Defence of Village 'C' - Kampfgruppe Kursk AAR

[V]

Warwick Kinrade ask me if we would be willing to playtest 'Kampfgruppe Kursk' for him... Its basically an Eastern Front version of KGN. We obviously jumped at the chance and its proving to be a great game with as much excitement as the Normandy version but obviously the armies play in differing ways. I cant give too much away but its highly enjoyable!







Tonight we used the 'Defence-in-Depth' scenario from KGN (seemed apt for the period) with the Russians defending a German assault. Both armies were of 400 points and I used a German Panzer force against a Russian infantry force. What is quickly clear is that the Russians get alot more men! But they dont get the high morale or command benefits of the Germans, though do have a number of specific rules that make them behave in a Russkie manner!







The Russians had a staggered defence along three defence lines with two full platoons forming reserves off-table. The German attack started slowly with the armour moving up and awaiting the arrival of its supporting infantry. While this was going on Russian heavy mortar fire proved to be a pain, forcing the Tigers to button-up and suppressing them and one of the grenadiers 251s. However, the Russian FAO was soon on the receiving of a salvo from the Nebelwerfer battery, and despite his nice reinforced OP bunker, two direct hits flattened it! With a respite from the Russian artillery the German advance continued.







The advance was met by a suicidal charge from the Russian infantry in the first wave who tried to close with the tanks in order to try and suppress them and get to the supporting infantry. Unfortunately for the Russians this came to nothing and concentrated fire from the supporting Grenadiers and the tanks MGs cut down virtually all of the Russian platoon securing the German end of the table and two of the four objectives.







However as the German advance split into three prongs to attack the village, Russian infantry began to arrive and reinforce the defenders. Two Panzer IVs headed off on the right flank and got into a duel with 47mm A/T guns first, with little effect to either side. On the right, two 251s speed off with a Panzer IV to try and outflank the village. Despite the best efforts of the Russian commander he could not get his artillery to target them. In the centre one of the Tigers broke down, and had to be left behind immobilised, while the remaining two advanced with some Grenadiers and used up their few HE rounds taking out a couple of AT guns.







At this point the Russian KV-1s made an apperance and drove for the Panzer IVs on the right. In a close range duel, two of the KV-1s were despatched by two remarkable shots from one of the Panzer IVs, although the other Panzer IV was destroyed in the process. Out of ammunition for his main gun, the remaining Panzer IV fired his MGs to cut down some approaching infantry before retiring to the rear. In the centre the Tigers edge forward firing MGs at the enemy infantry and trying to get a shot at the remaining KV-1 while the German FAO brought down a whole load of very ineffective rockets that managed to do very little! One the left flank the Germans raced towards the village and the Russian commander finally called in his artillery, but it fell short and caught one of his own units in the barrage!







Things were not looking good for the Russians, and concentrated MG fire and HE from the Stummel destroyed yet more infantry and this finally tipped the Russian army over its morale break point and they withdrew from the battlefield. The Germans had taken very light casualties. The Russians on the other hand had suffered large losses, losing almost two platoons of infantry, two KV-1s and an entire A/T gun battery!

A great game, though the Russian commander was let down by some really terrible dice rolling even by his standerds! 

[Phil Robinson]

Thats a cracking little report with some nicely painted toy's, from a good selection of manufacturers too. Its strange but they all seem to jell in 20mm where as in 28mm the difference really shows in most cases.

[V]

Thats the beauty of 20mm... A similar paintjob and it all blends in! 

[Galland]

Ah more of your beutiful stuff, I especially like your Raupenschlepper with Nebelwerfers, they are wonderful. As I said in my last post, I am getting more and more inspired by your 20mm work, and this sure made it even harder to resist.

[Mac V]

Great batrep as usual, V!

A few questions about KGN.

How is infantry handled? By team, squad, platoon?

Also, what's a descent sized unit to occupy one player look like? 200 points, 300?

[Golgotha]

Mein gott das ist wunderbar - 20mm / 172 works so well and looks so much better than say Flames of War 15mm. See http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=156608&start=15 some useful accounts as well as maps etc.

[Helen]

Lovely work Piers. Congrats to all.

Cheers,

Helen

[V]

Great batrep as usual, V!

A few questions about KGN.

How is infantry handled? By team, squad, platoon?

Also, what's a descent sized unit to occupy one player look like? 200 points, 300?

The smallest infantry unit is the squad... and you 'buy' them in platoons if using the army lists (the game plays just as well doing non-points hostorical scenarios). All actions are resolved at the squad level.

We have played with 250 up to 750 with one player. All are enjoyable. I must say one of the joys of this game is that it plays just as well at 250 points as it does at more points. 200 points would make for a decent couple of hours gaming. The game above, with 400 points aside took about three hours to play.

Warwick Kinrade, KGNs author, also set up a blog today...

http://warwickkinrade.blogspot.com/2011/09/kampfgruppe-normandy-why-20mm.html

[Mac V]

Thanks Piers!