[Ukraine] Soviet raid on Grigorevka

by GeneralHowitzer | Apr 29, 2025 | 1941, Artillery, Beach, Breakthrough Game, Combat Cards, Countryside, Destroyer, Infantry, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Eastern

Soviet Raid on Grigorevka

September 1941—Odessa’s under siege, and the Soviets are getting hammered by Romanian artillery. So what do they do? They go on the offensive—hard.

Captain Koren takes the lead at sea with the 3rd Naval Infantry Regiment, nearly 2,000 marines, while a small team of 23 paratroopers drops inland. The plan? Hit ’em from the front and the rear—paralyze their command, cut their lines, and blow those damned guns to hell.

Night of September 21st, the paratroopers jump near Hill 57.3—not clean, not pretty, but they get the job done. Took out a whole Romanian regimental HQ—with two dozen men. Meanwhile, Koren’s marines land at Grigorevka under a curtain of naval fire from the destroyers Bojkij and Bezuprechnyj, and they take those artillery batteries by storm.

By sunrise, they’re linking up with the 421st Rifle Division, and the Romanians? They’re pulling back—the 13th and 15th Divisions, thrown into reverse. That’s pressure off Odessa, and a big black eye for the Axis.

This wasn’t some massive Soviet steamroller. This was initiative, coordination, and guts. A rare joint strike—air, land, and sea—and it worked. Captain Koren didn’t wait to be hit—he hit first.

That’s how you win a war. Not by sitting in the trenches—but by getting out, striking hard, and making the enemy bleed where they thought they were safe.

~~ General Howitzer

12 VP’s

Card Balance:

Allies – 5

Axis – 4

Complexity:

4.5

Conditions:

Countryside

Context:

Historical

Location:

Ukraine

Year:

1941

Theater:

Eastern

Campaign:

Codename:

Summary:

Objectives:

12 VP’s, plus Objective Medals for Allies for the Romanian HQ, and each Artillery battery destroyed.

Battlefield:

Countrsyide and beach in a deep breakthrough battlemap

Troops:

Allies (Soviet Union) – 14 Infantry, 2 Destroyers!

Axis (Romania ) – 10 Infantry, 3 Artillery

Allied Strategy:

1. Soviets, as Allies, do a six unit paradrop. Drop them where you have the best set of cards to assist your attack.

Also, note that the paratroopers will not battle the first turn they are dropped, so they have to endure one round of enemy fire before they can attack.

2. The Axis outnumber you on your right flank at the start of the game, and the three forward units are in strong defensive positions, which suggests attacking elsewhere.

3. The Allies have two Destroyers at the start of the game. Two factors affecting their performance are visibility and location.

Visibility: Because of the night visibility rules, the Axis units may have time to move out of range of the ship guns before daylight arrives.

Location: This concerns the ability to get the Destroyers onto the border line so they have more flexibility on which section cards can activate them.

Once daylight arrives the Destroyers have a range of eight hexes, so their maximum firing range is row ten. Of course, that is their maximum range, but their effective firing range (of 2D attacks), is actually row six.

Axis Strategy

1. Your first defensive objective is to respond to wherever the Allied paratroopers happen to land. Respond immediately with available Infantry and Artillery to address the threat.

2. Bring your reserve units into play as soon as you can by moving the rear units forward on the map.

3. Because each Artillery unit is worth two! Medals, you will need to protect them in some way. Either move them back from the Destroyers’ range, or protect them from Infantry attacks by bring your own Infantry into play.

Battle Reports

Author:

Days of Wonder

Link:

Download PDF

Prokhorovka (Kursk)

by GeneralHowitzer | Nov 22, 2024 | 1943, Armor, Breakthrough Game, Countryside, Infantry, Location: Russia, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Eastern

La Prokhovorka ( The False Soviet Victory )

The Battle of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943, was one of the largest tank clashes of World War II, fought between Soviet forces and Germany’s II SS Panzer Corps during the Battle of Kursk. The Soviets launched a massive counterattack to halt the German advance, resulting in brutal close-quarters fighting.

