Design for Effete
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
November 2013

If you do something often enough, you eventually either become better at it, or at least become more efficient at doing it badly. After writing 800 or so Panzer Grenadier scenarios — I'm not really sure how many, I'm just taking a total number I saw online somewhere and figuring I've done 2/3 of them — I have picked up a few things along the way. Mostly, I'm impressed that it actually is possible to find historical insights through scenario design.

Wargames are often sold as interactive tools of historical study, but professional military historians scorn them and with good reason. Wargames rely on the transmission of solid, knowable data — the number of men and guns, the abilities of commanders, the fall of terrain and so on. Trained historians understand that the past is malleable, that there are many pasts and they are subject to change. Just as science fiction uses the future as a lens with which to view the present, most written history isn't really about the past.

Having worked on Finnish variants now for decades, it's been fascinating to see this past change as well. When I first began reading about the Winter War in the late 1970s, I accepted the view of Finland as a nation of freedom-loving, hard-fighting heroes of unquestioned moral virtue. In those days of the Cold War, they were depicted standing against the evils of communism and fighting off the slavering Eastern hordes with both courage and style.

As a teenager, and a relatively unsophisticated one at that, I missed the subtext of this message — one that seems so clear now when simply looking at the juxtaposition of "Winter" and "Cold." The Finns were made mythical heroes, just as J.R.R. Tolkien looted of Finnish culture and language to craft his Elves, because we needed symbols that weren't stained with that unfortunate Nazi penchant for mass murder.

Revisionist historians often fall into the error of throwing out all of the old memes, of trying to chart completely new ground. There's actually much to admire in Finland's stand: Her leaders obviously tried to make the best deal they could to preserve their country, and knew they were making moral compromises to do so. Her soldiers fought extremely well, but the same qualities that made them so fearsome in battle could lead to unfortunate outcomes: The stories of starving, desperate and unwilling Soviet conscripts suddenly going berserk and "fighting to the last man" when overrun by the Finns (yet somehow managing not to inflict any casualties) simply don't hold up under close scrutiny.

When I first did that old Finnish Panzerblitz variant described in the first installment — someone borrowed chunks of it in their "own" Internet version — I accepted the myths at face value. Having questioned them, I find the Finnish experience to be much closer to the overall human norm. No nation, no individual, is perfectly formed within themselves. For every admirable quality like sisu, there's the Finnish national curse of pilkku nussiva.

And so, having proven that yes I really do have a Ph.D. or I wouldn't write tripe like this, here's the third installment of scenario previews for Arctic Front. I think you'll like them.

Warranty Revoked
28 September 1944

The Finnish Armored Division at first moved slowly in the wake of the retreating Germans, but when Lt. Gen. Hjalmar Siilasvuo took command of the III Corps things changed. When the division encountered a German rear guard still at the village of Pudasjärvi, rather than allow them a leisurely retreat Sillasvuo told the tankers to attack immediately. The Lapland War was on.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Eastern Front, and pieces from Road to Berlin and Edelweiss.

Conclusion

Like most former German allies, the Finns approached the opportunity to fight them with great enthusiasm. Though less arrogant than with Italian, Romanian or Hungarian colleagues, the Germans had still earned enormous resentment from the Finns. Hermann Hölter, chief of staff of the German 20th Mountain Army, expressed heartfelt outrage in his post-war memoirs over this action: The Finns, he raged, broke their purchase contract by using their German-made assault guns against the Nazis.

Design Note: I wanted to make sure we had a scenario where Finnish tanks fought against the Germans.

Winter Soldiers
5 December 1941

In the last segment of the Finnish offensive against the Soviet Union, Finnish forces tried to secure the line between Lakes Onega and Seesjärvi. Marshal Mannerheim allowed his corps commander, Lt. Gen. "Pappa" Laatikainen to choose the stop line, and the II Corps staff decided to push forward to the Stalin Canal as a better defensive position. The elite 1st Jäger Brigade would lead the way. As the Finnish light infantry and their supporting tanks moved up through the bitter cold the Soviets, expecting a large-scale offensive aimed at breaking the Murmansk Railroad, prepared a desperate defense.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Road to Berlin, boards and pieces from Eastern Front and a piece from Sinister Forces.

