Second Kharkov Supplement

Another quick update on this. I'm making decent progress. The supplement will have 3 campaigns. The first campaign covers the first day of the battle with the Soviet advance against Kampfgruppe Winkler's positions. The second campaign covers the German counter attack by Kampfgruppe Schmidt-Ott. Both of these are Chain of Command campaigns. The first has seven scenarios and the second has six. I have completed the first campaign and have done one of six of the second.

The third campaign is something a bit different. It is a What a Tanker campaign. I am currently play testing this to see if it will work. The campaign takes place as a map campaign using a period Soviet 1:50,000 scale map. Each player commands a company of armor. They move their platoons across the map until they encounter an enemy unit. Think of it as kriegspiel light up until a tabletop game occurs.

If anyone is interested in trying this out, please let me know. I can add you to the virtual campaign. I am interested to see if this can work as a play by email campaign. I just need a player or two to try this out. You can find one variant of this on RPOL.net. Look for Second Kharkov Campaign by cstoesen. You should be able to find me there. Or just send me a message via the blog here.

Now this could completely fail and I will have to strip it out of the supplement. But who knows, it could be great fun.

If you are interested in the map for the campaign, you can check it out here.

Second Kharkov Campaign - Part 1 Complete

I just finished with the first of two Pint Sized Campaigns for Chain of Command for the Second Battle of Kharkov. There are seven scenarios based around the Soviet assault on the positions of Kampfgruppe Winkler in May 1942. The follow the account from Federovka through Nepokrytaya. The campaign puts the Germans on the defensive and have a tough fight to hold the line as the Soviets attack with veteran infantry and green armored troops.

Unlike the first battle of Kharkov supplement, this supplement takes place in rural areas and in open terrain. The maps are based on period maps of the area supplemented by Google Earth views of the terrain today. I have included snippets of the historical maps for players to choose their own interesting location for the battles if their terrain availible would better match other areas. The game maps are done in Campaign Cartographer and are labeled as to what types of buildings and structures are on the table.

One of my favorite scenarios from the batch involves a 10.5cm gun that is fired over open sights at lend lease armor. The scenario features a hastily assembles German platoon brought forward from a rear collection point and the gun attempting to stave off a Soviet armored advance.

Why seven scenarios instead of a six half ladder campaign? Well, it fit with the flow of the battle. I began with the initial defensive line and ended with the fall back position in the woods to the rear of Nepokrytaya.

What else will be in it? I am working on the second pint sized campaign now. This one covers the counter attack of Gruppe Schmidt-Ott of the 3rd Panzer Division that was called out of reserves on the second day of the battle and moved from the south of Kharkov up to the northeast to retake Nepokrytaya and push beyond.

This action involved both armor and infantry from the German side and the accounts of the battle have the Germans engaging a wide variety of Soviet vehicles including T-34s, KV-1s and older tanks. What makes this interesting, is it opens up for the possibility of a What A Tanker campaign. Once the Chain of Command scenario set is complete, I am looking to have modifications to run it as a What A Tanker campaign as well.

I am still working on a number of East Front Terrain pieces to complete out my collection for these campaigns. I am currently working on my Wild Lands store terrain. I am close to completing the first of the set that I had purchased from them last year. It turned out rather well and I am really happy with the purchase. They sell off of Facebook and are based in the Ukraine. The purchase process is a bit different than most of the online stores I have dealt with but the product is outstanding.

What I really hope to build up is the scatter terrain to make the rural houses look like places people actually live in. This will include chicken coops, sheds, barns, storage huts and the like. I also need more garden plots as well.

I hope to run a few play tests soon and post some pictures. I am also waiting on some friends to finish reviewing it and letting me know what they think. Hopefully, I will be able to release this in the spring this year. (I may be a bit optimistic.)

Recovery Time

Well back in the hospital again. But I am finally feeling well enough to do a little more research for the Second Kharkov campaign. I am searching for terrain ideas. One rabbit hole led to another and I found a site on the history of vodka in Russia. Through that there were some interesting stats and a picture of an Ukrainian vodka still. Seems that home brewed vodka operations out number legit ones in Russia by 14,000 to 121 or something like that. So a still will be a terrain feature for my East Front terrain.

In the article it mentioned that in rural areas vodka was a common method of payment for goods and services. In the Ukraine in 1941, following the Stalin famine survivors would probably have used a similar medium of payment. So there is decent choice.

I also have been scanning area German aerial photos of the area around Kharkov. I have some ideas on the layouts for the villages. Some progress made despite everything else.

Newest Old Distraction

Once again I have lost focus. Instead of finishing a project that is really close, I have jumped over to something completely different. I am back looking at the Seven Years War again.

Researching this particular rabbit hole has been really interesting. First, I have to give a huge thanks to the fine folks at Kronoskaf. Their site on the Seven Years War has been so much fun to go through. I have previously noted that I wanted to model a force based off of Frei-Infantrie Von Mayr. The campaign I am most interested in is the Prussian push into Bohemia. During this campaign, Von Mayr is given a larger command of close to 2000 men including 400 cavalry to destroy some Austrian magazines in Bohemia and then raid into the German Austrian Allies and prevent them from raising forces to aid the Austrian War effort.

The first item that I needed was a period map to understand the places that were listed in the sketchy reports that I could find. What I found was the Muller Map of Bohemia that predates the Seven Years War and was printed in 1723. What is attractive about this map is that it looks like it belongs in a Sharp Practice Campaign. It was one of the first systematic mapping efforts taken of the area. Thus it has potential for use of earlier wars as well. There is a nice PDF that gives information about the history of the map and other background info that might be useful. Another good source would be the 1st Military Mapping by the Austro-Hungarians that occured between 1764 to 1767. This was done after the war but still is close enough to get a good lay of the land.

