Iron Cross AAR 7-15-17

I ran a Iron Cross (from Great Escape Games) 20mm WWII game this past Saturday night.

This was my first time using the rules. I was excited to have a friend who was new to miniatures gaming over to play and thought this would be a great introductory set. I was excited to try out the Activation/Reactivation system.

Scenario

I set up a 5x7 scenario based on the British attacks leading up to the Odon River crossings and attacks on Hill 112. The British had 12 squads supported by a light mortar and a medium machine gun team along with 3 Shermans and a Firefly. The Germans had 5 squads starting on board along with 2 machine gun teams and a Flak 88. All Germans were hidden. The Germans had variable reinforcements of 5 more squads, 3 251/1s, 2 Stugs, and 1 Panzer IV.

The British were tasked with crossing a small river, capturing a farm complex, and advancing off-board to the east.

Rules Musings

I enjoyed my frst try with these rules.

The turn sequence is basically a an IGOUGO with one major exception- Reacting. As phasing units attempt to activate (1st activation is automatic but costs an activation point, additional attempts become increasing harder by one pip and still requite activation points) the non-phasing player can attempt to React. Basically the reacting units need a 3 or higher, this becomes harder if they have already been activated or accrued morale hits. Their is also a 1/6 chance that the reacting player will "steal" the initiative and become the phasing player. This continues until both side have used all their activation points (these are assigned at 1/unit with some exceptions/modifications for better or worse quality units). You can also activate as a "platoon" to save points but this allows for less flexibility and ability to react.

Note that one unit could potentially attempt to activate 6 times a turn, the first one is automatic, then each attempt after that needs a d6 roll greater than the amount of activation points already used (assuming no morale hits on unit). This means that a commander can really focus his attack or defense and allow for one flank or area to basically hold. I really like this tactical flexibility given to the commander and I could see where this would be really cool in a multiplayer game.

I give the COMMAND AND ACTIVATION RULES AND A+

The firing rules confuse me in what they are attempting to do. Basically if a squad fires at another squad they roll 2 d10 needing 5s or greater with modifiers. They can cause a max of 1 morale hit, even if both rolls are 5+. Then the firer rolls a d6 per hit (meaning this could be 2d6 if both d10 rolls were 5+) and attempts to "convert" these hits into an additional morale hit. Again there is a max of 1 hit caused during conversion. So the way I read it one squad firing at another can cause a max of 2 morale hits per fire phase. It seems like this could have been streamlined into a single roll, rather than two rolls with two dice type. However, I am not a statistician and I am sure there was much thought put into this.

Different weapon types, MGs etc. can potentially cause more hits than just two per fire phase.

To be continued...

Game mat by Cigar Box Battle