161 Arctic Crossroads

Doug Leslie

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After battling for weeks on Bloody Red Beach, it was time to move to cooler climes. My brand new copy of Haakka Paalle had arrived and I was keen to give it a whirl. My opponent, Marc Hanna, was happy to oblige and we decided to take the original approach of playing the first scenario in the module which is Arctic Crossroads. Since it was my turn to play the defender, I took the Finns.

[Marc: I’ve never been over-awed by the bloat in Hakka Paalle and the insistence of the Finns being included as “core” to ASL, but the faction certainly deserves its place in the annals of the game. In fairness, the Finns were distressed by a unique series of war situations from ’39-’45. The module covers various engagements in each of these as well as one could expect for what are mostly bleak snow/tree/village fights, which aren’t the most diverse ASL experiences. Playing a scenario or two from this expensive offering will help recoup some of the excess $$$$ I paid for the privilege of owning it, at least. Every other module I own has easily earned more bang for the buck than this one. Maybe I’ll play more of these Finnish supermen after duking it out with Doug, but there are a lot of other scenarios out there, so…]

Describing the Finns as the defenders in this scenario is only accurate up to a point. They certainly start the scenario on the defence but are likely to be the ones doing the attacking after their reinforcements arrive.
The scenario is set at the start of the Winter War and the Finns start with 3x548, 4x447, 1 MMG and 1 LMG commanded by an 8-0 leader set up in positions near to where the Russians will be coming from. To the rear are a couple of ancient ART guns with dodgy ammunition and an AA “gun” which is more akin to an MG with its 7.8 mm MA and IFE of 8. By SSR the ART guns have to set up unconcealed. The reason for this is that the Russians get VP for controlling any hex in which they are located and obviously that is a bit tricky if they can’t see them at start.

Attacking this less than daunting collection of Finnish manpower are 18 first line Russian squads led by two 8-0 (one of which can become a Commissar), and a 7-0. They are sporting an MMG, 2 LMG and a light mortar. With an ELR of 2, this collection of Stalin’s finest are a pretty good explanation of why the Winter War went so badly for the Russians. Notwithstanding the brittle nature of the attackers however, the Finns at start have a lot of ground to defend and are not likely to withstand the assault on their own. Fortunately, help is at hand with the scheduled entry of 7x548 squads on turn 4 accompanied by two leaders, two MGs and an Ahkio. An Ahkio, as everyone knows, is a kind of sledge that increases the IPC of any MMC carrying it by two PP. In effect, it will allow the HMG which accompanies the reinforcements to be assembled and portaged without slowing its owners down in their onward rush to get themselves killed.

[Marc – I bet those Finns are using the Ahkio to port around casks of Finlandia. One of our side objectives is to capture it, if possible!]

In order to understand the victory conditions, this would be a good time to look at the opening set up.

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As you can see, the Russian hordes are on the left (the North of the map). To win, they need to have at least 12 VPs on or south of hex row Y on the boards to the right. Those VPs can comprise Russian units and 3 VP for each location controlled by them containing a Finnish ART gun. On the face of it, the Russians have a lot of open ground to cover to reach their destination. but this is where the unusual bit about this scenario kicks in. The battle will be fought in “Arctic twilight” which means in ASL terms that nobody can see anything beyond a NVR of four hexes (unless visible due to a gun flash). The rest of the important night rules don’t apply eg there is no straying, illumination rounds, LV modifier etc. This twilight will obviously make it easier for the Russians to cross the open ground. On the plus side from a Finnish perspective, it will also make it easier for the reinforcements to reach the fighting and try to clear out any Russians who make it to the victory locations. And that is basically how it appeared to me that the scenario was meant to play out: the starting Finnish defenders can expect to be overwhelmed in the early going and the reinforcements will have to try to stabilise the position. Let’s do the “advantages and disadvantages” thing.

[Marc: The VC are a bit contrived, but not obnoxiously so. More interesting is the unique set of Night Rules the designer has chosen to represent dusk conditions. A night vision range of 4 may seem like a lot, but it’s not when one isn’t allowed to use illumination to extend that. I guess starshells weren’t issued to these northern troops because they were expected to see in the dark. Luckily the Finnish supermen don’t have better eyesight than my vodka-infused troops do!]

Russian Advantages
  • Numerical superiority against a stretched out initial Finnish force should allow them to overrun the starting defenders
  • Commissar to add moral fibre
  • Twilight that offers cover to allow them to get close
Russian Disadvantages
  • Low ELR which is liable to lead to lots of conscripts running around the battlefield
  • Only three leaders to try to keep together 18 squads
  • Sparse SW allotment
Finnish Advantages
  • Self-rally capability
  • Superior morale for the most part
  • Ordnance that can inflict a lot of damage to Russians that get too close (Spoiler alert: for “a lot of damage, read “zilch”) [Marc: could have but didn’t]
  • Winter Camouflage
  • Twilight that offers cover to allow reinforcements to get close
  • Good leader to squad ratio to keep troops moving
Finnish Disadvantages
  • Indifferent troops at start and an equally indifferent ELR of 3
  • ART guns fire duds if coloured dr is 6.
  • Too few troops to cover wide front in face of initial assault
  • Restrictive starting position between 5 hexrows for forward units at start
  • Light woods offer sparse cover for withdrawing defender
[Marc: Doug forgot 6: Finnish commanders hoarding the alcohol rations from troops; worse, exposing rations to capture by coarse Russians who don’t know the first thing about decent vodka]

With all of this in mind, I set up the starting force spread out so that there were no gaps where the Russians could move without being fired upon. The ART guns and AA gun are restricted in their set up area by the perimeter lines shown on the map. The AA gun set up in a clump of woods near the east edge and the rest of the Finns set up “heavier’ on that board since, if the Russians were persuaded to head for the more lightly defended south-western part of the map, it would be quicker for the Finnish reinforcements to reach them. Against a cautious Russian approach, the plan was to fall back slowly while using the twilight as cover albeit hampered by the fact that light woods with a hindrance factor of 1 made it difficult to do so without coming under fire from Russians close enough to see any retreating units. If the Russians charged forwards, the defenders would just keep shooting and hope for the best.
When we were getting the game set up, Marc indicated that his instinct was that this scenario favoured the Finns, and this was supported to some extent by the ROAR statistics which showed a score in their favour to date of 11 to 6. This is an area where Marc’s ASL experience is far greater than mine. Most of my ASL playing history is comprised of games played solo and I have never really considered balancing provisions before since I have not had a particular affiliation for either side. Marc on the other hand has been playing against live opponents on a regular basis for decades and clearly scenario balance is more of an issue in competitive play. His instinct for assessing balance is therefore going to be more reliable than mine. I offered to give him the Russian balance (an extra MMG for the Russians) but he graciously declined. The ROAR stats are not nearly extensive enough to for a view to be formed (and are surprisingly sparse given the length of time that has elapsed since the first edition of HP was issued), Time would tell whether his instinct was correct. Besides, the way that I play generally acts as an inbuilt balance provision in favour of my opponent. As we shall see.

[Marc: playings of this scenario are not too surprisingly sparse, though, except in comparison to 174 Lagus Assault Guns -- with a record of 64 to 24, people keep coming back to play that dog! As for my balance expertise, Doug doesn’t recognize my sharp negotiation skills are desperately used as a means of grabbing slight edges in tournaments.]

Turn One


The Russian set up in position to strike through the centre and western area of the map. The first 447 to enter LOS was in 17C1. The MMG in 19EE1 opened fire and declared a fire lane. This would interdict Russians from moving West from the D2 woods. Well, it would have done if it hadn’t malfunctioned. I should say that the MMG was Russian made- clearly the Russians had the foresight to supply the Finns with weapons that didn’t work. Now there was little to prevent the rush towards the lightly defended Western sector. Flushed with this success, the 447 continued to 17B1 where it was reduced to a broken conscript by fire from DD3. The rest of the attackers moved forward in a south westerly direction. Initial defensive fire was ineffective until a 7-0 led a 447 and LMG to 44C5, where a snakes eyes shot from EE6 killed the squad and broke the leader. Another squad was reduced to conscript status in 17C1 by the “now sans MG” 548 in EE1. Now, however, there was nothing to prevent an 8-0 from running 3 squads to B8. At the end of Russian turn one, this was the position.

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Their turn did not start well for the Finns. They started by breaking the MMG when they tried to repair it, thereby putting it in the early running for the award for the "most useless piece of ASL junk" of 2023. Don’t worry though, it would soon receive competition for that accolade later in the battle. The Commissar then rallied the two broken recently conscripted squads in 17C2. The 447 in 16G3 dodged a hail of bullets to withdraw to EE2. The 548 in EE6 was less fortunate. It assault moved to DD5 where it survived a lot of small arms fire before succumbing to a mortar shot that casualty reduced and broke it. This was pretty disastrous for the Finnish defence, particularly when it was forced to rout to 16EE2 rather than the hoped for destination in AA3 due to Russians that were closer to that hex being beyond NVR when the rout started. They did try, but Marc hit them over their heads with the Arctic twilight rulebook and they were forced to move closer to the enemy. Things got worse for the Finns when the 548 in 19EE1 broke under fire from 17B3 when it assault moved to DD1. This is the situation at the end of turn one, with the defences on board 16 having almost totally collapsed.

[Marc: if I recall correctly, a small gap opened in the coverage of the front so that there was a narrow one-hex ‘NVR blind’ corridor my troops could rush along to get in behind the southern defenders, which turned out to be the best approach because the other guns were up in the north. The Russians do have to be quite flexible and take their opportunities to get up to and past hexrow ‘Y,’ taking minimal damage doing so. That ELR of two eventually starts to hurt and you’ll notice my Commissar was not exactly motivational when rallying these conscripts!]

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In Turn 2, the Russians continued their now almost unopposed advance across board 16, with their first setback coming in their rally phase when the 7-0 leader casualty reduced when attempting to self-rally. The second was the death of a 447 in 16EE5 fire from the 447 in EE2. Unfortunately for the Finns, this generated a Russian sniper attack which broke a Finnish 447 in 19CC1. This allowed even more freedom of movement for the attackers. Back in the centre, a 447 was casualty reduced to a conscript HS in 17G2. In the rout phase, the Finnish 447 in 16EE elected to break voluntarily and try to rout back rather than face off against the ten Russian squads that were threatening to surround it. This was possibly a mistake, but it didn’t really have any good options at this stage. In the Finnish turn, the unbroken defenders cautiously moved west. Basically, they were going to try to hold their positions until they could join the counterattack when the reinforcements arrived on turn four.

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Turn 3 got off to a less than splendiferous start for the Finns when none of their four broken MMC managed to rally (admittedly three of them were under DM but these were not the Finns that I remembered kicking butt in “Fighting Withdrawal”). Now it was time for the Russians to charge the ART gun in W6, which was by now totally devoid of any infantry support that could see the Russians to shoot at them. They were on their own. As the first Russian squad hove into view in Y5, the crew decided to take their one and only allowed shot for the turn (this relic was unfamiliar with the concept of intensive fire). They just needed an 8 to hit but, needless to say, could only manage a ten. Ah well, not to worry, the crew told themselves. They would nail the Commie scumbags in the next prep fire phase. Did I mention that, in addition to not being able to intensive fire, this masterpiece of gunnery design was also incapable of gaining acquisition? No? