Best Scenario in Kampfgruppe Scherer
- Thread starter Gunner Scott
- Start date
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
Today I received the KGS Gamers guide and boy is it awesome, so far must play scenarios include KGS 18 Into the heart of Cholm, KGS 22 Successful second time around, FT 224Guardians of the Galaxy er I mean Hells Gates, KGS 23 Coming Down the Pike, KGS 20 Behles Tally, KGS 17 Schwarzer Freitag, KGS 16 Policing Fire with Flanking fire and KGS 21 Foiled for Flanking Fire. I look forward to playing these offerings sooner then later that is a fact jack. lol
Justiciar
Elder Member
Note just for the record and those tuning in late to this thread.... FT 224 "Guardians" is not a KGS scenario, but does use it the map (and one rule) to depict the Korsun Pocket in 1944. The design is from Lionel Colin, who had designed many fine scenarios. I have no played this scenario but have it set to play this Saturday (weather permitting...we had tornados here yesterday, a very rare* things for this neck of the woods.)
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
If you guys have not picked up the KGS gamers guide I would highly recommend that you do so. The KGS gamers guide has probably the best articles I think that have been written about an ASL product in a long time. The 90% of the scenarios look like must plays too. Man, with KGS, Red Factories and Hatten, I'll be a busy ASL'er for the rest of this year and next.
Houlie
CEO of HoulieDice (TM)
Received KGS + players guide from Ritterkrieg yesterday. Very impressive. I am glad to have picked up a copy before it goes out of print again. Looking forward to paying some scenarios.
Justiciar
Elder Member
Read... "for good." {err in a way bad}
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
Ya that is sad that these will be last crop of KGS modules to see the light of day. If LFT ever did plan to to do a 2nd edition of KGS, I would be down for that, fold in the gamers guide and include a better quality map.
RRschultze
Senior Member
A good 'add on' CG/large scenario would be the Germans attempt s in trying to break through into Cholm near the 'hairpin bend' Jason Mark's book details the fight really well. Russians were holding a village just off the main Cholm Map for a few days.
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
What I am surprised at is why there is no 30 day + campaign since the fighting seems to have lasted for over a month.
goatleaf1
Member
I agree - the repeated attempts of the relief effort which kept failing are among the most dramatic moments in the book. I suppose the problem is that they would require a sizeable map extension.
JR Brackin
Cardboard Challanged
Also - getting persons to playtest a longer CG is difficult - during playtests there was a reason that I did 5 playings of the CG - getting others to commit the time required is difficult during playtest. Due to the drain on players, we lost at least one tester from the CG due to burnout. We were able to get a couple of other tests, especially once it reached the LFT team, but it is time consuming to playtest a CG as opposed to scenarios.
At 5 turns the CGs concentrate on the critical fighting where major pushes occurred at the beginning and end of the battle.
I am sure Andy as designer can offer more insight.
At 5 turns the CGs concentrate on the critical fighting where major pushes occurred at the beginning and end of the battle.
I am sure Andy as designer can offer more insight.
Last edited:
JR Brackin
Cardboard Challanged
BTW - I am involved in other HASL playtests right now - and I have refused to conduct a CG test due to how much commitment that requires. Especially since every rule in the pack has to be scrutinized and tested.
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
I do agree, playtesters are a hard commodity to come by. I have been working on my own scenario pack for the last 4 years, but it is an on/ off affair due to so much good stuff out there to play. I think my scenario pack is good to go, but it is way too much much work to publish it lol. Anyway, I do appreciate both you and Andy's efforts with KGS, both OB's have a very nice verity of stuff as well as the CG's being set in the early part of the eastfront fighting which makes learning Andy's crazy Ivan special rules worth the effort......more or less lol.
Justiciar
Elder Member
Yes, correct on both counts.
Justiciar
Elder Member
I can't. You summed it up properly.
Agreed 100%.
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
Hi-
Did play two more scenarios from KGS over the week, managed to play both Red Army Day and From Matilda With Love. Both very fun scenarios but with the caveat that if certain things like Arty or airsupport not showing up in a timely manner could essentually doom the defenders to eventual defeat. I have only played Red Army Day twice and From Matilda With Love once, so I am not in any position to say these two scenarios have balance issues. Too me that is very unfair to the designer and playtesters who have put alot of TLC into this product. With that said, my 2nd playing of Red Army Day as the Germans did not go as well as I had hoped, this time around, the Russian player just rolled right into the top and middle of my defense and totally crushed me. I did manage to get off one OBA mission harassing fire to try and stop his guys, but all that did was make the Russians more angry (read three berzrkers charging me and a whole army of Russians behind them). By turn 3 I felt my German defense really did not have the troops left to really hold off the Russian hoards. My 9-2 was knocked out by a sniper, most of my MG's were melfed from Ammo shortage penalties, Both my big Mortar and gun sat languishing at the bottom of the map awaiting more possible Russians which never materialized. The Germans are really spread out this scenario with alot of territory to defend, The Russians can even play the waiting game by leaving guys off the map to use as a threat to the Germans defending the lower part of the map. Thus the Germans really can not shift their guys up towards the main battle to add more support.
