Fire and Fury Games' Battlefront WWII Cold Wars 2001

Fire and Fury Games We give history a second chance.

Cold Wars 2001

The Fire and Fury team attended the Cold Wars 2001 convention in Lancaster PA. We put on two games ourselves, but were encouraged to see two independent groups putting on Battlefront Games. John Rigley put on a Japanese/U.S. Marines battle, and Pete English put on an Indochina 1953 scenario. Both seemed to work out very nicely (pictures below). Rich put on two sessions with a new scenario he is working on in the Battle of the Bulge based on the adventures of "Task Force Cherry".

Task Force Cherry

This scenario is based on a confused situation that occurred just as the 101st arrived in the Bastogne area. A German Kampfgruppe was rushing forward to seize towns on the road to Bastogne while a U.S. Airborne force is rushing forward to stop them. At the same time, Task Force Cherry and random remnants of demoralized U.S. forces are entering the board from BEHIND the Germans headed in the same direction. The photos below are a combination of the two games that will give you a feel for what is going on.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Rich sets up the table	The two towns at the far end of the board will be the German objectives. The Germans start on the board, the U.S. Airborne forces start from the far end, and some U.S. Engineers hold the right hand town. Task force Cherry starts from this end.
The view from the South East	The battlefield from a different angle.
Southern Objective	A close up view of the Southern objective town.
Eastern Town	The Germans start here with a substantial force, but decide between defending against TF Cherry and sending their forces to help their advancing comrades.
German Setup	The German deployment for the second game. The Germans start with two columns to assault the two towns and a force to hold the Eastern town.
Germans Move out	The two Germans move out toward the two objectives in the first game.
Holding the town	The force in the Eastern town is easily strong enough to hold against TF Cherry, but will it need to send help to the assault columns - first game.
Racing Forward	A recon element from southern column races into the town, but the column a suppression of a followup element forces the column to deploy - second game.
Fight in the North	The Northern column encounters U.S. engineers, minefields, and a very luck Stuart which scores a lucky kill on a PzIV - first game.
The Airborne arrives	The elite U.S. airborne encounters the armored spearhead
The Airborne charges	The paratroopers move forward rapidly to attempt to drive the Southern column out of the town
TF Cherry	TF Cherry maneuvers to assault the Eastern town while U.S. remnants flee Westward.

While we still have some work to do on the TF Cherry scenario before it is ready for public consumption, it looks promising. In the second game, the paratroopers arrived in the nick of time and drove the Germans out of the Southern town.

Rumble in the Jungle

John Rigley pits Japanese and American forces against each other. When you see the table, it looks open, but all of the dark green is actually dense jungle terrain. Almost all encounters are point blank ambushes. Dummy counters are plentiful, and surprise is the name of the game. At one point a "dummy" counter maneuvered against the Japanese fire support elements and turned out to be a Marine assault unit which destroyed the Japanese fire support.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
Moving Up!!	The Japanese split their forces in two and attacked from both flanks.
Banzai!!	The Japanese right flank attack moves in to close assault.
Driven off	The Japanese right flank attack is driven off by U.S. firepower.
Banzai Again!!	The Japanese left flank moves toward the airfield.
The climax	The Japanese left flank reaches the airfield but the Marines prepare to drive them back.

Splitting their attack turned out not to be a good strategy for the Japanese as each flank was defeated in turn.

French Indochina

Pete English pits French forces (using late-war U.S. equipment) against the Viet Minh.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
French Column	A French column moves through the "peaceful" Indochinese countryside.
Recon in Trouble	The reconaissance element runs into resistance as it occupies a town and moves up to a critical river line.
Ambush	Soft vehicles near the rear of the column are ambushed.
Tanks Move Up	After driving off the ambush, French Tanks (M24 Chaffees) move up to help the advance guard.
Recon Brews Up	A recon unit tries to cross a bridge but the Viet Minh are waiting for it.

This game ended when a French paratroop contingent landed in the middle of 3 Vietminh platoons and was quickly shot to pieces. Lots of ambushing, confusion, and fighting. Periodically, cryptic announcements were made such as "A yellow flare rises over the battlefield" A good time was had by all.

Our Booth

Richard set up a rather neat bocage diorama at our dealer booth.

Click on the Thumbnail for a full-size photo	Description
A close up view	Shermans move up through the hedgerows.
An airstrike	A P47 moves in for the attack. Who will get hit?

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