This was a fun scenario to play. It starts off with a small group of German mixed unit types basically defending 4 town hexes and surrounding area and a large group of mixed infantry and tank heavy Soviet Guard and RKKA units either attacking from the other map or a second similar group coming onto to map, both combining into one big hammer against the German who desperately need their large battle-group of reinforcements to arrive, which consist in a large part of Infantry, APC’s and StuGIIIG assault guns. But this group won’t be available until sometime after turn three depending on the dice roll. The Germans have off-board artillery, the Soviets on-board artillery and both roll for air-support every turn.

In my game, the Soviets consumed the Germans on map 37 before the German reinforcements arrived on turn 9 and setup blocking armor units to protect their infantry which now had control of the town hexes on map 37. They fought it out some more but in the end I threw in the towel as the Germans player, as they had too strong of a grip on the town hexes and the Germans had lost too many steps. Most of the Soviet losses came early when they were the attacker. The Soviets had a Major Victory with 41 points to 22 German points.

This is a really fun, small-medium size scenario to play. If the Germans reinforcement had arrived earlier when the Soviets were still battling it out on in the town, it would have been any ones game! The Soviets get some cool SU-122 and KV1s in this scenario. Both sides get to be the attacker and the defender in this scenario. This one has a high replay value and I will rank this one high.

Played this one in one session with Hugmenot (Daniel). There was a LOT of luck going both ways. My German reinforcements arrived on the first turn possible. He rolled two straight 12s killing four steps of StGs, I was able to destroy 6 steps of T-70s on four die rolls, I kept rolling 12s on morale checks, he had a lousy major who nearly managed to decapitate his force, etc., ste.

Despite all of this, it seemed as though each time one player had some bad luck there was a swing the other way which led us crashingly and exhaustingly to a draw with Storozhevoe a massively contested town (2 Soviet hexes, one German and one contested but plenty of shooting and assaulting and counterassaulting going on.

Ultimately the Germans had to rely on air power to win this one, a rare occurence in any PG scenario. Most Kursk sceanrios have air power in them but rarely do they generate a big result. Here, however, four steps of Soviet tanks (mostly T-34s) were destroyed by the Stukas armed with the 20mm cannons (the "4" DF but "3" AT unit), in three attacks (rolls that kind of balanced out the two 12s on +1 tank shots that Daniel had).

In terms of the strategy, Daniel came straight down the road, clearing out the northern fields and entering into a remarkably tough platoon of SS troopers in the southern fields. The German reinforcements made a long run around the field and entered it from the south in order to push towards Storozhevoe. Some force was able to enter the town but could not complete the comeback as each time the Germans seemed poised to jump out to a big lead there would be more surprising losses. After 15 turns we called it a draw as neither side really had the force to make the other side tip over.

I give this one a "5" as both sides have a lot going on and there is always the chance to pull out victory and many ways in which to do it. I expect that the scenario leans somewhat towards the Germans in general as they have more routes to victory than the Soviets but it is a blast none the less.

My opponent and I played this over the course of a couple of days. I took the Soviets for this one.

It was prescient for the Soviets to take the initiative in this battle. The Liebstandarte Division was in control of the town, with huge infantry forces on the way. The German artillery and aircraft were able to take a toll on Soviet guns early, but they were unable to blunt the combined infantry and tank attack. The Guards tankers proved crucial to the victory, while the RKKA tankers were sufficient.

The first hour of combat saw the massive tank assault successfully envelope the town from the North side. All seemed to be well in hand for the Soviet forces, but true to their elite status, the SS PanzerGrenadier reinforcements arrived with precise timing (first reinforcement roll). This required the Guards infantry to batter its way into the town from the north in a series of urban assaults. The eastern end of the town fell within the first thirty minuts of battle, being under the sights of Soviet artillery and being relentlessly blasted at close range by the tanks. The Western,ost end of the town would also fall quickly, allowing it to become a defensive strongpoint from which to defend against the German Tank Destroyers.

The German TDs were able to inflict huge losses on the Soviets, but this would eventually come to naught. The Soviet tankers began to pull back and reinforce the defensive line on the south end of town, leaving the counterattack to the more coordinated Guards T-34s. The center of the town would hold out for hours, only falling after repeated assaults by PPSh-41 wielding Guardsmen and their heavy KV-1s in support. The unfortunate Germans who were in the town were completely surrounded, and were thus unable to link up with their comrades who launched a series of abortive attacks from the West. The German artillery advantage and air power were not enough to dislodge the Soviets new hast defensive line, and once the last of the town fell (unsurprisingly with not one prisoner being taken), the SS commander called off his remaining soldiers rather than lead them into the murderous guns of the Guards Tankers.

Lessons learned: The Soviets are learning to use their tanks better every day. It is recommended that infantry assaults against armored units be avoided at all costs. Overall a good scenario. Can be punishing for the Germans if air is not able to whittle down the Soviet armor advantage. My opponent was lucky with his reinforcement die roll, but it probably would have been a walkover if they had delayed for two or more turns. I was forced to make some bloody assaults by his more sudden arrival, but even though this and some skillful use of TDs on his part caused a lot of casualties, the issue was never in doubt after the initial maneuvers were complete.

I set up with the big 88mm gun on the north side of the town, the HMG and little 20mm AA on the east side of town, the mortar and the AT on the side, and the ENG in reserve in the western town hex. I put a few INF out front to hinder the Russian set up, and hid some INF and the Marder in the field near the town. I really wasn't going to try fighting so many Russians at long range, especially with his excellent armor support; I wanted them to come to me.

Luckily, this plan worked! The Russians advanced along the flanks, but were skittish about approaching the town at first. I was surprised that the enemy commander brought his wagons loaded with 76.2mm guns along with everybody else. (I would have dug them in on a hill for artillery support.) Two were killed, still on their wagons, by my artillery in the first few turns.

The Russians made a big mistake, though, when they got too close to the edge on which my reinforcements were to enter. I received the reinforcements on the first turn possible, and they simply swarmed the Russian tanks. I threw all the infantry I could muster into assaults against the Russians, and I used the SPW's as expendable units to help with assaults against tanks. The Russian spirit was broken by turn 7.

Given the Russian order of battle, strong on tanks, weak on infantry, the tanks should never have advanced without infantry support. This major blunder, combined with what I must admit was extremely good luck with the dice, denied the Russian commander Storozhevoe.