Great Escape Games Iron Cross WW II Rules Trial

The search for a set of WW II battalion/regimental force size wargame rules that can give us a 'good' game with a result for our evening catch ups continues! We have a few of sets to try out and the first cab off the rank was Great Escape Games Iron Cross WW II.

Here's what the rules 'promise';

I am not going to do a rules review here there are plenty of those on the net already, the idea is to try playing a game in an evening seeing if it can be completed in a timely manner whilst being enjoyable and with a WW II feel!

Scale wise with Iron Cross each base of foot figures basically represents a 'section' (called an element of a platoon) and each vehicle or gun represents that vehicle/gun.

The scenario is set in 1944 setting Brits against jerries. The forces both sides have approximately 400 points of troops and will start on opposite sides of the tabletop, this is a couple of full strength companies each side with support elements. As this is only a short session the game was set at four turns with the side occupying the most 'village' bases on the battlefield at the end being the winner, unless off either side takes such losses it breaks!

Okay to it! Each turn the first player is picked by a D6 roll off, the Brits get away with the initiative on turn one! They advance as fast as they can to move on a board front and with the Germans out of line of sight do so successfully with no intervention. Then the Jerries have their go and are a bit more ambitious, leaving some platoons moving slowly forward in groups others dashed far ahead and occupied a couple of the villages. Cleverly the Brits held back some of their commands and used them to interrupt the Germans getting some shots off and inflicting losses (morale hits).

Turn two and the Brits again get the initiative. This turn though the play turns over more often as both sides, move, fire and rally their men. The British occupy the last two unoccupied towns so both sides have an equal number of these, time to see how easy it is to capture some urban real estate! Turn two sees the first units 'destroyed' both sides losing an MG support element.

Turn three and the Brits are again first off the mark and they concentrate mortar fire on a German platoon in a town whilst bringing infantry with armour support up. Both sides used their commands up in bulk activating each element in this sector over and over trying to inflict casualties while rallying off morale hits almost as fast as they were incurred! The hammered Germans still held the town at the end of the fight and with both sides units 'spent' around the village they each manoeuvred their other units into advantageous attack positions for the nest turn while exchanging fire.

Last turn and finally the Germans got the initiative. It was their chance to get an attack in first! They pushed infantry and two Panzers up to attack Brits in a village but a timely British reaction saw the infantry get a good shot in with a PIAT and they brewed up the leading Panzer! The weakened Germans then pressed their attack again getting a lot of hits on the Brits but unfortunately for them not enough to gain an advantage. Across the rest of the front the rest of both sides elements again moved and fired but overall to no major effect.

So a draw but really with equal forces on a tabletop with terrain placed in an even manner and only a few turns what could be expected. The real result is a resounding yes to the question, would these rules work for us for a Monday evening gaming session. I will schedule a game in for sure to get everyone's feedback!

The initiative system is the jewel of the game, you can use your commands very liberally and it is good that you have the chance to activate a single element to move and fight repeatedly (with a diminishing chance of a successful activation with each attempt) and push an advantage great stuff, but it will mean other elements will have to sit idle for the turn! That said there are some holes in the rules, no off board artillery support, no air support, very generic foot units and standardised vehicle types and movement (none of these are not insurmountable without a few house rules). Lastly the rules could have benefitted from adding a few more pages so there would be more clarity on what is included! I can understand while these rules have not taken off, what's there is great but its what's not there that make its appeal limited to a broad audience, you shouldn't have to buy a set of rules and have to house rule them to make them complete!

Some pictures of the action!

Two British Platoons deploy with armour support, each infantry base is a section, the red mini die represents a PIAT armed unit, the small bullet is a single command and the large bullet is a platoon move, you can move 3 sections for the cost of one command but that is the only action allowed that turn...

Germans advance their centre...

British infantry with armour support attack Germans occupying a village...

The panzers advance...

...supported by the battalion mortars, the blue mini die show the number of shots at a specific target, accuracy improves with each barrage!

Only for the British to take one out with a PIAT!

Multiple small bullets show the number of commands that unit has used...

With their armour stalled the German infantry find it beyond them to push the British from the village!

A British platoon occupies the high ground, the white mini die represents morale hits taken...

Blitzkrieg Commander II is the next set of rules to 'test drive'...