Battlegroup Kursk Battle Report

 

Neil and I played our second game of BGK last night.  We had previously played the clash of reconnaissance scenario which allocates units for each side.  This time we opted to try 500 points and a scenario. 

I believe both Neil and I have an idea of what we might like to take in our forces and it was only once we started list construction the subtle limits and restrictions that push you towards a combined arms list were fully realised.  In a good way.

 

In my Battlegroup

Tiger 313 + Panzer Ace
Panzer IV G Sqn (3)
Panzergrenadier Squad 3 MG teams, 3 Rifle teams, 1 HQ team (trucks but i forgot to use them)
12cm Heavy Mortar (2) +1 truck
Supply Column (2 trucks)
Kubelwagen Ambulance
Sd Kfz 7 with 20mm AA cannon
Sniper – Lucky Johan
Battle Rating 35

 

Neil’s Battlegroup

Forward HQ
NKVD Officer + jeep
KV1
T34-43 Platoon (3)
T34-43 Tank
Zis 3 Battery (2 guns)
45 mm AT Battery (3 guns)
BA 10 armoured Car
Recce squad (Inf)
Supply column Steptoski & Sons (3 horse drawn cart)
Rifle Platoon, 3 squads, HQ, AT Rifle and HMG attached
Sniper & Spotter
Battle Rating 34 + d6 (NKVD) = 36

We selected Attack/Counter; played across the diagonal with 4 objectives, 2 per player.  Having recce units gives you a number of bonuses.  Neil had 3 to my 1 so I have to take a chit for fewer recces at the start of the game. The attacker and table corner are determined by a d6+recce unit roll and the same for the first turn.

Neil won all these rolls, chose the village and the spur road leaving me in the other corner of fields.  The table was cut across the diagonal by a road which had a tree line running adjacent to it.  There was a small copse of woods on my right flank at about the halfway point.  The fields had a boarder of hedgerows in a quartered rectangle shape.

I placed my objectives in the fields.  Neil placed one in the village and one at the edge of the road a short distance from the centreline.

 

All the recce units were deployed; the BA10 just off the spur road in the centre, the sniper at the hedgerow near the village and the recce foot patrol occupied a building.  My sniper was at the edge of the crop fields in the centre observing the road.   D6 main force units arrive from turn 2.  Turn 1 is all about the Recce units gaining an advantage.

Out recce’d I take a chit, 4 points!  Neil advances with his BA 10 spots a glint in the hedgerows and opens fire with the MG with (area fire) pinning my sniper.  The soviet sniper alerted by the action spots and kills my sniper.  I pass the dice back to Neil as I have no units on the battlefield

 

 

Rolling ok for units and far higher for orders (each turn you roll 2d6 + officers to determine the number of orders you have available) Neil brings on his KV1 and gives it a Top Speed order ( two moves) up the spur road and ends near the junction.  His T34 platoon comes on along with the single T34 and some guns and infantry.  All of them are making a Top Speed move to grab positions whilst there isn’t any danger.  The BA 10 advances to the edge of the fields and captures an objective another chit, this time it is confusion (one of the special events) and I play it on a T34 but they pass their morale check and remain on the battlefield.  There was the risk of them withdrawing.  Neil also captures one of his own objectives and I take a chit for 3 points.

I get 6 units coming on.  The tiger, the panzer IV’s, the AA truck and a mortar all advance into cover.  The tanks all take position at the back of the field behind the hedgerow; the AA finds a central position going on to ambush the next turn and remaining so for the entire game.

With plenty of orders the German tanks all manoeuvre and fire most on the KV1.  A spotting roll of  2+ (aimed fire requires an observation roll) is required the Tiger fails to spot but the Panzer IV commander puts an AP round under the turret ring knocking it out.   A Panzer IV hits the BA10, pinning it (surprised!). Neil takes a chit (for a unit being destroyed) it is low ammo with feigned consideration and an inelegant pause Neil plays this on the Tiger 313.  The roll on the low ammo chart is “enough for one more round”. Panzer Ace Jocham Plopam is deflated.  Each tank has a limited ammo capacity and you have to determine the split between HE and AP at the start of the game.  I had opted for 9 rounds of AP for the Tiger and a 7/2 split of AP and HE for the Panzer IV’s.  The worst result could see a unit withdrawing from the battle due to an exhausted ammunition supply.

 

The turns become a bit fuzzy especially which units come on and the order in which they are activated.  Combine this with some frantic page flicking to determine what is required to pin with 12cm mortars later in the game.  My recollection of the remaining turns is as follows:-

More soviet units arrive on the outskirts of the village.  The T34’s swing round to the edge of the village, one T34 using the burning KV1 for cover. A tank duel starts through the treeline but at ranges of 40 or so inches its 6’s to hit all round.  Ammo is expended. 

 

The Germans rush a resupply truck to the Tiger but it will be a turn before 313 is back in action. A mortar barrage lands in the centre of the village pinning an AT gun and a T34. Infantry squads start to reach the battlefield and advance through the fields. A chit is taken by Neil and a possible Air Attack forms but the Soviets fail to get the comms roll to bring it into play. The German commander admits to a bit of wee coming out. A German infantry squad is in position to claim the German objective at the edge of the field once the pinned BA 10 is dealt with.

The Soviets start to mass an infantry attack on their right flank heading for the last unclaimed objective, screened by the treeline and out of MG range it is a calculated risk. Rounds skip off the Tiger’s front armour and the Panzer IV’s escape any damage. The soviets take a chit to unpin their units.

 Realising that he needs to make some effort to claim the only remaining objective the German commander orders two of the panzer IV’s to advance whilst the remaining vehicle and the Tiger provide over watch. The Panzer AP fire is ineffective and shots fail to hit or damage at sub 40” ranges. Another fire mission is made to the mortars targeting the advancing infantry. Accurate rounds cause significant casualties and pin all the major infantry units advancing towards the trees on the German left flank. Tiger 313 is once again fully ‘bombed up’ and puts two rounds into the stricken BA10 massive overkill sees the armoured car burning and the soviets take two chits, one for the loss of the armoured car and another as