Band of Brothers Crossfire Wargame
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
- Today on Little Wars TV, we explore a famous engagement from the Battle of the Bulge, just north of Bastogne with Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division. In January 1945 Easy is attached to 3rd Battalion to support an attack into the village of Foy. This moment was depicted in the book "Band of Brothers" as well as on the TV show.
Four years ago, we explored inaccuracies in the TV show and we played a 28mm wargame of the engagement. It's one of the earliest videos we made on the channel...and also our least favorite scenario played on Little Wars TV! This time around, we're zooming out to 15mm scale to wargame a wider portion of the engagement at Foy, involving elements of four paratrooper companies. To do so, we'll be pitting two of our favorite company-level games against each other: Crossfire and Fireball Forward. You'll watch Greg and Tony play today's wargame twice, using both rule sets!
Visit us next week for a video review of Crossfire, along with an hour-long podcast special where we compare and contrast Crossfire and Fireball Forward. It's all part of our 60,000 subscriber celebration! We want to thank not only our Patreon supporters, but EVERYONE who watches the channel, leaves comments, and shares our videos. Let's keep sharing the gospel of historical miniature wargaming and this incredible hobby as we march onward! - Hry
The historical trailers and interviews are neat but it’s great to see you guys gaming again
It's the heart and soul of the channel, no question!
In the future, can you guys give us a “soldiers-eye” view of the battlefield throughout the game as units advance? I think it’s be cool!
Choosing the right scale, tactical, operational or strategic with meaningful choices for the players that allow for creative or emergent gameplay. Reminds me of why Rome Total War was such a good game.
Good wargames on the board or on the screen include the same things. Great vid as always.
Rome Remastered on steam
@@robland3253 Awesome. I will release Epiros1 tomorrow
Wonderful to see Crossfire getting some love. A wonderful set of rules.
I think the video illustrates the decisions it offers its players, and the nail biting tension of closing with the enemy.
It’s amazing how well a 20 year old game holds up! Even now, it’s an excellent and modern-feeling rule design
@@LittleWarsTV Which one did you find better to play Crossfire or Fireball Forward? And on that note, which one would be easier to teach to others and get them to play?
@@kurtbowker6853 I've not played FBF but Crossfire rules are very simple to pick up but it's the application, which the players learn through play, where the real learning comes.
@@LittleWarsTV will you be doing more Crossfire games by any chance pretty please?
How about a Crossfire rules review? I love the rule system. It’s one of the most innovative rules I have ever come across.
I can't believe Trebia, or Agincourt were not in the brackets. You guys did a GREAT job gaming those battles.
Excellent job guys! Crossfire is an awesome ruleset, that rewards realistic tactics. You don’t send your platoon across the field to assault that MG position - you suppress it with fire, drop smoke, then hit it on the flank! CF is easy to learn, and is very intuitive. That, combined with no rulers or turn sequence, really makes you feel like you’re in a simulation,rather than a game. I have looked at FBF for awhile but haven’t pulled the trigger on buying it yet. Seeing the similarities it has with CF, as well as how much I like Mark Fastoso’s Ruthless rules, I think I’ll pick it up. If you guys are interested in zooming out the battlefield a little, I highly recommend giving O-Group a try.
"Meaningful Decisions" should be the watchwords of any scenario design and something I'll have to keep in mind!
Two great batreps. I loved having you switch sides and switch rules. The production levels were very high. I loved the falling snow animation. I didn't really get a sense of how many troops the German had or where they were deployed. Maybe a quick sitrep at the start of the game with the American commander out of the room for us viewers? Thanks again.
Spiers get yourself over here! Get up there, relieve Dike, and take that attack on in!
That was awesome! And it was really interesting to see the different rule sets pitted against each other. Crossfire is an example of how different war game rules can be, and still be eminently playable and fun.
Brilliant as always. Our club are massive fans of fireball here in Scotland.
Crossfire kicks ass, it's like 30 years old and still feels fresher than most 'modern' rulesets.
