Battle for the town hall

Here is a brief summary of mine & Tim's 2nd Crossfire game from the weekend.  In this, another Meeting Engagement set in 1982 Lebanon, we switched sides, so that I was the Syrians, & Tim the Israelis.  We also played the board in the opposite axis for some variety without having to rearrange the scenery.

As in the first game, the Syrians were able to begin advancing just prior to the IDF, due to the particular deployment rules of this scenario favouring smaller forces.  My Syrian regulars moved through a patch of woodland to occupy the objective - the town hall on one side of the board; whilst my AT commandos advanced through nearby ruins, taking up forward defensive positions amongst the barricades in front of the hall, & at the crossroads in the centre of the board, bristling with ATGMs & RPGs to strike any IDF armour that might reveal itself.

Battle for the crossroads

This Saturday, my friend Tim & I finally got some more Crossfire gaming in.  The setting was Lebanon, 1982.  Our first battle was the basic Meeting Engagement from the rulebook, which saw Tim as the Syrians - with a platoon of regulars & a platoon of 'hunter-killer' AT commandos; & me as the invading Israelis, with a platoon of Golani regulars, & a platoon of Sayeret Golani veterans. We also each had a single piece of self-propelled AA as armoured support.  This was the largest game we had played so far.  The objective was to take & hold the designated objective for five consecutive Initiative Phases (or kill/capture two thirds of the enemy units).

2 IDF infantry platoons

This week I finally finished my 2nd IDF infantry platoon, for 15mm-scale Crossfire. All the figures are from Peter Pig's AK-47 Range.  These represent a force of the Golani Brigade - the 1st platoon (on the right) is intended to be a mechanised infantry platoon, armed with Galil assault rifles.  I've posted photos of them with their M113 APCs previously.  The 2nd platoon (on the left) are intended as Sayeret Golani (the brigade's elite recon), armed with a mixture of Galils, M16s, & AK-47s.  In the background is an attached squad of combat engineers (centre), 3 sniper teams (left), & a .50cal HMG team, Military Working Dog team, & Forward Observer (right).  Looking forward to getting these on the tabletop battlefield!

IDF reinforcements

Here is the first batch of new reinforcements for my 15mm-scale 1980s IDF force - a couple more sniper teams, a Forward Observer (FO), a .50cal HMG team, & a Military Working Dog (MWD) team.  The FO will be handy for allowing the use of off-table artillery/air strikes.  I drilled into the figure's radio pack to insert a tiny section of wire as an aerial, to help him stand-out more on the tabletop.  As this was a success, I'll be doing the same thing to the existing RTOs on my commander bases. As Crossfire rules for MWD teams, I'm considering something like their presence automatically prevents friendly figures being ambushed when they enter a terrain feature containing Hidden enemies.  They could also confer a +1 bonus in assaults.  Not sure about allowing them a chance of detecting minefields/IEDs - MWDs probably aren't so good at this in a full-on combat situation.

All the figures are from Peter Pig's excellent AK-47 Republic range.

IDF M163 VADS

This week I painted-up a support vehicle for my 15mm-scale IDF force - an M163 VADS (self-propelled Vulcan Air Defence System).  In the IDF's 1982 incursion into Lebanon, it was discovered that the M168 rotary autocannon on this vehicle didn't have the range to defend against the Syrian Gazelle helicopters that attacked from long-range with cutting-edge HOT missiles.  Consequently, the IDF tended to use their M163 VADS for clearing buildings of potential or identified ambushers.  In Crossfire rules terms, the vulcan cannon will have a horrific 5D firepower against infantry - however, being mounted on an M113 chassis, this unit is still very vulnerable to ATGM & RPG fire. The model is from the excellent Peter Pig AK47 range.

IDF Merkava Mk 1 MBTs

At the weekend I painted up this pair of Merkava Mk 1s for my 15mm-scale Crossfire IDF force.  Putting aside issues of politics & ethics, the Merkava (Hebrew for 'Chariot') series are my favourite tanks, mostly because of their unusual 'futuristic' look that came about from clever design intent (e.g. the low profile, & added crew survivability from having the engine block at the front).  These ones feature the stowage cages on the rear of the turrets, that in reality were fitted with short dangling chains to prematurely detonate RPGs aimed at the rear of turret ring.  They are even capable of cramming a few soldiers in the rear via a large hatch, although in reality this was mainly used for casualty evac under fire, & required removing a portion of the stored shells.  After the 1982 IDF invasion of Lebanon, Merkavas began to be developed further, with things such as their 60mm mortar being made operable internally (always a good idea!), & having a paraxial .50cal HMG mounted atop the main gun.

These 7.5cm-long models are from QRF, whilst the commander figure is from Peter Pig. They are nicely detailed, especially for 15mm-scale, & my only criticism is that they are slightly lacking in height compared with the real tanks, although this is only evident when infantry figures are placed next to them.  I have left the hatch MGs off for now as the QRF weapon scale is quite 'true-scale' compared to the chunkier, wargame-friendly Peter Pig MGs that feature in most of my collection.  I'm hoping I will be able to source some of the MAG MGs as seen on my M113s to attach in the pin-holes on the turret tops, so there's a uniform look to my IDF.

