Culmination Kursk!

Continuing with our resolution to find historical scenarios that can be played large but concluded in an evening, I researched the culmination point of the epic Battle of Kursk...

I don't know for a fact that the StuG AT company of the 167th happened to be concentrated at the main point of impact of 2GTC, but if the staff wallahs were doing their job, they should have been!

This is an interesting stage in the Great Patriotic War as the Soviets were just starting to synthesise their combined arms doctrine hard learnt from the Germans...

Also, T34-76s make a good match for early StuGs!

This was Scott's first game of Flames of War, and we chucked him in at the deep end! He advances his T-34 company and riflemen forward on the left flank, whilst I am echeloned on our right flank seeking the cover of a convenient crop field. Arms akimbo, our German opponent Daniel is quietly confident...

We were lucky with our rolls for aircraft, but they had little impact...

The StuGs, on the other hand, were using the German Stormtrooper attribute to play hide and seek in the woods to great effect!

On our right flank, I got frustrated with them...

And moved on, just dropping off a couple of Tridsavertakas to amuse them - an expensive option...

Daniel timed his ambush to perfection, eviscerating my T-34 company. Sturmoviks provided a crumb of comfort though, taking out a couple of guns...

It wasn't enough to evict them off the objective though. Having followed my tactical advice, Scott's company was also destroyed, for a convincing German victory. 

Covering Force Battle!

 

During our pre IPMA show rehearsal, we discovered we had too many units on our tables so decided to amend the Valley of Death scenario to stagger the arrival of forces, dependent on the outcome of an ad-hoc covering force battle pre-game:

Since the goal was reconnaissance in depth, we went for a big table by 12mm standards: 8 x 6 feet. The view from the NATO West German side:

The view from the East German side. The land around the 'Anti-Fascist Barrier' has been kept clear to afford good fields of fire against any deluded Republikflüchtiger ("Republic-deserter"). 

The four factions: US & Bundeswehr, Soviet and East German NVA, rolled randomly to deploy by platoons. NATO went first, which was just as well as they had scads of cheap US Mutt Recon platoons...

Most of the Soviet points were tied up in Hinds and T-55AMs in the counter recon role:

Deployment complete...

Except NATO spring a nasty surprise: the US deploy a guerilla force from Red Dawn. Presumably not all those opposed to the German Democratic Republic chose to flee. They were hidden in the woods right next to my GOPHER MRSAM. Fortunately NATO didn't bring any Air!

Ed also invested in Hinds and T-55s so we created an ad-hoc task group for Daniel to command:

Principally in the hope of picking off NATO recon patrols, but it was hard to resist targeting enemy air defences!

The NATO players, Stuart and Peter, react to the WARPACT incursions:

I was expecting to have to fight through Luchs and Marders, but not Leopard 2s! 

Actually at this stage the Bundeswehr infantry were causing most of the snags...

But massed Leopards... 

Put paid to any hopes of crossing over this sector!

So when my reserves belatedly made an appearance, Shock BMP-3 Scout platoons, I swapped to the other side of the table:

Although there were NATO goalkeepers present there too:

At this point the WARPACT team was a little despondent...

 - we had pushed our recon forward hard but most of it was now in flames...

And now it was the turn of the NATO scout teams to push forward:

On the bright side, Ed's East German BRDM patrol was within a whisker of breaking through!

But it was not to be! Venerable M60s wiped them out just as they were about to ride off into the sunset!

As the game timed out, the result was a draw with no Scout or Spearhead units breaking through. Both sides will therefore have to put 40% of their forces into Immediate Reserve for the big game.