Hey all, I have a self-indulgent project rant below…
I am working on a scenario book for Operation Kutuzov, one of the first Soviet counter-offensives after Kursk, starting on 12 July 1943. It is intended for my rules A Sergeant's War, a small unit game that normally has around 1-2 platoons per side. The book includes games at the maximum size that ASW can handle–roughly a company per side. Of course, it can be used with other systems that are fought at a similar level, or as inspiration for higher-level games.
The scenario book features 10 scenarios and a variety of scenario types—there are set-piece Soviet assaults, armored meeting engagements, rearguard actions, and even a partisan ambush of a German truck convoy. The games can be played as stand-alone scenarios or linked together, in which case each game affects later games in some way. Overall campaign victory is determined primarily by who wins the most games out of the 10, but is also affected by armor casualties and other factors.
Historically, two Soviet fronts attacked the Orel salient (from where Model's 9th Army attacked the Kursk salient) and in a month inflicted 100,000 casualties on the Germans and in turn suffered about 400-500,000 casualties. They did not achieve a firm break through, but did badly deplete 2nd Panzer Army and 9th Army and left the Germans unprepared for Operation Rumiantsev, another offensive to the south of the Kursk salient. It was one of the "consecutive operations" that would last for the rest of 1943 and into 1944.
From a gaming perspective, interesting aspects of the campaign include the variety of German units participating (infantry divisions, panzer divisions, security units, flak units fighting against Soviet armor, and later Grossdeutschland) and the mixed nature of Soviet armor–many of the units fielded large numbers of T-70s and lend-lease tanks, giving the gamer an opportunity to have more kinds of units on the field.
The book will include a history section, 10 scenarios, a few special rules, the campaign victory tracker, and the ASW stats for the vehicles included in the book. I'll also include a section that "translate" some of the ASW rules-isms so that players of other games can use the book as well.
I'll publish on Wargame Vault, hopefully by the end of May. If anyone is interested in some playtesting, email me at thedogsbrush(at)gmail(dot)com.
I will update here with pictures of playtests and some screen shots of the scenarios.
shows off the U.S. infantry from the Flames of War starter set.
