Kursk: Operation Zitadelle, 4 July 1943

Kursk: Operation Zitadelle, 4 July 1943 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Equipment

The Game Map: The 22" by 28" map sheet portrays the area of Central Russia in which the decisive operations of the Battle of Kursk (1943) took place. A hexagonal grid is superimposed upon the map in order to regularize the movement and position of the playing pieces.

Game Charts and Tables: Various visual aids are provided for the player to simplify and illustrate certain game functions. These are the Combat Results Table (CRT), and the Turn Record Chart, the Terrain Effects Chart and the Order of Battle Alternatives Chart. Each of these charts are fully explained where they are presented.

The Playing Pieces: Two differently coloured sets of playing pieces (henceforth known as units) are supplied. They represent the opposing armies in the campaign, that did, or could have, fought the original battles. The opposing German and Soviet Forces in each of the varying Orders of Battle are composed by selecting units from those provided on the unit sheet. It is strongly recommended that the players sort and store their units by type and color, and keep them segregated. This greatly facilitates setting up the game. The playing pieces are distinguished by type, strength, and mobility, as represented by various numbers and symbols printed on their faces.

Unit Symbols (as shown on the printed unit diagram): Unit-Type Symbol; Unit-Size Symbol; Unit Designation; Movement Allowance; Attack & Defense Strength.

Motorized units: Armor; Motorized Infantry.
Non-Motorized units: Infantry; Cavalry; Anti-Tank; Artillery.
Air Units: Aircraft Element; Ground Support Element.
Unit-Size Symbols: Battalion (II); Regiment (III); Brigade (X); Division (XX); Corps (XXX); Army (XXXX); Army Group (XXXXX).

Unit Abbreviations:

L—Lauchert's tank brigade, composed of the new PANTHER tanks.
F—"Ferdinand" self-propelled 88mm anti-tank guns.
Mant.—Kampfgruppen Manteufel, a battle-group (brigade size) commanded by Hasso von Manteufel, who later commanded the 5th Panzer army in the Battle of the Bulge.
1HS—1st Hungarian Security Division.
SS T—SS Totenkopf (deaths head) division.
SS DR—SS Das Reich (the empire) division.
SS AH—SS Adolf Hitler division.
GD—Gross Deutschland (greater Germany) division.
SS W—SS Wiking (Viking) division. The tank battalions consisted of heavy "Tiger" tanks.

General Course of Play

Kursk is basically a two-player game. Each Player moves his units and executes attacks in turn with the objective being to destroy Enemy units, while minimizing Friendly unit losses. Combat is resolved by comparing the strength-numbers of adjacent opposing units and expressing the comparison as a simplified probability ratio (odds). A die is rolled and the outcome indicated on the Combat Results Table is applied to the units being attacked. (See Combat Results Table for greater detail.)

The Sequence of Play

Kursk is played in turns. Each Game Turn is composed of two Player-Turns. Each Player-Turn is composed of three Phases. A typical Game-Turn would proceed as follows:

A. First Player-Turn (Germans move first, unless otherwise indicated):

Initial Movement Phase—Player may move all of his units in any direction up to their full Movement Allowance, with restrictions as outlined in the Movement Rule;
Combat Phase—Player may attack those enemy units adjacent to his units, at his option;
Motorized Movement Phase—Player may move (again) only those units of his which contain an armor symbol (armor and motorized infantry), up to their full Movement Allowance in any direction within the restrictions as outlined in the Movement Rule. This movement is in addition to the Initial Movement Phase.

No combat occurs after this Phase.

B. Second Player-Turn (Soviets move second in most scenarios): Repeat Phases 1 through 3 for the Second Player, who uses his own units.

C. Players indicate the passage of one Game Turn on the Turn Record Chart. Each Game-Turn represents two days real time.

Game-Length

The game lasts six Game-Turns; at the end of the Second Player's Motorized Movement Phase of the sixth Game-Turn, all movement ceases, and the Players' performances are evaluated in terms of the Victory Conditions.

Movement

General Rule: During the Movement Phases of a Player's turn, the Player may move as many or as few of his units as he wishes. Each unit may be moved as many hexes as desired within the limits of its Movement Allowance, the Terrain Effects Chart, and the Zone of Control Rules.

Procedure: Move each unit individually, tracing the path of its movement through the hexagonal grid.

Cases:

(A) Movement is calculated in terms of hexagons. Basically each unit expends one Movement Point of its total Movement (point) Allowance for each hex entered. To enter some types of hexes, more than one Movement point is expended. See the Movement section of the Terrain Effects Chart for a full list of these different "entry costs."

(B) In any given Movement Phase of a Player-Turn, the Player may move all, some or none of his units (with the exception that only motorized units may be moved during the Motorized Movement Phase). Movement is never required, it is voluntary.

(C) Units are moved individually; in any direction or combination of directions. A unit may be moved as many or as few hexes as the owning-Player desires as long as its Movement Allowance is not exceeded in a single Movement Phase. Unused Movement points, however, may not be accumulated from Phase-to-Phase or transferred from unit-to-unit.

