Baiting the Bear: The 1942 Soviet Kharkov Offensive (2015)

Baiting the Bear: The 1942 Soviet Kharkov Offensive, depicts the May 1942 offensive by Soviet forces under the command of Marshal Semyon Timoshenko against the German 6th Army. After initial promising signs, the offensive was stopped by German counterattacks. Critical errors by several staff officers and by Joseph Stalin, who failed to accurately estimate the 6th Army's potential and overestimated their own newly trained forces, led to a German pincer attack which cut off advancing Soviet troops from the rest of the front. The operation caused almost 300,000 Soviet casualties compared to just 20,000 for the Germans and their allies. Game Scale: Game Turn: 1 day Hex: 4 miles / 6.4 kilometers Units: Battalion to Army Game Inventory: Two 11x17" full color map Two dual-side printed un-mounted countersheet (260 1/2" counters)(mounted counters are optional) One 6-page rulebook One Player Aid Chart Eight pages of 64 Event Cards Player Provided: One 6-sided die Solitaire Playability: Medium Complexity Level: Low Players: 2 or more Playing Time: 1.5 to 2 hours