I had an amazing fight in the town of Paseki near Taranovka last night. I’m playing the first Taranovka operation as Russians and after the opening Recon probe of Taranovka, the second fight was towards Paseki. The town straddles a hill and the key capture points were Paseki, South Paseki and North Paseki. It is still dark (the battle kicks off around 3am).

I had infantry only, no AT guns or tanks, against an expected probe by armoured recon, led by Krapp (snigger).

I dug my troops in and hid them in various houses in Paseki and North Paseki, expecting the German recon to come from the west and or north west (given the German holdings). It didn’t take long for things to start, with sounds of armour from the south. I at first assumed this was going to be halftracks like at Taranovka, but I got a surprise when my Maxim gun crew, who rapidly abandoned their gun, saw a Panzer 4 (Rudel) crash through a fence onto the village road in front of them.



As it drove between two houses (one of which was occupied by the Maxim crew Abramov) it was showered with Molotov cocktails and hand grenades, and brewed up, with the crew exiting on fire.





Another Panzer 4 (Dultz) and an SPG (Schadel) appeared and the Marder proceeded to take its revenge on Abramov’s squad, killing or wounding them all before the two tanks moved on westward. The knocked out Panzer continued to burn, with explosions as ammo cooked off, for the rest of the mission.





The Panzers continued north and split into two groups, to bump into another line of my hidden infantry in North Paseki and Dolomite. Rather than a recon probe, this appeared to be an armoured assault (though so far, on enemy infantry had been spotted. I had two platoons holding a line of houses around the North Paseki flag and Seidler’s PZ4 and Bergmann’s SPG parked themselves right in the middle of their position, while more armour (Dutz in a Pz4) appeared further along my position near Dolomite.

So far, all the enemy focus seemed to be on North Paseki, with a tank thrust deep into the position, towards the flag. For a few minutes the position was quiet, with the only sound being the idling of three tank engines and the ding of the notification that the Germans had control of the flag. Then, all along the line, Molotov cocktails and hand grenades started hitting tanks.







There was a vicious struggle for the position, with infantry versus tanks and self-propelled guns. While further west the German armour (Dutz) retreated from the assault, nearer the flag, Seidler and Bergmann put up a terrible fight, slaughtering most of two Russian infantry platoons before they were reduced to scrap and flames. The full horror of this uneven night time fight was clear at the end, with German and Russian bodies (some Germans in flames) scattered around the flaming wreckage of the two armoured vehicles.



A few more minutes and the destruction of all of the German armour around this flag was complete and it remained held by the now depleted Russian forces. The Germans had been repulsed. This was a stark lesson about the risks of using tanks in an attack unsupported by infantry.

However, as the battle for North Paseki was reaching a crescendo, the other shoe began to drop, with the main village of Paseki on the hillside being assaulted by halftrack-borne infantry, supported by tanks and self-propelled guns. The fight here started with German infantry, supported by halftracks entering Paseki via a village road which was a Russian kill sack, with squads secreted in houses on both sides of the road.



This must have been an awful experience for the German forces under Krapp (hehe) as they were attacked whichever way they turned. The infantry didn’t last long and the halftracks couldn’t find a safe place to stop, being under an almost constant rain of bullets, grenades and petrol bombs.






The AI attempted to flank the position, but ran into another line of hidden infantry aligned at 90 degrees to the road of death, with halftracks and infantry being bombarded as they attempted to get around the town. At one stage the darkness was lifted by a burning halftrack crewman who ran several hundred metres along the road on fire, next to a halftrack struggling to get out of the hail of projectiles. I could picture the halftrack crew cowering inside while this horror ran past them.






It didn’t go all the Russian’s way however, as a Russian Maxim gun team (Medvedev) was caught in the open by a German halftrack and all but one of the crew slaughtered, with the last member surrendering.





The Russian infantry, after beating off the halftracks, had to contend with a Pz4 (Dutz, who must have retreated from North Paseki) and a Marder (Holtze) which next drove into their position. An attack over open ground destroyed both vehicles and the town of Paseki returned to Russian control.