General Howitzer summarizes the results:
The Soviets called it a victory, but the truth is they threw wave after wave of tanks into a meat grinder and came out bleeding. They didn’t break the German line—they broke themselves on it. The Germans held the field, but their momentum died right there in the smoke and steel. Prokhorovka wasn’t a win for either side—just a blood-soaked stalemate dressed up in headlines.

12 VP’s

Card Balance:

Allies – 5

Axis – 7

Complexity:

4

Conditions:

Countryside

Context:

Historical

Location:

Russia

Year:

1943

Theater:

Eastern

Campaign:

Battle of Kursk

Codename:

Operation Citadel

Summary:

Objectives:

12 VP’s, including Exit Medals for the Soviets

Battlefield:

A countryside with railroad tracks cutting across the battlefield.

Troops:

Allies – 5 Infantry, 12 Armor

Axis – 4 Infantry, 12 Armor

Special Rules:

There are a lot of special rules to be reviewed in the PDF.

Allied Strategy:

1.

Axis Strategy:

1.

Battle Reports

Author:

Days of Wonder

Link:

Download PDF

Ponyri (Kursk)

by GeneralHowitzer | Nov 1, 2024 | 1943, Armor, Artillery, Countryside, Eastern Front, Infantry, Location: Russia, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Theater: Eastern

Ponyri (Kursk)

The Battle of Ponyri took place in Ponyri, a small town in the Kursk Oblast of Russia, during World War II. It occurred in July 1943 as part of the larger Battle of Kursk, one of the biggest tank battles in history.

General Howitzer summarizes:

Ponyri was a slugfest in the mud and blood of Kursk—like a Stalingrad on a smaller scale. The Germans threw their Panzers and infantry at that rail junction with everything they had, trying to break through to Kursk, and the Soviets met them with steel, fire, and sheer grit. House to house, trench to trench, they held the line. The enemy never got past it—and Ponyri became the anvil that broke the German spear.

7 VP’s

Card Balance:

Russian – 4

Axis – 6

Complexity:

3

Conditions:

Countryside

Location:

Russia

Year:

1943

Theater:

Eastern Front

Campaign:

Battle of Kursk

Codename:

part of Operation Citadel

Summary:

Objectives: 7 VP’s.

The key to winning Ponyri is controlling the town. It is worth two VP’s. Whichever side controls the town will cause the opponent to waste a lot of troops trying to gain control.

Terrain:

Countryside with forest and hills on one side, mines on the other, and the five-hex town of Ponyri in the center.

Troops:

Allies – 9 Infantry, 4 Armor, 3 Artillery

Axis – 8 Infantry, 7 Armor

Allied Strategy:

1. The town of Ponyri is worth two VP’s. You begin with control of it, but since it has 5 hexes, you should take control of the central hex of Ponyri so that you have majority control. This will force the enemy to waste a lot of forces throwing themself against this well-defended town.

2. The Allied role in this scenario is primarily defensive. Use your sandbags and be slow to leave them. But if the enemy begins pummeling your armor on the left flank, you may need to consider a more aggresive approach, if your cards allow it.

3. You have three artillery. Take the time to move them forward one row early in the battle while you still have time, so that they can improve their hit rate against the enemy.

Axis Strategy:

1. Because the town of Ponyri is worth two VP’s! , you should attempt to get your infantry into it pretty quickly, before the enemy occupies all town hexes. But only take it, if you can keep them there, as they will be surrounded by the enemy on all sides.

2. On your left flank, use the forest and hills to advance your infantry under cover. If you try to make a direct assault in the open countryside, they will get decimated.

3. On your right flank, you have an armor superiority, so you can place yourself behind the mines and continuously degrade the enemy’s strength. But be aware of the artillery on the right. If the Allies move it one row forward, your armor directly behind the row of mines will be subject to 2D rolls against your forces.

