Kampfgruppe

Tutorial & Field Manual · Platoon-Level Eastern Front Tactics

Welcome, Commander. Kampfgruppe is a tactical wargame on a hex battlefield. You lead a German or Soviet battlegroup in a short, sharp engagement. This tutorial walks you through everything you need to fight your first battle.

1 · How to Begin

Launch the game and you will see the start screen. Do three things:

Pick a scenario — start with Meeting Engagement, an even fight.
Read the briefing shown below the scenarios.
Choose your side — Germans (west) or Soviets (east).

Then press Deploy & Begin. Your units start on your edge of the map.

2 · Controls

Mouse

Select: click one of your units.
Move: click a highlighted yellow hex.
Fire: click a red-ringed enemy.
Pan: drag the map. Zoom: scroll the mouse wheel, or use the + / − / fit buttons at the top-left.

Keyboard

Enter or Space — end turn
F — fire · H — hold / done
N or Tab — jump to your next active unit
+ / − — zoom · Esc — deselect

3 · Turn Order

The two sides alternate. On your turn you move and fire your units, then press End Turn and the enemy takes theirs. A turn represents two minutes of battle, resolved internally as four 30-second combat pulses — so a single burst of fire builds up hits and suppression across the pulses rather than in one roll. Use the Next Unit button (or N) to cycle through units that still have an action left.

4 · Movement

Selecting a unit highlights every hex it can reach this turn in yellow. Terrain costs movement — open ground and roads are cheap, woods, buildings and hills are slow, and water is impassable except at fords and bridges. Each unit may make one move per turn.

Terrain	Effect
Open / Road	Fast, no cover.
Brush / Grain	Light cover, still passable.
Woods	Good cover, blocks line of sight, slow.
Building	Heavy cover, blocks line of sight.
Hill	Height — better sight and firing range.
Water	Impassable (cross only at fords / bridges).

5 · Combat

A unit may fire once per turn at any enemy within range that it has line of sight to (red rings mark valid targets). Firing ends that unit's activation, so move first if you intend to do both. Select a unit to see its odds against each target in the side panel.

Soft targets (infantry, guns, machine-gun teams) take step-losses and suppression from firepower. Cover and range reduce the effect.
Armour (tanks and assault guns) can only be hurt by penetration — anti-tank guns, other armour, or a point-blank infantry close assault. Ordinary rifle and machine-gun fire bounces off tank armour.
A unit that soaks up enough fire becomes suppressed, then pinned (marked PIN) and cannot act until it rallies on a later turn.

Tip: keep your anti-tank guns and tanks facing the enemy armour, and use infantry and machine guns to take ground and pin enemy foot troops. Fire from woods, buildings or hills whenever you can.

6 · Scoring & Winning

Scattered across the map are objectives, marked with a dashed hex and the label OBJ. Move a unit onto an objective to seize it; you keep control until an enemy takes it back.

Each objective you hold at the end is worth 5 points.
Every enemy step-loss (casualty) you inflict adds to your score.
Destroying the entire enemy force is an outright victory.

You win if you eliminate the enemy, or hold the higher score when the turn limit is reached.

You lose if the enemy eliminates your force or outscores you at the end. An even score is a stalemate over contested ground.

7 · Saving & Restarting

Kampfgruppe is played in single sessions and does not save progress or store anything on your device. To play again, press New Battle at any time (or after the result screen) and choose a fresh scenario and side.