Conclusion

Maj. Gen. Ruben Lagus had ample artillery available, but chose to launch the assault without the heavy preparatory fire recommended by corps headquarters. The attack went well despite fierce resistance, and by 5 p.m. the town of Karhumaki was in Finnish hands. The Finnish offensive was not quite complete but the key objective had been taken.

Design Note: Elite light infantry and tanks are on the attack together against a fortified line. The Finns have just about all the advantages — superior artillery, excellent morale and armor support. But the Soviets are dug in and waiting.

Independence Day
6 December 1941

With Karhumaki in Finnish hands, the tankers and Sissi pushed forward toward their final objective, the town of Poventsa on the Stalin Canal. The Soviets continued to resist, but the speed of the Finnish advance caught them by surprise: the Finnish generals knew that Parliament planned to announce annexation of the conquered territories on the evening of the 6th, Finland's Independence Day, and wanted to declare the end of major combat operations at the same time.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge, a board and pieces from Eastern Front, a board and a Soviet 85mm AA piece from Road to Berlin, and pieces from Sinister Forces.

Conclusion

The Finns had set themselves a difficult objective with their artificial time limit, but a lone Finnish T-34 made the difference and "Mission Accomplished" could truthfully be declared. The Sotka shot up a platoon of armored cars, smashed 11 trucks loaded with infantrymen, ran over a battery of howitzers and finally rammed and destroyed a battery of heavy anti-aircraft guns trying to set up to stop the rampaging beast. Breaking into Poventa, the tank then destroyed field kitchens, wagons and trucks, sending hundreds of Soviet troops fleeing in all directions. When the jägers caught up with the tank they found Poventa otherwise unoccupied except for teams of NKVD troopers setting fires throughout the town. Finally allowed to stop for breakfast, the Sotka's driver tried to park the tank but tipped it into the Stalin Canal, where it landed top-down. Two days later, a Soviet sapper blew up the locks on the Stalin Canal, flooding Poventa with a wall of freezing mud and burying the entire Tank Battalion. It would be June 1942 before Finland again had fully-operational armor.

Design Notes: There's so much to like in this scenario. One of the problems in wargame design is the artificiality of time constraints: How long is "too long" is something that can rarely be known at the time. In this case, the Finnish player has a very clear deadline. Add a single tank wreaking total havoc — before perishing in a traffic accident — and you have the makings of one of the series' best scenarios.

Wretched of the Earth
13 March 1940

With the war due to end at noon, Gen. Kirill Meretskov of the Soviet 7th Army ordered a final attack on the Finnish positions at Taipale, which had defied the Soviets since December. The war was to end with a clear Soviet tactical victory, and he instructed his artillerymen to make sure they brought no shells back home with them. Unwilling to die in the war's last hours, the Red Army infantrymen had to be roused from their trenches under dire threats from their political officers. But they dutifully went forward, and men of both sides prepared to die for no reason.

Note: This scenario uses a board from Battle of the Bulge, a board and pieces from Eastern Front, and the strongpoint pieces from Airborne.

Conclusion

The fighting continued until the very stroke of noon, when a sudden silence came over the battlefield until a Soviet brass band began to play the Internationale. Meretskov could claim his victory, though the gains had been small and utterly meaningless. The next morning the Finns marched out of their trenches and began the trek back across the new Soviet-Finnish border.

Design Note: Politicians, pundits and even historians almost always miss one of the few undeniable facts of history: No one has ever been asked to "risk" their life in war. They're ordered to die. And rarely has anyone been ordered to die for less than the men of the 150th Rifle Division hours before the close of the Winter War. It's a pretty straightforward assault scenario, with a short deadline and massive artillery support for the Soviets. The title's from the first line of the Internationale, at the time still the Soviet national anthem: "Arise, wretched of the earth."

