"Winter War Finland January 1940" Topic

Hello everyone. Haven't posted on here in a long while because I've been very busy lately but I have finally decided to post some pics of a Winter War game I ran about a year ago.

You can see lots of pics of the game here: link

This battle was played using our turn based PBEM "double-blind" system with 2 Finn players and 2 Russian players. I was the GM , interpreting orders, resolving combat/movement,etc , and then sending pics and updates to the players for their next turns. We have run many games this way and its a lot of fun! If you are interested, you can view a full "aar" of each player's individual moves & turn updates and lots more pics here:

link

Regarding the game, this was supposed to be the first game of a Winter War Campaign I developed with the intention of playing 3 or 4 more games. Unfortunately, I am too busy at the moment to continue with the campaign anytime in the near future so I figured I would just post the results of the first game. I spent alot of time developing ideas for the campaign system and rather than let those go to waste, I have posted all the details here in case anyone may find them interesting or useful:

Basic Flowchart/Terrain Setting: link

Finn Breifing/Special Rules: link

Russian Breifing/Special Rules: link

Here's a couple of quick shots:

Thanks for looking -- and YES, I know I pushed the historical accuracy a bit with the use of 3 Finnish tanks!!!
CH

P.S.:

Some things I think that are unique and interesting about this game:

-use of pins on the figures instead of bases.
-Terrain table made of Paper mache/cardboard/styrofoam with baking soda (cost me less than $5 USD !)
-lots of reasonably passable scratchbuilt trees
-scratchbuilt Finn AT gun
- MANY plastic figures were converted…

That looks very, very beautiful. I'll have to try making a board that way, it seems to create a more realistic battlefield.

Stunning.

Now those are hills!

Very, very, very nice!

It was a LOT of fun playing it, and reading the full AAR (and seeing what the other players were doing/thinking) is just as much fun! (I just finished reading it carefully.) The hills and snow were very realistic (and the trees)!

I had forgotten our pre-arranged "code" of colored flare signals, and probably waited too long to signal I was attacking. Then the Finns' flares added to the confusion. Yellow flares were supposed to signal that the enemy was retreating, IIRC.

You haven't said here, Chris, who "won." As I recall, you ruled that we Soviets had captured the objective, but that the Finns had held on for the requisite 12 turns. Is that correct? I guess I would not recommend that Glen be shot for ordering a retreat, but I'd keep him where I could watch him next time. ;o) I thought there was a 12th turn played (the AAR only goes thru 11) and that I ordered 1 of the HMGs up the hill to help hold the objective (should have sent both).

After the battle, Glen and I were planning to leave a force to hold the ridge, even though a cold night there could cause a lot of casualties.

I have to give credit (blame?) to Glen for the overall plan of attack, which I still think was a good one. I wasn't expecting the Finns to have that much armor (though you had warned us that they might have "some," IIRC).

You can find links to all our previous online games (not counting campaigns still in progress or not yet written up) here:
donsden.webs.com/apps/links

I've been running a Barbarossa AG Center campaign for almost a year now, which should be completed before Thanksgiving.

Excellent-looks great!

Inspiring landscape, thanks.

I will also say that it was a fun game (I had the main Russian attack force)and that the terrain looked fantastic.
With the trail blocked by the burning AC, I was not going to throw reluctant infantry into the face of that T26, esp. without any AT weapons.
Playing these double blind games is really fantastic. Unlike the typical FtF game with the player overlooking the entire table, you dont know what you are up against or how they are placed against your forces, or how badly hurt your forces or the enemy's are during the battle, and added to that, the C&C confusion that keeps the player guessing (esp. when there are no radio comms).
Glen

Our plan was for my force to draw the Finns' attention to the NE corner while Glen (BuckeyeBob) snuck up on 'em from the SW. It worked to some extent.

I think Jeff and Norm handled the Finns very well, shifting forces about to foil our various moves.

I absolutely love the terrain board! I can see using it for everything from the Winter War to Ostfront winter battles, to sci-fi battles on an ice world; very sharp!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

In case you don't realize it: I should point out that the players only saw what you see in the AAR, and each was in a different part of the world. I've never met the GM or any of the others players, except online, yet we've played many of these games together and with others.

Pretty unique. From the amazing terrain to the use of the pins on the figures to the fact that it was played remotely. Thanks for sharing.

This is really, really great. I love the Winter War and your terrain really emphasizes the close-in nature of the combat. How long did it take you to build the terrain? Do you have any kind of walk-through of the process, or would you be willing to give an overview of it?

Thanks for all the comments.

Banana Republican : The board was actually really easy to do and did not take long at all. I started with a base of cardboard ( you could probably use plywood or mdf or something stronger if you want a permanent piece -- for me, I was expecting to throw it away after the game).
On top of that, I put various large pieces of styrofoam packaging that I had been collecting. Then I used cardboard and balled up newspaper to smooth out the contours a bit. Taped everything down with masking tape. Then I started with the papier mache over the top of everything.

Once it was dry, I painted the road/trail areas brown and the rest white. After it was painted, I started with the baking soda. Brushed on some glue first, and the used a large salt shaker type deal to put down the baking soda on top of the glue.

After that, it was just a matter of sticking on the trees, which have pins in the bottom. Making all the trees took much longer than the terrain table.

That is a bloody lovely setup! I am very jealous.
The only thing I can think of to improve it is something that is probably only noticeable to us who live in the North:
fir trees retain a lot of snow.

They also take on frost as soon as the temperature turns freezing (which I assume is why the snow clings on so well).

Looks awesome! If you want more troops13 Stretch goals are now broken for the Winter War KS, this gives you £141.00 GBP GBP of FREE Finnish models for a £60.00 GBP GBP Pledge, it's a no brainer really. And if you want Early Russians, that £60.00 GBP GBP currently gives £82.00 GBP GBP worth of stuff including a tank and armoured car.

link

Great pics, thanks!

really cool!

That looks absolutely amazing! I've used papier maché over foam for hills but never as rugged as these.
I always think that excellent scenery improves games so much.

LOVE the ladder campaign! You did some great work! Looking forward to playing this.