Fire and Fury Games' Battlefront WWII Coldwars 2006

Fire and Fury Games We give history a second chance.

Hello Again

There were a lot of good games at this year's Cold Wars. Battlefront:WW2 was much in evidence. Michael Panzer, Pete Landry and Mike Sincavage put on scenarios, Steve Lee's penultimate Kokoda game appeared, and Al Gaspar put on a spectacular Bulge battle. Mark Hayes and Mike Pierce had a big Stalingrad armor assault planned, but when Mark couldn't make it, we ran an infantry battle that was decided by the last attack on the last turn. Richard H. ran both a "standard" ACW battle (Iuka) and also an experimental ECW game.

Michael Panzer strikes again.

Michael is one of the true BF:WW2 grognards, and probably knows more about the rules than the authors. He helped Al Gaspar run his big Battle of the Bulge scenario (see below), and also ran a Russian front scenario early in the convention, featuring a Russian assault on a fortified German position.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Michael Panzer Photo 1	German Held Hill comes under assault.
Michael Panzer Photo 2	A view from the other end of the table shows the Russians advancing on a wide front.
Michael Panzer Photo 3	Another Angle
Michael Panzer Photo 4	Michael (blue checked shirt), helps his players.
Michael Panzer Photo 5	Russians take the hill. Michael says that he was disappointed that artillery killed the 88 on top before the flamethrowers arrived.

Al Gaspar

Al specializes in spectacular terrain and scenery, and often puts on displays and games for the Smithsonian Institution (for our non-US fans, that is our National Museum). Prior years have featured Utah Beach, Point du Hoc, and other spectacular layouts. This year he put on the defence of Noville and Foy by the 101st Airborne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Al Gaspar Photo 0	The board before the game begins. Notice the use of the strip of trees on the back to give some extra atmosphere.
Al Gaspar Photo 1	Germans meet up with some deterimined U.S. Paratroops. All the U.S. forces were represented by counters before they were spotted.
Al Gaspar Photo 2	The American forces await the attack.
Al Gaspar Photo 3	Germans move up to contact.
Al Gaspar Photo 4	A wider view.
Al Gaspar Photo 5	A flanking column moves in.
Al Gaspar Photo 6	Both towns under asssault. Note the flaming wrecks - the American AT forces score first blood.
Al Gaspar Photo 7	A view of the battle.
Al Gaspar Photo 8	Another view of the battle.

Mike Sincavage and Pete Landry

Mike and Pete are other consistent BF players and gamemasters. They also have been successful in converting SkirmishCampaigns (see the links page) skirmish scenarios into BF, often in the interesting early-war periods. This year Pete put on a Bocage battle and then Mike & Pete teamed up to present the Battle of Gembloux in the Blitzkrieg period.

Bocage

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Bocage Photo 1	The Americans move up, with their tightly packed ranks on the right flank showing a belief that the Germans don't have any artillery.
Bocage Photo 2	The Americans find some German positions the hard way.
Bocage Photo 3	Fighting rages around the town.

Gembloux

Gembloux was one of the few battles where the French opposing the Blitzkrieg more than held their own.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Gembloux Photo 1	Germans move up.
Gembloux Photo 2	A surprise French counterattack hits the German flank.
Gembloux Photo 3	Colorful French tanks continue their attack.
Gembloux Photo 4	A fight breaks out on the other side of the table as well.

Regimental Fire and Fury

Rich Hasenauer put on a RF&F Iuka scenario set in the ACW and then tried out his rules on the ECW. It seems promising that the RF&F game system can be used for any of the Horse and Musket and early Age of Rifle periods, with only a few different modifiers and weapon types.

Iuka

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Iuka Photo 1	Union and Confederate forces square off.
Iuka Photo 2	Combat is joined in the middle.
Iuka Photo 3	The Union line spreads out to the Confederate right.
Iuka Photo 4	A view of the center.

Edgehill

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Edgehill Photo 1	At the start of the battle, the two battle lines line up opposite each other.
Edgehill Photo 2	A view from behind the Royalist (I think) battle line.
Edgehill Photo 3	Chris Brooks eyes his forces.
Edgehill Photo 1	Tony Figlia holds forth while the forces close.
Edgehill Photo 5	A fast moving hand zooms above the closing battle lines.
Edgehill Photo 6	A view of the whole battle, showing the infantry in the center and the cavalry on the flanks.
Edgehill Photo 7	Infantry clash in the middle.
Edgehill Photo 8	Cavalry clash on the flank.
Edgehill Photo 9	Another view of the battle.
Edgehill Photo 10	Charge and countercharge.

Kokoda Trail-Next to Last rumble in the Jungle

The 10th in the series of Kokoda trail battles was fought at Cold Wars. There is one more to go, which will be presented at Historicon as part of the Pacific War theme. While these games are visually stunning in person, Steve has done too good a job for the camera to catch too much from a distance, with the troops blending into the jungle.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Kokoda Photo 1	Dug-in Japanese await the Australian attempt to force the creek.
Kokoda Photo 2	Australians try a frontal assault.
Kokoda Photo 3	An Australian flanking move ends up in the rear of the Japanese positions, but the Australians roll poorly and they get lost in the jungle, leading to confusion and disorganization. The Japanese move to counter this unexpected threat.
Kokoda Photo 4	Another view of the disorganized flank fighting.
Kokoda Photo 5	The creek is holding.

Serendipity at Stalingrad

Mike Pierce and Mark Hayes had an armor assault on Stalingrad planned, but Mark (and the armor) couldn't make it. However, the Stalingrad terrain did make it and Mike had enough infantry (with the help of Michael Panzer) to run a nasty little infantry assault. The result was a close-run fight, with the game decided on the last turn when a Soviet SMG unit managed to evict a German engineer from the grain elevator in a close-combat.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Stalingrad Photo 1	The battle field from one aspect. Outgunned defenders await the German advance.
Stalingrad Photo 2	Another view of the battlefield.
Stalingrad Photo 3	Germans finish clearing out the initial line of defenders and start to move up for the final push.
Stalingrad Photo 4	After clearing out the initial Russian defenders, the Germans move on the final objective, the grain elevatore.
Stalingrad Photo 5	The final battle - Russian SMG and German Pioniere battle over the grain elevator, which has been removed to facilitate play.

Don't Save the Whale

I would be remiss if I didn't mention John Rigley's Moby Dick game. An ultimate beer-and-pretzels game, this game has players chasing the white whale, bumping into each other, and cheering for the sharks while they devour helpless crewmen (wargamers have a strange sense of humor:-) ). The perfect interlude after a long day of serious gaming.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Moby Dick Photo 1	Young and old alike chase the great white whale.

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