New Scenario: Kirovograd (for Kharkov 1.11)

[e_barkmann]

Kirovograd - Central Ukraine, Jan 1944
AI and PBEM, 4km/hex, 1 turn/day - 12 turns

Konev's 2nd Ukrainian Front launches an all out assault on the German 47th Korps with the initial aim of recapturing the city of Kirovograd.
Breakthroughs, encirclements, breakouts, feints and counterattacks ensued, involving an extraordinary number of armoured formations on both sides.

As the Soviet player you'll need to be brutal in your approach - ignore the casualties, crunch through the front lines and aim for capture of Kirovograd if you can, and then head for the west. To aid in this, your artillery units have been well stockpiled - but only for the first few days.

The German player will need to avoid being caught in the open and will have to judge the right time for counterattacks to keep the Soviet player off guard.

I am naming this version 0.9 - despite AI vs AI results being quite even it still needs a jolly good balance but that will only come from repeated playings. Please report any findings in that regard here so we end up with a better v1.00.

main research sources:

Jack Radey's Kirovograd boardgame
HPS Panzer Campaigns Korsun '44
Various David Glantz publications

many thanks to Joe for playtesting.

Enjoy!

Download here

[Helpless]

Awesome!

[Deathtreader]

Way to go Chris!! [&o]

Rob.

[EisenHammer]

nice...[:)]

[cesteman]

Already said nice work on the run5 board but I'll give ya another after messing with it a bit

[Alan Sharif]

Thanks for your hardwork
 
Regards
 
Alan
 
 

[Korzun]

First of all thank you for your efforts! I had a short look at the new scenario and I noticed sth about the Grossdeutschland Division. I think the GD Panzerregiment had a heavy tank battalion (Tiger) attached to it from mid 1943 onwards. Did you leave it out deliberately?

I am looking forward to test the scenario this weekend when my battle for Kharkov has ended...

[e_barkmann]

Hi Korsun

from memory my sources gave some conflicting info regarding the presence of Tigers at the battle, in the end I went with a conservative approach not to include them. The panthers make up for the lack of tigers though

cheers

[Korzun]

Hi Chris,

I have just started some quick research by myself. Mostly via internet. I have found a good page covering the Großdeutschland Division that lists a lot of facts. It was a private page, so I am not entirely convinced of the reliability of this information resource. However, I crosschecked with other pages and they seemed to confirm each other. The GD Pzregiment was assigned a s.PzAbteilung consisting of Tigers (III./PzReg GD) in mid 1943. By January 1944 the number of operational Tigers had decreased to below 10. Given the scale of the battles around Kirovograd, there were virtually no Tigers involved. Anyway, I did some edits on the scenario and added the III./PzReg GD. When thrown into battle on turn 3 it has only one step (permanent KIA), thus not eligible for timed replacements.  

But there were other things I have found out. As follows:
- 3.SS PzReg was not equipped with Panthers until mid 1944.
- I/PzReg GD was a mixed unit with the remaining Panthers of Kursk and the following months used as Befehlspanzer V. The rest was Pz IV H.
- PzReg 36 of 14th PzDivision had a 3rd Abteilung with StuGs.
- I/6 PzReg of 3rd PzDivision had been sent to France to refit with the new Panther tanks and was with the PzLehr Division. Only II/PzReg 6 was left in the East.

I edited my scenario in accordance and enjoy playing it. Seems to be as balanced as the unedited one.

Just wanted to let you know about my findings. I have had a rather boring day at my homeoffice today...[:D]

[e_barkmann]

Korsun,

nice!  Thanks for the info.

I'd be interested to hear if players feel the Germans are 'depleted' enough.  Getting accurate info on their oob was difficult - some sources gave high figures in terms of men and materiel, and others indicated some units were in dire straits.  I did give most German regimental units the ability to return as 1 step cadres, however.

cheers

[SS Hauptsturmfuhrer]

Oh!  This sounds cool.  Thanks for your hard work.  Using Glantz as a reference, it must be quite accurate.

[Korzun]

Hey,
 
is there anyone interested in a PBEM to check on the balancing of the scenario? My email is korsun44@rocketmail.com. Playing against the AI doesn't provide the best challenge... one or two turns per day easily - depending on the timezone!
 
 

[SS Hauptsturmfuhrer]

Korsun, if you still need help testing, I can help in a couple of days when I get some stuff cleared up.   I'd like to support a project like this.

[SS Hauptsturmfuhrer]

What gives Germany a better chance in the beginning: stay and fight or run back to the river as soon as everyone can? I stayed and fought but notice both the AI and a human opponent ran for the river and dug in. My results with staying and fighting were mixed cause in one game I did well, but in the second one, my opponent disappeared and never bothered to finish the battle. Playing from the Soviet side with me having very unlucky artillery rolls, the German retreat to the river made my Soviet attacks very ugly and costly but I still ground through and took the city with repeated human wave attacks while folding in the both the northern and southern flanks with armored assaults. The Gross and Totenkopf counterattacks took a nasty toll before they were whittled down but that cannot be helped if objectives are to be taken at all costs.

[Noakesy]

I can't recall what I did against Strax, I think I fell back to the river line (or rather Strax wiped out a large number of units at the front), and then countered. I eventually lost Kirovograd, but if you look at my downloads on the Run5 forum it'll show you where our units got taken out.

[SS Hauptsturmfuhrer]

Unfortunately my game as Russia got cut off when I did some work on my computer and the security feature trashed all my email games so I don't know the result.  Hopefully when my computer situation has stabilized I can find an opponent and do some more Kirov battles.  So far it seems to give various options to both sides.  The Germans can hunker down and hide or they can start the whooping right away while the Russians decide to do either one big push or several smaller attacks.   As Russia I had 3 ongoing assaults throughout the battle which is very effective and costly but also gives the Germans 3 excellent choices of places to conduct some nasty counterattacks.

[SS Hauptsturmfuhrer]

Are people playing this?  How's it going?

[Alan Sharif]

I have played as the Soviet side VS the AI. On turn one I eliminated so many Axis units I thorght this woul be a walk over. By the end of turn two I was not quite so sure. By the end of Turn 3 I knew I was mistaken. Won eventually, but what a great scenario.  

[SS Hauptsturmfuhrer]

It's very nice by email too.  A very bloody struggle with lots of tactics.

It's sad that it's so quiet here though.  This game deserves more attention.

[Alan Sharif]

It is a great game but until/unless more scenarios get published, or new games are produced using the same engine, this will most likely be as busy as it gets for a while.