(D) No Enemy movement is permitted during a Player's Movement Phase.

(E) No combat (Enemy or Friendly) may take place during a Movement Phase.

(F) Friendly units may pass through or onto other Friendly units as long as there are never more than three Friendly units, of divisional-size or larger, in the same hex at the same time. In other words, a unit may not pass through a hex containing three (or more) other divisional-sized Friendly units (see Stacking Rule).

(G) Units may never enter or pass through a hex containing Enemy units.

(H) In a given Movement Phase, once a unit has been moved and the Player's hand withdrawn from the piece) it may not be moved again nor may it re-trace and change its move.

(I) Units may move over different types of terrain-hexes in the same Movement Phase as long as they have enough Movement points to expend as they enter each hex.

The effects of terrain on movement are cumulative, i.e., moving from an Enemy Zone of Control to another Enemy Zone of Control, ordinarily three plus two plus one for the movement of one hex, or six in total, would cost eight in a fortified-line hex.

The effects of terrain on combat are not cumulative, i.e., the attacker can never be forced to subtract more than two from the die roll, and one Close Supporting Aircraft Element negates all terrain effects on combat.

Enemy occupation of fortified line hexes does not affect the fortifications, and if retaken, they are as good as new.

Terrain Effects Chart (TEC)

Type of Terrain	Effect on Movement	Effect on Combat
Forest & Swamp	Motorized units and Ground Support Elements expend one additional Movement Point for each Forest or Swamp hex entered. All other units move normally.	Attacker subtracts "1" from his die-roll when attacking units which are in Forest or Swamp hexes. The Zones of Control of Motorized units do not extend into Forest or Swamp hexes.
River Hex-side	No Effect	Attacker subtracts "2" from his die-roll if all units are attacking through River-hex-sides.
Fortified-line & Fortified Cities	All units expend two additional Movement Points to enter each ENEMY Fortified hex, (units do NOT pay additional costs when entering their own fortified hexes).	Attacker subtracts "2" from his die-roll when attacking a unit (or units) defending in their own fortified hexes.

*Fortified Cities are those city hexes which have an "F" in them.

Zones of Control

General Rule: The six hexagons immediately surrounding a given unit (or stack of units) constitute that unit's Zone of Control. These are semi-active Zones of Control which have an inhibiting effect upon Enemy movement, but do not affect Enemy combat. Hexes upon which a unit is exerting its Semi-Active Zone of Control are called controlled hexes.

Example: If a German Armored unit were to enter a Soviet Zone of Control in the forest, it would expend five Movement Points in moving one hex: three for entering a Zone of Control, one for moving one hex, one additional for armor moving the forest. If the same unit were to leave one controlled hex for another controlled hex, it would expend seven Movement Points (three plus two plus one plus one).

All effects of movement inhibition are cumulative: in certain situations units may be prevented from moving altogether, due to accumulating penalties.

Procedure:

All units must expend three additional Movement Points (MP), above and beyond the ordinary movement cost, to enter an Enemy controlled hex from another, uncontrolled hex. They may not enter an Enemy Zone of Control (and thus be able to attack) unless they have the three extra Movement Points to expend.

(B) It costs two additional Movement Points to leave an Enemy controlled hex, above and beyond the ordinary movement cost.

(C) If you move directly from one controlled hex of an Enemy unit to another controlled hex of the same or any other Enemy unit, it costs five additional Movement Points (three plus two, as outlined in Cases A & B).

(D) If a hex is controlled by more than one unit, it still costs only three additional Movement Points to enter such hex. This is true for all movement costs, e.g., entering a hex with more than one Zone of Control never costs more additional Movement Points than entering a hex with one Zone of Control (including the single hex Zone of Control exerted by an interdicting aircraft unit).

(E) For movement purposes Enemy Zones of Control do extend into hexes occupied by Friendly units. For supply purposes Enemy Zones of Control do not extend into hexes occupied by Friendly units. See Supply Rule.

(F) The following units do NOT have Zones of Control: Soviet Artillery Corps and Anti-Tank Brigades; German non-divisional Armored units; all air units (both Ground Support and Aircraft Elements).

Stacking

(more than one unit per hex)

General Rule: German units: as many as three divisions plus one non-divisional unit may be stacked together in the same hex. Russians: as many as three corps plus one non-corps unit may be stacked together in the same hex.

Cases:

(A) Stacking limitations apply at all times (even while units are being moved).

(B) The Germans have six non-divisional units (two brigades and four battalions): any three of these units taken together is the stacking equivalent of one division. The German Player could, therefore, stack two divisions plus four non-divisional units in the same hex OR one division plus all six non-divisional units in the same hex.

(C) The Soviets have four non-corps sized units (the four anti-tank brigades): any three brigades taken together are the stacking equivalent of one corps. The Soviet Player could, therefore, stack two corps plus all four non-corps units together in the same hex.

(D) Air units are the equivalent of a division (in the case of the Germans) or a corps (in the case of the Soviets). The two counters which represent a given air unit (i.e. the Ground Support Element counter and the Aircraft counter) are treated as ONE UNIT for stacking purposes.

