Crossfire: Unit Identification

Standard Crossfire uses large bold Platoon and Company ID numbers on the top the stand. After trying quite a few alternative systems - see my musings on Unit identification - I've ended up back with a system quite like the official method - big bold numbers on top of the stand - but with the addition of the battalion Code.

Examples

Note: SCW = Spanish Civil War

Photo	Label	Period	Interpretation of the Label
	P-1-CC	SCW	Popular Army Battalion, 1st Company, Company Commander
	P-1-3	SCW	Popular Army Battalion, 1st Company, 3rd Platoon. Both the PC (left) and Squad (right) have the same label.
	P-1-·	SCW	Popular Army Battalion, 1st Company, No Platoon. This is the company level HMG stand in the 1st Company. The dot in the platoon position indicates this stand can be attached to any platoon in the 1st Company, or left unattached.
	T-·-·	SCW	2^nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán, No Company, No Platoon This is a battalion level HMG stand. The dot in both the company and platoon position indicates this stand can be attached to any platoon in the battalion. You would use the same label for a battalion level SMG stand.
	N-·-BC	WW2	Russian Naval Infantry Battalion, Battalion Commander
	N-1-3 ·	WW2	Russian Naval Infantry Battalion, 1st Company, 3rd Platoon, Squad with IAT weapon because has a red dot.
	P-2-3	SCW	Popular Army Battalion, 2nd Company, 3rd Platoon, Squad without IAT weapon because no red dot.
	N-82-2	WW2	FO in the Russian Naval Infantry Battalion, for 82mm mortar battery, number 2.
	N-45-1	WW2	Russian Naval Infantry Battalion, 45mm ATG, gun number 1.
	A-Hvy-3	SCW	FO for an army level artillery FO, for heavy artillery battery, number 3.

The Labelling System

There are three labelling systems.

B-C-P = Battalion, Company, Platoon

Most stands have a three part label of this format B-C-P. Where B is the Battalion, C the company and P the platoon. For example G-2-1 is a stand in the German Grenadier battalion, 2nd Company, 1st Platoon.

The Battalion Code is a letter A-Z.

The Company Code is the rifle/SMG company within the battalion, so is 1, 2, 3, etc. If a stand can be allocated to any company in the battalion then the company code is a dot ·.

The Platoon code is the rifle/SMG platoon within the company, so is also numbered 1, 2, 3 etc. If a stand can be allocated to any platoon in the company then the platoon code is a dot ·.

The example is from the 2^nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán (Battalion Code = T). All stands are 1st Company, 1st Platoon.

Commanders (BC, CC, PC)

PCs are labelled in the same way as the squads in their Platoon. The base size indicates they are a PC.

BC and CC both have the Battalion Code and the type of commander in the position of the Platoon code. For the Company Code the BC has a dot · and the CC has the company number.

The examples are from the 2^nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán (Battalion Code = T). From left to right the pictures are the BC, the CC of the 2nd company, and the PC of the 1st Platoon of the 1st Company.

Company Level Assets

If a stand can be allocated to any platoon in the company then the platoon code is a dot ·.

The example is from the Popular Army Battalion, 1st Company. The dot in the platoon position indicates this stand can be attached to any platoon in the 1st Company, or left unattached.

Battalion Level Assets

Battalion level assets such as HMG in the Heavy Weapons Company have a can be allocated to any platoon and company in the battalion so both the company code and platoon code are a dot ·.

(You'll notice in the photo I have a PC for my HMG unit. This is because in the Spanish Civil War HMG companies often operated independently.)

Infantry Anti-tank (IAT) weapons

Squads with Infantry Anti-tank (IAT) weapons are marked with a red dot · after the Platoon Code. For my WW2 units I mark one stand / platoon as having IAT in addition to their normal weapons. This scheme has the advantage that for particular games I can specify any of these possibilities:

Marked squad has a Anti-tank rifle
Marked squad has a panzerfaust/bazooka/piat
Marked squad has a panzershreck and others have panzerfaust.

The example is a squad from my Russian Naval Infantry Battalion which is equipped with an anti-tank rifle.

FO

FOs are a bit different as you have to track the Fire Missions (FM) of each FO. For an FO and on-table gun use the gun size instead of the company. For example G-81-1 an FO in the German Grenadier Battalion, for 81mm mortar battery, number 1.

These examples are from my Russian Naval Infantry Battalion. The first is the FO for an the off-table 76mm field gun battery, number 1. The second is the FO for the off-table 82mm mortar battery, number 2.

I gave army level artillery for all nations and period the code A so that the FO stand out and to distinguish them from FO embedded in battalions. These examples are from my Spanish Civil War collection. The first is the FO for the off-table 75mm field gun battery, number 1. The second is the FO for the off-table heavy artillery battery, number 3. Both stands can be used for either Republicans or Nationalists.

On-table guns and mortars are labelled to match their FO.

PCs for on-table guns just have the battalion number and gun size, e.g. A-75 is the PC for an Army level 75mm ATG company.

Commissar

Commissars have Cm followed by the company number for example, Cm-2 is the Commissar for the 2nd Company. Cm-BC is the commissar attached to the Battalion Commander. I don't give Commissars a battalion code so I can use them with any battalion.

Battalion Codes

I've got several battalions spread across several periods, so I needed a system for the Battalion codes.

In general I've given units that I use a lot codes that are unique across nations within a period (e.g. G = WW2 German Grenadier; R = WW2 Russian Rifle).

Specialist troops have a code that is common across nations and/or periods (e.g. A = Army level Artillery; X = Reconnaissance). The reason for this is so that opponents are unlikely to have troops on table with the same battalion code.

I gave army level artillery for all nations and period the code A so that the FO stand out and to distinguish them from FO embedded in battalions.

Code	WW2 Axis	WW2 Allied	Spanish Civil War	Rif Wars	1948
A	Artillery	Artillery	Artillery	Artillery
B				Berber Tribes, i.e. Riffi, Djebalan, Gomaran	Bedouin, Arab Irregulars (use Rif Wars)
C			Carlist Requetes and Navarese Brigades
D
E	Engineer	Engineer	Engineer	Engineers, signallers, and supply	Egyptian
F	Fallschirmjaeger		Falange	French
G	German Grenadier		Paramilitary, i.e. Civil Guard and Assault Guards
H	Horse, Cavalry	Horse, Cavalry	Horse, Cavalry	Horse, Cavalry
I	Italian		Italian Infantry Battalion or Cohort		Israeli
J	Gerbirgsjaeger				Jordanian Arab Legion
K		Kiwi			British (use Kiwi)
L	Late War German Grenadier		4^th Bandera of the Legion	4^th Bandera of the Legion (use SCW)	Lebanese
M	German Assault (SMG) Battalion	Russian Motorised Rifle (i.e. SMG)	Militia
N		Russian Naval Infantry
P			Republican Popular Army; 56^th/2^nd/42^nd (Commune de Paris)
O
Q
R		Russian Rifle	Regular Army	Later Conscripts (use SCW)
S	Waffen SS Panzer Grenadier			Early Conscripts in Solar Helmet	Syrian
T			2^nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán	2^nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán (use SCW)
U				Abd-el-Krim's Beni Urriaguel Regulars
V
W	German Grenadier, winter uniform	Russian Rifle, winter uniform	Regular Army, winter uniform
X	Recon, Scout	Recon, Scout
Y
Z

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