Spanish and Portuguese Military History,
Wargaming, and other stuff
After Action Reports (AAR) or Battle Reports for Crossfire
Chris Harrod and Adam Landa played my African Ambush – A Crossfire and Fogo Cruzado Scenario twice in one evening. I’ve already posted their first as Play Test 2. This was their second game of the evening. Of course it is for the Portuguese Colonial War.
Summary: Intense game with thrusts and counter thrusts. Although considerably outnumbered Adam’s Portuguese Commandos successfully ambushed the Insurgent patrol.
Chris Harrod and Adam Landa came over to experiment with my Ambushed Patrol – A Crossfire and Fogo Cruzado Scenario. So, for a few hours, we went back to the bush in the Portuguese Colonial War. It was an experiment and we learnt a bunch of things.
Summary: Short and brutal game. Adam’s Portuguese successfully fought their way out of the ambush.
Brett Simpson play tested Mac’s Crossfire Missions v3 using his Pacific War kit. So this was a pick up game for Crossfire with Japanese facing Australians.
Summary: fun and exciting game. Brett’s Australians won, making a successful Withdrawal in the face of a Japanese Breakthrough attempt.
All words are Brett’s.
Chris Harrod and I played a game of Mac’s Crossfire Missions v3. So a pick up game for Crossfire with the option of reinforcements.
Summary: Good tense game. I conducted a fighting withdrawal in the face of massive Soviet firepower and took the game. Reinforcements gave more options (good) and did not unbalance the game (also good). I wax lyrical about the game in the conclusions and observations section at the end.
Jamie Wish and Chris Harrod played “The Embankment” (KB4F), the third game of Krasny Bor, featuring the Blue Division in an epic Crossfire campaign. The Spaniards were defending the area of the Leningrad-Moscow Railway line – the Embankment – against overwhelming odds.
Summary: Jamie’s Soviet both infantry and armour – broke through the thin Spanish line. This will make the fourth battle tougher for Chris.
Chris Harrod and I played my SU-152s Up Close and Personal scenario.
Summary: Good game. Forced us both to make explicit tactical choices. I got a Soviet victory before the German reinforcements arrived.
Chris Harrod and I play tested my The Monster – A Crossfire Scenario. Twice. The first play test was over pretty quick and the Monster of the title chewed up the Germans as they appeared. A few tweaks to the scenario and we tried again … the second time we got a much better game out of it.
Brett Simpson play tested his Dig In and Wait Scenario pitting the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) against the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). In solo mode.
I was filing old papers tonight when I found a few photos of a very early game of Crossfire. Real photos, you know, the ones on photographic paper, from a shop. It took a while but I figure the game was Ponyri Station. I thought I’d share because, aside from the fact these are the only photos I have of a game of my favourite scenario from Hit the Dirt, they also show how I started out in Crossfire – using anything I had.
Chris Harrod and I played my Small Threat to the Flank Scenario. A good game although the map needs a bit of work.
Brett Simpson developed an idea of a friend of mine into a Crossfire scenario called “Where is the Fuel?”. Brett sent through the scenario and associated battle report for the play test.
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.
Jamie Wish and Chris Harrod played “Advance from Ian Ishora” (KB1F), the first game of my Krasny Bor Campaign featuring the Blue Division defending against overwhelming odds in an epic Crossfire campaign.
Immediately following our successful experiment on Ambush scenarios for the Portuguese Colonial War, Jamie Wish and I tried another type of scenario. The goal of our second game was to defend a water party, which is an idea from FNG of Two Hour Wargames. Of course, our version of the scenario was for Crossfire and my Fogo Cruzado variant.
As a scenario design experiment, this one failed in a pretty spectacular fashion. But maybe I’m biased because Jamie won, and very quickly. 😉 Anyway, the good news is that we learnt a few things.
