Hill 252.2 (Subset of Prokhorovka - The Historical Battle) - The Matrix Games version of East Front II
| Rating: | 0 (0) |
| Games Played: | 0 |
| SM: | 8 |
| Turns: | 40 |
| Type: | Custom |
| First Side: | Allies |
| Second Side: | Axis |
| Downloads: | 253 |
12 July, 1943
Prokhorovka, Russia: (Best played H2H or as German vs AI):
The legend of the battle of Prokhorovka often includes a gigantic swirling tank battle involving over a thousand tanks. But the truth, as it often does, proves to be much less than the legends say. The origin of the mythic tank battle comes from the Russian 29th Tank Corps assault upon the German SS Panzergrenadier Division "LAH". Here the 29th Tank Corps attacks the 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment at 8;30 AM. The 2nd Regiment which is defending the LAH division's front line, was expecting small local attacks, which had been the norm from the Russian units they had been facing for the past seven days. But the size of the this armored attack totally surprised them. The Russians push back the Germans and make good progress at first, capturing Hill 252.2. But a forgotten anti-tank ditch and the Smoroshevoye Forest brought the Soviet assault to an abrupt halt. This allows the 1st SS Panzer Regiment to counterattack and take back most of the lost ground. By 1:00 PM the fighting is largely over with the Germans reoccupying the southern side of Hill 252.2 and the Russians holding the northern side, with the peak of the hill becoming a no-man's land between them.
Designer note:
First, the maps: The areas depicted are the actual areas that the forces had to work in historically. The limits represent their maneuver boundaries. Actually I cheated a bit and gave them one or two hexes past their historical limits because sometimes units would go past their boundaries before being hauled back in by higher command. To go any further is to go into another scenario that is occurring at the same time
Second, game turns: If I wanted to be totally historically accurate, then the these scenarios would be 70 - 90 turns in length to match the total length in time that combat occurred in the areas depicted. Of course, in each case the fighting was most intense the first couple of hours (20-30 turns), after that the Russians would attack with reduced forces, get beaten back, then spend an hour or so regrouping, then attack again, repeating this cycle for the rest of the day. Because of the mechanics of the Campaign System, I had already shrunk the time length down to eliminate those periods of no combat. But as we both know the Campaign System does not do a very good job in depicting the friction of war. Any way there are a lot of scenarios in the normal game that end well before the time limits too, mostly because of how people play the game
Last, but not least: this scenario is for history, not tournaments.
Updated 12 September 2020: A revision of the area near Hill 252.2, especially the anti-tank ditch and minefields around it.
Updated 24 June 2018: Order of Battle and starting position updates
Updated 6 Feb 2018: A full design note document added to the download archive
Prokhorovka, Russia: (Best played H2H or as German vs AI):
The legend of the battle of Prokhorovka often includes a gigantic swirling tank battle involving over a thousand tanks. But the truth, as it often does, proves to be much less than the legends say. The origin of the mythic tank battle comes from the Russian 29th Tank Corps assault upon the German SS Panzergrenadier Division "LAH". Here the 29th Tank Corps attacks the 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment at 8;30 AM. The 2nd Regiment which is defending the LAH division's front line, was expecting small local attacks, which had been the norm from the Russian units they had been facing for the past seven days. But the size of the this armored attack totally surprised them. The Russians push back the Germans and make good progress at first, capturing Hill 252.2. But a forgotten anti-tank ditch and the Smoroshevoye Forest brought the Soviet assault to an abrupt halt. This allows the 1st SS Panzer Regiment to counterattack and take back most of the lost ground. By 1:00 PM the fighting is largely over with the Germans reoccupying the southern side of Hill 252.2 and the Russians holding the northern side, with the peak of the hill becoming a no-man's land between them.
Designer note:
First, the maps: The areas depicted are the actual areas that the forces had to work in historically. The limits represent their maneuver boundaries. Actually I cheated a bit and gave them one or two hexes past their historical limits because sometimes units would go past their boundaries before being hauled back in by higher command. To go any further is to go into another scenario that is occurring at the same time
Second, game turns: If I wanted to be totally historically accurate, then the these scenarios would be 70 - 90 turns in length to match the total length in time that combat occurred in the areas depicted. Of course, in each case the fighting was most intense the first couple of hours (20-30 turns), after that the Russians would attack with reduced forces, get beaten back, then spend an hour or so regrouping, then attack again, repeating this cycle for the rest of the day. Because of the mechanics of the Campaign System, I had already shrunk the time length down to eliminate those periods of no combat. But as we both know the Campaign System does not do a very good job in depicting the friction of war. Any way there are a lot of scenarios in the normal game that end well before the time limits too, mostly because of how people play the game
Last, but not least: this scenario is for history, not tournaments.
Updated 12 September 2020: A revision of the area near Hill 252.2, especially the anti-tank ditch and minefields around it.
Updated 24 June 2018: Order of Battle and starting position updates
Updated 6 Feb 2018: A full design note document added to the download archive
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