(E) Friendly units may pass into or through a Friendly stack as long as if at no point in the procedure is the stacking limit violated.

Supply

General Rule: Units must be able to trace supply lines leading from their position to a railroad which leads off their friendly map-edge (west edge for the Germans, any edge east of the Soviet Fortified Line for the Soviets). Supply lines must be free of Enemy units and/or Enemy Zones of Control. Units which are unable to trace a line of supply are penalized with respect to movement and combat ability.

Procedure: Units are determined to be "in supply" for movement purposes at the beginning of each Friendly Movement Phase, and may move their full Movement Allowance if they are in supply at such time; for combat purposes they are determined to be in supply at the precise moment of the combat, i.e., if a defending unit had been in supply at the beginning of the Enemy Combat Phase, but another preceding combat had forced the retreat of some other Friendly unit through which its supply line was being traced, it would be adjudged "out of supply" at the moment of attack.

Supply lines may be traced through as many as ten hexes (of any type of terrain) in order to reach the unobstructed rail-line over which the remainder of the supply route must be traced. Once the rail-line is reached, however, the supply route may not "jump off" the rails again. The supply line(s) may be as convoluted as is necessary in order to avoid Enemy units or Zones of Control.

Cases:

(A) Units out of supply have their Movement Allowance and Attack and Defense Strengths halved (lose fraction).

(B) Units may remain out of supply indefinitely, i.e., units are never lost through lack of supply alone.

(C) Any number of friendly units may be supplied through the same path of hexes. Any number of paths may be traced to supply units in different locations. Supply lines may be traced through any type of terrain and through any number of Friendly units.

(D) Supply lines may be cut in any of the following ways:

The intervention of an Enemy unit, or units;
The intervention of an Enemy zone of control.

NOTE: Enemy zones of control do not interfere with supply lines being traced through a hex containing a Friendly unit, i.e., the presence of a Friendly unit in an Enemy controlled hex negates the effect of that Zone of Control (on supply, only!)

(E) Units may deliberately move into hexes which will leave them out of supply.

Combat

General Rule: Combat occurs between adjacent opposing units at the discretion of the Player whose Combat Phase it is. The Player whose Combat Phase it is, is considered to be the Attacker; the other Player is considered to be the Defender.

Procedure: Total-up the Attack-Strengths of all the attacking units involved in a specific attack and compare it to the total Defense-Strengths of the unit(s) in the hex under attack. State the comparison as a probability ratio: Attack Strength-to-Defense Strength. Round-off the ratio downward to conform to the simplified odds found on the Combat Results Table; roll the die and read the result on the appropriate line under the odds. Apply the result immediately, before going on to resolve any other attacks being made during that Combat Phase.

Cases:

(A) During the Combat Phase of his turn, a Player may only attack those Enemy units to which Friendly units are adjacent. Only those Friendly units directly adjacent to a given Enemy unit may participate in the attack upon that Enemy unit.

(B) Units adjacent to Enemy units are not compelled to attack, nor does the attacking Player have to utilize every adjacent unit if he does decide to attack. Attacking is completely voluntary.

(D) Soviet Anti-Tank brigades may only be used to defend (this limitation is symbolized by the small "D" on the counter). In order to be employed defensively they must act in concert with at least one regular Soviet corps which must be in the same hex. Example: If two Soviet Armored Corps were stacked with two Anti-Tank Brigades, then both brigades could contribute their Defense Strengths to the total Strength in that hex. If there was only one regular corps present, then only one of the Brigades could contribute its strength to the defense.

(E) Soviet Artillery Corps may only attack (this limitation is symbolized by the small "A" on the counter). In order to attack, each Artillery Corps must be stacked with a regular Soviet Corps unit which is participating in the same attack. Example: Two Soviet Artillery Corps are stacked with one "2-4" Infantry Corps. In such a case only one of the Artillery Corps could contribute its Attack Strength to the total attacking force (the other Artillery unit could not be used).

A Soviet Anti-Tank Brigade and an Artillery Corps could both be stacked with one regular Soviet unit and both could use the same regular unit to fulfill their respective requirements for employment.

(F) The German non-Divisional Armored units whose Attack/Defense Strengths are enclosed in parentheses may only employ that strength when stacked with a regular German combat unit. In order to be employed in an attack, each non-divisional unit must be matched with at least one separate regular unit participating in the same attack from the same hex. Example: Three non-divisional armored units are stacked with two regular divisions; only two of the non-divisional units could contribute their strength to either an attack or a defense.

Note that there is one German Motorized Infantry Brigade which is considered as a regular unit (the "1-8" Mant.).

(G) The Soviet and German units described in Cases D, E, and F are called Limited units. Limited units have no Zone of Control, may not participate in combat without regular units, and if caught by a regular Enemy unit, when not stacked with a Friendly regular unit then the limited unit is automatically eliminated when attacked (without having to roll the die). An air unit Ground Support Element does not fulfill the requirement of being stacked with a regular unit, with respect to limited unit employment.

