Winter War Scenario #4 - Defending a feint

 

Rules: Nuts! By TwoHourWargames (28mm WWII skirmish)

 Campaign & Scenario Details:

Nationality	Unit Type	Month/Year	Location
Suomi (Finland)	Jääkkäri (Jaegers)	Joulukuu (Dec),1939	Kuhmo Sector

 The campaign so far

ID	Mission	Finnish Morale	Soviet Morale	Finnish Inv Lvl	Soviet Inv Lvl	Notes
1.	Patrol	4	4	3	4	Soviet Victory
2.	Defend	4	4	3	4	Finnish Victory
3.	Patrol	4	3	3	4	Soviet Victory
4.	Defend	4	3	3	4

 

Note on Finnish Language: I prefer to use Finnish ranks and abbreviations. Note that these are my abbreviations and not necessarily the real ones. They are as follows:

Sotamies (Sm) private

Korpraali (Krp) private first class

Alakersantti (Aks) corporal (in game terms, an assistant squad leader)

Kersantti (Krs) sergeant (in game terms, a squad leader)

Ylikersantti (Yks): senior sergeant (in game terms, the platoon sergeant)

Vänrikki (Vrk): 2nd Lieutenant (Platoon leader)

 Date: December 19th, 1939, near village of Tyrävaara, Finland

Weather: Clear, cold weather rules in effect, all rivers completely frozen

 Historical Note:

The Soviet advance (into central Finland) was stopped at Tyrävaara. After repelling the enemy’s artillery-supported offensives in Tyrävaara on 16-19 December, Unit Kekkonen launched a counteroffensive on 24 December that drove the enemy from its positions and started chasing the retreating Soviet company towards the eastern border. – Kuhmo Winter War Museum

Briefing:

 The Soviet 4/118 Infantry Regiment have been driving on Kuhmo. Political Officer Badinov (AKA “Fearless Leader”) has informed Captain Koldinov that he will order his men to fix bayonets but otherwise leave their weapons unloaded. They are to charge home, they are not to stop and shoot; the only exception being the light machine gunners who may fire on the move.

  Kalvela’s squad is receiving replacements and is unavailable. That leaves us with one half of Kantola’s Jääkäri platoon and Lt Lamio’s platoon of two infantry squads. Both forces will be under the command of Kapteeni Kaarna and will be operating in the area of Hirsiniemi (Timber Peninsula), approximately 6.5 miles southeast of Tyrävaara (The only place in the area I could find that sort of resembled the type of terrain I rolled up. Incidentally, one definition of Tyrävaara is “Hernia wooded hill”).

  Kaarna’s command consists of the following:

HQ section: Kaarna (pistol), sniper, Medium MG, Boys Anti-tank Rifle team, medic.

Lamio’s platoon: Lamio (rifle), Krs Perkkola’s SMG squad (2 SMG, 8 rifles) & Krs Partanen’s LMG squad (1 LMG, 6 rifles).

Kantola (SMG) will be filling the role of STAR. His (half) platoon consists of 1LMG, 6 rifles

 

Soviet bad luck started when I rolled up five water features
(But hey, this is Finland)

Turn 1:  Soviet initiative, Finns fail to activate

Finnish troops form a defensive line in the woods

 Because of the openness of the terrain, all three starting “Possible Enemy Forces” (PEF) started the game with a Line of Sight (LOS) to a Finnish unit. This easily could have been bad news for the Finns, but the dice gods were with them: only one of the PEFs turned out to be an enemy force, and it was the smallest possible force (I LMG 6 rifles) at that.

Sovieet squad builds cover on the island

Rules Note: The die roll actually called for a squad in a building, but since the squad was in the middle of a river island, I couldn’t bring myself to do that, so I gave them a rock wall instead (they obviously built it in the middle of the night).

 As soon as the PEF resulted in an enemy squad, there was an immediate “In Sight Test” which went to the Soviets. Between reaction fire and active fire, the Finns suffered one killed (a corporal) and one wounded rifleman; pretty much everyone else dropped down under their cover.

Rules Note: Normally, a “Drop Back” result requires a figure to move 6” to the nearest cover (in any direction), if none is available, they drop prone. When a figure is behind some kind of cover (like a brick wall) or in a defensive position (like a foxhole) where they can drop down deeper behind cover and not be in LOS of the enemy, I call it good.

This may, or may not be a legitimate interpretation of the actual rule, but it is how I do it – customization is the beauty of a solo game set. If I can convince the Game Master (me) it is plausible and reasonable, I allow it.

Turn 2: Soviet Initiative

 The Soviets really didn’t have any targets in their LOS, all the Finns, except one LMG team, were dropped down in their cover. The Soviet LMG didn’t have a good fire angle, so it didn’t fire. Not much happened.

The Finns on the right-center spent the turn recovering their willpower. A couple also readied hand grenades. In the Center, the Finnish medium MG plastered the Soviet line. At the same time, a well-aimed shot from the anti-tank rifle took out the Soviet LMG. The Finnish LMG on the far right took out one rifleman. Now it was the Soviet’s turn to have the entire squad duck behind the cover of piled rocks.

Turn 3: Finnish initiative

Clearing the Island

   

With the entire Soviet force ducked back under cover, the Finns decide it is time for a counter attack. Alakersantti (cpl) Partanen leads an impromptu group of six soldiers in an attack.  Korpraali (PFC) Hunkala throws a grenade over the wall that kills one and wounds another, leaving only three survivors of the original squad. The Finns quickly follow up the grenade blast with a charge, forcing the three Soviets to surrender.

And that was that. Obviously this was not the main attack, but a Soviet feint.

Overview:

 Another easy victory. So far, the defensive battles have been much easier than the patrols. In a defensive scenario, you are allowed to start with an entire platoon. This is pretty much necessary, as you have to cover the entire length of the board. But in the two defensive scenarios of this campaign, the “attacker” has always been outnumbered.

 On the other hand, the patrol scenarios tend to last longer, which means that there is more of an opportunity to roll for additional PEFs or reinforcements.

Who says you can't build a castle in the swamp!