Last Fridays game was our annual big Xmas bash... This year we tried a 1700 point playtest of Kampfgruppe Kursk written by Warwick Kinrade based upon KGN. As usual the game was a hoot, with possibly the worse consistent dice throwing I have ever seen from the Russian side... Except for the CO Brian and his cover saves... More on that pesky FAO later...
The game is set a few days after the start of Zitadelle and having from broken through several Russian defence lines the Germans stand posied to take a major road junction to facilitate the advance. As the Germans prepare for an assault on the area, the Russians rush troops to the ad-hoc defence line hoping to strike back at the enemy.
The game started with the Russian infantry battlegroup fully deployed on the table except for six units in a tactical reserve, faced by the arrival on KG Falken from 9th Panzer on the northern table. All the rest of the battlegroups would arrive piecemeal over the following turns.
[size=150]Looking North, Krasny with its road junction to Oboyan then the Psel River and then, furthest North, Koslovka;[/size]
[size=150]Looking South-East from the position of 11th Panzer Division;[/size]
[size=150]Looking South with Koslovka in the foreground and the main road heading to the bridge;[/size]
[size=150]Looking North, along the main road to Krasny;[/size]
The two armies amounted to 1700 points on each side, with the Soviets having a seperate CO responsible for all command dice some extra artillery and a brace of extra FAO teams.
The Germans maintained seperate command dice except for the German CO who had an extra command dice he could issue at will to any of the three battlegroups.
Battle was commenced with the arrival of KG Falken on the northern table...
KG Falkens initial attack found little opposition, except for infantry and an A/T gun by the Psel bridge. The flank was however covered by two FAO detached from the Russian command bunker. One directed artillery onto the advancing recce units, only to be killed soon after by returning German fire. The other Russian FAO on this flank would last the rest of the game in their OP Bunker, despite being consistently targetted by artillery, mortars, direct HE and 20mm cannon fire, they survived everything to continually call in fire on targets they could see.
As the other German forces began to arrive, Panthers and Tigers arrived south of the river. The Tigers headed for Krasny and its road junction and the Panthers headed to cut off the village from the south. Intermitant fire began almost immediately between the two sides. But most of it was to little effect. The Russian had to rely on their supporting artillery to try and pin German units down and stop the advances.
With more Germans, came more Russians and groups of T-34s began to arrive at Kolovka to face KG Falken. Once more under fire from artillery, KG Falken suffered its first casualties as the Bergepanzer III took a direct hit from a plunging 122mm shell. By this time though the Ferdinands were onto the ridge and in a display of superb gunnery, one of them despatched a KV-1 lurking beside Krasny church. The hit saw the KV-1 explode in a ball of fire. Ironically, these would prove to be the only shots fired by the two Ferdinands that day as they failed to get into a position to attack any of the faster moving T-34s.
A battle now developed along the line. In Kolovka Panzer IIIs and IVs duelled with T-34s while Panzergrenadiers fought Russian infantry for control of the main village house. German forces attacked towards Krasny and its stubborn defenders resisted firmly, while in the south another tank battle began to develop between Panthers and Tigers.
Kolovka saw a drawn out fight with little happening as the tanks traded rounds. The tiny Panzer IIIs somehow survived without loss from the T-34s though one was immobilised by a lucky A/T Rifle team. As things seemed to be stalemating, the Panzer IV squadron, with Falken leading them opened fire once more. In a few short moments, six T-34s lay burning around Kolovka to the stunned amazement of the Russians. As yet another T-34 exploded, morale crumbled and Kolovka fell to KG Falken, who could now turn their attention to the Psel Bridge.
In the South a desperate tank battle took place with T-34s charging forward to try and close the range against the Panthers but to no avail. Even their infantry in sheer desperation threw themselves at the tanks to try and stop them but failed. As the Germans pushed forward in the South, Krasny was in danger of being outflanked.
The Tigers led an assault on Krasny itself but the defenders held with their artillery doing sterling work pinning down the advancing Germans. However with both flanks crumbling it looked dangerous for them. As the battle drew to a close, the Russian defence at Oboyan, having held for most of the day, was forced to withdraw as its two flanks crumbled under the weight of the German assault.
The Germans had taken the field... the road to Oboyan was open. 
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June 04, 2024, 12:55:15 PM
December 23, 2011, 10:47:58 AM