(H) More than one Enemy-occupied hex may be attacked by a given attacking unit (or group of attacking units); that is to say, different defending units on different hexes may be treated as the objects of attacks which might be made by a one-hex group of attacking units if the attacking unit happens to be adjacent to two or more Enemy-occupied hexes.

(I) An Enemy-occupied hex may be attacked by as many attacking units as can be brought to bear. Conceivably, as many six stacks of units could be brought to bear against an Enemy-held hex.

(J) Not every unit in an attacking stack must participate in the attack.

(K) Combat odds are rounded-off in favor of the Defender. For example: An attack of 26 Attack points against 9 Defense points would round-off to a "Two-to-One" odds situation.

The effects of terrain on combat are not cumulative, i.e., the attacker can never be forced to subtract more than two from the die roll, and one Close Supporting Aircraft Element negates all terrain effects on combat.

Combat Results

Attacks at greater than 9-1 odds are resolved as a 9-1 attack; attacks at less than 1-3 odds are resolved as an 1-3 attack.

Explanation of Results:

AX—attacker destroyed; all units that were attacking are removed from the board, but not units in same hex not involved in attack.
AR—attacker retreats; defender removes all attacking units back one hex; they must be retreated in direction of their supply line; units that cannot be moved back because of stacking limitations, or are only able to move back into Enemy zones of control, are destroyed instead.
BR—both retreat; defending units are retreated one hex in direction of supply, if possible, first; then the attacker is retreated by the defending player one hex; units are eliminated if unable to retreat, as outlined in "AR".
DX and any other units in hex which did not participate in the defense are also destroyed.
EX—exchange; all defending units are removed from the board, and the attacker must remove combat strengths equal to, or greater than, the defender's losses; the attacker chooses which units he loses.
½EX—same as EX, except attacker need only remove one-half of the defender's losses in terms of Strength Points.

Advance After Combat: In all of the above cases, if the Combat Results causes a vacancy in a hex, whether by retreat or destruction, the opposite side, whether attacker or defender, may immediately advance into the thus vacated hex, if that hex is not an enemy fortified line hex.

This is an exception to the rule that one side may not move during its own combat phase or the Enemy turn sequence.

Kursk Combat Results Table (CRT)

Die Roll	1-3	1-2	1-1	2-1	3-1	4-1	5-1	6-1	7-1	8-1	9-1
-1	AX	AX	AX	AX	AX	AR	AR	AR	BR	BR	BR
0	AX	AX	AX	AX	AR	AR	BR

Air Units

General Rule: Air units, in a given Game Turn, are capable of either flying aerial missions or changing the location of their base of operation (by moving the appropriate Ground Support Element in the same fashion as any regular non-motorized ground combat unit). Aerial missions either affect combat or Enemy movement and supply lines.

Procedure: Aircraft units may fly aerial missions over specific hexes which may be as far away from the ground support element as the aircraft unit's Range of Allowance permits. The routine of execution depends upon the specific type of mission being flown. Aircraft units are not affected by terrain considerations when in flight.

Cases:

(A) An Air unit is composed of two separate counters: the Ground Support Element, and the Aircraft Element. These two counters taken together constitute one Corps-equivalent for stacking purposes (or one division-equivalent in the case of German Air units). There is no limit to the number of Aircraft Elements which may be flying in the "air space" over a given hex.

(B) Only one Aircraft Element may be based in a single Ground Support Element, and only that Aircraft Element having the same identification number as its parent Ground Support Element may be based in that particular Ground Support Element.

(C) When the Ground Support Element is moved, it must have its Air Element in it ("or the ground"). Ground Support Elements are moved in the Initial Movement Phase only (as if they were non-motorized units). Ground Support Elements suffer the terrain-movement costs as if they were MOTORIZED units: i.e., they must pay an additional Movement Point for each forest or swamp hex which they enter.

(D) Aircraft Elements may be used to fly any one of five possible missions in a given Game Turn (assuming of course that their parent Ground Support Element is not moved).

Aircraft Missions:

(1) Close Support (flown during the owning Player's Combat Phase): Aircraft flys to a hex containing Enemy ground units which are to be attacked by Friendly ground units in that Combat Phase. The presence of a Close support Aircraft Element has the effect of raising the subsequent die-roll of the attacking ground force by two; e.g., if the die-roll were "3" it would be raised to "5". If, due to terrain, the Attacker is forced to subtract two from his die-roll, then the presence of a Close Support Aircraft Element has the effect of negating that subtraction (and the face value of the die is used). If the attacker, due to terrain, is forced to subtract one from his die-roll, then the presence of a Close Support Aircraft Element has the effect of cancelling this subtraction and raising the die-roll by one. Only one Aircraft Element may fly a Close Support mission in a given Enemy-held hex. Close Support missions are landed immediately upon the resolution of the ground attack. Ground combat results do not affect the Close Supporting Aircraft Element.

