Panzer Battles Kursk - Revised Maps

A zoomed in shot of the NEW "Getting Started" scenario map.
A zoomed in shot of the NEW "II SS PzK July 5" map for the July 5: SS Attack scenario.

Maps matter to me in wargaming and are often the difference between immersion and disinterest.  Maybe I am not alone in that.

The map detail for the Panzer Battles series has been steadily improving, but the original maps for the Kursk - Southern Flank title are lacking in my opinion.  I believe that they are the original Panzer Campaigns maps converted to scale for the Panzer Battles series.

What that conversion does is create oversized villages, massive forests and other map features that don't look anything like the present day villages and woods, let alone the 1943 version of these places.

Here is a good example of the difference between a stock map and it's revision:

The stock Berezovka map.  Russian villages don't look like this.  They are built-up along the existing road nets and look like stick-like versions of these villages.  Behind Russian homes are small fields, hedges, sheds, barns, stone walls and stands of woods.  


The NEW Berezovka map.  The kilometers of  cultivated fields surrounding these villages that you see from satellite photos of the current day have been added in (these villages still haven't changed very much from the 1940s).  Tracks have been added to isolated barns and orchards.  The villages have been reduced from massive clusters of homes to homes that border roads and tracks.  Plots of land, hedges, etc have been added as borders to these villages.

This is an ongoing project, but one you can borrow from as I add maps.  To download the Berezovka, II SS Attack July 5 and Getting Started Maps go to my dropbox here.  You can just replace the existing maps in your Kursk "Scenarios" folder.

I am editing the maps of the scenarios I like first, but will eventually get to all of them.  A stickler for detail might notice that sometimes the same village will look differently on the maps that overlap.  That is because I am not going through the process of editing the big maps and recutting them.  I thought this would take longer and wanted to play on edited maps sooner.

If that's a problem for you, then these aren't for you.

MAPS DOWNLOAD HERE.

Comments

Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
April 14, 2019 at 9:03 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maxwell's Marauders: Find the Observation Post

Image
Maxwell’s Marauders, 1st Platoon, C Company of the 7th Marine Regiment is a fictional unit, filled with characters that I have created to deepen my connection to my Squad Battles “ Proud and the Few ” gaming. The New York boys, Bullseye, Sgt. Rock and the rest are going to be persistent characters (unless they die on my digital battlefields) that take me through the War in the Pacific. From Guadalcanal to New Britain to Peleliu and finally Okinawa, the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment served with distinction and so too will Maxwell’s Marauders. Along the way, my hope is that by investing in the backstories of the soldiers on the map, I will play smarter and take fewer risks with them, enjoy my gaming and appreciate this great Squad Battles system in a deeper way. About these scenarios The scenarios are short (under 20 turns (100 minutes or less of combat). They are historical, even though the unit is fictional. Each battlefield map is an approximation of the terrain Frisbie’s...
Read more

Edson's Ridge

Image
September 12, 1942, just before sunset: [Historical scenario] Japanese Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi has come to Guadalcanal to lead the attack against the Marine foothold on the island at Henderson Airfield. The I and III battalions of the 124th Infantry regiment are to attack from the south, along with the Kuma Battalion, II battalion of the 4th infantry regiment 19th engineer battalion. Kawaguchi will personally lead these battalions. A composite of Japanese engineers, special naval landing troops and the Oka Force, II Bn 124 Inf Rgt are to attack from the West. The Japanese objectives are the Marine bridge over the Lunga, the air traffic control tower on Pagoda Hill, the main runway hangars, and the Fighter One airstrip. Kawaguchi has grossly underestimated the strength of the Marine force facing him. The Marines have also disrupted his supply base along the coast at Tasimboko, dispersing a small reserve force, his artillery, and supplies. Special Terrain rules: The Lunga River ...
Read more

Command Ops Stalingrad: Race To The Volga - Available for Download

Image
German Panzergrendiers climbing bluffs along the Volga outside of Stalingrad. A special thanks to Doug at Cry Havoc blog and Tim Williams at RangerX3X blog for their help in playtesting this scenario.  There were a number of challenges bringing this particular scenario to life and their suggestions were essential to fixing the gameplay issues. Scenario Background: 14 September 1942 06:30 Historical Scenario Two German armies, the 6th and the 4th Panzer Army, are racing across the steppe towards the doomed city of Stalingrad.  The Soviet forces holding them back have retreated into the outskirts of the City as the Luftwaffe launches an unprecedented bombing campaign against them destroying much of the city and inflicting up to 40,000 civilian casualties. As the German commander, General Paulus your mission is to strike swiftly into the City and seize a number of objectives across a 35km wide front and then hold them against the Soviet counterattacks. As the So...
Read more