IDF infantry platoon with APCs

Yesterday I put the finishing touches to my 4 M113 transports for my 15mm-scale Crossfire IDF platoon.  I say "finishing touches", but having taken these photos I've spotted that I need to paint the goggles on some of the drivers, & I'll probably add a wire aerial to the command vehicle...  These are excellent castings from Peter Pig - I love how each model came with different stowage, making each one really unique.  One of them has TOGA spaced armour, but even with that, these APCs are notorious deathtraps once the RPGs start flying!  Also, the TOGA armour negates the amphibious ability of the M113.

Disclaimer:  I am not a default supporter of the Israeli military, but merely interested in recent history in the region.

Fourth game of Crossfire

Following on from my last post, here's a brief AAR on my fourth game of Crossfire, against my friend Tim.  Setting was the same (IDF platoon clearing a Lebanese town of Syrian commandos), but we switched forces (Tim playing the IDF role), & used different sides of the board from the previous game.  I deployed my commandos Hidden in 2 groups, one on each flank in the buildings that appeared to offer the widest avenues of fire.

Third game of Crossfire

My friend Tim & I played some more 'Lebanon 1982' Crossfire last weekend, & enjoyed it even more than first time.  Same terrain but different layout, with a very built-up central area this time. For our third game, I took on the role of an IDF mechanised infantry platoon trying to clear a town of Syrian commandos.  The mission was 'Bridgehead' from the main rulebook again, but this time we allowed the defenders to deploy Hidden.  Ofiicially the defenders should receive some free defences (e.g. a bunker, wire, & mines), but as I haven't modelled these yet, & Hidden deployment is quite advantageous, we left these out.

First games of Crossfire

I recently played my first games of Crossfire against my long-time wargaming comrade, Tim.  As newbies to the game, we experienced the initial double-checking the rules, but Crossfire didn't disappoint.  The system is very straightforward, & unlike some rule sets, very intuitive once you grasp the basic principles.  The total absence of measuring was a real eye-opener, & as enthusiastic Crossfire fans claim, it really does capture the feel of fire-&-manoeuvre, focusing on the tactics rather than intricate stats & movement allowances.  As such, there is a degree of abstraction, but I didn't feel that it detracted from the game (& I'm a bit of a fan of granular detail!).  The games flowed quickly, with a brisk passing back-&-forth of Initiative (other than a couple extended but largely ineffective fusillades).  I'm looking forward to playing many more games of Crossfire.

The scenario we played was 'Bridgehead' from the main rules.  In our case this was a platoon of IDF infantry moving into the outskirts of a town on the road to Beirut, during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.  An IDF airstrike had hit a PLO position in the centre of the area, & the infantry were moving in to mop-up any remaining opposition.  However, Syrian commandos had now taken-up position in the town, so the IDF would have a challenge on their hands.

IDF platoon

I still need to finish painting their M113 APCs, but here is my IDF platoon for 15mm-scale Crossfire.  This force represents a typical mechanised infantry platoon with three squads being led by an HQ section.  Each squad consists of a Squad Leader, with two rifle stands, one of which has an RPG shot each Initiative Phasing.  The HQ section consists of a Platoon Commander (2nd lieutenant [segen-mishne]), a 60mm mortar team, a sniper team, plus a rifle stand with RPG (which represents the sergeant [samal], medic, & remaining HQ soldiers).  Once the four M113s are painted-up, this platoon will be ready to face-off against my Syrian commandos in Crossfire games set during the 1982 Lebanon War.  These figures are all IDF from the Peter Pig AK47 range.  They are mounted on laser-cut ply bases from Fenris Games.

IDF infantry (FoF)

I've painted up some more 15mm scale Israeli Defence Force infantry.  After extensive browsing of the colour plates from the Osprey guides featuring the IDF, I'm finally satisfied with the green tones - I'll have to repaint the webbing & flak jackets on my original batch of Israelis to match this.  I've also improved the sand/dusty earth hues on the bases, to match the scenery pieces that I've made, as the my original bases were a bit flat & dull in colour.

I'm intending my IDF infantry to represent the Golani Brigade, since they see the most action in Lebanon/along Israel's Northern border.  I need to discover a simple way to represent M203 grenade launchers on some of the Galils that these soldiers are carrying, but I haven't got an wire/rods thin enough for this scale available at the moment.  I also fancy painting up a small unit of 1980s Sayeret Mat'kal with AKs, but can't decide whether to go with the standard fatigues, or something to make them stand-out (I have seen one alledged photo of some Sayeret Mat'kal commandos wearing unusual tan-khaki uniforms).

IDF & desert board (FoF)

On Sunday I went up to my friend Tim's flat for a couple runs through an IDF vs. PLO ambush scenario, based on Korengal Ambush from the 'Enduring Freedom' Force on Force sourcebook.  It was a good refresher on the rules.  Our friend Dom came round, & now he is hooked on FoF.  He's going to collect British & Argentinians for Falklands scenarios initially.  I'm now making him a couple of grassy gaming boards & some Falklands scenery as a gift...

Here are the IDF I painted for the ambush game (I'm finally happy with the fatigue tones, though I'll add a net effect to the helmets & bits of static grass & flock to the bases):

I finally got round to making a 2' x 2' desert gaming board for FoF.  I had the Contracting Trouble & Korengal Ambush scenarios in mind for this, but hopefully it will see plenty of use in all sorts of Middle Eastern (& Somali) engagements.  I will be leaving this one at my friend Tim's flat so I don't have to take it with me when I travel up there - I'll have to make another one for myself.  It's a thick chipboard base, covered with sand & drybrushed up through five stages.  I filled in the sides with tinted all-purpose filler to improve the look.