Simply, the idea was that, as I had tried several games of GF9 Tanks but they were all small ones - at most involving three or four tanks on each side -I was keen to try out a BIG battle. I had in mind, it seems, something along the lines of at least six tanks on each side, perhaps involving a 'reinforcement' stage to slowly introduce the full compliment over the course of the battle.
Now, when it comes to BIG historic tank battles Kursk must come at the top of the list, so I had begun to assemble a collection of 1/100 models to represent the opposing German and Soviet armies.
Of course, this meant I had to read up a bit about the battle, specifically about the composition of the combating armour forces. But, as it turned out, the interweb let me down a bit here as a couple of the sites that purported to give you a factual account about exactly which tanks were involved were WRONG! (Bad interweb!)
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| A Soviet KV (I'm not say which model) knocked out with multiple penetrated hits! Ouch. The KV series was showing it's weakness against the 'Big Cats'. |
I had been led to believe that the Soviet forces had deployed the KV-85 as their heavy tank opposition to the German's Tigers and Panthers, but it seems that there was some confusion...
The KV-85 was an interim or transitional tank that came between the KV-1 series and the T34/85. The designation of '85' in either tank relates to the use of the Soviet's new 85mm gun which was developed to replace their 76mm gun which had been used in the T-34 and KV-1 tanks (but was beginning to be ineffective again the new heavy German designs).
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| What Soviet 'heavy' can I put up against the infamous Tiger? |
In their desperation to field the new 85mm gun the Soviets needed a new turret design large enough to accommodate the bigger weapon and this was - initially - achieved by sticking a larger cast turret on their existing KV series chassis. It was something of an contingency plan, quite similar to how the British stuck their new 17 pounder gun in their Sherman Firefly, and was only intended as a stop-gap until a completely new purpose-built tank design could be produced.
In the case of the Soviets that 'purpose built' design for the 85mm turned out to be - ironically - another fudged design - the T-34/85...But that's another story...
Anyhoo...Back to my story...
Cutting to the chase... Yes the KV-85 was rushed into service specifically to tackle the powerful German 'Big Cats' BUT it only manged to reached the front in September 1943 - while the Battle of Kursk took place in July and August 1943! So, to squash the myth - there were NO KV-85s at Kursk!
In defence of some armchair interweb 'historians', what there was at Kursk was the KV-1S. This had the chassis of a KV-1 but a new cast turret design which still had the old 76mm gun mounted. It's my guess (and just a guess, mind you) that some people who were looking at old blurry photos of KV-1S tanks at Kursk misidentified them - because of the vaguely similar turret shape - as KV-85s... Maybe?
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| The KV-1s & KV-85 compared. The larger 85mm gun on the KV-85 is a bit of a give away when trying to identify the two variants of 'KV'. But, depending on the turret orientation and quality of original photo reference you might be forgiven for getting the two tanks mixed up..? |
As it turns out, I was actually on a bit of a wild goose chase! I didn't need a KV-85 model at all, what I needed for a Soviet 'heavy' was a KV-1s. And I think I remember there being a couple of resin models of this tank on the market at the time... Pah!
I even had a couple of Zvesda KV-1 models in my stash and these could have been converted into the KV-1S variant with a 'little' work...
However, fast forward to 2020 and I easily found - thanks to booming cottage 3D printing industry - a KV-1S turret I can buy to convert my existing KV models. I've purchased a couple of these from Butler's Printed Models (UK) and they make them to order and they should arrive in a week or so. Problem solved hopefully.
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| BPM's 1/100 KV-1s model. It's 3D printed so quality is so-so, but it's cheap enough, especially if you opt just to buy the turret (£1.65 each) |
With relation to the KV-1s and it's place in my planned GF9 TANKS! game it definitely isn't an equal match for the German Tiger I if you compare the stats (which is why I am building two). And historically too, the KVs were no match for the Teutonic Cats and they were literally cannon fodder for the Germans.
So, what chance would my Soviet force have? Well, you have to remember what happened in the real historic battle - despite the Germans having - on paper - the technological advantage the general consensus is that history's biggest tank battle ever was not the decisive victory that Hitler predicted.
The German war machine did not break the Soviet's fortitude and, in balance, the victory is seen as belonging to the Red Army...But at a huge cost. Can I replicate this result in 1/100?
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My planned 1/100 GF9 TANKS! Kursk line-up...
Note: This selection may change as I determine game point ceiling and the stats of the various vehicles. I think it's safe to say, though, that the Soviet force will always outnumber the German one as their tanks are (in game parlance) 'cheaper'.
GERMANY
- 1 x Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf. H1
- 1 x Panzerkampfwagen V Panther
- 1 x Panzerjäger Tiger (P) Ferdinand ('Elefant') tank destroyer
- 1 x Sturmgeschütz III 'StuG' Ausf. G assault gun
- 2 x Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. F or G
SOVIET UNION
1 x SU-152
2 x KV-1S
2 x SU-122
4 x T-34/76
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