US Infantry Company HQ

When applied rigorously, one of the main strengths of the Crossfire system is the way in which Command & Control directly affects tactics (see Incoming! rules Section 4.0: Movement, Command & Control). The restrictions that are placed on squad movement as a result of being 'out of command' (i.e. out of line of sight from an HQ stand) means that command stands have to be handled with a degree of deftness and care not usually seen in other rules. In order to maneuver at all, a force requires some C&C elements and the larger the force, the more of these elements are required.

So, as the Company grows in size and the number of maneuver elements increases, it becomes necessary to add a Company HQ.

The Company HQ Stand

The US Company HQ consists of the Company HQ command stand, company medic stand and the attached artillery forward observer team stand.

Company HQ (l to r): Company Medic, Company Commander, Artillery FO team

Company HQ stands and FO teams make very lucrative targets for the enemy so they need to be well looked after. Neither of the two stands can use direct fire, and if engaged in close combat, the HQ stand fights as a fireteam whilst the FO stand is automatically destroyed.

The benefits of a Company HQ stand are that it can give assistance to any subordinate unit and can thus help with close combat and rallying. It can also command attached HMG's which can be used in firegroups.

Company Medic

In an attritional war where bodycount rather than territory gained was the measure of success, removal of friendly casualties from the battlefield became a number one priority for both sides. With their overwhelming air assets, the US was in an almost unique position to achieve this objective.

The medic is able to retrieve casualties and gather them for dustoff. It is also possible to combine several medics to form a Company Aid Post which reduces by 2 the number of rounds it takes for a dustoff to arrive.

However, both Medics and Company Aid Posts are very vulnerable to enemy attack and are automatically eliminated if engaged in close combat. It is advisable therefore to attach a security element to the CAP and to make sure that medics operating in the field are usually accompanied by at least a single fire-team when retrieving and moving casualties.

Artillery Forward Observer (FO)

Redleg Three this is Charlie Six, Fire Mission, Over. Using the Incoming! rules with Vietnam Crossfire, the US and other Free World forces will get very familiar with calls for fire to supporting artillery.

In particular, the US maneuver battalions in Vietnam had an almost unprecedented amount of artillery support available to them. Not only did they have the traditional tube artillery but they also had the innovative and hitherto unseen aerial rocket artillery of the artillery battalions.

The forward observer (FO) team attached to the company HQ provide the company commander with access to large volumes of artillery support. Unless using the purchase point system, the supporting off-table artillery has an unlimited number of fire missions. Each FO can bring in a single fire mission EACH initiative. However, the FO MUST have a line of sight (LOS) to a valid target in order ot bring in the artillery fire.