(2) Interdiction (Aircraft Element takes-off at the end of the owning-Player's Motorized Movement Phase and is returned to its base at the end of the ensuing Enemy Motorized Movement Phase: i.e., it remains "in the air" over a specific hex during the entire Enemy Player Turn.): Aircraft Elements flying interdiction missions over a given hex have exactly the same effect upon Enemy supply and movement as if a Friendly Ground unit were exerting a Zone of Control in that hex. Just as with ground unit Zones of Control, the presence of an Enemy unit in the interdicted hex negates the effect upon the supply lines (but not upon movement). More than one Aircraft Element may fly Interdiction in the same hex, but this does not in any way increase the interdiction effect. Interdiction missions are subject to Enemy Interception.

(3) Combat Air Patrol (Aircraft Element takes-off at the end of the owning Player's Motorized Movement Phase and is returned to its base at the end of the ensuing Enemy Player's Motorized Movement Phase: i.e., it remains "in the air" throughout the entire Enemy Player Turn.): Any number of Aircraft Elements may fly Combat Air Patrol (CAP) in the same hex. As long as Friendly Aircraft are flying CAP over a hex, Enemy Aircraft may not fly Interdiction or Close Support missions in that hex. If the CAP is completely driven off by Enemy interceptors, however, then other Enemy Aircraft Elements may, in the same Player Turn, execute a Close Support mission in that hex and/or initiate an Interdiction mission over that hex.

(4) Air Superiority (Aircraft Element takes-off at the end of the owning-Player's Initial Movement Phase and return to base at the end of the owning Player's Combat Phase.): Air Superiority missions are flown against Enemy Ground Support Elements in an effort to destroy them from the air.

Each Enemy Ground Support Element defends against Air Superiority attacks with a Defense Strength of "1". Each Enemy Aircraft Element on CAP over an Enemy Ground Support Element adds "1" to the Defense Strength of the Ground Support Element. Each attacking Aircraft Element has an Attack Strength of "1". Determine the odds of the attack in the usual manner (just as in land combat, rounding off the odds in the defender's favor.). Roll the die once for each attack and determine the Air Superiority attack results using the Air Superiority Table.

Note that whatever the result of the air superiority attack, there is no effect upon the CAP units nor upon the attacking Aircraft Elements. Aircraft Elements can only be destroyed by destroying their parent Ground Support Elements (either in land combat or through an Air Superiority attack).

If there is more than one Ground Support Element in a hex, each must be attacked separately using different attacking Air Elements. In such a case, the attacker first allocates which of his units will attack which Ground Support Element and then the defender may allocate his CAP Air Elements (if any) to assist in the defense. The attacker does not necessarily have to attack all the Ground Support Elements in a given hex.

Ground Support Elements stacked together do not contribute to each other's defense with respect to an Air Superiority attack. Terrain effects do not apply to Air Superiority Missions.

Friendly Aircraft Elements on CAP over Friendly Ground Support Elements are not subject to interception.

(5) Interception (Aircraft Elements take-off, execute mission and return to base at the beginning of the owning Player's Initial Movement Phase, before any land movement takes place.): Only Enemy Interdiction and/or Enemy CAP missions are subject to interception. Interception does not result in the destruction of either Player's Air Elements; rather it has the effect of forcing the Enemy Player's units to abort their mission: for each Friendly Intercepting Air Element flown against a hex containing Enemy Air Elements, one Enemy Air Element is forced to abort its mission and return to base. In effect one Interceptor negates one Enemy Air Element and causes both units to be returned to their respective bases immediately. If an interception mission is flown against a given hex containing Enemy Air Elements some of which are flying an Interdiction mission and some of which are flying a CAP, the Interceptors must first deal with the CAP Elements. After the CAP has been cleared from the hex, any remaining Interceptors may then deal with the Interdiction mission. Aircraft Elements flying CAP over a Friendly Ground Support Element, are NOT subject to interception.

(E) Ground Support Elements do not have a Zone of Control (whether or not their Aircraft Element is in them). Whenever a Ground Support Element is destroyed, its Aircraft Element is also destroyed (immediately, no matter where it is or what sort of mission it may be flying).

(F) In order to differentiate between Aircraft Elements flying Interdiction missions and those flying CAP, Players may wish to flip face-down those Aircraft Elements on CAP.

(G) Opposing Aircraft Elements may fly through each other while in the air.

Air Superiority Table

Die	1-2	1-1	2-1	3-1	4-1	5-1	6-1
1	-	X	X	X	X	X	X
2	-	-	X	X	X	X	X
3	-	-	-	X	X	X	X

X = Ground Support Element Destroyed (plus the matching Aircraft Element)

- = No Effect

Victory Conditions

The winner is determined on the basis of Victory Points which are awarded for the Strengths of Enemy units eliminated, and for capturing and holding (in supply) certain geographic objectives at the end of the Soviet Motorized Movement Phase.

Objectives vary slightly from scenario to scenario. In all the scenarios, Players receive one point for each Attack or Defense Strength point of the Enemy eliminated. If a Motorized unit is eliminated, triple the number of Victory Points which would ordinarily be gained.

In the July 4, June 12, May 3, and July 4 historical scenarios, whichever side is in possession of Kursk, in supply, at the end of the game receives an additional 20 Victory Points.

