Reindeer Games: Valkoinen Kuolema
Here's the second consignment of a series of engagements set in 2015 in northern Finland. The time frame of this scenario is set in December 2015, after a Russian Invasion of northern Norway has stalled and partially reversed. As in the first scenario (Blood and Snow), Russian Forces have moved into Finnish Lapland to flank Norwegian and NATO forces. Unlike the earlier incursion through Finland in April, Finnish forces now actively defending their soil.
This scenario is set at the crossroads at Sodankyla, Finland. It is actually the third of four scenarios in this set. I'm having trouble with the battle plan for the second scenario and that will come later. The second scenario is set further north of Sodankyla at a bridge over the Portipahdan. The premise for this scenario is that Finnish forces have stopped the Russian southern advance, causing them to send units north from Sala along Rt. E63 to strike the northern Finnish line from the rear.
This is the setting for a mixed infantry/mechanized infantry group of Finns to stop that attack.
I've selected the OPFOR to represent the disbanded and "newly" reconstituted 166th Guards Separate MRB. This is a hypothetical artifact of speculation of the current Russian restructuring of their army, so excuses are offered in advance. I have no set exact Finnish troop designations owing to the perceived necessity of drawing forces from various units engaged in the conflict to hold an interior line of defense along a broad front.
I've attempted to set the Russian forces along a pre-set battle plan. In play testing, those forces appear to drive along the lines set for them fairly well. Deployment of those forces is hampered by terrain factors which I tried to model in the scenario. This is an asset to the Finnish player, which, with their artillery assets, offer a viable defense for their infantry and limited mechanized units to defend against mechanized infantry supported by MBT's. Because Russian forces have been set along pre-determined lines of attack (waypoint movement), this scenario is best played as the Finnish defender. At some point I'm going to try it as the Russian, but time hasn't been available for me at present.
You will note that the Sodankyla airfield has been cratered (by air raids early in the conflict) and is not a Russian operational objective. The Russian Objective are the bridges leading to Rt. E75 which will outflank the Finns further north.
The Finnish units have been set to limit their opportunity fire. They are also set along lines of potential ambush of Russian lines of advance. Use these units wisely and coordinate artillery to strike choke points. Finnish scout and anti-tank units have had their TO&E adjusted to allow for additional AT carry (in accordance with man/weight limits). This gives the Finns a better chance to survive initial engagements.
The Finnish battle plan is to strike, displace your units, and select secondary assembly points to reform. Bleed the Russian units and hold the bridge.
Hope you enjoy.
Tom
Last edited by Grant1pa; January 22nd, 2015 at 03:37 PM..
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... "Death" in Finnish language. No big deal anyway.
Linear Mode
