Kharkov '43, Krasnyy-Liman or Bust AAR

[MikeC]

Nice AAR.

Looking at the scenario, it seems a historical timetable is very hard to achieve, as it is in many other scenarios.

Not being able to move and assault with infantry units, and the shaky quality of many Soviet formations makes the Soviets ineffective against determined resistance in bad weather conditions in scenarios where the clock is not ticking in their favour.

The Red Army is good at attrition warfare, but the combined arms/mobile operations that are required to get to objectives on time are difficult to pull off. It's even trickier in scenarios where all German motorized/mechanized infantry gets a 2 hex move in snow conditions, which is the case in the non-variant scenarios with infantry speed 5. With speed 4, only A quality infantry units can move 2 hexes in the snow.

I'll have to compare my progress to the historical timetable. Do victory point levels reflect this timetable? If the historical timetable is achieved, does this result in a draw? Think of the old question posed by Avalon Hill advertising, can you do better than Napoleon/Lee/Rommel?

Using the victory point levels as a guide, I think the scenario is at least slightly pro-Russian. The entire 41st Guards Rifle Division was destroyed, with the exception of one rifle battalion, the engineer battalion, divisional artillery, and divisional HQ. In spite of these excessive losses, the scenario ended as a draw.

From my point of view, my opponent made few, if any, mistakes. So if I managed a draw under these circumstances, I think the scenario must be at least slightly pro Russian.


Thanks for your comments and your interest.