Battlegroup Kursk, After Action Report

Joe dropped by last Saturday and we ran a game of Battlegroup Kursk. The rules use an interesting activation/command system that is interleaved with the morale function. At first glance the tank by tank activation would seem to play slowly but, with only a limited number on command points to employ (often some units do not get to move every turn) and generous movement allowances, thing banged along at a snapping pace.

 

the situation on turn two, Germans trying to move on both flanks

 to force the Russians to give up some flanks shots

 

but flanks shots don't help it you roll badly and can't hit anything

 

the Russians, on the other hand, focused on destroying the PZ IV threat right away

 and threw everything they had at it

 

one group went straight at the PZ IVs while the other swept behind a hill,

an artillery battery of 76mm guns bridged the gap between them

 and pummeled the Germans with direct-fire barrages

 

soon half of the PZ IVs were burning and the rest were pinned down

 

the next turn the Germans rolled terribly for command and could barely get their troops back in the fight, in the Russian half of the turn all but one PZ IV was burning and the German infantry were pinned down, after losing several PZ IIIs as well the the Germans threw in the towel

     All in all this was a fun game, the mechanics of hitting are constrained by the use of a single D6 (but there are lots of rules systems that  fit in that category) but the command/morale system makes this a challenging game to play. Certainly not for the guys that need to calculate every tun with certainty it seems to come close to the chaos that trying to command troops in combat is like. I enjoyed uit and would happily play again. Fast as well; we were done inside three hours, from set-up to tear-down!