Meeples & Miniatures – Episode 156 – Iron Cross
Download Episode 156
Welcome to Episode 156 of the Meeples & Miniatures Podcast
On this show, hosts Neil Shuck and Mike Whitaker chat to Stuart McCorquadale and Darryl Morton from Great Escape Games about their new fast-play World War II rules: Iron Cross
We hope you enjoy the show
Tales of The Brummie Dwarf 
Really enjoyed this one chaps, well done
Great show – sounds really good, too.
The whole time, I’m thinking “these rules sound really good.” I was very interested.
Then he said “No PDF” and suddenly I was not interested anymore.
Great show chaps.
I wasnt put off by no pdf, nice to have if they are a good bit cheaper but not a dealbreaker for me!
While I was listening though I thought the activation process and the push it further or not aspect was very interesting. I listened with interest to hear how national characteristics were catered for (I couldnt really see that they were). I also wasnt convinced about reflecting superior troop types just by giving them more chits, and there doesnt seem to be any direct command and control to it at all….again that just seems to be reflected in the number of chits a side has. Throw in the use of smoke aspect and the wheels are looking distinctly shoogly…
The Lardies have set the bar so high with their rules that it is very difficult for others to compare favourably to them. Given the price I will give these a whirl, but they seem to be very much at the “game” end of the spectrum, and maybe given the scale involved then maybe, maybe, the extra chits can be a broad brush answer to some aspects, depends how it feels when we play…they will fill a niche perhaps but when it comes to the feel of historical simulation then I’ll still be reaching for Lard….
I agree completely. To me Iron Cross sounds quite like Saga actually in terms of how you play. The way morale markers work pretty much is right in between the Lardy shock mechanic and Saga’s fatigue marker. And it indeed seems to go for the ‘game’ end of the spectrum.
Having recently listened to the episode in which Rich Clarke explained the writing process of IABSM it was interesting to compare how the rules design process and approaches differ.
Oh, and about the “no pdf”-thing. First, I don’t think this is set in stone. Second: I made the same experience as Mike on this one. Browsing through a pdf whilst playing a game and looking up rules is just a chore and slow. Having the thing digitally on all your “devices” is a nice thing to have, but a hardcopy usually wins out for me. I was surprised about the low cost point of the printed version by the way.
As I said in the show, if I had time and resources, I’d play IABSM or CoC as appropriate. These rules, however, are a boatload of fun for a big multi handed game on a club night, without requiring me to cast aside al my opinions in order to play Certain Other Rulesets.
I like to have both. A PDF I can read right away. I can read it on my phone at lunch. I can read it at my desk at work and people think I’m working. 🙂
I do like to have the physical book when I am actually playing the game. However, shipping for a print book from the UK to the west coast USA takes about 2 weeks. With a PDF, I could have a few games in by the time the book arrives.
Exactly my view 😀
I enjoyed this episode too!
None of the areas of the rules that you had reservations about were “deal breakers” for me. Is it possible to give the Iron Cross authors a chance to comment on the areas of the rules about which you had reservations?
The smoke issue is easily “fixed” with an addendum to the force lists (as of course you stated).
The authors mentioned that artillery was available for pre-game bombardments, etc. so some rules must exist and may not be a big problem. Of course the larger the gun, the less responsive it becomes even in the American Army which may well have been the best at this sort of thing.
I do believe (without reading the rules – no need to be hampered by information!) that the core of the game is in fact the activation chits. Veteran Germans units can be made exquisitely flexible while less tactically capable Russians (and others) can be made more plodding and less supple just by using appropriate levels of the same.
PDF and hard copy would be nice.
Thanks again.
Mr Whitaker, who wrote the book “Battle”? (Too generic to search for.) Thanks.
Just listened to the show today. Bravo, really enjoyed it. Iron Cross sounds great. Its got a little bit of Crossfire in it, a little bit of Point Blank activation in it. Would have been good to see the Italians and Japanese added in the core book. Anyways, I am buying a copy. Can’t wait.
Please offer both a PDF and print book for the rules. I like having a copy I can put on my iPad and read on the train…
Please provide both PDF and print copies. Love having a copy on my iPad for the train ride…
Just speared in my pre- order for two copies. Looking forward to these rules. Well done M&M for selling me the game!