Basse: Introduction | Maps | Forces | Orders | Report | Debrief

Basse - debrief




Basse, after the battle.

An enjoyable game



Chuck Parrott's rules worked well, producing an interesting game. I thank him for the effort he put into developing them.
 

Balance


I (the British) was able to chew up the Germans fairly convincingly. For the loss of one squad I knocked out:
• 1 x StuG
• 2 x Pak40
• 2 x PC
• 1 x CC
• 1 x HMG
• 16 x squads.

However, there were a few moments when I thought the Germans would make a dent.

In particular, in German initiative 13, Woolfrey's men heroically defended the farm (a chance of under 10%). Had they lost, the whole game may have tipped in the Germans' favour.(In Crossfire, games generally tip massively one way or the other, on of its attractions).

Questions arising



Mined buildings



How do you handle a card indicating a minefield, if the token is in a building?

Crossfire allows minefields within natural terrain features or between them. When this came up in the game I drew another card.
On later reflection I don't see why Crossfire doesn't allow mining of buildings, or between buildings. However, I don't think it would have altered the game much if I had used a mined building - I would have known it was mined and would have been able to bypass it.

Quality of defenders


I couldn't be bothered recording the quality of defenders, so I assumed all were veteran (i.e. clubs and hearts count as spades), but that PCs were +1, and CCs +2 (same as the British).

AT guns and buildings


What do you do if the card for a token in a building indicates a vehicle or gun. I decided it meant the gun was adjacent to the building in the open.

Next time I'll class it as dug in (it didn't last very long!).

Bounds


The solo rules use the term "bound". I think Chuck means move action (some older British rules used the term for a players complete turn - initiative in Crossfire language).

Unobserved movement


This is detailed in Note 2.

Does this allow a marker to move unmolested, even if seen, or does it allow it to move to the suppressed target if it can find an unobserved way through?

I assumed the latter.

Initiative item 5: withdrawal versus strong enemy


I never was able to retreat any of the defenders - they were always suppressed or pinned!

Reserve movement of hidden markers


If reserve movement moves the hidden marker into LOS of enemy, can it recon by fire, fire, or close combat (I guess no)?

Amendment to rule: reserve movement cannot bring defending marker into close combat. Movement stops when reserve marker moves into LOS of attacker.

The joker


The joker was the card that looked as if it was swinging the odds towards the Germans. It does however pose a problem as the counterattack follows normal Crossfire rules, placing the two sides on an equal footing, and causing the player a bit of schizophrenia.

Group moves, crossfires, fire groups


My Germans ended up with very few PCs, and did very little crossfiring. So I suggest altering the rules to allow
1. the defender to act always as if a PC is present for crossfires
2. to assume that all squads are in effect in the same platoon.
This will allow any nearby squads to form firegroups or crossfires. (I'd put a limit on of max three squads plus up to two support weapons). If you don't do this the defenders fire is pretty ineffective.

Panzerfaust


I assumed about one German squad in three had Panzerfaust/Panzerschreck. One way to do this would be to dice 1D6 on each squad when it was revealed (1-2 indicates AT weapon) and then keeping track of which squad is which.
Instead I just rolled the 1D6 whenever a tank target appeared, with 1-2 indicating that the squad had an AT capability at that time
 

Summary



Enjoyable. Chuck's rules for a very good basis for a solo game, but need some minor tweaking.
And we need volunteers for more more playtesting - my Tommies may have just been lucky!).