Friday, July 25, 2014

Battlegroup Kursk: ATTACK / COUNTER-ATTACK Part I

The second scenario from the BK rules features another meeting engagement coming from opposite corners of the map.  I played a "platoon level" game and also diced for units to appear on the table.  The game had a nice "deploy and fight from the march" feel to it as clusters of armored vehicles or infantry would suddenly appear on the battlefield each turn.

Battle already underway.  Soviets enter from the bottom-right, Germans enter from the top-left.

The Soviets executed a large number of orders in quick succession on the first turn, which enabled them to race some tanks down the table to capture their first objective, and begin probing around the second objective.  The Germans had to work with what they had and only received 2 units on the table, so the Stug III section moved onto the table and provided an overwatch capability of sorts and covered the other units as they deployed.
Stug-III Sections covering the main force as it deploys - these were my only "proper" painted units.  Most other tanks in the game have a simple basecoat or layer of camouflage.  

Infantry were slow to get started as the limited number of orders had both sides moving their AFVs with the infantry sitting at the start point.  The tank-to-tank action heated up rather quickly with the Soviets pinning down a Stug-III with gunnery and the Germans KOing a T-34 with the Stug's deadly gunnery.
Burning T-34s on the first Soviet objective

T-34s engaging the German units at much closer range.
Gradually the Panzer IV's got into the mix and started a flanking move, running head-long into a Soviet T-34 platoon.  This short-range knife fight saw the Germans get the worst of it as 2 out of the 3 Panzer IVs were knocked out, with only 1 T-34 becoming pinned.  I was disappointed in the performance of my Panzer IV's this game but the Stugs were very impressive, accounting for most of the kills in the game so far.
Soviet infantry, however unflocked, make their way onto the battlefield

Allow me to introduce my German 251/1 Halftracks with their make-over.  New paint job, flocked bases, and decals.  Pretty snazzy.

This Pak-38 crew never had it so good.  Being towed by a half track and all!

Panzer IV's getting handled roughly by a platoon of T-34s at close range!

A monster KV-1.  Still waiting to see how this behemoth takes 75mm fire in Battlegroup Kursk.


As I am writing this, one German turn has completed, with a Stug becoming unpinned, and finally getting the infantry into the battle.  The Soviet infantry is still at the start line and has not moved off yet.  It's going to take awhile for the infantry to get into the game and I'm starting to wonder if one force will reach their BP prior to the troops even getting to fight?  The Germans in halftracks get great mobility so I'm thinking it may be a one sided fight.  That being said, after the sharp tank-action that was fought this morning, the Germans are already at "18" out of 27 for their breakpoint.  The Russians are at "12" out of 32.  With all of those infantry squads still to come up, I'm wondering if the Germans will be able to sustain alot of this action.  I'll ask you all who play the game - do the Germans win much in BK???

An enjoyable game so far.  Some things I need to do in order to make it more enjoyable - work on my Kursk terrain and finish my building queue, detail my vehicles, flock my infantry, paint MORE infantry (with 2 and 3 man stands, this is not difficult), and print out the unit data sheets (thank you, Ken) so there is significantly less page-flipping.


20 comments:

  1. Oh to have a man cave where I could leave stuff set up!

    Haven't played these rules, they sound interesting. Thanks for these reports.

    Nick

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    1. Nick,
      Looking past the wood-paneled, 1970's linoleum floor, it's not a bad man-cave at all. My wife was gracious enough to allow me this corner of our basement to keep a workshop, gaming storage, shelves and of course a modest 6 x 4 table setup.

      It's not a bad system at all. There are some very neat mechanisms in the rules that I like. It's not my "go-to" rules set, but it's definitely a game I will play more of.

      Thanks for commenting!

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  2. Kursk, a very bloody battle.
    Well done, great battle report and table.
    greetings

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    1. Greetings, Simmy. Thanks for commenting! I am reading David Glantz's "Battle of Kursk" right now and you are quite right. A very bloody battle indeed.

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  3. Glad to see you're enjoying it. It has become my "go to" set for WW2 tactical. I love the uncertainty of the BR system, the Aimed/Area fire mechanism, and the order system. Not perfect in every way, but the best combination of ease of play/detail that I've seen.

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    1. Ken,
      So far, so good. I am really liking the options you have for engaging enemy units and there is just enough detail for my taste. The fights are fun and brutal!

      That being said, one aspect of BK concerns me. So far, I've only played 2 games but I'm worried after 2 games that the Germans are predestined to hit their BR number before the Russians most games.

      Do you think (or anyone else out there) that the BR system discourages aggressive tactics by the Germans?



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  4. I've lost to the Germans plenty of times with the Russians.

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    1. That's good to know, Ken. Hoping I see a few victories for Gerry as well as Ivan.

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  5. I really like the NGK rules too - battles can see saw quickly and change dramatically in a single turn.

    I think Army composition is a key factor in this system too and one I really enjoy playing with- if you are finding your Germans are breaking quickly you might need to consider taking a few units with a higher BR. A medical unit is great for this

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    1. That's a good idea, Paul. I will check the units out. Maybe veteran or elite will have better staying power. I don't feel like I've been particularly fool-hardy or overly aggressive with them (even though, if I'm commanding German SS Panzers or GrossDeutschland in combat, I want to be aggressive. The worst thing in the world would be to have another game with "Johnny Reb III Syndrome
      ' where no attack ever works out and the defender almost always wins)

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    2. My experience is similar - as Germans I have needed to attack, but with patience using my better guns at range. Closing the Ivans just seems to play into their hands. Well my opponent's hands anyway!

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    3. That's an excellent point. The Soviets set up hundreds of kill-sacs at Kursk designed to canalize German armor and hit them will all kinds of ordnance ranging from howitzers over "open sights" to AT guns. A more deliberate attack might work. I'll give it a try.

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  6. Keep em coming.

    Are data sheets available from the publisher? Or an army builder? Or do we need to build our own...army builder?

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    1. Itinerant,
      Ironfistpublishing has some good resources for BGK. Ken above sent me this link which I have been using:

      http://battlegroupbuilder.com/

      I am now reading David Glantz's book "The Battle of Kursk" so I'm getting tons and tons of scenario ideas. I'm hatching a larger scenario now with a more deliberate attack and including artillery support. Wohoo!

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    2. If you can find Will Fowler's book its got a stack of instant scenario ideas too, its a great resource:

      http://www.amazon.com/dp/1904687369/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=327WKR2DRS8PL&coliid=I3R8Q7PDBMTMCL

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    3. Thanks, Paul! I just purchased it. Always looking for good scenario ideas. It always makes the games more enjoyable.

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  7. By the way, are you keeping track of ammo for AFV's? It's a pain in the ass, but it really controls the power of tanks i think.

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    1. Ken,
      I started doing it but I have been playing fairly small games and only had a few AFVs that ran out of ammo believe it or not so I figured while I'm playing solo I wouldn't always track the ammo.

      I do have those ultra-tiny dice that are great for ammo or casualty tracking and was using those. They don't add much clutter to my already crowded 6 x 4 table!

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  8. Replies
    1. Thanks, Piers. Your stuff continues to inspire me to buy and paint more.

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