Crossfire meets AK47 Republic 

AK47 Republic is a set of wargaming rules for "Warlord level Battles in Africa 1955 to 1990" and one of a set of Rules for the Common Man (RFCM), i.e. it is produced by Peter Pig.  AK47 Republic includes the normal set of battle rules, but also some interesting bits for Political Maneuvering and Force Generation, Terrain Set Up, Deployment, Objectives, Unit level Morale, and Victory Conditions;  because it is tongue-in-cheek, AK47 also contains rules for generating the Name of your country and your country Flag.  The battle rules of AK47 look alright, but I prefer Crossfire, so I wondered how I could use some of the AK47 extras for Crossfire.  

I've typed up how I think the special AK47 rules could be interpreted in Crossfire and finished with an example army.  I've shown how the example could be deployed as an attacker and as a defender - and my bad dice rolling highlights what extremes the two forces can have under AK47.  The attacker option got 10 platoons and the defenders only got 1, which in Crossfire means a massacre.  

The sections below are numbered according to the AK47 rules or the AK47 supplement (with an "S" in front) - you'll need these rules to make sense of the following.   

3. Figures and Models Needed

Troop quality in AK47 and Crossfire are easily linked.   Troop Quality also ties in with the type of Command and Control used by the unit. 

9. Composition of Forces

9.1 - 9.3

In general you have three choices with the point system when using Crossfire in conjunction with AK47:

1. Divide all AK47 points totals by 3 (e.g. whole force is 200 points not 600), then use standard Crossfire point costs for the troops. Anything not mentioned by AK47 is the standard Crossfire cost (e.g. PC is 2 points). 
2. Multiple all Crossfire point costs by 3 (e.g. Regular Rifle Squad is 9 points, not the 3 that normal Crossfire says, nor the 10 that AK47 says), and use the AK47 points totals (e.g. still 600 point forces)
3. Just use AK47 points totals and costs as they are.  It is a bit different to crossfire but who really cares.  Anything not mentioned by AK47 is the Crossfire points cost x 3 (e.g. PC is 6 points).  I tend to favour this option.  

In general AK47 units are Crossfire companies, although they might be very small or very large.  Each AK47 unit will need intrinsic officers.  You must take a PC for every 2-4 squads (rifle, assault rifle, SMG) in the unit (but not necessarily for heavy weapons).  You must take a CC if the unit has 2 or more platoons; if there is only one platoon in the unit, then no CC is necessary.  . 

9.4. Overall Commanders

Overall commanders, if on-table, act as Crossfire BCs. 

9.5. Limitations on force compositions

All these limitations work in Crossfire.  Unusually for Crossfire, vehicles and guns are attached to units, so, for example, a tank might be attached to a company. 

10. Setting up the Scenery

Use AK47 method but bear in mind the Crossfire terrain has a profound game effect, and all tables must have blocked LOS.  Unless denser terrain is available use scrub (rough), depressions and ridges to break up LOS. 

10.1. Descriptors

With the proviso above, all apply as written.  

10.2. Templates

Are replaced by Crossfire terrain features. 

11. Political Manoeuvre Flow charts

Works as per AK47 with the following modifications:

• A "+2" or "+3"  to movement is changed to an improvement in command and control from dependent to independent or from independent to adventurous. 
• A "-2" or "-3"  to movement is changed to an worsening in command and control from adventurous to independent or from independent to dependent. 
• A "-1" to arrival dice is changed to ?? 

Other specific changes are below.  

Religious Movement

All okay except under "Declare Religious War":

• "1 unit convinced of their own invincibility by use of Jeu, Jeu berries" means they are considered Reckless under Crossfire. 

People's Popular Front (Nationalist/Communist)

All okay except under "Seek professional help with training":

• "Add 1 morale point" means improve from Green to Regular, or from Regular to Veteran. 

Dictatorship 

• "Gain intelligence advantage" means an attacker gets the equivalent of 1d6 of Recon by Fire missions which can be applied to any feature.  These have to be used before the game starts.   Failure does not lose initiative.  Not sure for defender ??  

15. Setting up the Forces on the Game Table 

15.1. Arrival of Units at the game start 

This works as in AK47, but I thought I'd mention that the AK47 gives the Attacker about 3 units on average, and the defender gets only about 2.5 units.  Of course, depending on your dice rolls you might get more or less.  

15.2. Arrival of Units after the Game Start (Late Arrivals) 

By "until turn 4" means until the attacker's 4th initiative.  

You might consider using some kind of Moving Clock. 

17. Standard turn Sequence 

As per Crossfire; ignore AK47 rules.  

18. Movement 

As per Crossfire; ignore AK47 rules.  

19. Firing 

As per Crossfire except Mortars and Recoilless rifles are always direct fire.    

19.17. Attack Helicopters 

??

20. Morale 

Crossfire already has rules for squad level morale, but AK47 adds unit (company) level morale.    

At the end of each initiative a morale test is taken when any of these occur: 

• Any stand in the unit is killed. 
• Any stand in the unit is outside command and control. 
• The opposing player designates that unit to take a moral test (only one per initiative).  

The unit morale roll is a standard rally roll as per crossfire, but it is for the entire unit.  Apply the following modifiers:

• +1 No Enemy in LOS to Rallying unit 
• +2 (or +1) BC within 1 stand of any stand in the unit.  
• +1 All stands in Command control 

If a test is failed the unit loses one of its three morale points.  When all three points are lost the unit is removed from play as it is considered spent in terms of it's military use.  

Example Armies 

I thought I'd have a look at some AK47 armies adapted for Crossfire.  The armies are loosely based on the Army packs supplied by Peter Pig.   

Bear in mind that although each army contain 5 units, it is most likely that in a particular game the player will field the first two or three units only.  

Colonial 

Here's an example army for a Colonial Power, i.e. European settlers trying to stay put in Africa.  

With 58 points allocated to Political Manoeuvre, this is what happened: 

• For 16 points: Unit 2 was upgraded to Professional (Veteran, but command and control stays at Independent). 
• For 24 points (40 total): Received 4 trucks and assigned to Units 1 and 2. 
• For 10 points (50 total): Enemy leader assassinated by CIA but unfortunately this didn't affect their army.  

To give you an idea what units might actually be fielded from the army, here's an example of when the Colonial power could be as the attacker: 

• Unit 1 needed 2-6 so arrives on a roll of 2.
• Unit 2 needed 3-6 so arrives on a roll of 4 
• Unit 3 needed 4-6 so arrives on a roll of 4 
• Unit 4 needed 5-6 so doesn't arrive on a roll of 2 
• Unit 5 needed 5-6 so arrives on a roll of 6 

So the net result was that the following force was fielded (10 platoons total): 

Whereas as the defender this could happen: 

• Unit 1 needed 3-6 so doesn't arrive on a roll of 2 
• Unit 2 needed 3-6 so doesn't arrive on a roll of 1 
• Unit 3 needed 3-6 so doesn't arrive on a roll of 2 
• Unit 4 needed 3-6 so arrives on a roll of 4 
• Unit 5 needed 4-6 so doesn't arrive on a roll of 1 

So, through some appalling dice luck, the Colonial defenders only get one platoon of militia. 

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