Code Red - Blocking Detachment (Game 2)

In our last game, the Opfor units suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of a US mechanized detachment suppressing and outflanking them in a forward defense position.

After this rather one-sided game, we decided to play the game in reversed roles. I would take over Opfor and have my friend attack.

I have to admit I was a bit anxious - after all, I had to prove that the forces and setup were balanced and that the shortcoming of both sides could be overcome....

Code Red - Blocking Detachment (Game 1)

Last weekend we didn´t only play By Fire and Sword, but also got some playtesting done for Code Red. 

This report covers the first of three playtest games. The games were quickly thrown together, without much thought about balance, dramatic scenarios or somesuch.  

We threw a US Mechanized Formation against a Russian-Style Force using my Soviet Cold War models. Somewhere in the Desert, a US Intervention force was pushing along a valley to reach a strategic refinery that had to be defended by the local authorities.  Let´s call our Russians OPFOR for the remainder of this report.

We wanted to test Vehicles some more, so both factions got vehicles. Unfortunately I forgot to give the Americans some spare AT weapons on their infantry squads -  it turned out to be an interesting tactical challenge to work with what you got.  

Eagle and Lion - A Fire and Sword Battle Report

 

In the Dark woods of the north, a duel between Lion and Eagle takes place as two scouting parties clash on their reconnaissance missions.  

A Muscovite Force led by the venerable Golova Rurik Borikov makes contact with a Swedish Detachment led by Malte Larsson. 

Borikov has deployed a Group of Servant Cossacks on his right flank facing Swedish Dragoons while placing his cavalry in the centre and on the left flank.  The Swedish Deployment mirrors the Muscovite troop placement as both sides seek to contest the broken ground with infantry while sending their cavalry along the clearings in the forest and onto the ploughed fields.

Code Red - Quickstart Rules released (EN/DE)

After almost three years of design and playtesting it is time to release the very first playable edition of Code Red to our fellow wargamers.

Code Red is a standalone ruleset for modern wargaming designed to recreate real and hypothetical conflicts after 1945.

These rules have started out as a set of Houserules for a popular Modern Wargaming ruleset to address some of its shortcomings, but have evolved into a unique and distinct set of rules with a special focus on:

• Command and Control and the role of leaders on the battlefield
• Morale and Suppression and their effect on units
• Tactical Depth and interesting decisions facing the player

The rules are designed to provide a level of tactical realism, narrative quality, scaleability and simplicity that makes them easy to learn but hard to master. We´ve been trying to master them for 3 years now and we´re still not there ;)

After more than 3 years of development and testing, we´re confident to provide a challenging and fun game for those of you who want to dive deeper into the logic of modern warfare.



As a first step on our way to the final release we´re making the simplified QuickStart rules available both in English and German. These documents condense the essential rules for your first experience of Code Red into less than 10 pages.

Of course we had to cut some things from the 90 page full rule set, but we´re confident about the scope of the quickstart rules and we´re hoping they make you look forward to the full ruleset.

We´re planning to release the German version of the full rules in late 2017 to early 2018.
The english translation will follow later and I will make no promises as to when exactly.


We´ve published the rules for free on my website - klicking the banner below will navigate you to the right place to download them for free: 

Enjoy!