The Old Lie
13 March 1940

Finnish and Western popular historians have made much of the final Soviet attacks in the hours before the armistice took effect, often painting them as a form of war crime. At Kuhmo in central Finland, the Soviet 54th Rifle Division and its attached units had been surrounded since late January. Finnish attacks on the "mottis" increased in late February, with the Red Army corps command claiming that chemical weapons had been used and begging permission to retaliate in kind. The Soviet command refused. With the war's end only hours away, Maj. Gen. Wiljo Tuompo ordered his North Karelian Group of detached battalions to make a major attack.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Road to Berlin, and pieces from Sinister Forces.

Conclusion

It's hard to find any military justification for Tuompo's attack — having identified an NKVD unit in the motti, the Finns attempted to slaughter its personnel before the armistice freed them to return to Soviet lines. Use of poison gas has never been proven, and the agents available in 1940 were usually ineffective in cold weather. It remains a wartime Soviet claim without evidence, from a system built on lies. Yet the vindictive nature of this attack in the final hours - which needlessly cost dozens of Finnish soldiers their lives - makes it hard to disregard out of hand. The NKVD men fought off the Finns with heavy casualties on both sides, and marched out of their motti with banners flying.

Design Note: If Meretskov's final attack to claim a victory is morally indefensible, Tuompo's attempt to exterminate an isolated unit before peace broke out defies description. I suppose we'd sell more copies of our games if I could just stick to simplistic black-and-white tales and not worry about all that uncomfortable stuff. So I probably shouldn't have included this scenario, but it's in there and it features the villains fighting desperately for their lives while the heroes can use poison gas to try to slaughter them before the noon bell strikes. The title references Wilfred Owen.

The Tank Sausage
27 June 1944

With dangerous Soviet penetrations in and around Tali, Maj. Gen. Ruben Lagus of the Finnish armored division formed a three-pronged attack against the Soviet pocket the Finns called the "tank sausage" from its shape on situation maps. In the center, Col. Väino Forsberg had three infantry battalions supported by German assault guns. They were to clear the hotly-contested road between Ihantala and Portinhoikka, breaking the sausage in two. But the sausage had other ideas.

Note: This scenario uses a board from Battle of the Bulge and boards and pieces from Road to Berlin.

Conclusion

Forsberg's battle group made good progress, driving back the Soviets and clearing the road, when suddenly their accompanying German assault guns turned and drove off toward the rear areas. Shorn of armored support, the assault came to a halt and the Soviets regained much of the ground taken. Forsberg, livid, told the corps command staff that the Germans had panicked and run from the battlefield. The assault gun brigade commander, Capt. Hans-Wilhelm Cardeneo, claimed that his vehicles had run out of ammunition (all 22 of them, simultaneously) and had to leave to replenish their stocks. The Finns did not accept his excuse and branded the Germans cowards.

Design Note: It's pretty hard to buy the German excuses for this one; it rates right next to the "mice ate our wiring" howler given to the Romanians by a panzer division commander outside Stalingrad. The Finns are outnumbered and facing an enemy with morale almost as good as their own — they won't make much progress if the Germans run away, which can happen at any time.

Grave of Three Generals
28-29 February 1940

On the Karelian Front, the Soviet 18th Rifle Division and 34th Light Tank Brigade had been surrounded by the Finns for weeks in what was known as a "motti." These isolated Soviet units dotted Karelia, as the troops froze and starved but continued to resist. On the morning of the 28th, the troops in the "East Lemetti" motti received permission to break out. Forming the men into two groups, the command staffs led them out toward Soviet lines just as the Finns were breaking in to wipe them out.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Road to Berlin, and boards and pieces from Eastern Front.

Conclusion

The Soviets formed two groups of roughly 1,500 men each to make their escape. The "Northern Group" made it to Soviet lines after losing about 250 men — the only large-scale escape from a motti during the Winter War. The "Southern Group" died to the last man. The Finns gathered a few dozen sick prisoners and counted over 3,100 bodies. They buried the men they believed to be Brigade Commander S.I. Kondratiev of 34th Light Tank Brigade and G.F. Kondrashov of 18th Rifle Division next to the fallen commander of 11th Rifle, at a site still called the Grave of Three Generals. However, it appears that Kondratiev committed suicide after the failure of the Southern Group to break out, while the badly-wounded Kondrashov was spirited away by aerosan only to be stood up against a wall and shot at a military hospital.

