KURSK: BIGGEST TANK BATTLE by Joni Nuutinen
LINKS:
⊕ Play Store
⊕ Amazon
⊕ free turn-limited at Amazon
⊕ free local turn-limited APK to sideload
In 1943 Germans grouped most of their best divisions into two spearheads to capture the Kursk salient in a plan called Operation Citadel. However, thanks Allied code breaking efforts the Red Army immediately knew German plans in detail and prepared multiple defensive lines in addition of gathering massive reserves for counterstrikes. During the operation the battle around Prokhorovka evolved into one of the largest armored clashes in military history.
⊕ Taking place in: 1943-07
⊕ Map size: 1500 30x50
⊕ Link up northern and southern Panzer pincers and block the Soviet reserve attack
⊕ Released: 2013-07 / 2026
WELCOME:
KURSK: BIGGEST TANK BATTLE by Joni Nuutinen is a turn based strategy game set on the WWII Russian front.
You are in command of the best German WWII armed forces, and the object of the campaign, called Operation Citadel, is to use a two-pincer attack to cut off the Red Army-held Kursk salient that contains the Soviet armies that were victorious in the last summer..
Quick historical background: In the summer of 1943, Germans had concentrated an unprecedented number of battle-hardened panzer formations for a two-pincer attack to cut off a large Soviet salient around the city of Kursk.
However, Western Allies had broken German military codes, which allowed the Soviet Red Army to be fully ready with several layers of fortifications and massive reserves.
As the southern German attack pushed through a defense line after another, the Red Army threw in their armored reserves. What followed was one of the biggest tank battles in military history.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
The game will end once German player reaches over 90 Victory Points (VPS), which are gained from cities. A total of 100 Victory Points available in this particular campaign.Quick tips: Settings: You can change hexagon size, city icons, unit icons, and many other aspects from settings, or via the four round buttons in the upper-left corner of the gaming view.Unit markings: Lower left corner shows HPs (Hit Points), upper left corner shows the number of MPs (move points), right side has several type of markings: warnings on red, attached resources on white, ground information (what's under unit icon) is marked on green. Zooms buttons (Z) are located on upper-left corner.TMP-system: By controlling Key Tactical Locations (green diamonds) you will gain TMPs (Tactical Move Points), which can be used to move between two hexagons sharing Tactical Route (yellow-green arrow between the hexagons) without losing regular MPs.Combat core concepts: adjacent units critically support each other in battle: encircling is often more efficient than using brute-force direct attacks.
CAMPAIGN NOTES:
The game will end once the player reaches OVER 90 Victory Points (VPs), which are gained from cities. A total of 100 Victory Points are available in this particular campaign. There is a setting to change the rules so that the game only ends when the player controls all the VPs available in the scenario.
GAME AREA SELECTION: The fundamental decision anyone modeling this scenario faces is this: Do you ONLY include Soviet armies directly facing active German attacks, do you also include STAVKA reserve armies, AND do you massively expand the map and active area by including in the play the Soviet armies north of the northern German attack and Red Army units south of the southern German attack? The problem is that once you begin to include armies threatening the rear area of the attacking Wehrmacht units, you end up covering half of the frontline that makes up the Eastern Front, dimishing the actual Kursk combat to a fairly small part of the bigger operations. As a result, this particular scenario includes all the active armies, PLUS the massive Red Army reserves STAVKA had collected east of Kursk to throw in the combat if the multi-layered fortification lines fail to stop German attacks. However, the Soviet armies north and south of the most common map of the Battle of Kursk are not included. Plus the Italian effect, Germans sending WSS units to Italy mid-campaign to counter the landings the Western Allies made, has been included as an optional setting.
Please note that instead of the central city of Kursk being the sole culmination point of the scenario, the massive Red Army steppe reserves are included in the play and must be at least partially dealt with by seizing most key cities on the map.
There is a setting to alter how German units are sent to Italy (removed from play) when the Western Allies land in Italy, distracting German strategic effort on the Eastern Front.
Some of the newer code mentions 'province', but since this small-scale game does not include actual provinces with borders, this usually implies to hexagons within the range of two from the city.
Some slightly incorrect military-history terms (like Fort for minor dugouts) are used simply because they are short (map won't be flooded with long text tags) and these terms are known to even non-native English speakers.
For more generic answers about this strategy game series please check out FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) from the Guide menu (FAQ opens up a website link, which includes a ton of answers and questions I have received over the years - like 100,000 characters worth).
Scenario Specific documentation that includes links to more generic documentation on how the game series and the underlying game engine works.
To get a feel play the free turn-limited demo version (sideload or Amazon App Store), while screenshots are available on the app stores. No ads or tracking in these either.
⊕ Back to main page
⊕ FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about game series overal
⊕ Developer Log: tidbits about military history and scenario updates
⊕ Sortable Table of all campaigns