#0202_08s_Kharkov '43 Grand Campaign_Variant_1 CLOSED

[burroughs]

Alright, my turn then:

I organized this particular scenario as a four-man team game back in mid 2013; there were two people per side since the very beginning until the demise of the game after three years; we had to replace one team member, he lost the will to carry on and for some time just tried to muddle through, doing a horrible job as his team mate stated afterwards. There was another team member on the opposite side who had dropped the game without a word at some point, was replaced then got back and asked to be accepted again, but the request was rejected. The operation reached some 100 odd turns and then was dissolved and reported as a draw at the request of two participants, unfortunately including me as I found myself unable to replace yet another German team member who wanted to step down - or I just jumped at the opportunity and didn't try too hard - and I don't think I am faint of heart when it comes to wargaming. I think people drop out more often than it was several years ago or I just started to make a poor opponent.

Anyway, the scenario is great, to me Kharkov '43 is the swan song of the PzC series what unfortunately cannot be said about Moscow '42, but that is my personal and humble opinion. Being the Soviet team leader as the only member active since the very beginning I decided at the onset of the game to go with the maximum effort for the Russians and we checked all of the strategic options - the first check of the three around already mentioned Feb 19th '43 revealed an utter soviet defeat at that stage with most of the objectives still out of the grasp, Voronezh Front muddling through Kharkov from NE and in a tedious process of bypassing and reducing Belgorod, South Western Front being mostly in the process of defeat in detail wit a German counter-offensive in the south NE of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk - I even took over in there for some time with a fellow commander unable to carry on for some time, but there was not much I could do - the inertia effect of all of the previous mistakes, blunders and historic circumstances. it was the longest team game that reached that far of its overall length for me and the second longest PBEM commitment apart form my TOAW III game of Kharkov '43 which lasted since 2011 to 2015 I think ( not to mention it was much more manageable with counters of regimental size for the Russians mainly ).

Finally, the game stalled after about three years and we all decided to move on, capitalizing on the effect of the first scenario victory level check point reached as best as we could. Over the last nine to ten years I played campaign scenarios HTH or as a team game - WWI, PzCs and MCs - neither reach any further than this. The attrition from having to cooperate with people and long commitments are always very destructive for the gameplay and they start to tell pretty quickly as either you try to keep a decent pace or face never ending queues and periods of inaction both in and out of the game. In the long run it's not fun as a matter of fact - nowadays I only stick to HTH and scenarios at least under 200 turns and manageable in terms of the size and the number of counters to deal with .

Having said that - good luck with that, it's always extremely exciting at the very beginning.