"Question for 54mm players" Topic

My 1/32 stash has become ridiculous so I am rationalising it at the moment. Having not previously done so I figured I would design a few "armies" for Crossfire based on what I have and then eliminate the other stuff.

The question I have is around vehicles. I have plenty of SdKfz 250 and 251 (in kit form) and three or four Protze trucks as well. Looking at a typical Crossfire setup I'd need 3 platoons of 3 sections plus command and heavy weapons which implies around a dozen vehicles if they have one each. In reality, that many 1/32 vehicles would never fit on any table I'm likely to get near so I need fewer than that. What I'm thinking though is do I need any? Given the space and the tactical use of such vehicles do they even need to be on the table for a game with 30 figures per sidE?

So does anyone else here game (or intend to) with this scale and what do you do about your infantry transport?

As I recall, Crossfire assume that transport is off table. Unless of course it is part of the scneario being played.

And even when they do, iirc a single vehicle carries a platoon, precisely to avoid transport silliness.

Most Crossfire games involve fairly CQB, so any transport should be parked hundreds of yards away well out of harms way in any case.

If you're using Crossfire you probably don't need any except perhaps as objectives – recover a damaged tank or whatever. We us our heavily field-stripped version of Bolt Action and sometimes have several vehicles on the table, but often none at all.

Vehicles have tremendous appeal on a 54mm wargame table. A scenario involving a "race" by both sides to seize an important objective mid-table makes infantry transport very important. Of course, the transport can be lost along with the occupants, so terrain that blocks line-of-sight can make the game more challenging.

link

Wow! Crossfire in 54mm. Not what I was expecting when I read the title of the thread! :)

@ nnascati / Martin R

Interesting, thanks. We are having the house ripped apart at the mo' so GOK where my copy of the rules is but one vehicle per platoon rather than section makes sense.

@ Dale

The only remaining figures I have from when I was a kid are my Airfix 1/32 (the other stuff was stolen years ago). So I started casting about a few years ago for a way to game with these, for old times' sake, in the necessary small numbers. Heard of Crossfire, and so here we are. The Airfix 1/32 are excellent sculpts IMO and the number I have tallies quite well with what Crossfire sets out.

@ uglyfatbloke

I am suspecting I have gone at this the wrong way and assembled a force of tanks, transport and infantry because in any other scale that's what you'd do/need. If I don't then I can flog the lot off, although I do so like Lees and Grants in 1/32. I'll need to keep some vehicles to give my Kettenkrad-towed sPzB 41 something to shoot up (does anyone know if a Kettenkrad could have pulled a sPzB 41?).

There is no wrong way….54mm is always good! We bought loads from John Lander (an outstanding fella)and we've never looked back….
SWMBO has buckets of tanks (Panthers, Pz. IVs, Flak vehicles, Hetzers Char Bs) and at least a dozen hanomags and I've got a dozen Shermans plus Honeys and Cromwells. We've yet to stage a game with absolutely everything on the table, but the day will come!

You could look at The Airfix Wargame whcih we play in 54mm and which utlises tanks, infantry, etc. It is grid based o 54mm works quite well.

Mike

CF certainly has tanks and other AFVs, it is just soft transport which is notably absent from the various games I've played.

I wouldn't sell your tanks, you may end up playing Fireball Forward or 5Core and discover you need them again…

John Lander – I believe he goes by the name of 'By John'?

He did a couple of giant games of Crossfire in 54mm at the Salute show in London. I particularly remember his Arnhem game. Loads of vehicles on the table….but it was seventy foot long….!

Just so. SWMBO and I had seen his Epsom game in Wargames Illustrated years ago and thought it was great. When John put it up for sale we thought we would buy one company each and a vehicle or two…..and then we got carried away.

I'm too lazy to check right now, but I don't think a single scenario in "Hit the Dirt" featured any on-board transport. Plenty of tanks though!