The next Crossfire instalment .. lessons learned

This week's Crossfire shenanigans with my 'gamers at College involved two small practice scenarios taken from 'Wargaming with gluteous maximus'. I set up the Hill, and Woods, scenarios for the boys. The forces are small, so each scenario can be played to a reasonable conclusion in an hour or so, and since we have a two hour window of opportunity these are ideal. The Woods involving hidden deployment for both sides.

A squad is caught moving in the open, and smoke is called down from the mortar battery to try to allow the squad the opportunity to get to more substantive cover. This use of smoke marked a significant shift in the sophistication of their thinking.

This first game was 'The Woods' in which the objective was to eliminate the enemy.

Caught in the open

The German squad at the bottom of the photo had been further to the right, thinking it was pinned by the British vickers centre right. The MMG suffered a No fire, but the German player mistakenly use that No fire to withdraw rather than press the attack when he had no squads pined or suppressed.

The lesson was well learned.

The wrong move

The second game was 'The Hill' and the objective was to take/hold the hill.

The German squad bottom centre was hung up on a hidden mine field

That squad eventually however managed to get through the minefield suffering no casualties.even more extraordinarily, the German player managed to shift his left flank platoon completely across the field of action and flank the British left crossing a field of fire while taking no casualties. The defending British platoon all suffered No fire results in their reactive fire phase. This time the German player took full advantage of the result and flanked the British defenders, close assaulting them from their own rear.

The close assault

The battle was on for the hill but time ran out.

This last game was much more satisfactory, both players learning a lot from playing/watching those earlier games. This of course was the objective of these small games. Job done!!

Vostroyans for the painting challenge

Well, this year's painting challenge has been under way for several weeks and each of us has faced delays. For Andy and I it has been work and family pressures. For Adrian it has been the availability of the figures etc that he wanted. Adrian decided to opt for some Vostroyans which could not only be sued for 40K, but could also double as a steam punk army for other rules sets. Thursday night, and he presented the first squad.

Painted to Adrian's usual astounding standard, these look amazing.

One of those amusing 'trains of thought'.

I've been experiencing one of those 'amusing' trains of thought. You know, when the inner dialogue gets going? Oh,. so you don't hear those voices? Anyway ..

I've had a cunning plan to create forces for the 1940 French campaign in 20mm for Spearhead .. there are lots of great vehicles available now in quick build kit sets.  

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanks_in_the_British_Army

Of course it would also really require new infantry forces as well, since the 20mm infantry figures that I have are all later war.

I've been plotting/scheming for about 18 months. However it's quite an undertaking as there are quite a few vehicles. 

Then I realised that my existing 6mm infantry will do for either, I have the German vehicles already, painted in the early war Pz grey, and most of the early war Brit stuff. Interestingly, my first ever 6mm purchases were for Brits for the Queen's Bays, bought in 1974.. I remember the parcel arriving during my bursary exams. Good friend and 'gaming buddy Pete and I were going to game that period, using the old 1st edition WRG rules.

So, for the purchase of about a dozen extra Brit tanks in 6mm the project would be done. I've just shot myself in the foot. Damn.. I was looking forward to the thrill of the purchase, the smell of the glue, the gradual growth of the forces..

Of course, I guess I could always justify the whole thing as a modelling project rather than a 'gaming project couldn't I. 

As if I haven't got enough stuff already, and as if the pile of unpainted lead and plastic isn't large enough already. It's been one of those amusing 'trains of thought' really.

Painting Challenge progress

Time for an update on the Painting Challenge progress which, quite frankly, has been pedestrian to say the least. An overseas conference and work pressure generally have taken their toll. However I have been pottering away painting parts on sprues to try to make sure that I get a reasonable quality paint finish.

So here were the sprues earlier this evening with many (but not all) parts painted, and ready for assembly.

I managed a little assembly this evening in between outbreaks of marking. More anon.

Adrian it turns out has taken to painting some GW Vostroyans for (maybe) 40K, but also to double as a steam punk army, and Andy is making progress with some Space marines that have sat unassembled in boxes for a number of years along with a Dreadnought.

I'm pestering them for photos.

High over Germany ..

Our first outing with the recently arrived Wings of Glory WW2 aircraft, a B17 with P51 escort dares the skies over Germany. Keith, Nick, Andy and I whirled around in combat.

The B17 .. quite an awesome looking beast

With Fw190s making their first pass

The B17 managed to survive the entire game.. she packs an awesome punch

I was flying the P51, and .. yep.. shot down over Germany.. damn.. where are those tin legs?

Normandy .. 1944

As promised, I set up a slightly larger and slightly more complex Crossfire game for my College boys this morning. Set in Normandy, June 1944, two German companies with a 75mm IG, and a PzkwIV were advancing against a company of British commandoes and a company of paratroops, supported by a75mm airborne howitzer and a Churchill close support tank.

We still didn't use the full panoply of rules, as I have chosen to introduce small levels of additional complexity with each game(it's a teacher thing, you understand). With this game we introduced indirect fire with a mortar each, an IG each, and a tank each. The game is obviously larger as well.

Predictably, planning isn't something that takes place naturally. So deployment and advance were a little uncoordinated, as was the focus of action across the table. They'll learn, all in good time.

I love these Litko markers, in this case marking suppressions.

That German tank is making life difficult for the platoon trying to push against the German left

And the para push in the centre is struggling.

The German push on their own right flank has come to grief too.

The boys hadn't got their heads around using their mortars to provide either supporting fire or covering smoke, so their advances were often stopped with reactive fire.

They did however effectively see the usefulness of supporting an advance with a tank. No surprises there then. All in all a good game, albeit incomplete. They are keen for more Crossfire action again next week, but this time two separate smaller games with one player each. They felt that multi player games can be a little  less fun if you are the player who isn't 'doing something' at that point in time.

Onward an upward.

The appeal of a good set of rules ...

I supervise a small group of 'gamers at the College at which I work. We meet each Saturday morning, and they play games. Generally they come along with Warhammer 40K, or five or six figures for the game at an rate, bewitched by the 40K world and/or the fantastic miniatures (as am I). However they rarely get to build complete armies these days, their interest has waned well before their budget has expanded to match it. This wasn't the case even five years ago. In saying this I am careful to NEVER be disparaging of any game system. I am happy to say what I like and don't like and why, but I won't 'bag' a set of rules for that reason.

This year I have several boys who aren't required to attend, but who choose to do so, and they have a different set of tastes. Two weeks ago I was describing Crossfire to them as a game, and they expressed a keen interest in the game. This week I brought along my 20mm figures and they played a small introductory game (no frills or added extras, just one single unsupported company against another to allow them to try out the mechanisms).

It seems that the rules have made a hit with them. They loved the mechanisms and the look/feel of the game. They are also greatly taken with the capacity to build a small force for less than $20NZ. 

Contemplating how the game might play, and thinking about deployment

My beloved paras .. as we all know, every para has a convenient brick wall behind which to hide, even in a forest.

Hmmm ... this is getting interesting

And if we moved here we could ...

Such was the impact of the game that they all want to play it again next week so we will play a game with a couple of companies per side, some support (mortars and infantry guns) and maybe even a couple of tanks.

I love Crossfire, but struggle to play it well. As I explained things to them you could have heard the veritable treasure chest empty (an exaggeration of the 'penny dropping') as I came to understand how I could also play the game more effectively.

I'll try to take some pictures and do a write-up of their game next week. You just can't go past the appeal of a good set of rules.