Winter War - Finns vs. Commies - Order of Battle WW2

Started by airboy, October 31, 2016, 06:42:07 PM

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airboy

#60
Turn 10

In Turn 10 I mopped up forces in the far Northeast.  No screen shots for that.  In the Center-North my goal is to take the victory hex.  I also have to reinforce an infantry unit.  This looks like a strong Russian defense - but it is not.  The Anti-Air gun is useless against anything but aircraft.  The Artillery unit is great to disorganize enemy units - but has minimal power to defend.  The Russian Armor is very powerful.  My AT gun is secure behind my line and can counter-attack against the Russian Armor.

Start of Turn 10 - North


End Turn 10 North
At the end of this turn the Commies have not had any units destroyed.  But they are holding on by their commie fingernails.  The four front line units are all the lowest level of supply/organization and are almost all destroyed (3 infantry and one AT gun).  The Artillery Unit and the AA unit are at full strength - but they cannot hold the line.  The Russian Tank is a real threat - but it cannot attack without being heavily exposed since the Russians lack any strong forces to hold the flanks.

My Finns had an inferior force, but I used it wisely and have almost reduced the Soviet defenders.  My strongest units will take a couple of turns to rejoin the main Finnish Army from their success in the Northeast.

The Finnish Women are cooling the vodka and heating up the Saunas in this front for the victory celebration that will be coming soon.


Turn 10 South
What happened to the Commies in the North is happening to the Finns in the South.  My four Finn defenders kept the main Russian force from being reunited with the main Soviet Army for 10 turns which accomplishes a minor victory condition.  But on Turn 10 the Russians moved in force.  My AT gun hammered the Russian Armor - but did not destroy it.  My AT gun is terribly exposed and they are very vulnerable to infantry attack.  Two infantry units are damaged.  My main blocking force will attempt to retreat before being cut-off and destroyed.



airboy

#61
Turn 11

I have two shots of the North.  The first is a close up of the battle situation.  I killed several commie units this turn.  The Russian Tank counter-attacked, but on turn 12 I can swing my AT gun over and clobber it.  The close up also shows the lead element of my strong offensive forces sent to the NE returning to the main body.  It will take a couple of turns for my entire force to be reunited and reinforced - but major forces are on the way.  Most of my ski troops have not arrived and those units have tremendous mobility and the ability to flank the slower Russian Units.

North Front - Close Up of the Line


The second screen shot shows my flanker units coming up from the SW.  I had those there all along hoping for an envelopment and also providing a potential force to allow some of my troops to the far South to escape via a delaying action.  Since the Russian Northern Front is collapsing, it is time to bring those forces up to prevent the Russians from escaping.  I don't know if any Russian units are in the woods, but I doubt it.  The Russians in the front have poor concealment.  Anyway, my troops from the SW can always head due North and link up to the main body - so really no worries.

North Front - Big Picture of Potential Envelopment.


In the far South one of my gallant Finn Infantry units was destroyed.  The remaining infantry unit and AT gun are heavily damaged and lack full organization.  I hope I can disengage from the commies and reinforce.  But the situation for those units is dire.
South Front - Finnish Forces Hammered and Retreating

airboy

#62
Turn 12 & 13

On Turn 12 the Finns hit the attacking Russian Tank with the AT gun and surrounded it.  The Infantry did not attack the tank because it will run out of gas and be much weaker next turn.  The only other Russian unit blocking the Finnish advance is an artillery piece which is very weak against direct attack.



Turn 13 North
The Russian Tank was destroyed.  The lead element of the Russian relief force decided to head West and capture a relatively unimportant Finnish town.  There are 17 turns left in this scenario.  I have enough time to reinforce/reorganize my main force before heading South.  As seen on the screenshot, the forces returning from the NE have not rejoined the main force.  It will take a few turns for the entire force to reunite.  I have enough time to slow my advance.


Turn 13 - South
My delaying force in the South managed to break contact and reinforce.  They plan to wait quietly in the woods until they have the opportunity to rejoin the main Finnish Army moving North to South down the road.


airboy

Turns 14 and 15 - The Cunning Sauna and Vodka Gambit!

Turn 14
The Soviets have an infantry unit in heavy woods blocking the road.  They are expecting the Russian Armor unit to move up in support.  But the Armor never arrives.

In one of the undocumented heroic actions of the war, the old men and the hot Finnish women evacuated the town but did not destroy the sauna or hide the vodka.  Instead, they placed helpful signs pointing to the sauna and had the vodka "conveniently" placed.  The Commie tankers rolled into town and found the sauna and vodka.  Fearing poison, they had a disliked private drink the vodka and soak in the sauna.  Two hours later realizing that everything was "legit" the tankers got completely bombed and enjoyed the warm, moist sauna.

The commie infantry shivering in the woods kept expecting the tanks, which never arrived. 


Turn 15 - The Tankers are drunk and the Infantry are Routed!
Success - the "sauna and hot tub" gambit worked!  All hail the plan of the old male Finn's and blonde Finnish women!

airboy

There are 13 scenarios in this expansion.  I've almost written up and posted the first 4.  This is taking a lot of time.

JasonPratt

I have now begun obsessively squinting to find summer palm trees in the terrain snapshot windows, after finding them on a 'plantation' snapshot of a Finnish winter 'farm' hex!

