New Iron Cross army list PDFs

Great Escape Games have released additional force lists for Iron Cross. These cover NW Europe 1944-45, including British Airborne, US Airborne, Waffen SS, Volksgrenadiers and Soviet Assault Battalions. The pdf can be found here.

They also have a couple of other PDFs that may be of interest which can be found here.

Iron Cross WW2 rules first playthrough

As promised here's my thoughts on the rules after my first solo play through. I set up a 4'x4' table as shown below, the hedges I used as bocage. (Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures I couldn't find the lead to charge my camera.)

A crossroads somewhere in Normandy

I grabbed what 15mm figures I could find and made two 500pt forces. The Americans (shown below) had 3 Sherman 76mm, 2 M10 tank destroyers, an M20 scout car, a mortar, an MMG and 6 infantry units 3 of which had bazookas.

The U.S. forces

The Germans (below) had 2 Panthers, a Pz IV, a Stug IV, 2 Pak 40s, a nebelwerfer used as a mortar and 4 infantry squads.

The German force

I'm not going to do a full AAR as that wasn't the point of the exercise. My aim was to try out the rules and see what happened.

I didn't use any of the supplied scenarios but set up was straightforward. The game uses activation tokens as its main resource, activating a unit to move or react to an enemy move costs you one token. You start the game with one token for each unit plus one extra from your command unit. In this game the US had 15 tokens while the Germans had 12 tokens. I was a bit worried that this activating and reactivating wouldn't work too well solo but I was wrong. The US won the initiative and after I'd activated a few units I was starting to look at how many tokens I had left and how many the Germans still had and decided to pass the initiative over to the Germans while I had enough tokens left to react if needed. Also this allowed the US to see what the Germans were going to do and maybe adjust their plan accordingly when they got the initiative back. This planning your tactics and deciding when to react and when to pass the initiative over is the main part of the game and is great fun even solo.

In the Meeples & Miniatures podcast the authors commented that taking a force just comprised of a few Tigers or Panthers although it seems powerful is a bad idea. I wasn't so sure about this and nearly took five Panthers (100pts each) as the German force. However after a few activations I understood what they meant. Obviously as you activate and reactivate models you have fewer & fewer tokens left. The US with 15 tokens could do a lot of things but if I'd taken all Panthers I'd only have had 6 tokens to start with and would soon run out meaning the US could activate without fear as the Germans would be unable to react allowing the tank destroyers or Shermans to push forward and go for shots on the flank/rear unopposed. But that's not the only reason. If you have enemy infantry within 12" you're penalised when firing (maybe because your commander is buttoned up reducing visibility), unless you have your own infantry within 12" as well. So you need infantry support for your tanks which I thought was a nice touch.

I'd didn't find the lack of artillery a problem as I had mortars for indirect fire. Also one of the scenarios allows a preliminary bombardment which inflicts morale markers to weaken the enemy before your attack. I didn't miss air support either, obviously the airfields were shrouded in fog or the planes were tasked elsewhere. I didn't use smoke as I never really felt the need for it as I had plenty of cover on the table.

(What follows is mainly what I felt was wrong with the rules. This doesn't mean I don't like the rules or that they're bad. Quite the opposite I think they're excellent but with some problems that should have come up in play testing and been fixed. It looks like when they were streamlining the rules they went a little too far in places. None of the problems I encountered were game breaking or even difficult to fix. But may cause problems for inexperienced gamers.)

I did start to hit problems as the game progressed. The first was with line of sight. There is no mention of how you deal with LoS anywhere in the rules. Now in most cases this isn't a problem as you can reasonably say that units behind buildings or bocage are obviously out of sight. But then we get to woods, do they allow clear LoS as you can see through them on the table or do they block LoS completely. If you have a unit in a wood can it shoot out and be shot at in return? None of these things are that difficult for a pair of friends who are experienced gamers to agree on before the game. But these rules with their simplified approach while still having good tactical depth would be an excellent starter set for new players and I think they would struggle to know what to do. This isn't a big fix, a few lines could quickly clear this up and I'm surprised it hasn't been included.

