WCFD Game 2

Allied Armour awaits a secure river crossing.
Allied Armour awaits a secure river crossing

Date Played: 04 April 2009 11.00am NZDT (03 April 10.00pm GMT); 0630 WCFD Game Time.

Game Report by Errol Hooker (Umpire).

Table is 4′ x 4’ – the whole table has quite dense terrain all over it – woods, rough ground, hills, hedges and the like – plenty of sight blocks. Down the southern edge runs a river. Elsewhere are two buildings and a supply dump.

There must be plenty of cover for entering Americans, so that they do not get mown down just trying to walk onto the table – some of it contiguous with the table edge, and some sight-blocking features not touching the edge, so that it is possible to get onto the table and be out of LOS of the Germans.

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WCFD Game 1

A 6pdr ATG awaits the advancing Germans
A 6pdr ATG awaits the advancing Germans

Date Played: 04 April 2009 10.30am NZDT (03 April 9.30pm GMT); 0600 WCFD Game Time.

It is 1944 and the Germans are on the retreat. Allied forces are pressing forwards and hoping to encircle pockets of the enemy and force surrenders on a large scale. The Germans, though being forced back, are still resisting well, and have not collapsed. Every game of the WCFD campaign will have some knock-on consequence for later games. Both sides must conserve forces and resources, and yet both are pressed for time. The allies must advance quickly if they are to catch large numbers of Germans before they can retreat and regroup. The Germans must react to the changing situation rapidly to ensure that they are not encircled.

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Scottish Corridor II

Scots InfantryKieran and I had arranged to play a “Hit The Dirt” scenario with Errol Hooker (who was coming down from Whangarei for the day), so we selected ‘Scottish Corridor’, as we had played it previously and knew it was a suitable medium-sized scenario that had a little of everything (Tanks, Infantry, Indirect Fire, etc). I had also recently started work on some new terrain (3D fields and Bocage style hedges) so we had slightly better terrain for it than the previous occasion. I also got the ridge right this time with the reclining slope on the back of the ridge, and we endeavoured to get the table to even more closely match the map. Unfortunately Errol couldn’t make it at short notice, but Kieran and I continued on, and we had another Auckland Wargamer (Grant Brown) present as an observer interested in Crossfire.

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Road Block on Highway 120 (sort of)

Churchill "I"-Tanks on Highway 120.Kieran and I lined up yet another “Hit The Dirt” scenario, Highway 120 looked interesting, but my US & Italian forces were either still waiting to be based up or only part painted. So to get round the issue we transplanted the scenario to a later period – Summer 1944 in Italy after the fall of Rome… The Americans would be replaced by British Infantry with Churchills from a supporting Tank Brigade, and the Italians replaced with Germans. Otherwise the OOB was pretty close to what was in Hit the Dirt. Kieran would command the German Defenders, and I the British Attackers.

The game started with a general advance on a broad front – the leading British Infantry Company advanced with a 2 up 1 back formation with the Churchills supporting the centre & left of the advance. Initially no enemy were encountered and the advance moved swiftly covering half the distance to the stream.

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Scottish Corridor I

German InfantryKieran and I decided to play yet another “Hit The Dirt” scenario, so we selected ‘Scottish Corridor’, as a suitable medium-sized scenario that matched our available forces on the day. Before going further please note that all hedge lines and such in the scenario are Bocage, however in the photos we have only used normal Hedges and Lichen to represent these, so bear that in mind when viewing. Note we also got the map slightly wrong in the North-East corner (top right), we misread the contour as a further elevation rather than the reclining slope on the back of the ridge it should be – however this was to have no impact on the game.

In the scenario a Company of the 2nd Argyle Highlanders is holding an exposed bridgehead during Operation Epsom, and is subjected to repeated but poorly managed counter attacks from the 10th SS Panzer Division who have just arrived in Normandy.

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Reconnaissance before Pontecorvo

Out for a Recce.Kieran and I decided to play another “Hit The Dirt” scenario, and at the same time introduce another Auckland Wargaming Club member, Ben, to Crossfire. We selected ‘Reconnaissance Before Pontecorvo‘ (May 1944), as a suitable scenario that matched our available forces on the day and kept the size of the game to manageable with a new player.