In the August 3 scenario, each side receives the following points for being in supplied possession of the following objectives: Kursk-20; Orel-20; Bryansk-30; Kharkov-40; Belgorod-10.

In the July 4 German Defense scenario, the Soviet Player receives the points for those geographic objectives which he did not hold at the start of the game, but the German Player receives Victory points only for destroying units.

Levels of Victory

As we all know, victory comes in many varieties, and what may be legitimately claimed as a current victory is not decisive enough to help your cause. These different levels measure what each side needed for a certain level-of-victory. This expressed in a ratio of your Victory points to Enemy Victory points.

Victory:

Marginal—1 to 1 for both Germans and Soviets;
Tactical—2 to 1 for Germans; 1.5 to 1 for Soviets;
Decisive—3 to 1 for Germans; 2 to 1 for Soviets.

Control of Cities

A city is considered controlled if it has been occupied previously by one side's forces and is now behind that side's front lines, or if it is occupied in entirety by one Player's units which are in supply, even if there is an Enemy Zone of Control extending into the city. Cities not clearly occupied by either Player give their Victory points to neither side.

Optional Rules

These additional rules should only be used if the game's complexity has begun to wane, and you are an ultra-realism fanatic. They should not be considered an improvement to the Standard Game, but an addition for the sake of greater complexity, no more or less valid for that complexity.

German Kampfgruppen

Commentary: Usually when a large German motorized unit was smashed in combat, there still remained a large enough force to be effective as a combat unit; these were called "Battlegroups" (Kampfgruppen), and generally took their name from the temporary commander, e.g., KG Schultz.

Although this was very effective in forming a battle line to resist enemy breakthroughs, it was very expensive in terms of losing the remnants around which an entire new division could be formed.

Cases:

(A) Whenever a German 4-8, 5-8, or 6-8 unit is destroyed and the unit is in supply, instead of being removed entirely from play, retreat the unit according to the normal rules of retreat (see Combat Results Table), remove the unit, and replace it with a KG unit. The above applies in "DX" and "EX" and "½EX" combat results.

(B) If the unit to be replaced is a 4-8 or 5-8, replace it with an 1-8 KG unit; if the unit is a 6-8, replace it with a 2-8 KG unit. Only these units are replaced by KG units.

(C) The difference (in Victory Points) between the original unit and the replacement KG in terms of combat strength (a 6-8 less a 2-8 would yield four), multiplied by three, as in the usual Victory Points, is given to the Soviet Player; however, if the surviving KG is eliminated, Victory Points equal to five times the combat strength of the KG is given to the Soviet Player.

Russian Army Integrity

Commentary: Although Russian units are symbolized in corps-sized units, actually the Russian Army had abolished the corps system in 1941 and not reinstated it by the time of the battle. The reason for this was the shortage of skilled or competent higher echelon officers capable of commanding independent organizations. Divisions were grouped directly under the command of the Army, which still did not have enough good officers, despite this concentration of responsibilities. To simulate the difficulties of administering these masses, use the following rules.

Cases:

(A) To be in supply, in addition to the ordinary restriction of being within ten hexes of a rail line leading off the east edge of the map, Russian Corps must be within a certain number of hexes of another unit of the same army; obviously, close track must be kept of unit's position and especially their I.D. number, by which a unit's army designation is known. (The source prints "tex" for "ten".)

(B) Soviet 2-4 corps must be within three hexes of another unit in the same army to satisfy the requirements of Case A. 3-5 corps must be within five hexes of another unit in the same army to satisfy the requirements of Case A. These are "Guard" units which were always somewhat better organized and supplied.

(C) This rule only applies to Soviet 2-4 and 3-5 units; all other units must satisfy only the requirement for tracing a supply line to a rail line.

Typical Soviet Army: three Soviet "2-4" corps counters, one each marked with the army's designation (60A, 60B and 60C in the printed example).

Tactics

Dispersion: The Germans must divide their armor almost equally on the north and south sides of the salient. This will force the Russians to do the same with their forces. If the Nazis concentrate they will have no success whatsoever.

Attacking: Since the German usually finds himself attacking masses of Russian infantry in all games he must avoid exchanges unless he has infantry to cover losses. Ideally, don't attack with pure armor at less than 9-1 with air support.

Retreating: German units must make sure that they will be able to retreat in case of successful counterattacks. So don't concentrate too much behind deep penetrations.

Depth: Anywhere German armor units threaten, try to have a defense in depth to preclude deep penetrations.

Committing Armor: Kursk is a short game (6 turns). German and Russian armor must be committed immediately. Study carefully and then make your move. You only have one chance and you can't mess around.

Initial Set-Up

Each side receives their forces in accordance with the Order of Battle Chart.

Order of Battle

The Order of Battle Alternatives charts and their instructions are transcribed from the companion sheet of the same SPI edition. The two set-up maps (MAP A, Aug 3, and MAP B, July 4) are pictorial unit placements and are not transcribed here; the printed set-up for each scenario is shown on those maps.

