Didn’t post anything this month, mostly because it’s been a dry month for hobby purposes. I couldn’t resist posting on February 29th, though: what a chance!
These days I finally watched Band of Brothers, the TV series about the U.S. Army E-Company during WWII, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg a couple of years after filming Saving Private Ryan. It’s a very evocative series, I actually loved it since it’s realistic, entertaining and involving at the same time.
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| Screenshot from the third episode, Carentan |
So, this Feb 29th, inspired by Band of Brothers, I’m opening a new label for the blog, about Crossfire.
Crossfire is a wargame by Arty Conliffe published in the 90s and focusing on company-level wargaming during WWII. It’s a very nice and simple game system, and I like the rules and the related hobby even though I have only occasional chances to play. After watching the series my WWII wargaming desire revamped, but I realised I haven’t wrote anything about it on the blog (although I posted something a couple years ago in the original Italian blog, before moving everything here in the English version).
The game itself is really challenging and needs some tactical focus to be properly enjoyed. The disclaimers on the cover are true: the key concept in CF (Crossfire) is the line of sight: you can shoot at a target as soon as you can see it (so, no range and no rulers), and you can perform actions without giving initiative to the opponent until you fail or they hit you (so, no fixed game turns).
I played some games, mostly to introduce the game to friends, but I never played a serious campaign. Maybe the future will provide the chance to do that. However, in the last couple of years I expanded my CF collection (I will upload some pics as soon as I manage to display my miniatures), and other are on the way, even if I'm currently dedicated to other hobby projects.
This is only and introductory post; I hope to post some more CF related content in the near future. In my "Stunning sites" section of the blog (on your left) you can find three fantastic blogs about CF: Steven's Balagan, Lloydian Aspects and Matakishi's Tea House. All are full of ideas, scenarios, research and campaign hooks: a real treat!
This year also marks the 80th year anniversary of the D-Day. I've never been to Normandy (Grimbeorn has with the family a couple years ago), but I've always been very sensitive to the story of the WWII. Maybe because here in Verona the German headquarters were strong, and both my grandfathers told us stories about the end of the war (one of them is from Rome, so he remembers the U.S. soldiers arriving in the capital city); also, the late Mussolini's government was just 100 km from here, in Salò, on the shores of my beloved Garda Lake. Living in this territories full of history really makes you think about the tragedies of the deeds of the fascist governments; and watching portrayed in war movies the actions of the Allied soldiers has always been something moving for me. Playing CF is just a way to remember and learn from a page of the human history that still echoes strongly through contemporary times.
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| A scene from The longest day, one of my favourite movies ever. I watched it with my dad when I was a kid, and it was the first spark in my historic interest about WWII |
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