Iron Cross - Battle of Breville!

I was fortunate to get a game of Iron Cross in at the club. This ruleset from Great Escape Games has been around for a long time as far as I can tell and seems to be a quick play, very abstracted WWII ruleset designed for multiplayers and larger games.

We played a Breville scenario (again) where Paras and Shermans attacked a battalion of Osttruppen supported by Panzer IV's and 21st Panzers converted french half track assault guns.  

The British forces had a special rule that allowed them to roll for extra Command tokens, and the Ostruppen had the opposite rule that forced them to lose Command tokens.  Command tokens perform a similar role to the dice in Bolt Action, allowing the activation of one unit, however a single unit can be activated multiple times (with an increasing level of difficulty each attempt).

The 'Reaction' mechanism allows a unit to attempt to interrupt an enemy activation, with a chance of stealing the initiative.

Movement and shooting is simply handled, infantry is represented with 5 models to a unit (which may be a section or platoon depending on your scale).  Combat effectiveness is handled with morale tokens (like Pins in Bolt Action or Shock in Chain of Command).  Morale tokens greater than a units morale cause that unit to be removed.

The British forces - 

2 x Sherman Platoon (3 Sherman V and 1 Sherman Firefly)
1 x Sherman Platoon (reserve)

5 detachments of Paras (Elite)
1 6 pounder Anti Tankgun
1 Sniper
2" mortar team

The Germans - 

1 HQ detachment
5 detachments Ostruppen
1 MG42 
1 Pak 40
1 Sniper
3 Panzer IVH
3 Pak 40 Half Tracks 

As there were 4 of us playing, we played 2 v 2 and I was given the command of the German Infantry battalion.  We set up first, German Panzers off the board until turn 2.  The British would come on first turn.

The Osttruppen were deployed high up the table on the orders of the Panzer Commander, the Pak 40 had a good position overlooking the fields and two detachments were positioned manning the hedgerows.  The MG42 took up residence in a building overlooking the fields and a sniper was positioned along with a blind in a different building.  More Ostruppen holed up in the buildings in the village, and with that we waited.

A few Shermans trundled on - two on our right flank, out of sight of the Pak 40, and immediately engaged the Ostruppen in the hedge. More Shermans came on our left flank, and although the Pak 40 tried to react they were not ready, and when they finally were ready the initial shooting was wayward.

The Ostruppen on the right fell back and regrouped in the woods, and the Paras advanced through the fields.  They also brought up their 6 pounder anti tank gun, which engaged our ATG with some minor success.  The 2" mortar also started to drop rounds near the Pak 40.

The British paras started moving up through the fields, and were met with withering fire from the MG 42 nest positioned in the houses.  The Shermans poured fire on the Ostruppen, who withdrew and rallied at one point.

now the Pak 40 gunner found his range, and in quick succession the British 6 pounder and a Sherman were destroyed. More MMG fire, coupled with accurate sniper fire, started to break up the British units and when the Pak 40 took out one of the Sherman 17 pounders, the British attack faltered.

The Pak 40 came under a lot of fire from various units, but with some good command morale rolls we kept the markers down, and also grabbed the initiative.  The Panzer IV's trundled on and began a battle with the shermans, losing one Panzer but two more Shermans getting knocked out including the other Firefly 17 pounder.

The Pak 40 was finally destroyed by the 2" mortar.  The Shermans drove forward over the ridge, and the Panzer commandant ordered the SPG halftracks to advance.


The Paras continued  to advance through the fields, but were rebuffed by the MG42 in the farm house and the sniper.  The Ostruppen fell back before the Shermans, who were now engaged by the SPG's.  although the soldiers had packed some Panzerfausts, they didn't get to use them.

At this point, the Brits realised they couldn't really win the battle even with a troop of shermans in reserve, so opted to take out the Pz IV's and then retire, to return at a future time with overwhleming numbers.

A brief and fierce firefight began between the remaining Pz Iv's, the SPG's and the Shermans, and the final Pz IV exploded, the British claiming a 'moral' victory and the Germans successfully defending the outskirts of Breville.

A fun, fast game that lent itself well to multiple players and didn't ever really get bogged down with looking up rules etc.  I certainly enjoyed it, and would look to perhaps doing a similar scenario with my Kursk figures.