Knight's cross of Iron

Knight's Cross of Iron is a dual pack of two wargames designed by Masahiro Yamazaki. Those games are Paulus' 6th Army and Zitadelle: Duel for Kursk 1943.

Paulus' 6th Army is an operational level simulation of the Soviet encirclement operation named "Operation Uranus" and the German escape attempt from Stalingrad from 19th November to 24th December, 1942. This game represents the first significant operational victory of the previously inferior Soviet Red Army over the Wehrmacht. For this reason, the battle of Stalingrad in often referred to as the "turning point" of World War II. But in this game, the German player has more command options than Friedrich Paulus, the German 6th Army commander. So the German player may withdraw from Stalingrad his troops or may defend more effectively than in the historical static situation.

Zitadelle: Duel for Kursk 1943 is an operational level simulation of the greatest tank battle in history. Beginning on July 5th 1943, strong German forces attempted to cut off the Soviet Kursk salient. Hitler had decided to delay the attack however, until he had sufficient new Panther and Tiger tanks available. During that time, the Soviet forces were reinforced on a scale not seen since World War I, and in addition they knew the details of the German offensive plan. The defenses were deployed on six lines deep. As a result, the German summer offensive named "Zitadelle" (Citadel) was checked, and on 13th July, Hitler informed his generals that Operation Zitadelle was called off.

The original edition of Paulus' 6th Army and Zitadelle: Duel for Kursk 1943 were published by Six Angles in 2005 and 2009 as issue games of #10 and #13. This renewed editions contain improved components; both for counters and game maps.

Scale ◆ 1 hex: 5.5 kilometers (Paulus' 6th Army) / 3.2 kilometers (Zitadelle) ◆ 1 turn: 3 days (Paulus' 6th Army) / 1 day (Zitadelle)

Contents ◆ 2 rule books (32 pages each) ◆ 2 A1 size color maps ◆ 5 countersheets (1200 pieces) ◆ 2 A3 size charts ◆ 4 A4 size charts ◆ 2 dice

(source: Six Angles webpage)