For my first scenario in Kursk South Flank I picked the last scenario in the scenario book. It’s not a large one but a one mapper with about 80 counters so kind of tight for a one mapper. It has a Soviet starting force one battle-group of Guard units starting on the map and another Soviet RKKA combat formation that also enters on turn one. All the Germans enter on turn one or later if desired. Three things I like about this scenario, one the Victory conditions are very interesting, the mix of units with the Germans having a Recon force mixed with other elements: 4 types of Infantry, APCs, weaker Tank units (PzII & PzIIIj), Assault Gun, a bunch of different AFVs & ACs and the Kubel units as well. The Soviets have both a Guard and RKKA force which consist of 4 Infantry types, Mortar, AT-Guns, 76.2mm guns and T-34c, T34-b and T-70s with one 18 factor of off board artillery. The third thing is it’s only a 12 turn scenario, as I am too busy currently to play the monster scenario I want to play.

Because of the three different victory factors for each side, both sides have to figure what is working best for them and adjust as the game play continues. The Soviet start with their mostly Guard Infantry and supporting heavy weapon units defending the town hexes with AT & ART guns supporting the flanks. The Soviet also roll their RKKA Tanks units and SMG units on to the map on turn one from the east end of the short map. The German enter on the west end of the map, their whole force, deciding how to move forward without artillery support and which victory objectives will pay-off better: Controlling town hexes, eliminating enemy steps or exiting units off the far end of the map. Interesting, as the Kubelwagens don’t count against you in any way in this scenario if lost in combat and don’t generate points for exiting either, so I will send them ahead to scout things out. Maybe there are too many better targets for the Soviets to shot at and wants to waste as shot on them, unless they start causing problems for rear Artillery and similar type units.

As the Soviets are pretty well defended in the town, the Germans just send a small force in that direction to maybe tie down all those guard units, then the rest of the Germans try flanking around the town to maybe exit units off the far end and eliminate enemy units. The problem is, neither side has very much range with their AFVs and Tanks units and both must close with each and hope to activate first the next turn. The T-34c are a more difficult tank to destroy with what the Germans have in this scenario, other than the StuGIIIG, the Germans have a lot of AFVs and weaker Tank types and the situation starts to go bad for the Germans, as they are taking too many step losses. Still they find a way to sneak some units off one of the flanks and those MTC’s have a lot of speed before the Soviet adjust with some of the light T-70 Tanks to plug the holes. The Germans also make one attempt to take the town hexes, as they need more points to win this thing but this goes very poorly.

In the End of this short scenario, the Germans had 22 points while the Soviets had 37 points for a major Soviet Victory by 5 points. Very interesting first play in KSF! This scenario is fun, has a lot of different options in a small space for one map. Next time I play this, I will avoid attacking the town hexes and try the east end exit method with the Germans and stay out of tank duals unless I get the first shot as too many of the Germans Halftracks have a variety of guns types but are very weak in the armor protection area. The laser counters make assault combat much easier, as they are so thick counters, easier to handle. Good stuff and a good memory for my first KSF game play.