KoolKat wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 7:40 am
Gents:
Kiev ’43 – Has some superbly balanced scenarios that allow multiple opportunities to attack and counterattack with good replay value.
Thanks, in part, to the team of Playtesters we had for the title. In particular, Dennis Suttman and Dan Constant (RIP). Both of them played anything that I put out for testing.
All of the guys did their part. I made sure that the breakout/breakin scenarios had possible victory outcomes. Did my own testing before I kicked them out to the team. The Bukrin Bridgehead is one of the toughest nuts to crack in any of our games. Reminded me of the Rzhev '42 situations where the Russians have to take the pillboxes! "Pound, pound, pound" on the door! ROFL
Scenario Designers really do not have time to play completely through all of the scenarios which is why the Playtest Team is so important. However, we all should play through the significant parts of the scenarios where it pertains to breaking through heavily defended lines. Its tedious for all of us designers but for me it really helped me to understand, for the future scenarios, just what the First Player side could achieve. When a Playtester would tell me they couldn't break through, but I had done it, I coached them on ways to get it done. Tips for the attacking player included:
1. Dig in when adjacent to the enemy. Eventually a Trench is built and it really cuts down on losses.
2. Try NOT to break down battalions into companies. Companies accrue fatigue at a higher rate and will therefore Disrupt or Break sooner.
3. Pull units out of the line to rest if they hit 150 points of fatigue. Its harder for units over 200 points of fatigue to recover. I did a study on this years ago. For units that are below 100 points the fatigue rolled off quicker than those above 100 points. Above 200 points and at Max Fatigue the points took forever to go away. A unit at Max Fatigue took almost 28 turns to fully recover in that test. One at 90 points: about 5-6 turns.
Recombining companies reduces fatigue so that if you have a company that has 130 fatigue points and it recombines with the parent company which has 60 points, the resulting action will show the parent unit with something like 90-95 points. (dont quote me exactly on this - I have yet to figure out the averaging equation)
There are times when you cannot do some of the above but that is how I was able to win in the scenarios I tried out. I kick myself in my recreational games of the series I play when I forget one of those three important rules.
I am in the midst of the huge November campaign in Kiev '43 (Play By Email). I took Kiev on the 7th which is close enough to the historical date to know that the scenario is moving at the right pace. My armored units are worn and I am resting them for the big push. Its a great scenario to play for both sides. The German has to take care of their units trying to have some defense in depth. In the end, the terrain serves as an opponent to the Russians as the Germans with the units moving at a slower pace than they would like.
