Italian Campaign Archives - Steven's Balagan

Kiwis vs FJ in Italy – A Crossfire Scenario and Battle Report 1

22 Jan 2022 by Steven Thomas

italy-165 Three types of Sherman - Banner

Jamie popped over for a game, and when it is just Jamie and me we try out something more experimental. Jamie wanted to play Crossfire and I wanted to try out my Crossfire Terrain Cards and some draft armour rules. I also wanted to get my 2 Division New Zealanders on table – “Kiwis” in New Zealand slang – and get the German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) out again. This was also the first outing for my Kiwi Armour.

Summary: Great little game. Crossfire Terrain Cards worked well, and happy with the test drive of my armour mods.

Official Crossfire Supplements – I want to write a couple

8 Jan 20228 Jan 2022 by Steven Thomas

I’ve been talking to Arty Conliffe about potential Official Supplements for Crossfire. Official because they have Arty’s blessing and input. I’m thinking about both a commercial scenario book and some freebie booklets. My megalomaniac aspirations for 2022 mean I want to write one of each. There are lots of possibilities and I thought I’m share my thinking.

Dung Farm – A Crossfire Battle Report

16 Oct 202116 Oct 2021 by Steven Thomas

DungFarm-1842 Lead platoon of Irish Company - Banner

I’ve been gearing up to pay Dung Farm from Hit the Dirt for a couple of years now. I posted my Balagan version of the Dung Farm a few weeks back and, as you might recall, the table has lots of Ravines, thorn fields and thorn thickets. It took me a while to collect this additional kit. Plus the Kiwis in Italy. But finally it all came together – scenario, terrain, and figures. And Chris, Jamie, and Adam turned up to play. This is, of course, Crossfire for the Italian Campaign.

Summary: Really good game. Interesting challenges from ravines and thorns. The British need to use the terrain to their advantage. Chris and I, as the Germans, won.

Balagan Version of Dung Farm – A HTD Crossfire Scenario

17 Aug 202124 Jul 2021 by Steven Thomas

Scenario - Dung Farm - Crossfire - Banner

“Dung Farm” is one of the scenarios from Hit the Dirt (HTD, p. 15-16). It is Italy, 4 February 1944, and the Germans are attacking into the Anzio beachhead at the northern end of ‘The Thumb’. The “Dung Farm” of the title is the British nickname for the Italian Pig Farm that featured in the battle.

The Dung Farm scenario is interesting for a few reasons. It introduces some unique terrain features, has masses of thorns and/or barbed wire, is fought in mud, and has visible troops on both sides. It also doesn’t quite work as a four player game. So I’m going to make a couple of tweaks to the scenario before the guys turn up to play it, including changing the map.

Making ravines and depressions for Crossfire

16 Aug 202120 Mar 2021 by Steven Thomas

I’ve had a go at gullies and depressions before. But they look too much like hills. So I decided to have another go modelling just the edge of the depression. Then I took this concept further and modelled a modular ravine system. I featured both of these when I asked, How does my Burmese battlefield look? In this post I share a bit more about how I make these features.

Moroccan Tabor in Italy – Crossfire Orbat

17 Aug 20218 Aug 2020 by Steven Thomas

Order of Battle - Goumier - Crossfire - Banner

In my mountain of unpainted lead are some goumier. Irregular Moroccan auxiliaries fighting for France in Italy during World War 2. Cool. I wondered what they would look like under Crossfire.

Lockdown Crossfire – Kiwis in Italy – Two Battle Reports

2 Aug 202130 May 2020 by Steven Thomas

Bruce Stewart played through his Lockdown Crossfire – Kiwis in Italy – A Crossfire Scenario twice and shared some narrative and photos from each. Bruce games with 1/56 figures and 1/48 – 1/50 vehicles.

Lockdown Crossfire – Kiwis in Italy – A Crossfire Scenario

2 Aug 202123 May 2020 by Steven Thomas

Bruce Stewart, like many of us, has been trying to figure out how to wargame during the Covid-19 lockdown. Bruce’s idea involves video conferencing, a situation from the Band of Brothers, and New Zealand accents. You might recall that last year Bruce sent through a couple of battle reports for Kiwis in the Italian Campaign using Crossfire. Well, there is more of the same here.

Kiwi Vehicle Names in WW2

25 Jan 2020 by Steven Thomas

I’ve posted on Kiwi Vehicle Camouflage during WW2 but didn’t spend any time researching specific vehicles. Some of the Kiwi vehicles during World War 2 were named e.g. “Discord” and “Katipo”. I thought I’d have a look at my books and see what came up. This is inspiration for my Kiwis in Italy – Steven’s Wargaming Project.

2019 Reflections of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian

18 Aug 202121 Dec 2019 by Steven Thomas

Reflections of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian - Banner

My Confessions of a Megalomaniac were my 2019 aspirations. How did I do?

Kiwis in Italy – Two Crossfire Battle Reports from Bruce Stewart

17 Aug 20216 Apr 2019 by Steven Thomas

Bruce Stewart has a collection of Kiwis for the Italian Campaign. He posted a couple of Crossfire after action reports on Facebook and gave me permission to repost them here. One of them is for my own 2 Companies a Side – A Generic Crossfire Scenario. The second is a scenario from the Italian 1944. Bruce games with 1/56 figures and 1/48 – 1/50 vehicles. Being from Facebook these are predominantly photographic reports.

Making boulder and rock fields for Crossfire

2 Aug 202112 Jan 2019 by Steven Thomas

The Crossfire supplement Hit-the-Dirt introduces Boulder Fields and Rock Fields as Crossfire Terrain for scenarios in the Italian Campaign. My post Types of Terrain Features in Crossfire explains how they are used in the game. In this post I explain how I made mine. Simple but excessive is the summary. Simple because I start with actual rocks. Excessive because I base, paint, and flock.

2018 Reflections of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian

18 Aug 202122 Dec 2018 by Steven Thomas

Continuing my Megalomaniac tendencies, this is my reflection on 2018 and how I did against my world conquering goals. Check out my 2018 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian for my overly ambitious aspirations.

Steven’s Fallschirmjäger Battalion for Crossfire

18 Aug 202128 Jul 2018 by Steven Thomas

Fallschirmjaeger P1020224 1st Company 1st Platoon F-1-1 - Banner

This post is long overdue. Roland painted the last of the Fallschirmjaeger in June 2011 and I got them based soon afterwards. Tragically I haven’t used them in a game of Crossfire. I guess I don’t often create Crossfire scenarios for German paratroopers. Perhaps when I have some Kiwis to fight them in the Italian Campaign; I should bump the New Zealanders up in the priority list. Anyway, here are my Fallschirmjaeger.

2017 Reflections of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian

18 Aug 202123 Dec 2017 by Steven Thomas

I have noticed that my The Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian of 2015 was literally a confession, describing my overly inflated ambitions and incomplete projects. But the 2016 edition was more a reflection on my progress against those goals. It has been a 23 months since the 2016 edition and it is time to revisit. But I’m going to split the reflection aspect from the confessions bit. So this is my reflection on the 23 months from the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2017.