“Captain Hendry de Cromault paddled steadily and quietly through the uneasy surf, his sergeant and some of his men behind him doing likewise. To either side more boats of British Commandos were also paddling through the surf. As their boats ran up on the volcanic beach with the crashing breakers covering their approach, the first rays of the sun were providing a faint glow off to the east well beyond the mountains, and even further, as the sun rose over Africa and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean. Quickly drawing their boats ashore, they were startled by the sudden winking of a bright lamp inshore, sending jumbled encrypted Morse code signals; ‘a U-Boat must be about’ Cromault thought to himself, ‘why else would the Villa Winter be activating it’s powerful beacon lamp, hopefully it doesn’t stumble across their transport home, a Royal Navy Destroyer lurking to the north’. Even as he thought about it his raiding force was assembling around him at their rallying points, and beyond expectations the entire force had safely made it ashore. Assembled on one of the remotest parts of the Canary Islands, they set off to accomplish their mission of destroying the secret mid-Atlantic U-Boat base built and run by by Gustav Winter, a reclusive German engineer, disguised beneath his Villa ‘Casa Winter’ on the island…“
Continue reading “Raid On Villa Winter”Tag: Allies
Scuffle In The Hedgerows
It’s been a while since Kieran and I played a Crossfire game, but last weekend we managed to get one in – it was great getting back to playing an old favourite. We opted for a simple ad-hoc game which we very loosely based around Normandy and some of the existing Crossfire Scenarios (most specifically “Scottish Corridor” from Hit the Dirt).
Escoville, 7 June 1944, near Caen: The initial British landings have been very successful and although Caen has not yet been taken the British have a bridgehead on the east side of the Orne River & Caen Canal, north of the city, it’s most advanced point near the aforementioned village. Here the 52nd Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry have moved forward to occupy the area to relieve & support the 12th & 13th Battalions, The Parachute Regiment, who have been holding the adjacent areas since the morning of the 6 June… Continue reading “Scuffle In The Hedgerows”
The Vaagso Raid: A Crossfire Game
Operation Archery, the Raid on Vaagso Island in Norway on 27 December 1941, involved over 500 British Commandos, Sappers, and Norwegians with the intent to take pressure off the Russians and to protect Allied convoys heading to Murmansk – and it’s an excellent action for modelling in Crossfire – check out the excellent recent game played at the Nunawading Wargames Association in Melbourne, Australia, on the Small Sagas blog (which includes the entire town made from “Paper Terrain” buildings).
Continue reading “The Vaagso Raid: A Crossfire Game”Crossfire Training Day!
My friend Wayne has been expressing interest in Crossfire for gaming WW2 and Vietnam – it’s all part of his WW2 Wargaming revival (see “A Bit Of WW2 Wargaming & Some Nostalgia“) – and as he had reason to be here in Auckland the last couple of days we got together for a bit of a Crossfire introduction and training session… We played a couple of simple generic scenarios with about a company a side and the following is a brief summary and some photos of the games…
World Crossfire Day Report in Miniature Wargames
A full report of World Crossfire Day with photos has just been published in the latest Miniature Wargames Magazine (Issue 316 – August 2009). Continue reading “World Crossfire Day Report in Miniature Wargames”
WCFD Game 18
Date Played: 04 April 2009 4.00pm US PDT (04 April Midnight GMT); 1830 WCFD Game Time.
Game Report by Stephen Phenow.
The Germans had retreated to the fortified head of a steep valley. Here they had emplaced a very well-camouflaged ‘88’ that was picking off Allied vehicles on the road (off-table). The 88 couldn’t be used vs. targets on-table because it couldn’t depress sufficiently to target the valley, and its view was obscured as well, but it was a menace to the off-table traffic. The British had to send in men to find it and destroy it. They had an air liaison officer who was having problems calling in Typhoons, and the British could resupply infinitely. How long could the Germans hold out?
WCFD Game 9
Date Played: 04 April 2009 11.00am BST (04 April 10.00am GMT); 1230 WCFD Game Time.
Game Report by Martin Groat.
Each side has released their respective propaganda, published with this report (see below), and provided here is also the third “neutral” report, and a discussion of the terrain and scenario.
The Germans were given the task of defending 2 pillboxes sitting on a hill in the North West corner of the board. They commanded a road to the West, off board. This road was of some significance to the games that followed and the Allied forces were ordered to seize the Pill Boxes so as to secure the road.
WCFD Game 2
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.
WCFD Game 1
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.
WCFD Campaign Summary
The following are summarised Game Situation Reports taken from those actually posted to the Crossfire Group during the course of World Crossfire Day on 04 April 2009.
The Allies today launched an operation designed to cut off retreating Germans in the central salient. Reports coming in are mixed:
Game 1 (New Zealand – 0600 Game Time)
A German force was able to inflict substantial casualties on a small British force holding the front in a surprise counter-attack, during which the Germans managed to recover a Tiger tank that had broken down in a depression. Though other Allied forces were within call, no reinforcements were summoned by the local British commander.
World Crossfire Day 2009
What was it?
World Crossfire Day grew out of the desire of a large group of Crossfire players from around the world to do something to promote the rule set we all love; Crossfire. After discussing numerous alternatives it was decided the best way to promote the rules and to do something special that no one may have done before was to have a World Crossfire Day, and get people in as many countries as possible all playing Crossfire on the same day in local time – and after talking about it for a few months we arbitrarily settled on Saturday 04 April 2009 as a suitable date – mostly thanks to Nikolas Lloyd taking a decisive lead in the organisation of the event.
What then grew from this was a desire to do something more connected and with far more interaction between the games.
World CrossFire Day!
A large group of Crossfire players from around the world have decided to promote Crossfire by having a “World Crossfire Day” in April, Read More Here (at Lloydian Aspects)… and World Crossfire Day 2009 here at Wargaming.info.