Order of Battle Alternatives—Soviet

Unit type	July 4	June 12	May 3	Aug. 3* (Map A)	Aug. 3	July 4* (Map B)
2-4	51	51	48	51	51	51
3-5	18	18	15	15	18	18
4-6	15	9	5	12	15	15
5-6	10	6

Reinforcements (Soviet; the number of units of each type arriving at the beginning of the Soviet Player Turn shown, for each Order of Battle column; blank means none is listed):

Turn	Unit type	Aug. 3* (Map A)	Aug. 3
1	2-4	9	6
2	4-6	2
2	3-5	6	3
2	5-6	1
3

Order of Battle Alternatives Chart—German

Unit type	July 4	June 12	May 3	Aug. 3* (Map A)	Aug. 3	July 4* (Map B)
2-5	50	50	46	42	50	50
5-8	15	15	9	10	15	15
4-8	3	3	2	3	3	3
6-8	4	4

The Germans never receive any replacements: they had everything committed.

* This Order of Battle must be set up in accordance with the accompanying small map; it represents the historical dispositions at the start of the battle.

German Fortifications and Soviet Fortifications are shown on the charts as hex symbols: Soviet fortified lines are marked May (1), June (2) and July (3); the German fortified line is marked by its own symbol.

Instruction for the Use of the Order of Battle Alternatives Chart (OBAC)

The accompanying charts illustrate alternative mixes of counters which may be used by each Player; they should be matched, by order, for both Players, i.e., if one Player uses the June 12 column, the other should also. Each vertical column is a separate Order of Battle for the Player. Reading horizontally, you use the number of the type of unit as shown in the vertical column you have chosen. At the bottom of the Soviet OBAC is detailed the number of reinforcements available at the beginning of each Soviet Player Turn, for each different OB.

General Description: Each of the alternatives illustrates the effect that the respective power's timing options and strategic decisions would have had upon the forces they could have fielded during April-August, 1943. They breakdown into four different possible starting times for the German offense, a proposed German defense, and the actual, historical situation.

Initial Unit Placement Procedure: The Soviet Player sorts out his forces first and places them on the board where he wishes, on, or to the east, of the first Soviet fortified line; every hex of the first Soviet line must either be occupied by a unit, or be in a Zone of Control of a unit. After the Soviet Player has set up, the German Player proceeds to place his units; he also must have an unit or its Zone of Control in every hex of his fortified line (not the Hagen Line). German units may be placed anywhere on, or to the west of the German fortified Line.

Reinforcements: Soviet reinforcements appear on the eastern edge of the mapboard at the beginning of the Soviet Player Turn; they may move in that Player Turn.

Footnotes (Soviet chart): In the May scenario, only the first Soviet Fortified Line is active; ignore the others. In the June scenarios, both the first and second Soviet Fortified Lines are active; ignore the third. In the July scenarios, all Soviet Fortified Lines are active. Inactive Fortified Lines are treated as clear terrain. Unless otherwise shown in a set up map, Russian Motorized and Armored units (all units with a Movement Allowance of "6" or more) may not be set up in a fortified-line hex.

Notes

Historical Background

The war in the east (1941-45) between Russia and Germany was decided, to a large extent, by two major battles. The first was the Battle of Stalingrad (September 1942-February 1943), and the subsequent Russian offensive. This offensive set the stage for the Battle of Kursk in mid-1943.

At the Battle of Stalingrad the German army had been smashed like never before. Of the divisions surrounded at Stalingrad (21 in all) six were motorized, three of these being panzer divisions. At that time there were only 31 German motorized divisions in Russia. Twenty percent of them were neutralized at Stalingrad. Although the 21 Stalingrad divisions were a bit less than 10% of the 234 divisions of the Germans had on the eastern front, another 14 "allied" (Rumanian and Italian) divisions were destroyed outright during the Russian offensive. After the Winter battles of 1942/43 were over the Germans had lost 37 of the "allied" divisions they had in November 1942. In effect, the Germans lost 56 divisions during the Stalingrad campaign, 24% of their division strength in Russia. By the Spring of 1943 they had replaced about half of these, although the loss in motorized divisions was never really made good. Infantry divisions were much easier to replace.

In many ways the German army of 1943 was of better quality than that of early 1942. For one thing, it relied much less on Hungarian, Rumanian and Italian "allied" divisions. On the other hand, the divisions themselves were weaker. In June 1942 180 German divisions contained 3.1 million men. In mid '43 190 divisions contained only 3 million. Worse yet, the available pool of replacements had been stripped, in order to bring the German divisions up to strength. Finally, there was the strength of the Russian army, against which German strength must be measured. In mid 1942 it stood at about 4 million, much of it still undergoing training. In mid 1943 Russian army strength stood at 5.5 million. Most of these men were now trained, and many were veterans of the recent Stalingrad battle.

The German's superior training enabled them to halt the Russians during the winter battles of early 1943. The Spring thaw set in in March and by late April was almost over. During this "mud" period neither side could do much of anything, except rebuild their shattered units. This the Germans did, and because of their still superior training and organization, they were able to do it faster than the Russians. Some German commanders urged that any attacks to be made be made immediately, in May, or June at the latest. But the German high command was not as confident as it was a year ago. The Russians had proven quite capable of defeating German armies. In 1942 such a defeat could be made good. This was not so in 1943.

