Victory Results:
 0 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  0 %

The Soviet offensive operations that began at Orel-Kursk in the summer of 1943 continued relentlessly through the end of that pivotal year. A bold use of Red tinny paratroopers was planned as pan of the attempt to form a bridgehead over the Dnieper Riven. On the night of 25 September 1943, elements of three brigades were dropped around Kanev in the largest Soviet airborne operation of the war to that date. It would also be the last such operation against the Germans. Lack of fuel stranded AT guns and about 30% of the troops on the abfields. Poor weather, poor planning, and errors scattered the Soviet paratroopers over a wide area, Despite a lack of command and communications, small groups bravely fought their way east to link with the advancing Soviet tanks.

 

  Soviet German
Division 1

6 Squad Bases
- 3 Elite Infantry
- 17 Regular Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 1 Mortar Crew

1x Medic

4 Squad Bases
- 10 Regular Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 1 Machine Gun Crew
- 1 Mortar Crew

1x Medic
1x Expert

Division 2

5 Squad Bases
- 3 Elite Infantry
- 12 Regular Infantry
- 1 Officer
- 1 Machine Gun Crew
- 1 Mortar Crew

1x Medic

5 Squad Bases
- 1 Elite Infantry
- 13 Regular Infantry
- 2 Officers
- 2 Machine Gun Crews

1x Medic
1x Expert

Strategy Decks Soviet Reinforcements Ground Support 1
Starting Strategy Cards 1 1
Operations Cards 045 Elite Formations -
Deployment Zone Both divisions appear as per the special rules (see below) Division 1: Any of the hexes on map 10A.
Division 2: Any Ilex on maps 7B and 98.
Starting Initiative Initiative Token  
Objective The Soviets win if they exit 16 or more figures off of the southeast edge of maps 10A or 7B by the end of round 10.

The Germans win if the Soviets are unable to fulfill their objectives by the end of round 10.
Rounds 10
Actions per turn 3 3
Reinforcements Soviet reinforcements represent stragglers and partisans and enter along the northwest edge of maps 12A or 6B. -
Special Rules
  • On round 1 only, the Germans do not conduct any actions.
  • After the Germans set up, the Soviets set up as follows:
    • Soviet Division 1 units start by hexes 2 and 4.
    • Soviet Division 2 units start by hexes 1 and 3.
    • Place up to 3 squad bases around each marked drop point and roll for drift for each base just like artillery fire.
    • Starting hexes indicate target hexes for Soviet squads (paratroopers).
    • Roll for drift for each squad. The drift number is 4.
    • Roll a die for any bases that drift off the map boards. The die result is the round in which these bases enter maps 12A or 6B as reinforcements.
  • On round 1, there is no LOS (night).
  • On round 2, the LOS is 3 hexes (dawn).
  • On round 3 and later, the LOS is normal (day). 
Terrain Features Vehicles may not enter halka hexes.

 

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alecrespi replied the topic:
1 year 4 months ago
boersma8 (Aug 17, 2011)Played this scenario with a friend today and below are our findings.

The bad news is that in our view it is yet another unbalanced scenario. It's virtually impossible to lose for a somewhat skilled player playing the Russians. The good news is that a few very minor changes can fix this. It is just a shame that the designers don't pick up on these things before publishing them. I don't really have a problem with a scenario that you've played for ten times to then find out that one side is slightly favoured over the other, but in the case of too many TOI scenarios it only takes a few ROUNDS of play to see that it's not balanced.

So what makes the scenario unbalanced? Basically three things:

1.) The Russians have way too much time to achive their objective (10 rounds), which gives them more than enough time to pin/disrupt or simply destroy or route the German defenders thereby opening a path along with the sixteen required figures can easily be exited off the map.

2.) Elite formations op card coupled with no restrictions against combined fire. The best the German can do cover wise against an attack of say 3 regular squads combining fire with the lead unit throwing as many as 8 dice and the two other ones 2 each for a grand total of 12 dice against a maximum possible cover of 3 or 4 (woods + medic and woods + officer+ elite respectively). A guaranteed kill. As I said, since there's no time pressure for the Russians they can easily repeat this over several rounds to eliminate all the opposition.

3.) The balkas not slowing down the Russians at all with the offical movement cost of 1 even when crossig them sideways.

So what are the solutions?

1.) Reduce the number of rounds to 6 or 7.

2.) Use the massive confusion op card for the Russians. (negates combined fire). It also seems to fit right in judging by the scenario description.

3.) Use the balka rules described in a related thread. At the very least do something about the way they DO NOT impede movement. We used the houserule that a unit must stop when entering or exiting a balka unless it comes from or moves to an adjacent balka hex. This slows the Russians down at least somewhat.

I have the idea that the rules used for dropping the paratroopers ( the way artillery fire works along with a possible drift) are intended to have a few units land off the board (which would mean that they enter on the round that equals the result of the black die in case of drift). However, this is quite easy to avoid just by NOT setting up the target hexes on the edge of the board. Played the first two rounds solo once and by doing it this way only one landed off board and when playing the entire scenario with my freidn today not a single unit landed off the board. This ensures that ALL Russian units can contribute their firepower and that none need to hurry up to catch up in order tgo possibly make it off the map fulfilling the victory conditions.

I'll play it again someday soon with the massive confusion op card for the Russians and 6 rounds of play. We'll keep on using the balka rules as described above and in a more detailed way in the thread called "Paradrop at Kanev and balkas". This should make for a much closer scenario.

Three more ideas that came up:

1.) Give the Germans the morale deck along with or instead of the ground support deck.

2.) Have both sides bid in how many rounds they expect to be able to fulfil the scenario's victory conditions for the Russians. the player with the lowest bid gets to play the Russians. If he manages to win within the number of rounds mentioned, he wins. Otherwise he doesn't. Obviously if only this change is used any other changes would not necessarily be required.

3.) Add a German engineer squad to each division. They might come in handy building entrenchments to provide some additional cover, which is sorely needed foir the Germans a spointed out above.

Two more final general observations: after about 5 rounds or so the Russian reinforcement deck becomes obsolete. Any units placed would never be able to make it off the map, nor will they be able to put in any significant weight in the battle. Also, it might make for a more closelyt contested initiative if the German command objective were worth 3 points rather than two. In our game the Russians were constantly able to win initiative if they wanted it badly enough since they constantly had one more command point available.

Final conclusion: unbalanced scenario but with potential. ffg-forum-archive.entropicdreams.com/top...-kanev-short-review/