Last few days I've been testing a game with a strategic map. I had this idea for at least a year, but finally I found the right time to see how it worked out. The idea of a strategic map is to have some sort of a campaign system that you find in other games. Since we don't have the luxury of an umpire, a double blind setup had to be done in another way. Below are two pictures of the initial setup of the game I tried (click on the pic for a larger view).

The British side sees the left picture, with his yellow and blue battlegroup. The German side sees the right picture, with his green and grey battlegroup. A battlegroup consist of: square= company with battlegroup commander (BGC), triangle= company (B,C), rounded= reserves.
All brown cubes with black magnetic discs are there to cover the holes (=unknown enemy). The coloured polygons are there to identify the type of terrain.
The board consist of two layers of magnetic sheet with a gap inbetween. When both players move their forces on the strategic map, there's a piece of cardboard in the gap, so that none of the holes can been seen through. After both sides have moved and the cardboard is removed it looks like this:

You can see two white spots (see through). These are the locations where a battle occurs!
First battle was the lower one. The terrain was marsh with a river in the centre and for the surrounding areas: cropland, grassland, town, and three polygons with woods. This is all put together on a table by both players according some rules.

Forces of both teams:

Although there were some heavy fights in the woods, neither side won the game within the predetermined time. So both battlegroups stay on the same location.
Next battlefield is the top one on the strategic map. Since the British were out of supply in this area (too far away from a road connected to the 'hometown'), they were scared and withdrew. This resulted in a few deserters, but the company joined with some reserves in the back and could easily cope with those losses.
The first turn is now finished and the strategic map looks like this:
Both sides 'buy' some reserves and then move their battlegroups. Some companies dug in, marked with a matchstick in the pictures below.

As you can see by the white holes: three battles to go this turn.
First battle was the one with the yellow C company against the grey company with the BGC. The British yellow BG wants to push right through to the German 'hometown' and be victorious. Of course the Germans want to prevent this at all cost, so this promised to be a bitter fight. Forces of both sides and deployment on the map:

Since the Germans were not dug in, they couldn't deploy their guns. They did have a few dummies (green markers) though to confuse the stronger British force with 4 Cromwells.
Below are a bunch of pictures of the game, played with tweaked CrossFire rules.

A British platoon armed with PIATs advances into a house which overlooks a large field with crops. A bren carrier drives to the back of that same house and tries to capture a flag. On the other side of the table, one of the Cromwells shoots at a bunch of soldiers in the woods. But he only manages to pin them, so the initiative for the British is lost.

The Germans can't do much against the many AFVs with only a Panzerschreck and Hetzer, so they aim at the infantry instead. A forward observer in the woods spots the soldiers that have just moved in. A well placed 81mm mortar shell kills a squad instantly. The shock of this bloody event, suppresses another squad: they want to go home! A german squad that is now confident he can rush the house, is assaulting. The rest of the platoon stays safely behind 'to provide covering fire'.

Well,.... the advancing squad is being fired upon from behind. It was a lucky hit, but a suppress nonetheless.
In the British initiative they take the victory point behind the house. After that, the same Cromwell shoots at some soldiers in the same woods, but again he only pins them.

The Germans still want to assault the house and to cover the approach, they now lay down a smoke screen on the main road behind the windmill.

There's a close combat in the house and all British soldiers are killed in action.

The house is now taken, but the flag is still in hands of the Brits. After some shooting the initiative is lost.

The British commander knows he has lost the fight for the house, so he now really wants to push on the other side. He does suppress a squad in the woods, but with too many enemy squads that can still fire and a few possibly concealed troops, he doesn't dare to move in. He fails to suppress enough of them this initiative at least.

Although pined at the location by enemy fire, a panzerschreck led by the company commander got both a Cromwell and Bren Carrier in range. If he can take out those two targets, this flank looks open. He shoots at the tank, but misses. Probably because bullets are ripping up the bocage. The Cromwell shoots with all the guns he has, but that little schreck is hard to hit behind all those leaves. He's lucky though, because the schreck misses too.

The British commander has called in a platoon and is going to rush that schreck as the Cromwell can't see sh!t.

His platoon has no problems taking out the schreck and company commander. Because of this boost in morale he desides to push forward and regain the house. And the enemy is even suppressed and outnumbered, but...

In a hard but unlucky fight, all attackers are killed or incapacitated. So now both sides are without a company commander.

After having the initiative again, the British focus is on the other side again. A Bren Carier takes the lead (as a scout or cannon fodder.?) The Cromwell that comes behind suppress an enemy. The platoon is very careful and moves in one by one. They go through the marsh and on the dirt road, but when entering into the woods, the hell breaks loose.

Two squads are already lost by both mortar and infantry fire. But then the Cromwell finally does his job. He takes out two squads and suppresses another in one blow. So now it's time for the infantry to rush in and finish off.
Since this flank is a wide open gap now, the Germans know they are going to loose this battle for sure. They start to retreat, but make sure there is still some time for the infantry in the fields to make it back home.

Except for one single suppressed squad that is still suppressed in the crop field, all remaining units go back down the main road.
Next battle is in the marsh again (lower one on the strategic map):

Note that the Germans have not a complete company to deploy as they are out of supply. And with such a small force they'd certainly have withdrawn, but because they were dug in, they weren't allowed to do so. Also note: this is the same map and the first one that is played. Both maps have roughly the same terrain features on the table, but in a different layout.
It probably doesn't surprise that the Germans lost this battle. As this team had already some experience in combat, they hold the enemy for a few turns and withdrew gradually without any losses.
Last game I played was the one at the top of the strategic map.

This was a very interesting game. The terrain was rather open, the germans were out of supply and the British were dug in. Because they were dug in, most of their units were concealed. Though, the Panther made the day and shot the two Shermans and Firefly and captured a flag. The infantry was very experienced (or just lucky) in spotting the concealed troops. The mortar and StuG did the rest...
End of turn:

The Germans are going to loose their grey B company as it is no longer connected to the BGC. It had to surrender.
Next move:

The British 'bought' a new blue company (B), and try to keep the yellow battlegroup together and at full strenght.
In this little strategic map there are only two options for the Germans: full attack mode to try and capture the British hometown before they do, or full defence mode and try to save their own 'hometown'.
Although the strategic map board has some problems, like 'cheating' and mirrored maps for one side, it seems to work well enough to try with a friend
This post got a bit out of hand, sorry for that,
Patrick