The second small scenario I tested was an action by Kampfgruppe Stachwitz during the Kursk offensive in 1943. The rules used were Flames of War Version 4, with the unit reference cards coming from the Ghost Panzers deck and the Red Banner deck.
This was a Battlegroup WW2 scenario, the link to which is here:
http://www.fireandfury.com/scenarios/scenkgstachwitz.pdf
We had played this scenario once before in FOW Version 3, as a large game on a large table. That game was not quite satisfying, as we wound up with a lot of tanks in a very small space at the end of the game. This scenario would be much smaller. We took the Battlefront scenario just as it was written, playing on a 3X4 foot area. The Soviets had 21 T-34 tanks in three companies, with a T-34 battalion commander. The Soviets were rated Confident Trained. The Germans had a platoon of two Tigers, a platoon of three Panthers, and a platoon of five PzIVs, with no force commander. The Germans were rated Confident Veteran.
The German objective was to clear the table of all Soviet tanks by the end of Turn 8, without losing more than four German tanks. Although the German tanks were greatly superior to the T-34s, this was a challenging task. The Soviets could win by avoiding combat, or by killing five German tanks — especially the vulnerable PzIVs.
The terrain was set up per the scenario. All the hills are plateaus, and line of sight would be determined by the distance of the respective teams from the edge of the plateau. A tank on lower ground had to be further from the crest line than the tank on the higher ground in order for them to see each other. One corner of the table on the Soviet baseline is a depression, with the same line of sight effect. The edge of the depression is shown by a line of small stones.
The Germans entered from their baseline with a half move, with all their tanks on the left side of the table. The Tigers and Panthers moved directly toward the depression while the PzIVs advanced in echelon to the right rear. The German commander’s intent was to try to deny the depression as a place for the Soviets to hole up. This gambit sort of worked, as the Soviets entered the table with one company moving into the woods that ran along the edge of the depression, and the other two companies with the battalion commander entering on the other flank.
The second turn saw the Panthers moving forward to within six inches of the Soviets in the woods, and two Soviet tanks were lost. This aggressive move left the Panthers in an exposed position, and some Soviet tanks moved out of the woods onto the flank of the Panthers, but all of their shots either missed or only resulted in bail-outs. The other two Soviet companies moved onto and around the central plateau to engage the PzIVs.
This bold move by the Soviets put a lot of pressure on the Germans. The Panthers reoriented to engage the Soviets at short range, while the five PzIVs formed a line to face 15 oncoming Soviet tanks. The Tigers found a position to add their fire, and the Soviet company that had engaged the Panthers was reduced to two bailed out tanks, which failed to remount but passed their last stand test.
The next few turns saw an exchange of tank fire as the Soviet flanking force brought its full weight to bear on the PzIVs. Rather miraculously, only one PzIV was lost, in exchange for several Soviet tanks. However, by Turn 5 the Soviets had found the range, and two more PzIVs were eliminated, while Soviet losses continued to mount.
On Turn 6, the Panthers lacked targets, and one Panther moved onto the plateau behind one bailed-out T-34. All the German shots missed this lone T-34, which then remounted, passed its last stand check, and had a flank shot at the Panther behind it, which scored. At the same time, the Soviet battalion commander knocked out one more PzIV (giving his tank two kills in the game!).
At that point the Germans had reached their five tank limit and lost the game. The Soviets had three surviving tanks left on the table!
This was a fast and furious game. The two players agreed that it was a very good scenario, giving both sides different ways to win the game. Very suitable for the upcoming open games day!
- TJ