A few days ago, I did play From Matilda with Love and once more this is another scenario that might be very dependent on the German getting their OBA assets in play to slow down the Russian attack. The Matildas both have 6FP MG's and really can cause havoc on a German Defense and this can be further exacerbated by the Block Bombardment which did land on my HIP Radio guy and broke him. With my radio guy knocked out for a couple turns, the Russians were able to smash into my defense which was further crippled by the Ammo shortage as I lost two MMG's as well four squads getting reduced from rolling 12's on their fire attacks. The Matildas rule the battlefield in this one, never moving adjacent to my guys due to the possibility of the Germans getting a MOL attack. By turn four I felt it was pretty much over for the Germans, my OBA never came into play, so that right there put an end to the game pretty much.
In both scenarios I did play, it seems that if the Germans do not get their OBA or Airsupport in a timely manner, it can be curtains for the German defenders. In both cases the Russians surprisingly did not use Human waves but with the situation that the Germans were in dire straights without their assets in play, really did not make using Human Wave tactics necessary.
Really liked both KGS 4 and KGS 5 and hope to give them a try later on down the road again.Next week, I will be playing KGS 12 May Day East Side and FT224 Guardians of the Galaxy. Although I get the feeling with KGS 12 that once more both Airsupport and Arty will be the linchpins of my defense.......
Scott
Did play two more scenarios from KGS over the week, managed to play both Red Army Day and From Matilda With Love. Both very fun scenarios but with the caveat that if certain things like Arty or airsupport not showing up in a timely manner could essentually doom the defenders to eventual defeat. I have only played Red Army Day twice and From Matilda With Love once, so I am not in any position to say these two scenarios have balance issues. Too me that is very unfair to the designer and playtesters who have put alot of TLC into this product. With that said, my 2nd playing of Red Army Day as the Germans did not go as well as I had hoped, this time around, the Russian player just rolled right into the top and middle of my defense and totally crushed me. I did manage to get off one OBA mission harassing fire to try and stop his guys, but all that did was make the Russians more angry (read three berzrkers charging me and a whole army of Russians behind them). By turn 3 I felt my German defense really did not have the troops left to really hold off the Russian hoards. My 9-2 was knocked out by a sniper, most of my MG's were melfed from Ammo shortage penalties, Both my big Mortar and gun sat languishing at the bottom of the map awaiting more possible Russians which never materialized. The Germans are really spread out this scenario with alot of territory to defend, The Russians can even play the waiting game by leaving guys off the map to use as a threat to the Germans defending the lower part of the map. Thus the Germans really can not shift their guys up towards the main battle to add more support.
A few days ago, I did play From Matilda with Love and once more this is another scenario that might be very dependent on the German getting their OBA assets in play to slow down the Russian attack. The Matildas both have 6FP MG's and really can cause havoc on a German Defense and this can be further exacerbated by the Block Bombardment which did land on my HIP Radio guy and broke him. With my radio guy knocked out for a couple turns, the Russians were able to smash into my defense which was further crippled by the Ammo shortage as I lost two MMG's as well four squads getting reduced from rolling 12's on their fire attacks. The Matildas rule the battlefield in this one, never moving adjacent to my guys due to the possibility of the Germans getting a MOL attack. By turn four I felt it was pretty much over for the Germans, my OBA never came into play, so that right there put an end to the game pretty much.
In both scenarios I did play, it seems that if the Germans do not get their OBA or Airsupport in a timely manner, it can be curtains for the German defenders. In both cases the Russians surprisingly did not use Human waves but with the situation that the Germans were in dire straights without their assets in play, really did not make using Human Wave tactics necessary.
Really liked both KGS 4 and KGS 5 and hope to give them a try later on down the road again.Next week, I will be playing KGS 12 May Day East Side and FT224 Guardians of the Galaxy. Although I get the feeling with KGS 12 that once more both Airsupport and Arty will be the linchpins of my defense.......
Scott
Gunner Scott
Forum Guru
Here is an article by Craig Benn relating his experience with CG I Red Army Day. It is a great article with excellent insight into this CG. http://www.vftt.co.uk/vfttpdf/vftt90.pdf
Craig Benn
Senior Member
Why thanks Scott - I'll be interested to see what you think from the German side of the hill.