4. When the enemy is sufficiently degraded, you may consider breaching the mines. (Expect some hits, but if you use your elite forces that begin with 4 armor figures, you should have a sufficient survival rate to continue the attack.) If you find the opening, you can push through for direct assaults against the enemy armor.

Battle Reports:

( percentage of Allied Victories):

54%

Author:

Days of Wonder

Link:

Soviet_troops_and_T-34_tanks_counterattacking_Kursk_Voronezh_Front_July_1943

Battle of Kursk
(Copyright: www.mil.ru)

Gates of Moscow (Typhoon)

by GeneralHowitzer | Nov 1, 2024 | 1941, Armor, Artillery, Countryside, Eastern Front, Infantry, Location: Russia, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Scenario, Theater: Eastern, Winter

Gates of Moscow (Typhoon)

Operation Typhoon was the German military campaign to capture Moscow during World War II, launched in early October 1941 as part of their broader invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). The offensive aimed to deliver a decisive blow by taking the Soviet capital before winter set in.

German forces, under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, advanced with two large army groups and made initial gains, encircling and destroying significant Soviet forces. However, stiff Soviet resistance, logistical challenges, and worsening weather slowed the German advance. Muddy conditions in October, followed by the onset of harsh winter, further hampered their progress.

By December ’41, the Germans thought they had Moscow in their grip—but Zhukov and his Siberian wolves had other plans. Hardened for winter, those Red Army troops stormed forward in a counteroffensive that drove the Wehrmacht off the city’s doorstep. It was the first time Hitler’s war machine got its teeth kicked in, proof that Blitzkrieg had limits when it slammed into a determined foe with steel in its spine and snow in its veins.

~~ General Howitzer

7 VP’s

Card Balance:

Allies – 5

Axis – 5

Complexity:

4

Conditions:

Urban

Location:

Russia

Year:

1941

Theater:

Eastern Front

Campaign:

Barbarossa

Codename:

Operation Typoon

Summary:

The Gates of Moscow is a complex scenario which results in a brutal battle with many digital ‘casualties’ on both sides.

Objectives:

7 VP’s, including two Objective Medals for Axis

Terrain:

Frozen field with Kaluga river cutting vertically and a ridge of hills cutting across horizontally.

Troops:

Allies – 10 Infantry, 2 Armo, 2 Artillery

Axis – 10 Infantry, 8 Armor, 1 Artillery

Allied Strategy:

1. Big picture strategy for the Allies. This is a defensive scenario, so stay behind your sandbags and defend the two medal objectives. Move your Artillery and Armor forward into the battle.

2. Although there is a large Axis force massed against the Allies, the Axis side starts back against the game border. Allies can use this to their advantage, by turning retreat flags into deadly kills. Target the Axis forces which have no retreat available to them. This will increase your odds of a kill by another 17%. This increases the likelihood of an armor hit from 33% to 50%, and an infantry hit from 50% to 67%.

Axis Strategy:

1. Big picture strategy for Axis is to disperse your bunched-up troops and concentrate your forces on the front-line enemy to eliminate them as quickly as possible before they score too many hits against your forces.

2. Keep pushing forward as you attack with the goal to eventually be to capture the bridge hex medal (often as a final decisive move to end the game).

3. This is a long scenario of 7 medals, so you will have to take out the centrally located enemy Artillery. It is sand-bagged on a hill, but it needs to be attacked quickly.

4. Beware of your armor trapped behind the row of trees on your right flank. Do not try to take out the enemy infantry in the woods, because they will inflict heavy penalties on such an attempt. Best option is to get them into the tree line and then out into the open for more fruitful attacks.

Battle Reports (percentage of Allied victories):

34%

(These are historical records. The poll on the right is new results.)

Author:

Days of Wonder

Link: