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.

With Tim having noted-down the terrain features where his Syrians were Hidden, I deployed my IDF platoon, with the infantry towards the table centreline, having already advanced into the town, & their 'glass-cannon' M113 APCs hanging back out of Line-of-Sight behind buildings & a hill.




One of my squads attempted to move into the central apartment block, but the Syrian 'hunter-killer' teams began to reveal themselves, & quickly Pinned then Suppressed the squad in the alleyways with vicious volleys of fire.


My M113 that was closest to the trouble attempted to engage the core of the commandos with its .50cal, but was taken-out by an ATGM from yet another group of Syrians that were revealed on the ridge to my far left flank.  On top of this, fire from my troops in the warehouse failed to Suppress the Syrians in the apartments, & so my third squad became Pinned in the open as they rush across the main road in an attempt to assault them.

Tim then went on the offensive, in a surprise move rushing a commando team through my exposed left flank, taking out my mortar team (which had been failing to provide effective smoke cover for my squad trapped in the alley).  However, their follow-up assault into the house containing my HQ section failed.


Tim continued his offensive however, & a charge en masse from both sides of the house saw my entire HQ wiped-out/captured!  This was a heavy blow & seemed to be the turning-point of the engagement...


 

As the Syrians began closing the noose on the trapped squad, I managed to regain the initiative, & although losing a second M113 to an ATGM from the apartment block, I finally managed to Suppress the commandos in there, & then take them out with a building assault. Now holding the apartments, I was able to fire down onto the commandos who had broken into my rear. By this point I had taken heavy losses, but Tim had lost a greater percentage of his commandos, & his position was untenable.  His survivors made a neat withdrawal from the battlefield, leaving me with a Pyrrhic victory.

We realised after finishing this game that we'd balls'd-up a key rule, & hadn't been playing the 'additional Suppressions cause a Kill' rule! This would've made Tim's early Suppression of my squad in the alley much more decisive, as a Kill would surely have resulted from all the fire he was throwing in there...  Maybe err, visibility was poor on the day... We're still learning, but this was great fun nonetheless!