Nooooo! Not more teddy bears, slaughtered!!! 😮
😂- it never gets old!
Great games, cheers guys!
As long as they died from natural causes it's okay.
Very nice, I loved the Crossfire rules, really exciting stuff.
Ah, my day was made seeing this episode. Thanks so much for doing this guys. The table looks great 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!! This was a fun terrain project, figuring out how to do a custom ground mat with snow.
Great scenario just missing a little church as a building then it would be the perfect Foy set. Great vid
One f the best if not the best set of WW2 wargames rules produced
Yeah. With the loss of 4ground; finding pre-painted MDF buildings is rare. Thanks for the tidbit and see ya chaps next week for Fall-In.
Wow!!! Always wanted you guys to do Crossfire!
Great to see Crossfire in action. I'm a big fan. I'd just point out though that (in the rules as written) to call in smoke with a mortar you roll 1 dice and need a result of 3 or more. It's only with HE mortar attacks that you roll multiple dice.
It's probably because I don't know enough about the hobby, but I liked the original game too. That said, I'm kind of glad to see you guys replaying scenarios because just like with the Pyrrus campaign, it's interesting to see how differently each of these scenarios can play out.
This has quickly grown to be one of my favorite lwtv episodes. Great fun to watch
Great to see you again!
Thanks guys never got Crossfire but always thought it would be my go to for any WW2 project I do. Seeing it in smaller scale too also is nice as although I like 28mm, nothing beats the lower scales imo. Thanks for this great video and I'm looking forward to seeing all your UK history wargames coming later.
Great episode Gents, always used to enjoy Crossfire back in the day. Love the table Greg!! Well Done👍
I felt sorry watching all those failed rally rolls in the second game; it reminds me of one of the main phrases heard in our club: "some nights you are just here for the amusement of others......."
Our Tuesday night group did FOY at the local Hobby Shop a while back - we used a white bad-sheet for snow-covered ground, straw haystacks, buildings , etc. using Battleground 20 mm rules ! Because we were in the game-room at our local Hobby Shop we had to be DONE by 10 PM and have our table cleaned-up before the store closes so we didn't quit get the battle done - we called nit a draw and both sides went home HAPPY ! :-)
One thing that leaps out at me is the importance of a large field of play. It can seem waste to set up a large table with terrain etc then see all the action happen in a relatively small part of it but the 'empty space' itself can seriously contribute to the game play. I recall playing games back in the early 70s with Airfix soldiers almost falling off each end of the table and severely compromising any chance of manouver with no chance of a flank attack!
I have played some great solo games using 6mm figures on a 1:1 ratio using a 6 feet by 4 feet table with the action at company level. I suspect 'solo' is a significant element in this! But quite a thrill to get the dice roll to launch a bicycle unit to reinforce the defence of a canal bridge with the bikes needing to cover over 36 inches of roadway (from an empty part of the table) at 10 inches maximum per bound whilst the opposition rush to deploy a rifle unit to meet them.
love the backgroudn behind this game - revisiting an older video which had room for improvement and growing from the analysis, trying two game systems on the same scenario and all in all this battle is one of the more interesting ones in ww2 history to me, great stuff guys, great stuff
Spectacular video. Love the detail you showed of the game’s ebbs and flows, and the way you intertwined the way the game works. Been curious about Crossfire!
Wow, this is so cool. The board looks so different really detailed. I hope you guys refight isandlawana, It would be really cool I loved when you did that battle it was so cool.
I have been waiting for this! Thank you for the great content!
Great video guys, would love to see more games of CrossFire and Fireball Forward.
Just ordered my copy of CrossFire, can't wait to give it a go.
I found your Ephirus v rome series, and I have been hooked ever since. Please please please keep the content coming💎🏆🥇
Love this scenario! You do such an amazing job of making the gameplay entertaining and easy to follow - interspersed with clear and concise rule explanations where appropriate. And, as always, appreciate both the historical context and how you're such incredible ambassadors for the hobby. Bravo!
