This 18 turn scenario has a major Soviet counter attack against a dug-in German force. The Russians are able to have a basic human wave attack of infantry and HMGs with almost every stack of 2 units having a leader. The Soviets start out dug in as well, but primarily so that any German OBA attacks are at a down 1, as otherwise the Soviets have little cover on the approach, with a small hill on the south side of their starting board, and a woods on the north, and I used the hill for the BM-13 and the woods for mortars, and placed the on-board 76.2 arty with their wagons set up in the eastern town hex where they could range in on the initial dug-in German positions. The Germans dug in most of the infantry and HMGs, saving just a few back for the town of Protasovo, one of the Soviet objectives on the western board. This allowed all the 40m hills to be occupied by dug-in groups of infantry and HMGs with good leaders. I placed the German 88 in the woods south of the town, the other AT guns and AA gun dug in hoping for flanking shots at the Soviet tanks, and the StuG III was dug in blocking the road at the westernmost hill/road hex of the big central board hill, where he could shoot at any Soviet armor that approached down the middle. This all worked well, as the Soviet line broke itself on the rocks of dug-in infantry, and the T-70 made the mistake of clearing the slope hex onto the big hill right at 6 hex range from the StuG. 2 shots, 2 steps taken. The fighting for the hills took center stage as Soviets and Germans fought in assaults. Germans won fight after fight but slowly lost steps of their own, and several German groups tried to withdraw to avoid being surrounded and cut off. One stack on the central 40m hill held out, destroying everything that the Soviets threw at it. The SMG troops managed to get behind it, only to have the leader killed and two of the three platoons demoralized. Even the dug-in AT guns, having lost all opportunity to engage enemy armor, held out in lopsided assaults. The StuG took out 6 steps of tanks before losing a step and withdrawing. In the next turn, the surviving T-34s took their revenge and eliminated the last step of the StuG, but when the two full T-34C platoons advanced, the 88 opened up and took a step for 7 armor step losses. The Soviet infantry had lost a considerable number of steps, with 3 LTs and a Major on the KIA list by the end of turn 8, and with over half of the infantry spread out over the center and eastern board, where many of the units had fled to before finally regaining their composure, the Soviet officers found it nearly impossible to round up enough troops to press on. Then, with the clock running out on my available gaming time, I rolled for turn 9. Soviets go first. Then rolled for German reinforcements. Elephants arrive this turn. Then rolled for air support. Germans get air support this turn. With the mobile armor forces depleted and the foot troops scattered all over the eastern 2/3ds of the board, I had to call it. I gave the Soviets credit for eventually clearing the hills, but there was just no way they were going to get 15 steps off the west edge of the board, and the German troops holding the town and reinforced now with 3 platoons of Elephants, were just going to be too tough a nut to crack for me to give them any credit for that possibility. So, game over, German minor victory. This is another one of the interesting Kursk fights that demands a replay, hopefully when I can get one of my local buddies to fight it out with me.

The Germans put up a small delaying action to begin with, biding time. The Soviets ground ahead, but were stopped at Protasovo with the help of 3 air units and the arrival of the Elefants. OBA and mortars had a lot of impact (no pun intended) and the Soviets just could not scrape out a victory. German victory in my last KBT scenario to finish out.

In my initial set up, I put almost all my infantry and all of my MGs on the crest of the hill on the middle board, with the mortars on the reverse slope of the hill and the other weapon assets were tucked way back in Protosavo, in the tiny town behind the big hill, and on one of the little hills at the north of the board. I thought that my infantry would be able to repel the Russians easily and that the AT assets would prevent any super quick breakouts by the T-34s.

As it turned out, this was a very lousy set up because I didn't consider the power of his artillery. Every one of my MGs was reduced by artillery (being spotted by the artillery cancels the dug in benefit- duh!); and on some turns the Russians would fire those dinky 82 mm mortars one at a time at my demoralized/disrupted units still surviving on the hill. Basically, I isolated my groups, and left them to face the Russians (and die) without mutual support. I tried to pull back in good order, but that never seems to happen. I still cannot fight an effective withdrawal- which is really what I needed to do here.

It also would have helped if the Elefants had shown up prior to turn 14! The Elefants couldn't just ride up the road into Protosavo- the Russians were all around the town and blocking the road!

Nevertheless, the Germans' better morale saved the day. Even though they were battered and nearly all in assault hexes by the 16th turn, the Germans held on the hills and to Protosavo, and no Russians left the board.

If this game had had more turns, the Germans would have lost; it was one of the rare games where I felt that time was on my side.

Kursk: Burning Tigers, Scenario Eight: Storm II: One the Verge

I felt in the mood for an eastern front battle this morning, so this was it. The Soviets have three victory objectives, which are related to the victory levels or not. This is an interesting situation for both sides and the Germans decide to defend setup mostly on the forward hills on map 41 and defend with fewer units in the town of Protasovo in the rear on map 42 but with some key units like the StuGIIIG. The Russian attack across the front with a wide and deep Infantry columns. The Armor sticks mainly to the road in the center but progresses at the same rate as their Infantry to support one another.

Things started to get too dicey on Map 41 within the 40 meter hills, so the Soviets decide to go for the other victory conditions, controlling the Protasovo town hexes and exiting 15 or more steps off the western edge of the map and leave some units still engaged with the Germans in the hill hexes, so they can’t reinforce Protasovo to the west.

After a sharp fight for Protasovo the Soviet finally control it with combined armor and infantry. The Germans huge Elefant tanks reinforcements enter play and make short work of the Soviet armor but when they go to assault combat without any infantry support in Protasove, they suffer two step loses as they get a -2 modifier from the special rules plus the other modifiers. It was close but they cannot dislodge the Soviet Infantry from as town hex in Protasovo and the Soviets exit 17 steps of the western edge of the map achieving two out of three victory objectives for a minor victory.

This was very closely fought scenario and really could have gone either way at any point. It was also a very bloody contest. The Germans lost 22 steps and 4 leaders while the Soviets lost 42 steps and 3 leaders for a rare Soviet victory.