Historical Background:
The morning of July 12, 1943, somewhere in the vicinity of Prokhorovka - Having successfully broken through the third line of Soviet defenses the previous evening, the tank crews of Feldmarschall Manstein’s II.SS-Pz.Korps, are finishing breakfast and getting ready to mop up the last of the Soviet reserve units. But unbeknownst to them, 800 tanks of General Rotmistrov’s 5th Guards Tank Army have reached Prokhorovka the previous night and now suddenly charge the surprised Germans. Breaking through the German ranks, they close in; many a single combat at point blank range ensues.
By the end of the day, the field is littered with the hulls of burning tanks, Germans and Russians alike. The next day, Hitler announces a stop to the offensive at Kursk. Unternehmen Zitadelle (Operation Citadel) has failed!
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.
Briefing:
Axis player [Germany] : 6 Command cards.
Allied player [Soviet Union] : 6 Command cards. You move first.
Conditions of Victory:
12 Medals.
Special Rules:
Tiger tank rules are in effect (Troops 16 - Tigers).
All Axis infantry units are elite units (Troops 2 - Specialized Units). Badges are not required.
If you are running short on Russian tank pieces, use Allied (US) tanks from the base game instead.
Air Rules are optional. If used, give each player one Air Sortie card at game start.
Update 2023 : New Flight Plan rules are used instead of Air Pack rules. In this case, the two players could use the three types of aircraft.
Scenario link
Setup photo:
Note: Tigers are marked with a German Rossete badge.
For the first game I took axis like usual and my usual opponent took allies like usual
. He attacked my elite infantry units with his armor in center but I riposted with an air power that weak 2 armor, 1 infantry and 1 artillery. The battle continued violently with retreats and counterattacks until the end that was 10-3for axis. All 3 medals achieved by allies were by tigers killed with extremely luck (only 1 dice re-rolled and result was grenade).
End photo:
Allied medal stand:
Axis medals stand:
Casualties of war:
For the second game we changed sides and started the game. I took a medal from 1 infantry unit that was in trenches but after that tigers arrived and the battle turned in a massacre. I killed 3 tigers but with very high cost and the 4th tiger had the best armor I have ever seen, I throwed 20 dice against it but with no results. Then axis lunched an assult in center that finished off 4 units and he won by 10-7.
End photo:
The tiger in the axis right flank was attacked with 20 dice and even flags were hits but no resut.
Allied medal stand:
Axis medal stand:
Note: 11 armor units destroyed!
Casualties of war:
Conclusion: this is not a balanced scenario. I think that axis must have only elite armor units not tigers and some anti-tank guns, hedgehogs or minefields to slow the Germans down. At battle of Kursk a lot of Tigers were destroyed by minefields and in this scenario there aren’t any minefields.
If you played this scenario please share here your experience.
Or if you have another improvements please share them here.