Also, enjoying AB's AAR, but curse you, Crossroads, for my inevitable paranoid compulsion. I KNOW THOSE PALM TREES ARE IN THE OTHER SHOTS NONE OF WHICH HAVE THE SLIGHTEST THING TO DO WITH A FINNISH WINTER! THEY'RE IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE LAKE SHOT, I KNOW THEY ARE! {squinting}
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

airboy

#66
Sauna & Booze Part Deux
The crafty old Finnish men and the comely Finnish women attempt the "Sauna and Vodka Ploy" again.  The old men and the lovely ladies made signs pointing to "saunas and vodka at Ojala and the nearby airfield!"  They had a sign placed every quarter mile.  The lone Finnish ski unit in the area sent a squad out to place the signs so the lovelies would not get harmed.  And the Soviet Tanks decided not to relieve the forces in the North but instead to take Ojala and the airfield.  The old men, the ski troops, and the lovely Finnish ladies all got on their skis (or were pulled on sleds if they were invalids) and evacuated the towns.  The Soviet Tanks rolled forward and took the areas, drank the booze, got in the Saunas, and passed out.

Following the Signs


Sauna & Vodka Captured


Stalin's minions found out why the Russian Armor did not arrive on time.  The NKVD showed up, shot half of the officers, and dumped their corpses in the saunas.  The saunas were set on fire.  The dispirited Russian Tankers then headed North towards the Finnish Army

airboy

Turn 16 & 17 North

There is a steady advance by the Finn main army group as you can see.



Crossroads

Quote from: JasonPratt on December 08, 2016, 04:20:41 PM
I have now begun obsessively squinting to find summer palm trees in the terrain snapshot windows, after finding them on a 'plantation' snapshot of a Finnish winter 'farm' hex!

Also, enjoying AB's AAR, but curse you, Crossroads, for my inevitable paranoid compulsion. I KNOW THOSE PALM TREES ARE IN THE OTHER SHOTS NONE OF WHICH HAVE THE SLIGHTEST THING TO DO WITH A FINNISH WINTER! THEY'RE IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE LAKE SHOT, I KNOW THEY ARE! {squinting}

Sorry about that JP, I lied, they are not frozen palm trees as such. Just testing the awareness of the readers of this fine AAR. For it is a well known fact Cuba supported Finland with a cargo of Palm tree shaped camo nettings, which were quickly taken into use.

Did You Know: Many an important asset was saved from Soviet bombers, who fresh from the Black-sea-holiday-resorts-turned-to-aviation-schools could not find anything worth dropping their precious bombs, just fields of frozen palm trees everywhere they considered quite natural...
Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

JasonPratt

Quote from: airboy on December 08, 2016, 08:02:12 PMStalin's minions found out why the Russian Armor did not arrive on time.  The NKVD showed up, shot half of the officers, and dumped their corpses in the saunas.  The saunas were set on fire.

...I'm guessing the inferior Finnish vodka helped with that?  <:-)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Crossroads

Hope you don't mind the banter airboy, great stuff!

Also, kudos to the developers regarding the map. The village of "Oltava" did not sound right at all, so I picked up a copy of a 1941 map of the area, and what do you know, there's a farm called Oltava where it's supposed to be! This was a sparse populated region, so to have locations on map they need to do something like that.

Here's the mighty town of Suomussalmi by the way. As you can see, there's the church at the hill where it's supposed to be, then like a dozen buildings there. The people lived in their farms, so the "town" was pretty much something like the local shopkeeper, priest and his staff, the local blacksmith, and so on.

Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

airboy

Turn 19 & 20
The Finn's are rolling South.  They capture the airfield, isolate and almost destroy an infantry unit.

Turn 19


Turn 20
Russian armor almost kills a Finnish infantry unit.  It will retreat and reinforce.  The "stars" are my two AT guns that will move into range and hit the tanks.

airboy

#72
On to Victory in Scenario 4

On turn 21 my two Anti-Tank guns almost destroyed one of the Russian Armor units.  The other unit is very strong, but the flanks are not well protected.
Turn 21


Turn 22
There are 5 units in this soon to be pocket of dead commies.  I have ski troops swarming from the South, West and North-East.  The last armor unit has two anti-tank guns facing it.  The last victory hex is marked.


Victory!

Sir Slash

That's some damn fine Commie-Killing there Airboy. Congrats on the win. Looks like a fine little game and takes me back to my Panzer General days.  O0
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

airboy

Quote from: Sir Slash on December 15, 2016, 10:51:02 AM
That's some damn fine Commie-Killing there Airboy. Congrats on the win. Looks like a fine little game and takes me back to my Panzer General days.  O0

This is better than Panzer General in a couple of ways.  First, the terrain & scale are reasonably accurate.  Second, experienced troops are not so overpowered that they crush everything in their wake.  Third, the Finns are highly limited in equipment they can obtain.  The Soviets have better gear throughout the war - especially in Armor, Artillery and scouting.  The game is deeper, but not so much that you get bogged down in the details.  The series gives individual armies advantages.  The Japs are a bitch to spot in heavy terrain.  The Finn ski troops are highly mobile.  US Marines have amphibious abilities that put everyone else to shame.

Still, this is not close to being an advanced war game.  It is labeled "intermediate" which is probably a good label.