My next problem follows on from this and relates to buildings. There are no rules for buildings in the game. A few activations in I wanted a few units of infantry to enter the church but I couldn't find how you do this. After a bit of thought I decided that taking an action to enter a building (units have two actions they can use each activation) would be reasonable. After the game as I was checking a few things in the rulebook I noticed that buildings were mentioned in the movement section as being counted as rough going, that is the same as a hedge or area of rubble.
Looking at how rough ground affects movement I saw that it has no effect on infantry. Fair enough the game is a bit abstracted in certain areas and I can live with that. Except looking at how rough ground affects vehicles the rule doesn't work. For example scout cars can pass through rough ground if they roll a 2 or better on a D6. I'm sorry there's no way a little scout car can enter one side of a terraced house and easily pass out the other side. An intact house is very different from a hedge or area of rubble. Again this is a reasonably easy fix and one wonders why it wasn't picked up in playtesting.

But that's not the only problem with buildings and here we go back to the lack of LoS rules. Lets say my US infantry enter the rear of the church and I have a Pz IV in the field on the other side of the church. Can the Pz IV react to the infantry moving into the church and shoot them, does it see them? Yet again this is an easy fix and I can't see how this didn't come up in playtesting.

The last problem I have with the rules is how certain things are explained. I'll give you a couple of examples.

One of the rules for mortars says that you get a +1 bonus to hit as long as some part of the target hasn't moved more than 4" from where it was first targeted. This seems straightforward, it's 8+ to hit the first time and as long as part of the target is within 4" of it's original position the next time that turn you shoot at it it's a 7+ and then a 6+ etc. Except the rule goes on to explain this by saying "This means that a player cannot activate the target unit, shuffle sideways 5" and then claim its not in the target area." Now I'm not very good at maths but I think that 5" is more than 4" so it is outside the target area. This could be a typo but it might not be, it might mean something else that I'm missing.

Another example is with Reactivation. The rule says the reacting player has to say what his reaction is and pay the token cost 'before any dice have been rolled'. So what happens if the first player then fails his activation, does the reacting player still lose his token for reacting even though he has nothing now to react to. I decided that if the player fails his roll the activation didn't happen so there is nothing to react too. This maybe what was intended I have no idea.

There's other areas where things aren't as clear as they could be but these rules aren't alone in that respect.

The only other thing I would say is that these are not 'fast play' rules. Both of you will spend ages each turn deciding on what to activate and whether to react or not. Especially with games where you may have 30 or 40 tokens each like at 1000pts. You could get round this by setting a time limit for each turn and using a chess clock app on your mobile.

Overall I like the rules despite the problems I mentioned. I spent most of my time during the game working out which units to activate and whether it was worth spending a token to react to a move or not. Should I risk it and try push forward multiple times with a unit and hope I made the activation rolls and not waste limited tokens or not. In other words I was thinking about tactics not rules which is the overriding strong point for these rules. I'll be using them again now I've got my 'house rules' sorted for the things I mentioned and I expect to have lots of fun doing so.

Quick Review: Iron Cross WW2 Rules

Time for another quick review. This one features the new WW2 wargame rules 'Iron Cross' from Great Escape Games which cost £12 inc p&p. So onto the rules (here I should say that I just received my copy today so haven't had time to play an actual game.) I have now had a play through of the rules and the post can be found here.

I'd seen mention of these rules on TMP but didn't know anything about them until I listened to the Meeples & Miniatures podcast 156 which featured an in-depth interview with the rules creators.I had no real interest in a new set of WW2 rules as I felt I was pretty well catered for with Chain of Command and Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich. However listening to the podcast got me interested in them and I ended up buying a copy. What got my interest was a combination of the 'simple' mechanics/approach and the tactical depth to the gameplay.

The rules fast play approach is something that I've found more appealing lately. I've been playing a lot of Kings of War Napoleonics (a home brewed variant) and a set of rules that you can quickly explain to a new player that has them thinking about tactics rather than mechanics after a couple of turns has become more and more appealing. This is what led to buy the rules after listening to the podcast.

Some of the stuff in the rules is fairly standard, for example the rules use a D6 for morale/activation and a D10 for combat and markers to manage activations. But what is unusual is that there are no weapon ranges. If you can see it you can shoot it. Also there is no separate melee phase. At 6" range and under firing is more deadly and the close combat/grenades etc is assumed to be part of the combat at that range. This may make the rules seem too simple but they're not. The big thing that sold me was the tactical depth presented by the activation system.

