Winter War
Super simple setup. An older S&T magazine game, enjoyed by many for a variety of good reasons. As part of our Chronological play thru of World War II we need to cover the bases and see what happened during this fascinating, brutal and vicious conflict. I can recommend two books on the topic.

A Frozen Hell by William Trotter and a more recent book with a lot of interviews and a more personal touch War of the White Death by Bair Irincheev. There are also a few nice movies on the topic. Winter War being known as the best (you can see most of it on Youtube or pay a small fortune for it on Amazon – Winter War .

On with the game. The title provides a solid attempt at re creating the situation and desperation of the Finns in this bloody conflict. While still making it some what replayable!

The game uses elements such as Supply in an interesting fashion as it enforces some consolidation of consolidation of Soviet Forces along approach routes with a linkage via HQ to a supply source. Each supply source can only service so many attack factors.

Images for Turn 1-3:

Turn 1 30 Nov-9 Dec
The Setup for both sides is not optimal I can tell as we begin! But on we march.
The Soviets attack one hex of the Mannheim line and soak off on the adjacent fortifications.
Soumussalmi area sees vicious fighting.

The Finnish counter  @ Kuhmo and SE of there. Move to lock up ZoCs of the enemy, forcing attacks by the Soviets (85th and 11th Corps) or a retreat and move to another hex.

Finns forget to retreat before attack!
6 F v 7 AF: S

Turn 1 losses are therefore higher than they should have been for the Finns.

Turn 2 10-19 Dec

Turn 2 Attacks:

And results:

Soviets have 2 units OOS, they are attacked at 3:1!

2nd NE for Mannheim line assault. Blue disks denote oos.

Finns attack OOS units and kill the 6-4-2, boldly countering against NKVD on the border they are repulsed.

Turn 3

Soviets attack, near SOUM, but regroup at Mannheim. They start to push around the edge of the Lagoda line.

Finns attack aggressively and kill 3 Divisions. Soviet Attacks red dice:

They also abandon one hex of the Lagoda, and start to feel the pressure on Mannheim as reinforcements arrive for Soviets.

Losses to date