Description:
Instead of attacking the Kursk Salient, the Germans decided to hold back their newly refurbished Panzers for defensive purposes. The STAVKA have grown impatient to the lack of an offensive and have decided to launch an attack of their own in the Kursk region. Operation Kutuzov and Raevsky have been launched, however Generalfeldmarschall's Manstein and Model are waiting...
Credit to Danielefc for the base army setup.
The next iteration of the scenario is done, feedback is encouraged in order to improve the scenario further!
Comments:
Very tough scenario. Haven't managed a BV, the arrival of German reserves is surprising. Did get a very fun decisive victory though, wiping out the German panzers with great difficulty.
For those of you who miss the BV, it is quite difficult to win with German tank reinforcements but doable. Try and grind them down, if you fall back they follow you and you can surround and destroy them (at least in the south). Otherwise, lure them into an empty hex (they will always put a unit between you and an objective) to make them easier targets for attacks/airstrikes.
Hint: Unless the AI is defending an objective hex it will often attack a weak unit in front of it. Put weak infantry in front of panzers. The enemy AI will overrun the unit and be more vulnerable next turn.
Definitely much more difficult! More of a slugfest at the beginning, which is good. The German reinforcements may be too tough for many players, give the Soviet tanks will be a bit more banged up in the first three-four turns. I managed a BV in 7, but it was very touch-and-go in the north and I'm glad I didn't have to go another turn or two against the surviving German armor. The supply changes are good as well. Nice job!
I'll update the scenario over the weekend to make the scenario more historically plausible.
Thanks a lot for the feedback! I wanted to get this version out there in order to see how skilled players do in reference to the German reinforcements. I personally, am not that great a player so the turn in which the reinforcements arrived was based off my personal progress. I always encourage feedback in order to find tune the scenario, whether it's too easy or too hard.
Played it through again, brilliant victory in 5. It's good fun! But the Germans do need a bit of help...
OK, had a peek into the scenario file, I see the German reinforcements in the North arrive on turn 7. I think this should be moved up by at least one turn; currently it is very possible to win in 6 or 7 turns, or at least to overrun the reinforcement hexes by then.
Another idea - make the Soviet supply game more interesting. As it is now, the 8 (or 12) radius on all Soviet railways basically means the Russians have no supply difficulties, as long as they avoid getting cut off. In reality the Russians often outrun their supply lines on the offensive. And many of the best designed UoC scenarios involve tricky supply problems. My suggestion: take Soviet supply points off the railway, and play around with the burst radius in ways that constrain the Soviet advance. Give a few supply boost points per turn, but set things up in a way that forces the player to make hard choices about where to apply those boosts - ie, to support the northern or southern offensives. That would make the scenario more interesting, and would slow the Soviet advance a bit, giving time for the German reinforcements to show up and make a real difference.
Finally, give the Germans some infantry reinforcements/replacements to go with the strong panzer reinforcements that show up.
Nice one! It's not overly difficult if you know how to play the Russkies well, I managed a BV in 7 turns on my first try, one turn ahead of schedule. The Soviet forces are very powerful, and can pretty much take apart the Germans in the first three turns, but the German "surprise" is unpleasant and may require some improvisation. 3 Russian air strikes is perhaps a bit much- I'd reduce it to one, should still be easily winnable.
PS - no German reinforcements appeared in the north, perhaps I overran their deployment zones? Or do they not come until turn 7 or so? Maybe they need alternate deployment areas and/or accelerate their arrival a turn or two?