I asked my opponent to pick a smaller scenario that we could fight through, and this is the one he chose. I elected to play the Soviet Guards, and he the SS.

The Soviet force set up in a defensive line on the south side of the town, with its SMG company in the town and a light gun dug in to the north. The Soviet Battalion Commander personally led the forward deployed force in the southern woods, with the heavy artillery placed in the western edge of the forest with the intent of enfilading any troops which attempted to attack towards the town. The German commander did not take the bait, and began an assault on the small forest with his best troops.

Despite taking heavy casualties, the SS Infantrymen were able to eradicate the small Soviet force in the woods, and to eliminate their medium artillery. I unwisely had my only transport units placed near the woods in case they were to reinforce the town, when I should have kept one near my other gun. The Guards put up a good fight, but they were eventually overwhelmed with their reinforcement route being interdicted by the German motorcycle troops and AA guns.

After clearing the forest, the Germans had little trouble in using their remaining forces to encircle the town. This time, a furious assault was not necessary, as there was plenty of time to maneuver into place and to decimate the Russians with superior firepower. One Soviet Lieutenant made a valiant stand in the town, but was eventually shot down, with the last of his men becoming casualties or surrendering. The Germans had succeeding in their Attack to Destroy mission, allowing follow on units to continue the drive towards the Psel.

This is my third scenario from Kursk: South Flank and all have been gritty nasty battles between Guards units with ample AT and SS infantry forces with some armor support. All three have involved assaulting a well defended town. All three have been a blast to play.

My selections have been somewhat dictated by what I can complete in a single sitting since I am using the family's breakfast table and playing at night - so if it ain't picked up by nightime it is covered with cereal and milk in the morning. With the repetition of theme and structure I would have expected a certain level of boredom to have crept in. Not in the least.

The general feeling is one of extreme tension as the SS need to complete their task in a compressed timeframe in order to support the actions of the spearheads elsewhere (I look forward to playing those after the puppy is a little older). The Guards are, of course, looking to disrupt those plans.

In this one an understrength Guards battalion holds a 4 hex town and the SS battalion needs to enter from the east and take the town in 2 1/2 hours. The Soviets set up with the bulk of their forces in the town but with AT coverage both north and south of the town to deter the German vehicle (a mounted 20mm AA gun) from supporting the attack. The Germans enter from the southeast using the woods to mask their entry somewhat and sending the motorcycle platoons to deal with the AT gun south of town. As that assault occured the infantry force advanced on the town and took the opportunity fire in stride, losing some steps and units to disruption and demoralization.

As the HMGs came under assault the Soviets brought their 76.2mm into the town to bolster the defense (it had been dug in in the field to the north of town where the mortars remained). The SS were able to use their engineers and HMGs to good effect, taking one town hex and keeping the Soviets in a losing attritional battle. The motorcyles, meanwhile looped north of town and made short work of the mortars and demoralized troops who had fled to the fields to try to recover.

The fight in the town was leaning towards the Germans and the commander (a lousy 7-0-0 major) decided to commit his weapon to an assault hex to see if they could break open a deadlocked battle. It did contribute to loosening the Soviet hold on the hex but in the process became adjacent to the Soviet 76.2mm which made short work of the vehicles. The motorcyclists, having finished their gruesome work in the fields finally assaulted the 76.2mm in a fit of revenge but the gunners managed to hang on to contest the hex.

The final tally with the Germans holding one town hex, the Soviets holding one and two contested was 15 to 9 in favor of the Germans, a minor victory, much like the actual action. Without the folly of using the weapon as they did, the Germans might have had a major victory. Then again if the engineer hadn't successfully rolled on four morale checks in as many turns, the assault might have stalled completely and left the situation at a draw.

A nice small action with a surprising amount of technical play involved on both sides. Use of the motorcycle troops is critical to the plans of the Germans. I give it a "4".

These little scenarios can be just as challenging as the larger ones - there's almost no room for error when you only have 12 units on the board.

The Russians were tough little buggers in this scenario, and a few key dice rolls kept the Germans at bay until turn seven. The Germans blundered early on by bringing the SK10/4 in range of the AT gun; and their HMGs were prevented from joining the assaults on the town by repeated artillery strikes and machine-gun fire. The Germans eventually got into two of the town hexes, but by turn 9 it was obvious that they wouldn't clear out the Russians.

This was a really fun little scenario. It uses one map and is only ten turns so it's perfect for a quick game. There are no AFVs so the emphasis is on infantry and artillery. The Germans do have one unarmed motorized anti-air unit which they'll be loath to bring on the map until they've eliminated any AT capable Soviet units.

It's basically all about the town assault, but like the other AAR for this scenario I set up a small artillery park in the fields to support the town. The Germans sent the motorcycle force to deal with this and looked like they'd stomp it until a nearby SMG and LT joined the assault. Fortunes turned and the two German motorcycle platoons were wiped out.

Meanwhile the Germans brought their main force up to the town while the Soviets responded with opportunity fire and artillery. Casualties were heavy for both sides as I seemed to keep rolling X results (and getting officers killed with snake eyes). The Soviet Major was killed but the decapitation result had minimal impact since the Soviets weren't planning to move out of the town hexes.

The second half of the game saw a series of town assaults. The Germans were able to build some powerful assault stacks with ENG and HMG. It was a desperate fight for both sides.

In the end the Germans controlled two town hexes, the Soviets controlled one, and one remained contested. This final town hex would have made the difference for either side. Adding in the casualty VPs made it a draw. A more passive stance for either side might have limited casualties, but it's hard to assault town hexes without taking some losses.

Overall I thought this was a great scenario for my return to Kursk.

This was a scenario of first's for me. First time using 4th edition, first game against Hugmenot and a first FtF game in this module. This is a fairly simple town attack scenario, the SS have to take the town and inflict step losses, there is a fairly tight time limit of just 10 turns but the SS outgun the defenders and have better initiative. Daniel's set up was solid if predictable but to be honest I can not see any really better way to defend the town. The SS enter from the East, my plan was to use fire and movement with the HMG and SCH prior to the last three turns where I would launch my assault. The MTC would skirt around the town and look for the hidden artillery. This simple plan worked helped by some good die rolls, in fact I assaulted the first town hex far early than planned but this was a good thing as 4th edition assaults tend to take longer to resolve with more Morale checks inflicted than X results. As this is my first game I may be mistaken about this. Once I had found all the ATG & Artillery I brought on the A/A soft skinned truck for extra firepower for some reason I drove it straight towards the town where accurate SMG fire soon set it running away, an error but the major one I made. Eventually the assaults began to wear down the Soviet defenders but once again I was getting more than my fair share of the luck, and by turn 8 I thought it was in the bag and in fact the following turn Daniel conceded. This is solid standard PG fare, possibly better played Solo as there is little for the Russian player to do other than shuffle his town defenses around as best he can. Also for me a good introduction to the new edition rules. Thank you Daniel for your patience.