I think this is one of my favorite episodes and Tony is like always very good explaining the past scenario. Well done ..
Great episode and scenario, happy to see CrossFire Rules being used! Awesome job with map and setup. I want to join your club!!
Battlefront Miniatures and Peter Pig on Little wars TV?
POG
I have mountains of Peter Pig & Battlefront & PSC 15mm WW2, and mountains more unpainted.
@@tonymarano913 theyre great minis
I have to say with all the types of wargames you guys do, I really, really appreciate this Giuoco Piano you did. Nothing flashy, nothing intense...just a really fun, enjoyable, friendly game between two friends!
This really is wonderful. Your editing is superb.
Appreciate it Brian. We aren't pros, but we keep trying to improve our editing over time. It's fun to go back and look at the early stuff--like the original Foy from 2018--and see how much our amateur skills have improved!
this was very interesting to watch seeing you play the two similar sets of rules from opposite sides thank you
Good to see you revisit this and talk on some of the mistakes you did as rookie scenario designers.
And you are correct, choosing the right scale can help, but also moving between scale can be quite fun too.
I’ve played a small campaign where we fought out several large scale black powder games between British and French forces only to jump to smaller Sharp Parctice games when company sized scenarios became more notable/doable - be it a raid at night on an enemy position, the defence of a farm area from a unit of French Line infantry who had suffered quite the heavy casualties however were unwilling to give ground, so we played out the engagement at Sharp Practice level with several force morale sheets representing the “surviving” company’s and their troops - we fudged how much each company would have spare from how bad it was hit that day - and we saw a slightly battered British Battalion suffer their way in to take the position losing quite a few officers but finally take it with bayonets.
Even scenarios of cavalry vs cavalry were fun to play out with cavalry regiments starting with additional wounds on them after “costly” scouting missions and engagements.
Absolutely! We're talking about playing an upcoming campaign project in two scales, just as you described! That feels like it would add a cool new dimension to the games.
Crossfire is one of my favorite rules sets as well!
Such a fantastic battle report and enjoyed seeing Crossfire in action action. Thanks very much
awesome stuff guys! Looking forward to a crossfire rules review!
Next week!
@@LittleWarsTV Oh man, I'm stoked for that! Thank you so much for covering Crossfire, and please let Greg know he has impeccable taste in rulesets. :)
Wow, there's a really cool book on the shelf behind Tony at the 14:20 mark. Something titled "No Silent Night: The Christmas Battle for Bastogne." 😄Cheers to you guys, great refight(s) of the Foy game!
I really liked the video format with more personal and relaxed gameplay footage and a lot of bleeping ;)
Good to know! With just two players at the table this time, it was easier to find good audio of gameplay and tableside banter. With 4-6 players and guys talking over each other, that is often harder in the editing bay. So this video does a different vibe to it!
I love it Soo much huge improvement on the original. I may be in the minority but i did like the original FOY episode as well as this one, sure it was a grind and linear but still the table and whole game looked great.
Hopefully the original Foy 2018 game was entertaining to WATCH. But we can attest that for everyone who played, it wasn’t a great game. Our worst for sure.
@@LittleWarsTV Some battles make a better spectacle than a game. That one just happened to be one of them, but I still enjoyed the original vid. Probably do fine at the right show as a demo rather than a competitive participation game.
@@richmcgee434 Agreed. I still enjoy watching the original. Clips from Band of Brothers was a nice touch. This rematch is exciting too. Good job, LWTV.
Very nice game and video! Our group plays Bolt Action using 15mm figures. I think we'll give this scenario a try. Thanks!
This sort of reflecting on scenario design is great to see. I've been delving into writing my first scenarios and this was valuable insight.
First time seeing this channel and I gotta say I love it history is one of my favorite subjects WW2 specifically great channel.
Same scenario, different rulesets, fantastic idea. A true review.
