Retaking Kharkov ETO (id:#63104)
(Schwerpunkt #23 ID: SP 269)   [next]   [previous]
Designer: Evan E. Sherry
Starter kit scenario?:    Deluxe scenario?:
 
Balance:
German (SS)Russian
54.545454545455%

Overview:

Tiger Is and panzer-grenadiers with a flamethrower from SS-Panzer Division 2 “Das Reich” attack to clear a railway station defended by 6-2-8s, a 57LL AT gun and KV-1S tanks from the 86th Tank Brigade.
Attacker: German (SS) (Elements of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Der Fuhrer" and 8. Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 2, 2. SS-Panzer-Division 2 “Das Reich”)
Defender: Russian (Elements of the 86th Motorized Rifle Battalion and 233rd Tank Battalion, 86th Tank Brigade, 12th Tank Corps, 3rd Tank Army)  
5.5 turns
    Players: 2     OBA: None     Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:13.0 D:10.5
AFVs: A:7
PzKpfw VIE x 3
PzKpfw IIIN x 3
SPW 251/1

AFVs: D:4
KV-1S x 4

Guns: A:0 D:1
57mm PTP obr. 43
PTRD-41 ATR

Victory Conditions:

Exit VP: Building Control VC: Area Control VC:
Unit Based VC: LOS Style VC: CVP Cap:
Misc Rules: GS, Factory
Overlays: RR1 RR2
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:

Scenario info

Last Played:
DateReporterOpponentBal.ResultTimeComments
2025-05-25(D) Simon Staniforth vs MBD German (SS) winThe Tigers proved all powerful, they don’t need special ammo but they had plenty, knocking out all four KVs with APCR. The Germans recovered from some early infantry losses and took a relatively comfortable win
2024-10-24(A) David Ramsey vs Martin Barker German (SS) winNice scenario, but the Tigers took over, despite losing the escorts to various shots from the KVs. Classic Schwerpunkt.
2021-08-13(A) Michal Sedlacko vs Ketil Hogenhaug Russian win[Imported from ROAR]
2021-07-20(D) Michal Sedlacko vs L Kurt In progress[Imported from ROAR]
2020-10-09(D) X von Marwitz vs Michael Koch Russian winEastern Front 1943 action with an elite SS force supported by 3 Tigers, 3 Pz IIIN, an SPW, and a Flamethrower pitted against elite Russian infantry defenders supported by 4 KV-1S and a 57LL ATG. The Germans have to clear buildings next to a railroad cutting the playing area in two while retaining a mobile tank with a functioning MA:

I had the defending Russians in this one. ROAR had this 13 to 5 in favor of the Germans (October 2020).

As usual with Schwerpunkt scenarios, there is no time to lose. The difficulty for the defending Russians is that their tanks stand no chance against the Tigers. The KV-1S are superior to the Pz IIIN, but the latter do have HEAT 10 and - also importantly Smoke 10 special ammo. The railroad is dangerous for both sides but more so for the Russians. They have to delay the Germans on the far side, but as the Russians have no Smoke making capacity, it will be very dangerous and difficult to fall back across it to the Alamo of the factory.

I had my ATG hidden on the "open flank". Unfortunately, my opponent elected not to have anyone enter there except for a single Tiger on the edge of the town that happened to stop in a spot to which the ATG had LOS. It had to turn its CA and lose HIP, but rolled a lucky CH to despatch on Tiger. That helped a lot.

Because I feared being cut off from retreat, I only deployed three squads and the DC on the far side of the Railroad along with the dummies and one KV in a building. These forces eventually went down but did delay the Germans a bit. Besides breaking one squad with a Thrown DC, I managed to roll snakes on myself... I did have a couple of lucky rolls break some Germans and to kill on leader+squad in CC which bought valuable time and forced the Germans to despatch some forces to deal with my squad holding one of the victory buildings. A quite audacious yet calculated counterattack with one of my KVs lost me the tank with nothing to show for it.

In mid-game, a German Tiger killed off a KV in a stone building and afterwards, the two surviving Tigers chased another KV, which just managed to escape to some useless place threatened to die a bit later - but keeping those Tigers busy. The German infantry came up to the railroad but the crossing was not easy. My Russians had fallen back and were manning the Factory with 4 squads, the HMG, 2x LMG, the 9-1 and one KV-1S providing support where the Tigers were not. The rest of the Russians were in and around the cluster of stone buildings on the near side of the Railroad.

My opponent determined that time would unlikely suffice to reach the Factory and to clear it and conceded, while I would say that the game was not decided at that point.

I think this one is not easy for the Russians. You have to delay the Germans, yet you'll have difficulties to fall back. It is also quite tricky to keep the Russian tanks alive and at the same time to do something useful with them. With Smoke, the Germans have the ability to provide cover their advance and to neutralize Russian strongpoints.

Had the German dice been a bit better, I don't think that the Russians would have stood a reasonable chance.
View all or balance report
ActionDate
Simonstan Added a playing2025-05-27 15:55:34
Dave Added a playing2024-10-26 09:31:56
Bongiovanni Added a playing2023-03-01 12:16:37
Lorenzoknight Added a playing2022-11-25 19:20:29
Lorenzoknight Rated the scenario2022-11-25 19:19:41
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High-intensity fighting in the Kharkov railway station
 
Statistics:
Avg Rating: 6.82Votes: 11
Views: 4410
To-Play list count: 1
Estimated Play time: 5.5 hours
Recorded Games: 11
Archive recorded plays:
German (SS)4
Russian6
Drawn:0

ROAR Data: (as of today)
Retaking Kharkov
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[A] German 14
[D] Russian 9
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