Company Fire: Hill Attack!

With today being Independence Day here in the US, I have the day off and was able to stay up a little later than usual for a weeknight last night,which gave me the opportunity to try some modifications to my rules. Here is a report of what transpired:

Early 1945, Army Black is falling back as a drain of resources on both the Eastern and Western fronts has taken their toll. Somewhere in a forest, a Black platoon was ordered to hold a hill against an advancing Red tide.

Red platoons in columns. Green rectangles are Black Army blinds.

It wasn't long before the forces came into contact - the Black HMG  (with Platoon Leader) unleashed a torrent of fire on the advancing Red squads, pinning one in place. Under the cool-headed leadership of their own leader, the Reds returned fire and suppressed the HMG.

In Company Fire, an HMG can op fire until it rolls two 1s. Then it's done until the next card is drawn.

Moments later, the Black HMG was silenced, along with the PL [in my rules, a single figure is automatically killed if all other units in the space with them are destroyed]. The Black sniper from a position on the hill returned the favor and killed the Red PL on the Red left flank.

Meanwhile, on their right, the Reds advanced into position to assault the hill, but came under fire and  holed up in the woods for an extended firefight. Forward observers for both sides played an important role on both flanks - but response for called fire missions was slow, hindering rapid action by either side.

At the first sign of advantage, the Reds charged the Black squad holding up their right-flank advance. Combat was fierce and decisive.

The dice rolls were pathetic for both sides. But the Reds got +1 for having two units involved, and the Germans, .er, Army Black, got -1 for the pinned unit, making it 3 to 0. Three hits removes a unit.

The victorious Red squads advanced only to under direct fire from the Black mortar located behind the crest of the hill. 50mm mortars rained down with devastating accuracy.

There is no reaction fire if the attacker in close assault wins and moves into the vacated space. But the non-phasing side can now fire with half of its eligible units at the end of the phase. So, the Black mortar was able to come into play. This worked quite well for my tastes.

On the Red left, two Black rifle squads and the Black forward observer had more or less halted any advance there and so the Red squads slowly began disengaging, using the cover of the woods to move to their right and join the assault on the hill from the center.

An overview of the Red advance and Black defensive positions.

A Black rifle squad joined their mortar and engaged the Reds to their left, but were out shot by the two Red squads providing a base of fire for their platoon. A rare quickly delivered smoke mission called in by the Red forward observer gave the Reds an opportunity to rapidly advance the assault squad into position, led by their PL.

The Red squads rolled a 4, and got +1 for their PL. The Black squad and mortar got a 1, +1 for more than one unit, -1 for a pinned unit, and -2 for a suppressed unit, resulting in 5 to -1 or 6  hits to each stand.

The Black rifle squad and mortar crumbled, leaving a single Black squad to slink back to their lines.

Final positions for Army Red. Only loss was one PL, compared to one PL, one HMG, two rifle squads, and one mortar.

A clear and crushing Red victory.

*****
The rules used were my own Company Fire, but not the version that's available for download. I'll be updating them shortly for those who are curious and I'll post when I do.   

EDIT: I have uploaded the version used for this game. The links are on the right hand side.

 I was quite happy with how the most recent changes played out but the changes need to be incorporated into the "official" rules.

The scenario used was one of the 2x2 Crossfire Scenarios. The forces were as described there, minus minefields and engineers.

Total play time - including pictures and note taking - was a little over an hour, which is about right for a small scenario like this (2 platoons vs 1 platoon).