Oh boy two new rulesets and a Crossfire game...you guys just keep putting out great content!
Atmospheric and gorgeous, what a spectacular game...And nice tribute to Band of Brothers!
Very enjoyable, great to see this type of wargaming again,the format was excellent. Keep it up ,Little wars tv one of the best channels on CZcams...cheers from the 🇬🇧
What a tremendously fun play through of this scenario using the two rules systems. Enjoyable watch and now I am inspired to play this one as well. Cheers!
It is unfair how much better your videos are than everyone else's. What an incredible club.
Ah this brings back memories of table top war gaming, before computers were on the scene.
Comparing rulesets with multiple rulesets is something I do often.
I would LOVE to have a rule review of Crossfire. Very interested in the rule set.
Stay tuned
1st Battle of Bull Run provided us the overall framing for the smaller "Battle within a battle". This was the "Battle of the Stone Bridge" in upstream part of the Bull Run (A run is a small river or large creek).
This allowed us to pull re-enforcement in from any direction for either side if the moderator could be convinced.
Things got interesting in results. IIRC, the old 'Terrible Swift Sword' was the rule set Douglas came up with.
It has been bit over 30yrs, so, memory maybeway off since only Douglas is a recalled participant besides me and he was the moderator between two teams.
Fun stuff!
Your most welcome and great video! Which I think you made the right choice upping the scale as itt had the same flavor as the 2018 game but was more exciting and had no "Game plays it's self." feeling.
Really enjoyed this, it was a nice change of pace to see a 1v1 game too, really showed the dynamics of a quieter game between friends. And a +1 to Empires At War buildings, have a bunch of those and they are nice.
Great Episode! Crossfire has been on my radar for awhile but it looks like I might need to give Fireball Forward a peak as well.
IMHO, Fireball is the successor to Crossfire. Both great games, but for Fireball has the edge.
An excellent review. Good use of sound effects and music.
As a supporter and fan of LWT for many moons - it is so refreshing you're willing to go back and replay a scenario like this. I remember leaving comments in the 2018 game highlighting some of the points you raise to the introduction to this vid - definitely interesting to see how revisitng the premises and scale as well being open minded about trying out new systems and zooming out to provide a different experience and opportunities for positioning and decision making is truly refreshing!
We haven’t scared you off yet?? Hah thanks for sticking with us over the years! Nice to hear from some OG fans!
I absolutely love this gaming table. Great video and best wishes from Germany
Much more enjoyable to watch and having the same battle fought twice with different rules made this interesting to the rule nerds like myself.
You had me at Crossfire.......
This was a fantastic video, I really enjoyed this!
Good fun. Crossfire looks really interesting. No turns. Cool.
Great episode, loved it. Was having BoB flashbacks all over the place. It was interesting to see the differences between the two rules and how they differ.
Lots of similarities, especially with the emphasis on interrupt fire, but some very key differences. We enjoy both of these games a lot. We'll parse some details in the upcoming reviews
bravo what a great episode!!
Beautifully done!
I remember watching this like it was yesterday - crazy. I had hair back too (no)
Nice seeing you continue to use many rulesets
Just one minute in: awesome intro!
Okay gonna continue watching now
Great to see this revisited was a much more interesting game to watch
Hey, Hey you guys did it ! You used CrossFire in a scenario. Very good. That difference in the turn based and then the initiative grabbing style is significant. @15:42 Teddy bear fur? How many teddies had to die for that?! As always, nice job guys.
They use teddy bear fur straight from a fabric store, so before the teddy bears are made. This means no teddy bears were harmed in the making of this episode
You guys would make an amazing Battletech 'historical' game! Your settings are amazing
This was a smart episode in my opinion (and this whole channel to begin with). Although I love the whole competition on which game rules are better, that's not the real message being sent here. It's a lovely introduction to amatures and newbies, like myself, who don't know or might need some help in understanding some of the rules at play in the given scenario. In other words, I love it and will have to try both out in the future when I am able to. keep up the great work and continue on doing yall!
