The Greens take the first VC, but at a huge cost

Well, if you'd asked me if we'd be here singing the praises of the Green Infantry I'd have laughed at you, but here we are. 

To be fair, the Green Infantry had a lot of troops. They hadn't had the best of luck up until now but that was all about to change.

Here they are amassing for the last ditch attempt to make a dent into the German positions.

The Soviets amass in the north

At this point I knew the only hope was really to get into close combat and try to open a gap in the lines. Luckily the German's Veteran troops were tied up in the east holding off the Soviet Regulars so only one lone Veteran unit was available to help out with the defence on the northern side of Piepsk. Also, I should just explain that the German units are able to operate on their own, so out of LOS of their PC. This isn't the case for all countries units, but its fine here. Also, I'm playing solo so I probably would have allowed it anyway if it felt right at the time. That's the beauty of playing solo. 

So anyway, there was one Fire Mission still available to them though which brings an attack of 4d6. It also supresses all units in the immediate vicinity, so in our example this means all six hexes surrounding the attacked unit. What this means is if the attacked unit is killed then any units around it are immediately supressed. This could potentially have resulted in one unit killed and three more supressed. Unfortunately the attack only resulted in a pathetic Pin result. Oh well.

This is directly before that failed Fire Mission.

The Soviet Green Infantry move into position for the impending close combat

Smoke is a big thing in Crossfire. There are no ranges. Every unit is able to fire their weapons right across the map as long as they have LOS. This is one of the reasons I love the Crossfire system. It's almost too realistic and yet because the rules are so lightweight you really feel it has no right being anywhere near reality. Somehow it manages it. 

The Germans had spent too much time and energy halting the attack over the hill in the east and had left themselves very light in the north, probably assuming the Green troops wouldn't be able to do much anyhow. I mean, you can understand it. They're rolling 1d6 most of the time due to terrain modifiers. It's a real wonder they managed to even stay alive let alone take a major VC.

But take it they did.

The first VC falls to the novice Soviets of the Green Infantry

So their close assault turned out to be a success. But it came at a terrible cost. The units that survived are nearly all pinned with the odd suppression. And as I said previously, it's not that easy to rally Green troops. If the Germans pull their remaining Veterans back to cover the north, the Soviets could be in real trouble.