You get one activation marker for each unit you have plus two from the commander and these are used to activate your units, again fairly standard stuff. Where the fun happens is how you use these markers. The player with initiative activates one unit with a marker. He can then decided if he wants to activate another unit or activate the same unit again. If the same unit is activated again he must roll a D6 and get one more than the number of activations that the unit has undertaken e.g. activating a 2nd time he needs a 2+ on a D6. But wait, there's more. His opponent can interrupt the activation and spend one of his markers to activate a unit to react to the move (for example to shoot with an anti-tank gun) but needs a 3+ on a D6 to activate the unit. So your opponent can react to your moves by spending his activation markers but the more markers he spends in reacting the less he will have for his own turn. Plus the player with initiative can at anytime pass the initiative over to his opponent who can pass it back after he has completed at least one activation. So you have a cat & mouse game with resource management. Do you risk spending a marker on reacting or do you save it, if you spent one on reacting with your anti-tank gun but it misses do you spend another or cut your losses. Do you spend markers on the same unit and push ahead to grab an objective or will it get isolated and cut down in your opponents turn. Maybe you've planned ahead and saved some markers to react and protect your advanced unit.

Although it's a bit of a hackneyed cliche the game is like chess in that the basic rules are simple but the tactical gameplay is complex. The rules only cover 11 pages of the 32 page rulebook. The rest is taken up by the four scenarios and the four late war army lists (which cover a page each) and some gameplay examples. Units are 4/5 individual figures to a unit for 28mm or 4/5 figures on a base for 15mm, tanks are based individually, support weapons have 2/3 crew per base so you can easily reuse your existing stuff without rebasing.

Other stuff to cover, a hit inflicts a morale marker on a unit (think pins from Bolt Action) infantry can have 5 markers before they are removed from play. You can spend an activation marker to try and rally a unit and remove some morale markers. Individual figures can have any weapons you like as they are not taken into account. Firing is done with a D10 and a 5+ hits modified by moving, number of morale markers etc and that's about it.

If you want some more details then I suggest you listen to the podcast I mentioned above. I'm really looking forward to giving these rules a try. Now all I have to do find which box my WW2 stuff is in, moving house really messes up your storage system. Once I've had a game I'll post an AAR and link it here.

Re-reading rulebooks is a good idea.

I've played a few games of Bolt Action and feel I have a pretty good handle on the rules. In fact I rate the rulebook very highly indeed. As I said in my review it's the only set of rules I've ever been able to read through in one sitting. Usually my eyes glaze over after a few pages as I try to assimilate the masses of detail.

But, unless you're Sheldon Cooper, you can't remember all the rules from one read through. So generally you just check things as they come up in a game. However doing things that way means that you can miss things. So I like to keep a set of rules handy and read a couple of pages when I have a spare minute. This way it helps reinforce things in your mind but also it highlights things you may have missed.

As I said I feel pretty confident with my understanding of BA but in my latest quick foray into the rules I noticed this little gem regarding the special rule that some weapons have called 'Assault'. I've always thought that it just meant that those weapons got to roll two dice instead of one in close combats. But I just noticed that you also don't suffer the -1 for shooting while moving.  Somehow I had completely missed this and it hadn't come up in any of my games. So without re-reading the rules I might never have found this out and playing with the same group of people means that rules pretty soon become locked in as we 'know' how things work.

So keep a copy of the rules handy to dip into when you have a spare couple of minutes. You never know it might mean the difference between victory and defeat in your next game.

Quick Review: Dux Bellorum

I've just got my copy of the Dux Bellorum: Arthurian Warfare (DB) rules which were released on Monday so I've decided to give them a quick review. I haven't played a full game yet but I've had a good look through the rules and they look interesting. (Update: my first AAR's can be found here) The Dark Ages seem to be a popular period at the moment what with Saga, Dux Britannium and now these rules. 