In the scenario a Canadian Company is attacking, or rather doing a reconnaissance in force, and a German Infantry Company is defending.

The scenario called for a single MMG Section for the British, but as we again had none available for the game, they would instead receive a single M4A1 Sherman to provide direct fire support to the Rifle Platoons.

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Green Hell (Revisited)

Tommies!Kieran and I have had copies of “Hit The Dirt” for sometime (in fact I have had a copy since it was published) and had not made a serious attempt to play any of the scenarios. However we recently decided to work our way through the book and play the scenarios as best we could with our available forces. Deciding to start from the beginning we selected Green Hell, the very first Scenario in the book. In Green Hell a well supported German Company must overcome a larger (but poorer) Soviet Force in a large forest in Poland in 1941. Our troop availability (at the time) dictated a move to 1944 and North-West Europe or Italy (we chose the former) with British and German forces.

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20mm (1/76th & 1/72nd) Figure Comparison

20mm Figure Comparison
20mm World War 2 Figure Comparison

The following is a brief overview of several (but by no means all) of the manufacturers in this scale. Over time I may add more photo comparisons and details for these and other manufacturers. I have also included some plastic figures for completeness. The scale lines in the background are at 10mm, 20mm, and 25mm height.

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Exercise Resurgence 1993

1990's Germans.Hypothetical 1993 NATO exercise with reinforced British Para Company clearing a village held by a reduced German Panzer Grenadier Company.

As one of our first games using Crossfire for a ‘Modern’ game we pitted my 1980’s Falklands War British Paras against Kieran’s newly painted up modern (1990+) Germans in a NATO training exercise. My Brits would be supported by light armour in the form of a pair of CVR(T)’s (i.e. a Scorpion & a Scimitar), and the Germans had integral LAW (Panzerfaust 3’s) and a supporting Milan ATGW team. Nearby some Mechanics in a Fuchs Transport Panzer are repairing a Leopard II MBT from the previous day’s exercise (as an excuse to get Kieran’s new vehicles on table as well)!

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Using Crossfire for Modern Conflicts

Liberation Miniatures Modern German with Sniper Rifle - figure from Kieran Mahony's collection
Liberation Miniatures Modern German with Sniper Rifle - figure from Kieran Mahony's collection

The Modern period traditionally covers everything from the Korean War in 1950 through to the present day. The sheer number of conflicts is actually pretty staggering and as someone once said there is a war in progress somewhere round the globe every single day (a pretty sad fact really). In the past I have mainly been interested in the Arab-Israeli conflicts and the potential European confrontations generated by the Cold War – these interested resulted in my being a co-author of the Modern Spearhead (© 2000) rule set for modern Brigade to Corps level battles with micro-armour. However in recent years as I have moved away from gaming in smaller scales such as 1/285th micro-armour, and to some extent that Grand-Tactical type of game, I have revisited my interest in other modern conflicts. As a result I’m now slowly starting to game these at the Company & Battalion level in 1/76th (20mm) using Crossfire.

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What is Crossfire?

Crossfire Rulebook Cover
Crossfire - The Rulebook.

Crossfire is one of those ‘inspirational’ games that once you ‘get it’ I think you never really look to go back. The fact that as a games system it makes you generally make the same decisions and actions that you would in real life, rather than what is perceived the most effective rules choice, makes it an intuitive natural system that rewards realistic behaviour, and as such becomes increasingly involving. Crossfire was written by Arty Conliffe partly in response to a challenge to design a set of rules with no fixed turns or measurements – Crossfire is the result. While other notable authors in the past (namely Jack Scruby and Paddy Griffith) pursued similar ideas (e.g. the variable bound for instance), Arty has been the first to take it to a natural conclusion into a fully playable commercial design. Crossfire also goes that extra step to provide the right amount of abstraction, something earlier authors struggled with as they were constrained with the self-imposed linear nature of their designs…

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Wargaming Scales

Figure scales are expressed two ways, either as a simple measurement, e.g. 25mm, defining how high a figure of a normal man or woman stands or as a ratio, e.g. 1/48th, defining how big a model vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or construction is in relation to the real thing. The emphasis here is on the former classification with the latter provided where possible as an approximate comparison.

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