Kalinin (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: | 427 |
12 July, 1943
Kalinin, Russia, 16Km southwest of Prokhorovka: (Best played against human player or as German vs AI):
The 2nd Guards Tank Corps was not ready when the main attack started at 8:30AM, so General Rotmistrov let them begin their attack later. It was not until about 12:00 PM that the 2nd Guards started theirs, with some support from the 2nd Tank Corps as well. But the Russians had a few disadvantages in this attack that they did not have in their earlier ones. For one, it started to rain about the same time that the attack started. Within an hour the rains turned the ground soft. They also lowered the visibility down for the rest of the afternoon. Also, the Russians did not have a massive artillery barrage at the start of this attack, in fact, most artillery requests for the rest of the day were denied due to ammunition shortages. But the 183rd Rifle Division would be following up behind the 2nd Guards to occupy and defend what gains were made. Their target was the German Das Reich SS Panzergrenadier Division. Das Reich had been largely left alone during the morning attacks, except during the initial barrage. In fact, its soldiers were expecting to have an easy day. But as they enjoyed their midday meal, they had their lunch interrupted by Russian armor coming over the rise in front of them. Several penetrations were made in German front line, but these were quickly sealed off and destroyed. The largest penetration occurred into the vast field north of the town of Kalinin. Here a Russian tank brigade ran into an ambush sprung by German artillery, tank, and tank destroyer units deployed around the perimeter of the field. After suffering many casualties, the Russians withdrew back to their defensive line to regroup and prepare for the German attack that they knew would come in the next few days.
Designer Notes:
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 6 Feb 2018: A full design note document added to the download archive
Kalinin, Russia, 16Km southwest of Prokhorovka: (Best played against human player or as German vs AI):
The 2nd Guards Tank Corps was not ready when the main attack started at 8:30AM, so General Rotmistrov let them begin their attack later. It was not until about 12:00 PM that the 2nd Guards started theirs, with some support from the 2nd Tank Corps as well. But the Russians had a few disadvantages in this attack that they did not have in their earlier ones. For one, it started to rain about the same time that the attack started. Within an hour the rains turned the ground soft. They also lowered the visibility down for the rest of the afternoon. Also, the Russians did not have a massive artillery barrage at the start of this attack, in fact, most artillery requests for the rest of the day were denied due to ammunition shortages. But the 183rd Rifle Division would be following up behind the 2nd Guards to occupy and defend what gains were made. Their target was the German Das Reich SS Panzergrenadier Division. Das Reich had been largely left alone during the morning attacks, except during the initial barrage. In fact, its soldiers were expecting to have an easy day. But as they enjoyed their midday meal, they had their lunch interrupted by Russian armor coming over the rise in front of them. Several penetrations were made in German front line, but these were quickly sealed off and destroyed. The largest penetration occurred into the vast field north of the town of Kalinin. Here a Russian tank brigade ran into an ambush sprung by German artillery, tank, and tank destroyer units deployed around the perimeter of the field. After suffering many casualties, the Russians withdrew back to their defensive line to regroup and prepare for the German attack that they knew would come in the next few days.
Designer Notes:
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 6 Feb 2018: A full design note document added to the download archive
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