Design Note: The Soviet force starts surrounded, and has to sprint for the edge of the board while the Finns try to run them down. Back when I did that ancient Panzerblitz variant, the editor of the Avalon Hill General said it needed a scenario from the motti battles and it took me a quarter-century to follow through. It's an interesting one, and the Soviet player gets to use the aerosan pieces again.

Black Day of the Finnish Army
10 June 1944

After close to three years of inactivity, during the early summer of 1944 the Soviets launched a powerful offensive designed to knock Finland out of the war. Made overconfident by success, the Finns were not prepared for the hard-won skills or material superiority of their enemies. Three Soviet divisions concentrated on one Finnish division.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Eastern Front, boards and pieces from Road to Berlin, and pieces from Red Warriors and Airborne.

Conclusion

Finnish contempt for Soviet fighting abilities had made them lax, and 10th Infantry Division’s artillery was slow to respond to the Soviet attack. Tanks and infantry pressed their attacks in a coordinated manner the Finns had not dreamed possible and by the end of the day Finland’s proudest regiment had utterly ceased to exist.

Design Note: A powerful Soviet assault against shaky Finnish defenders.

Gathering Darkness
13 December 1939

Finnish pre-war doctrine emphasized offensive tactics: even when on the strategic defensive, Finnish units should seek opportunities to encircle and destroy enemy forces. After fighting a traditional defense against the Soviets just east of Lake Ladoga, Lt. Gen. Woldemar "Matti" Hägglund of IV Corps sought an opportunity to go over to the attack. Thirteenth Division was to use 2/3 of its strength to break the Soviet hold on the Uomaa-Lemetti Road, hopefully forcing the two Soviet divisions driving up the lake's eastern shore to pull back.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Road to Berlin, and pieces from Eastern Front.

Conclusion

The Finnish attack had made some progress on the 12th, but with only enough skis for half of their troops the Finns were slowed and Soviet resistance stiffened. The road surface remained solid enough for tanks to operate freely and they provided welcome support to the defenders. By nightfall it was clear that the offensive - which had never had particularly clear goals - had failed. Hägglund ordered his battalions back to their starting positions.

Design Note: All organizations become hidebound, and the Finnish Army was no exception. Doctrine said they had to attack, and they were going to attack here whether they could figure out why or not. Popular histories often ridicule Soviet reliance on tanks in the depths of winter but this battle shows why they did it: having plowed the road, they had an unstoppable and mobile force for which the Finns had no answer.

Children's Crusade
27 April 1945

Open fighting between Finnish and German troops ended in November 1944, but the Germans still occupied a tiny sliver of Finland in the country's north-western "arm" at Kilpisjärvi. With Germany's final defeat imminent, Finland declared war on Germany on 4 March 1945 — the Allies had declared this a pre-requisite for United Nations membership. To make sure that Finland could claim to have liberated herself from the Nazis, the government ordered Lt. Gen. Hjalmar Siilasvuo to drive out the last German outposts. As Soviet troops fought their way into the heart of Berlin, far to the north Finnish soldiers removed the last German outpost from Finland.

Note: This scenario uses maps and pieces from Road to Berlin, pieces from Edelweiss and strongpoint pieces from Airborne.

Conclusion

This battle was waged mostly by young conscripts who had been drafted after the armistice with the Soviet Union and had not seen combat; it is still called the "Children's Crusade" in Finnish histories of the war. The Germans put up surprising resistance, but the Finns broke through their fortified line and drove them back into Norway. Finland became a founding member of the United Nations and the only former member of the European Axis to end the war with no foreign troops on her soil. The Finns stacked their arms and embarked on six decades of peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.

Design Note: This is a small scenario, with the Finns tackling a fortified German line high in a mountain valley. It's pretty straightforward, and I wanted to close out the book with a Finnish victory over the Germans. This one seemed a fitting conclusion.

Don't be left out in the cold — order Arctic Front now!