Allied armies were on the verge of defeating the quarter million man Nazi (mainly Italian) army in North Africa. Closely following this would be an invasion of Sicily or the European mainland. The Germans were, so to speak, concerned about all of this. The events in North Africa had a profound effect on the situation in central Russia.

The basic German strategy in Russia for 1943 was to try and keep the Russians off balance, to "bleed" them with limited offensives and rapid counterattacks against Russian thrusts. Out of this "basic" strategy came the Battle of Kursk ("Operation Zitadelle").

The playing-map for the KURSK game shows about 40% of the Russian front. The map covers about 440 miles of front from north to south. Above the map it is about 500 miles to Leningrad, south of the map it is about 160 miles to the Black Sea. Russian and German strength was distributed as follows (July, 1943):

On playing-map-German: 84 divisions (18 panzer, 4 motorized infantry, 5 foreign, 5 security and 52 infantry, of which two were but remnants attached to other divisions). Russian: 193 divisions (160 infantry, 25 mobile—18 tank corps and 7 mechanized—and 8 cavalry).

North of the playing map-German: 76 divisions (2 motorized infantry, 5 security and 60 infantry). Russian: 158 divisions (4 mobile, 4 cavalry and 150 infantry).

South of the playing map-German: 45 divisions (2 panzer, 1 motorized infantry, 9 foreign, five security and 28 infantry). Russian: 100 divisions (90 infantry, 6 mobile and 4 cavalry). The number of divisions given for the Russians is approximate because of the manner in which the Russians deployed reserves. They frequently switched these large masses of divisions during operations. In effect, these large bodies of men belonged to no one sector of the front.

From the above you can see what a tremendous chance the Germans were taking in concentrating most of their mobile units (22 out of 27 divisions) for the attempt to pinch off the Kursk salient. Unknown to them was another major advantage for the Russians, a spy within the German high command. This gave the Russians precise information on where the Germans would attack, what with and when. This proved to be a critical advantage. They knew the Kursk area was to be the target. Therefore the Russians concentrated all of their efforts on this area. Instead of just one defensive line, the Russians had time to build three. More important, German delays in launching the offensive allowed the Russians to bring their combat units up to full strength. This can be seen in the game scenarios given. Below is a description of each of the game situations, plus some general pointers on tactics to use in the game.

4 May 1943 (Earliest German Offensive)

Only one active defense line and a 2-1 German armor superiority makes this a very difficult Russian situation at first sight, but it is not. The German armor is numerous, but still weak from the winter fighting. The Soviets simply place their 3-5 units on the north and south faces of the salient and their armor in front of Orel and Kharkov. The German set up gives them the option to pinch the salient or drive east into the endless steppe.

Probable Outcome: German marginal victory, little chance of taking Kursk, rather their best chance is to drive east and then roll up the Soviet flank.

12 June 1943 (Germans at 95% strength, Russians still building)

The Germans are about as strong in this one as they are going to get. Same German set-up as in previous scenario, only stronger. Armor should not be placed in the front line in initial set-up but held back a few hexes so as to threaten as much of the Russian front as possible. This makes the Russians somewhat weaker as they must deploy in strength along a wider front. This is the only scenario where the Germans should be able to take Kursk. The Russian army is simply outclassed.

Probable Outcome: German decisive victory. If the Russians place their mobile troops in the salient then the sides collapse.

4 July 1943 (The original battle)

Forget Kursk. Triple defense lines and Russian armor superiority are the main features of this scenario. The Germans must engage Soviet armor and defeat it. A smart Russian player can prevent this. But as is true with the two previous scenarios, the Russian will probably lose a lot of infantry.

Probable Outcome: Russian marginal victory. The German Order of Battle is impressive, but the Russian's is overwhelming.

August 1943 (Russian Summer Offensive)

This description applies both for the Russian offensive using the original German set up (as shown on the map) and the scenario, assuming that the Germans do not attack but go over to the defensive. The original Russian Summer Offensive (as shown on the set-up map) is the legendary Russian steamroller in action. The following comments apply to the scenario with a full strength German army on the defensive. You can easily see how much worse off the Germans are in the historical set up.

This is probably the most interesting scenario (Germans assume the defensive) as it is the most challenging. The games played usually come out with the Germans being pushed (or chased, depending on how good the German player is) back to the Hagen line in the north while trying to stop the Russians in front of, inside of or behind Kharkov. The Germans must carefully extricate the bulk of their infantry to positions in the Hagen line. This is very difficult and you will probably win or lose the game doing this. The south is more straightforward. The Russian player usually falls just short of Kharkov, unless the German is incompetent. Initial deployment of Russian infantry, particularly the guards units, is absolutely critical.

Probable Outcome: German marginal, but this scenario is very delicate and a few errors can cause tremendous variations.

4 July 1943 (Original German set up, using map)

This scenario should come out quite similar to anything you can come up with deploying as you like. It shows that the Germans had a somewhat more loose attitude than most game players. (Or else it shows that the game is pretty accurate).