inari7, nice. It's oh so true.
Peter

Thanks!
Very interesting Tim's suggestions!!!

You can take the rulers out of the rules, but you cannot take the rulers from the players

Well, I'd like to settle my "problems" without a ruler, but maybe I can't. On the other hand, a Ruleset is not a religion, so… ;)

Thanks a lot

Tim,

I also think reduce the number of the Terrain Features is a dangerous step

That's true, but, ALAS, many Crossfire's players tend toword playing on a messy tabletop, packed with "multicolor" Terrain Features.
I find messy tabletops not easily intelligible (it is my limitation, I know…).

Tim, tabletops in your pictures seem to be rather neat, with "clean cut" terrain features a clear open space between them.
This is my "target".

Roby

"But, but, crossfire is unique because of…no measurement."

No, it is unique because of initiative driven unit activation. All the rest is just fluff.

"with "clean cut" terrain features "

You just need to make sure you've got a box full of decent terrain features with clear cut edges. Some large features benefit from internal subdivision into 'areas' (like large woods).

With the greatest of respect, Martin, the rest is
Most certainly not 'fluff' l think crossfire's appeal
Is the lack of the following; fixed turns, move rates
And ranges, in that order. Now, if you fundamentally
Change any of those three, l think you are losing the
Essense of the game. Now, they can stand any amount
Of bolt on home rules, because the basics are so
Strong, but, great though a lot of the mini sites are for
Crossfire-porn, l switch off as soon as l see any mention
Of rulers, or tapes, or move rates. However, l still
Maintain, and l hope at least some people would agree
That Crossfire are THE most innovative set of rules,
For any period, in the last 20 years? Apologies for the
Layout of this, done on an i-phone, not yet used to it!

John

Couldn't agree with ya more, John!
Peter

What Tim said.

A minor degree of measuring is always required in CF, even if they are just 'base widths'.

'fluff' was perhaps overstating it, but that is me all over when it comes to internet posts:)

Also agree with Martin -- the 'no rulers' thing is interesting and in a skirmish context fine, but it is not what defines CF. Indeed, the artificiality of placing terrain to block long lines of fire and movement is no less contrived than using a ruler and has been an issue for me as well (I agree that reactive fire to long movements should be reconsidered with some sort of max. move per initiative). CF is a great game and playtesting it and developing the Berlin game was a treat. Wish that a multi-player game was easier to manage using CF….

Busted! : )