Moroccan Knives – A Crossfire Battle Report 3

Knives-304 Moroccans enter on right - Banner

Jamie and Adam played my Moroccan Knives scenario for Crossfire . However, rather than being set in the Spanish Civil War I transposed it to 1944 and the Italian Campaign. Really it was an excuse to get the Goumiers of my Moroccan Tabor on table.

Summary: Good tense game. Adam’s Goumier attacked strongly up both flanks using cover and the limited smoke available. They also probed in the centre to fix the Turcomen defenders. But the flank attacks stalled and Jamie took the victory.

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Almost Fosse Bridge – A Crossfire Scenario

fosse-103 Sherman III on overwatch - Banner

Back when I published Almost Fosse Bridge – A Crossfire Battle Report, I promised to publish the scenario. Well, this is it. Jamie was coming over to play Crossfire and I quickly knocked up this scenario. It is extremely loosely based on the Coldstream Guards defence of the Fosse Bridge on 13 September 1943. One of the many small actions following the Salerno landings in the Italian Campaign. Emphasis on the “extremely loosely”. I knew the battalions/regiments present and I also knew the location of the bridge, which gave me a google map of the modern site. Not much to go on, but it gave a good game. Good enough to share the scenario. One day I’ll write a better Fosse Bridge scenario, but for you moment you get “Almost Fosse Bridge”.

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Almost Fosse Bridge – A Crossfire Battle Report

fosse-103 Sherman III on overwatch - Banner

Jamie was coming over and I quickly knocked up this Crossfire scenario to continue my experiments with the revised Anti-tank rules. This time I wanted tanks on both sides and we ended up with three Panzers attacking and two Shermans in defence.

The scenario is extremely loosely based on the Coldstream Guards and Scots Greys defence of the Fosse Bridge on 13 September 1943. One of the many small actions following the Salerno landings in the Italian Campaign. Emphasis on the “extremely loosely”. At the time I only knew the battalions/regiments present and the location of the bridge which gave me a modern google map of the modern site. Not much to go on historically, but it gave a good game. I’ll write up the scenario later although a real Fosse Bridge Scenario will be quite different.

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Monaldini and Monticelli – A Crossfire Battle Report in Italy 1

Monticelli-151 Kiwi Sherman III and Knocked out Sherman III - Banner

Jamie and I played my Monaldini and Monticelli Scenario. Kiwis and Greeks against Fallschirmjäger and “Turcomen” during the Italian Campaign. And lets not forget the six Shermans.

Summary: Great scenario. Lots of tactical decisions for both players. Nice to get a few tanks on table. Great game. We’d play it again. I won. Or perhaps Jamie did.

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Monaldini and Monticelli – A Crossfire Scenario in Italy

Table for Monaldini and Monticelli - Banner

I wanted a scenario to play test my emerging revision to the Crossfire armour rules. This scenario simulates the New Zealander and Greek attack on two small settlements – Monaldini farm and Monticelli – south-west of Rimini on 14 Sep 1944, during the Italian Campaign. Defending are Fallschirmjäger and “Turcomen” i.e. Soviet PoWs in German service. It is roughly a company a side in terms of infantry but the Kiwis have six, count them, six Shermans.

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Cassinograd – A Crossfire Battle Report 3

Cassinograd-336 Germans in the Municipal Buildings - Banner

Jamie and I played a draft version of Cassinograd – A Crossfire Scenario based on Crossfiregrad. We played two games in a couple of hours. Jamie was the attacking Kiwis and I was the Fallshirmjaeger. This is the second game.

Summary: Great game. My larger regular force was much more resilient than the small veteran force I used in Game 2. Jamie captured the objective (the Post Office), but he literally did it as his clock counted down to zero. Very tense and exciting game.

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Cassinograd – A Crossfire Battle Report 2

Cassinograd-211 Across the ruins of Cassino - Banner

Jamie and I played a draft version of Cassinograd – A Crossfire Scenario based on Crossfiregrad. We played two games in a couple of hours. Jamie was the attacking Kiwis and I was the Fallshirmjaeger. This is the first of our games, making the second Cassinograd game with Bruce Stewart’s being the first.

Summary: Okay game, but could have been better. I had a small veteran force. The smaller forced lacked resilience, despite the higher morale, and Jamie took the objective (Municipal Buildings) relatively easily.

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Cassinograd – A Crossfire Scenario based on Crossfiregrad

Scenario - Cassinograd - Crossfire - Banner

Gunnery Sargent Rock (Bruce Stewart) got me thinking about Cassinograd. This is an adaptation of Doctor Phalanx’s Crossfiregrad scenario, transferred from Stalingrad to the Italian Campaign with 2 New Zealand Division (Kiwis) attacking Fallchirmjaeger in Cassino town. Crossfire of course. Bruce’s version was pretty much standard Crossfiregrad, but I’ve made some more changes to add flavour.

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