Around this time, I started seeing cease fire requests, which I ignored, thinking I had them on the run, against the odds. This was reinforced by green flares immediately afterwards indicating the Germans were retreating, and halftracks started driving off the map.




By this time there was only 10 or 15 minutes on the clock, so I sped up the time thinking my defence had been successful – however, things quickly started to go to custard as the Germans launched a counter-attack on the heights of Paseki town.

More halftrack-borne infantry appeared, supported by another Marder (I suppose these were reserves or forces the AI had sitting on a neutral flag) and this time my depleted infantry on the objective were insufficient to the task. In addition, some were out of position after hunting down fleeing tank crews and they were no match for the last German thrust.



As the clock counted down, my forces had been swept from the main Paseki town objective, while I still held North Paseki below it. I score a Minor Victory (the Germans had paid a high price in men and machines – I knocked out all but one of their armour) but the Germans were left holding the heights (though I’m not sure in what force – they may be able to be pushed off if I have the forces the next morning), which is a problem for me as my troops will be overlooked.

It’s definitely difficult to prevail as Russians in this game, as the Germans have a lot of equipment. The advantages are not as obvious at night however, when the nasty and brutish fighting possible using Russian infantry (particularly Molotov cocktails) can defeat armour at close quarters.

This is an exciting game and worth heaps more than the very reasonable asking price.

Thanks for looking!

smith

Thank you for writing this!
Really appreciated!

Very nice write-up.
Bought the game a few weeks ago but have yet to play it.So many games,so little time!

A tank is a crawling, armored skinned, fire spitting, man eating monster; but it can be stopped with courage and daring.

Fixed.

Seriously, how dumb would one be to use a tank in an urban area without any infantry support?

Anyways, this game looks very interesting and from what I understand it's kind of a real-time tactics Battlefield 1942.

How big are the maps?

I still remember my first successful fight in Kharkov 1942. We'd captured the town but the German counter attack wiped out my infantry support and fellow tanks. I was hiding among the buildings. The problem was that I'd lost a tread.

Trapped in a steel coffin. Nothing left but to fight. Enemy tanks burning. Hoping to hold out for how many hours it took until allies arrived (if they ever did) and exchanging fire with infantry in the surrounding buildings - trying to keep them at bay. I had two HE rounds left - that was it, and the Marder was only a few metres away coming around the corner...

The maps are huge - I think about 9 sq km for the tactical phase.

Yep, I was surprised the armour had no infantry support at the start - it cost them dearly.

Ahem.

Artillery is the King of Battle. Infantry is the Queen. Armor is formally known as the Duchess of Battle, IIRC.

"Tactical Phase"?

Does that mean there are two different "layers" to the game, like in the "Total War" series?





No way, no how.
But I'll accept inf/mech inf as the armor's trusty sidekick.

Yes, you play on the strategic map moving units around from square to square in a turn-based system. You make your moves, the AI makes theirs and this prompts a number of tactical engagements which are played out in 3D.

It's explained really well here: http://kriegsimulation.blogspot.com/2010/02/achtung-panzer-kharkov-1943-review.html#more

I have to say the strategic phase is one I haven't paid enough attention to (I'm still playing the tactical fights that resulted from my first move!) but I should, because the units that are in squares around the one which is the focus of the battle in the tactical phase, are drawn into the fight (ie you are in control of them during the 3D battle), so it pays to plan the strategic moves so that there's plenty of support around you.

Looks good so far, maybe I'll give it a go should they *really* take it to a grand scale, say at least theater-wide.

I'm a huge fan of Sins Of A Solar Empire and its possibility of going from the universe level to the "watch an interceptor going about its business" level.

APK43 definately has the potential for that!

Another good AAR. I bet your troops would have loved to have some RPG-7's however. I tried the demo for this and it looks like it has a lot of potential. I don't yet understand how to properly control my forces or the camera to any great effect. I may have to buy the full game. The one thing I like is that it appears not to be one of those Command&Conquer style RTS where your micro managing you entire economy more tactical in nature.