With this map in hand, I set out to map out where the campaign happened. I am still attempting to gather resources and have pulled down several nice histories on line. One account has Von Mayr leading his Frie-Infantrie with another battalion of similar troops (Frei-Infanterie von Kalben) plus about 200 Hussars (2 sqns of Szekely Hussars). These were supported by five artillery pieces, four of which were light one pound weapons and the fifth was twelve pounder. They moved with a minimum of baggage. In a history of Fredrick the Great, von Mayr's force was described as "swift wild fellows, sharp of stroke."

What they largely faced were garrison troops and training groups being gathered to supply troops to the Austrian field army. They begin the campaign in late April 1757 in Charwatetz. Just days prior to this, von Mayr, had gotten some good press by seizing a castle from the Austrians. He covered himself in glory and became visible enough to be given this independent command.

Now Johann von Mayr was a bit of a character. He reads as if he was a generated character from Sharp Practice. He was an illegitimate son of Count Stella. In a biography of Baron von Steuben, it describes his early life, "His boyhood was passed amid scenes of debauchery and profligacy." By eighteen he was expelled from Vienna and was destitute. He entered the military as a band boy in Hungary and fought in a war with Turkey to climb the ranks to become a sergeant. Eventually he became an officer then moved to Bavaria as a soldier of fortune. Then on to Saxony where he ended up leaving service due to a duel fought with a brother officer. This brings him to the attention of Frederick the Great. He hires him to for a Frei-Infantry Regiment to operate as an independent unit to fight the Austrian pandoors and grenzers.

Yet, he really didn't get a chance to shine until teh capture of the Castle of Tetschen. In this operation he was under the command of General Zastrow. On April 25th, the general was shot through the head by an Austrian Pandoor and killed instantly. Within days, von Mayr was given his chance to lead and assigned to destroy one or more Austrain magazines in Bohemia including the one in Pilsen. He makes it to Pilsen by May 2nd and destroyed the magazine beforw turning west towards Nurnberg. Other sources say that Pilsen was reached on May 8th.

Map from the same place as link above.

I have the figures for my von Mayr force. I haven't figured out my Austrians yet.

Chain of Command and What a Tanker - Russian Front 1941, scenarios and buildings

Terrain

When I try to set deadlines for myself in completing projects, I find myself trying to do anything else but what I need to do. For my Second Battle of Kharkov supplement, I have no need of a large urban church. So I worked on a large urban church yesterday. Actually, that was quite fun. I am using the Church of the Dormition in Kharkov as the inspiration for the church. What this church has is a number of Greek/Roman accents. There are false pillars along the walls and that triangular thing at the roof. This presented a problem as the angle of the roof was much steeper than what I want to model. I am solving this by creating a false front that will have the columns and the triangular top piece that will overlay the existing structure and cover the existing roof angle. This will provide enough additional height to allow the doors and the stained glass windows to be visible with the false front attached.

That is the plan for the bottom floor. Next will be the tower. I haven't figured out what I want to do. The church of the Dormition is a two story structure while my TTCombat building is a single story structure in a cruciform shape. The Dormition church is in more of a 'T' Shape. This does not bother me that much. The goal is to resemble and not duplicate.

The steeple structures are radically different. The base level of the steeple of the Dormition was a square shape which is good as that is the shape that I have for the TTCombat church. But again, the angle of the roof is wrong. This will have to be corrected with a false front again and a new roof structure. This will be from thick card or cardboard. The biggest change will be the top of the steeple. I have a small onion dome from a paper terrain church. It is a nifty wooden one. The only thing it lacks is a coptic cross to put on the top. It came silver but I will probably repaint it gold. The junction between the steeple roof and the onion dome is something I have not figured out yet.

To help with the project, I am photocopying the parts. Then drawing the facade over the top of the photo copies. I can then photocopy that as much as I need to and use it as a template to cut out the parts I need from the cardboard sheeting. Well, that is the thought at this stage of things.

Scenarios

And instead of writing new scenarios, I started to look at old ones. One thing that I intend to include in the SBoK Supplement is a guide for What a Tanker themed games for the battle. The 3rd Panzer Divisions counter attack on the Soviet columns had a number of encounters that would work in either Chain of Command or in What a Tanker. In some places, the rolling advance of the 3rd Panzer almost lends itself to What a Tanker even better than Chain of Command as there were a number of pure armor encounters.

The problem is that the Soviets were in trouble by this point. Short of fuel, ammo and food, the Soviet tanks could not be as aggressive as they had been just a few days earlier at the start of the campaign where they encountered no German tanks. That reminded me of a scenario that I had written for one of the first encounters by the Germans with Soviet T-34 tanks on June 23rd, 1941. Soviet T-34s of the 10th Tank Division ran into a patrol of five tanks from the 15th Panzer Regiment.

Anyway, I don't want to give up the story here. If anyone is interested in a copy of this scenario, please give me an email and I will mail it to you. Even better, if you want the scenario and one of my Chain of Command books (Campaign for Kharkov or In the Name of Roma), I will knock 50% off of the scenario book if you email me that you found this here. This will not work with the buy it now buttons here nor on Wargame Vault or Amazon. (Just too lazy to integrate them.) Just directly through me. You can reach out to me through the contact me on the "talk to Me" form on the left of this post.

Also, I would love to hear play tests of this scenario. I am planning to run a couple myself in the near future. I'd love to hear back from you on how they worked. The terrain is tricky since it is just one big hill with lots of undulations to hide tanks in.