Yea we love them both!
Lovely way to redo an old scenario 👍🏻
Another incredible video!!!
Love the vibe when the Bourbon gets into play. There should be a special episode with more drinking and rules about drunk blundering military unit. Alcohol and military in the past was two indisociable things.
Enjoyable as ever. My suggestion for a next game would be the Battle of Waterloo
Great video and fun games!
Great stuff! I think we’re going to have to get into Crossfire. :) - Boone
Thanks! I have been waiting for this.
Half an hour of LWTV?? Yes!
Well done Little Wars, again ! I fully concur with your 'wargamers' take on creating a good scenario, thanks.
Thank you for another well produced video. I really liked the play of the scenario using two different game systems, especially using my favorite- Fireball Forward. Disclaimer- I have written scenarios for Fireball and at the HMGS conventions also run Fireball tutorials using the Poupville scenario from the Fireball rule book. I hope you do more videos comparing the playability and historical “feel” of different rule sets. My only criticism is that afterwards you didn’t spend a few minutes on how the games compared and how each rule set worked to give you that “I-just-fought-a-good-fight” feeling. Keep it up!
Good games and using different rule sets good watch and always a good channel with awesome games and information keep up the good work guys and gals
I own a Class III Firearms business, and I love your channel! Thanks for trying to grow our hobby! I'm a war gamer myself, but I've never played around with miniatures. I took my own personal MG-34 and MG-42 out shooting for our annual "Peace on Earth" Family Christmas Machine Gun shoot over the holidays, and every time I fire those things, I am stunned how men actually managed to move forward while hearing those things firing. I personally would rather have the German MG-74, (just because it's about 500 rpm slower and therefore easier to control and feed) but the MG-42 fires so fast it is horrifying. It sounds like the war drum from hell.
Great videos, guys!
This was great. Love to see crossfire.
appreciate your hard work in making these videos
Thanks--it's fun to play, but the filming and editing is actually a good bit of work!
Ha! I thought I was rewatching the old one at first, mildly confused why the title seemed different, until you started talking about doing it again.
What an excellent episode! My two favourite rules in one go. I see Fireball as a direct successor to Crossfire. Superior mainly due to the much improved AFV rules. Both these rules are unfairly overlooked in my view. They’re both very good at forcing decisions, you can’t just move everything forward, fire everything and hope for the best. You really do need to have some form of plan, keep a reserve and be prepared for surprises. They’re a lot more dynamic than most games, not many games do all that.
Yes to all of that. Fireball Forward is currently my favorite ruleset & reignited my love of 15mm & allows me to enjoy small unit actions
Excellent stuff again chaps. This would make a good scenario for O Group. Now to buy some American Airborne...
FYI, I tried to gain access to the free stuff on the website, but the pop up didn't appear for me (eve with Ad blocker turned off). Any clues?
@@StormofSteelWargaming You mean you tried to register for the first time, or tried to log in? If logging in, there is no pop up--that's only for first time registers
@@LittleWarsTV I tried to register, with name and email address.
Great show big fan of Easy Company
It was incredible - this is my preferred level of gaming.
A fine redemption for an episode that wasn't really as bad as you guys imagine. I have always been a fan of Arty Conliffe's designs, Crossfire & Spearhead particularly as the Second World War is my favorite gaming period. With the condensing of play time it was hard to see if Tony made the most of the German's unique ability to ignore command radius restrictions that have to be followed by other armies. After playing with with many inexperienced Crossfire commanders, this is a rule that sometimes is under utilized because it is so contrary to most rulesets. Both systems performed well, but I am a Crossfire homer so I preferred the first game. The table, as always was beautiful, and the miniatures were top notch. Have you ever considered doing a Spearhead game? The preplanning of the battle, that can be modified with in-game orders, I think creates the right amount of chaos in the game. Conliffe's flank march rules are genius.freeing scenario designers from the need to design special rules. Good Gaming!