KB1R Paper Factory – A Crossfire Battle Report from Krasny Bor

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Jamie Wish and Chris Harrod played “Paper Factory” (KB1R), the second game of Krasny Bor, featuring the Blue Division in an epic Crossfire campaign. The Spaniards were defending the Paper Factory, in a loop of the Ishora River, against overwhelming odds. Jamie’s Soviets captured all three objectives and won.

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Playing the Krasny Bor Crossfire Campaign with two players

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At the end of last year Jo asked if I had ever revisited my Krasny Bor Campaign for Crossfire and the Blue Division. Sadly the answer was no, but it prompted me to rectify the lapse.

I have persuaded Chris Harrod and Jamie Wish to play the campaign. This was a bit different: two players not eight; two months not two days. Here is some advice for anybody who wants to give it a go.

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448 AD Roman versus Visigoth – A One Hour Wargames Battle Report

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Chris Harrod came over and we played two games of our Fall of Hispania Campaign. The first battle occurred in 448 AD, 2 game years after the last battle. Chris rolled Roman and I got Visigoth.

I had intended to use Basic Impetus, and even revised the army lists to do this, but we ended up using the Dark Age variant of Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargames instead. Both armies had six units and we used first Pitched Battle scenario. And we played on a 2’x2′ table as per using my big bases with One Hour Wargames.

The summary is: Grindy rules that are very predictable. Might be accurate but not much fun. Chris won.

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Bloody Weekend at Villiers – A Crossfire Mini-Campaign

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Brett Simpson ran a Crossfire mini-campaign over a weekend. Four games were played in total: two Meeting Engagements and Two Bridgeheads. Saturday’s scenario was a Meeting Engagement with the objective of taking the rail hotel (Provincial Beige Building). Sunday used the same table layout, but switched to a Bridgehead. This simulates a counter-attack by whichever force lost on Saturday. There were four games because the players swapped side on each day. Brett wrote up two of the games.

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Oriamendi Matrix: An Engle Matrix Game set in the First Carlist War

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A bloody civil war has waged in Spain for four years. King Ferdinand died and left the crown to his daughter, Isabella, and the power to his wife Cristina. The King’s brother, Don Carlos, has violently contested Isabella’s right to succeed. The main drama to date has unfolded in the north, in the Basque provinces of Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, and Alava, plus the adjoining province of Navarra.

It is now early March 1837. In yet another bid to to crush the rebels, the three government generals in the Basque provinces – Esparetero, De Lacy Evans, Saarsfield – are preparing a simultaneous advance on the Carlist heartland. They believe victory is assured as Don Carlos doesn’t have enough men to face all three threats simultaneously. The three Carlist commanders – Don Carlos, Don Sebastián, Brigadier Iturriza – intend to show the Cristinos they are wrong.

This Engle Matrix Game for the First Carlist War has been germinating for a long time. The draft appeared on 2 July 2006. Nearly 10 years later I thought I’d better finish it. Partly because Roland Davis wanted me to run it for him, in PBEM mode.

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448 AD Roman versus Visigoth – Basic Impetus Army Lists

The fifth game in our Fall of Hispania Campaign will occur in 448 AD, 2 game years after the last battle. Chris Harrod rolled Roman and I got Visigoth. Despite misgivings I have chosen Basic Impetus as the rules.

Basic Impetus has army lists but, even after I reformatted them, I don’t like them. So I tweaked the two that we are intending to use. Okay, I only made two small changes to troop types, but those changes stem from mistakes that get me quite het up.

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Seestrasse Sector in “Operation Crossfire” – A Battle Report

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Chris Harrod, Joe Harrison and I played the Seestrasse Sector part of Operation Crossfire. Chris was ISIS SUNRAY, commander of the attacking Allies/Soviets and host for the day. Joe was our guest from Peterborough and took the role of SONNE GUNTHER, commander of the Axis/German defenders. I was the UMPIRE and provided the kit. Steve Spence was OFFA and Michael Stringer was NORN, the Commander-in-Chiefs of the Allies and Axis respectively – of course they were only involved in our game via an erratic radio (email) link.

The event was fantastic. An exciting battle fought as part of an inspired one day campaign. Full marks to the Nikolas Lloyd (BIG CHEESE), who was the inspired genius behind the event and the Commander-in-Chief of the umpires on the day.

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Seestrasse Sector in “Operation Crossfire” – The Scenario

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Here is the scenario should you want to play the Seestrasse Sector of Operation Crossfire. It is pretty much all the work of Nikolas Lloyd – the genius architect of Operation Crossfire. I have simply collated material from various emails and put them into my scenario format. I’ll post a Battle Report shortly.

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446 AD Suevi versus Vandal – A Red Spear, Black Crow Battle Report

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The fourth game in our Fall of Hispania Campaign occurred in 446 AD, 29 peaceful game years after the last battle. Chris Harrod rolled Suevi and I got Vandal. The rules were the draft version of Red Spear, Black Crow from Morningstar Productions.

The summary is: Interesting rules, violent battle which could have gone either way, but eventual victory for the Vandals.

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417 AD Visigoths versus Roman – A Dux Bellorum Battle Report

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It is 417 AD in our Fall of Hispania Campaign, four game years since our last battle. I rolled the Visigoths again but this time Chris Harrod got Late Roman. The rules were Dux Bellorum.

The summary is: Being new to the rules I assumed the hill was difficult terrain, deployed accordingly, realised too late I was wrong, and then watched as Chris rolled over my hastily improvised battle line.

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413 AD Visigoths versus Vandals – A Big Base DBA Battle Report

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Chris Harrod and I finally got around to playing another game of the Fall of Hispania Campaign based on these campaign rules. Four game years have passed since the first game so the nominal campaign date is 413 AD. Tragically it has also been four real years since we played the first game. Chris rolled Vandals and I got Visigoths. The rules were Big Base DBA.

The summary is: Short game with the Visigoth wedges smashing through the Vandal shieldwall.

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