I've received Kursk and the scorchmarks are there too, primarily on the rear of the counters. I suspect the scorch we see is smoke from the burning through of the cardboard. Not terribly bad and less visible when punched from the sprue (as Dr. B has said) and invisible on darker background colors, like the scads of Soviet Guards units. The feel of the counter is different, and because it is not punched the decal can actually be quite close to the edge of the counter with no info whatsoever lost.
I'm satisfied with them, but this will probably be an ongoing matter of discussion for aesthetic reasons. I actually think the images of the artillery and armour is sharper when done on this material. The feel of the counters is almost like plastic, due to the cardboard not having been crunched by the die-cutter.