The DB rules are for smaller sized armies than FoG, roughly equivalent in size to Basic Impetus or DBA. The recommended army size is 32pts. Unit types range in cost between 5pts and 1pt for each base of figures. But you can also spend pts on buying special abilities like 'Mead' which gets your troops boozed up, increasing their Aggression (how hard they hit) but reduces their Cohesion (meaning they will break quicker). Of course there's nothing to stop you playing with larger armies.

The rules are well laid out and interspersed with the typical Osprey illustrations. There's the usual background followed by basing information before you get to the actual rules which cover 25 pages. You also get army lists and scenarios making up the book's 64 pages. You can use any scale figures you want with the rules and you don't have to rebase figures as long as you and you opponent use the same basing system. All measuring is done in base widths (BW) so the game will easily scale to match whatever figures you plan on using.

Combat is pretty straightforward. You get one D6 for each point of Aggression your troop type has (adjusted by a few modifiers like charging) and you have to equal or beat the opponents Protection rating to inflict a casualty. Each casualty you take reduces your Cohesion by 1. When a units Cohesion rating reaches 0 it routs. What makes the rules interesting for me though is the use of Leadership Points (LP). Each army starts the game with 6 LP although you can spend army points on buying more. These LP are allocated to units each turn and can be used for things like increasing the number dice rolled in a combat, negating a hit, to stop an impetuous unit charging out of control, and even to interrupt your opponents turn to allow one of your units to move etc. You can allocate up to 3 LP to a unit each turn but you don't have to specify how they are going to be used. With armies having on average about 9-10 units you have to think hard about where and how you are going to use your 6 LP. Also every time you lose a unit you also lose an LP.

The LP concept is what sold me on the rules. I like the extra level of tactical thought it adds to the game. You can see the system in action in this playthrough of the first turn of a game by the author of the rules.

As a bonus I'm hoping that I can get the Saga players at the club to buy a few more figures and move them into DB so I have plenty of opponents. The only slight disappointment I had with the rules was that I got them confused with Dux Britannium and expected them to have a built in easy run campaign, not the rule's fault of course.

I like what I've seen so far and this should get me finishing off painting the 28mm Saxons & Vikings I've had waiting on my table the last six months. But the best thing about the rules though is the price. (You can buy them from Amazon here). When you consider their production values and compare them to other rulesets which come in at about £25 they're a bargain.

Maurice, Rules for Warfare in the 18th Century

The curse of  'Ooh, Shiny!' has struck me again. This time it's 'Maurice', the new rules for 18th century warfare from Sam Mustafa due out in April.
I already have Sam's 'Lasalle' rules for Napoleonic warfare that I'm planning to do in 10mm (for cost reasons). But painting up the figures for two armies so I can get a game is going to take some time. This hasn't stopped me looking at 'Maurice' though.
I've never really been interested in 18th century warfare for some reason even though there are a number of interesting conflicts you could play. But having read up on 'Maurice' I'm hooked on some of the concepts, particularly the use of cards for activation & events (For more details see the review I mention below). It also features

"a limitless campaign system that requires virtually no math or paperwork, and a role-playing game in which the “characters” are officers, units, and armies, whose personalities you create, and whose fates you manage from battle to battle across wars and decades." Sam Mustafa

What really sold it for me though was this excellent review & play thru on Wargaming.info. Incidently one of the best written reviews I've read in a long time.
There is a fly in the ointment though. It's not the cost or finding the time to paint the figures or finding a willing opponent, all of which are problems. It's my lack of ability to paint up the figures. For most periods this wouldn't bother me as most uniforms are doable but 18th century uniforms are all lace edging & fiddly bits. For example the figures shown below are 10mm Pendraken painted by 'clibinarium' as posted on the Pendraken forums.

Just look at the detail he's got on them! And those are 10mm figures, I couldn't even get close to that level of detail in 15mm. Granted he's an expert painter but I don't feel I could do the models justice given my poor eyesight & shaky hands. I'll probably do some research to see if there are any forces with simpler uniforms within the timeframe of the rules. Which is of course one of the other fun aspects of wargaming.
So will I be buying the rules when they come out next month or even downloading the free 'Lite' version already available. The answer sadly is no, but they will be on my list of systems to buy & try. Of course if I can persuade someone at Wessex Wyverns to buy the rules & paint up a ton of figures that will all change :-)
To finish off here's a bit more eye candy from 'clibinarium':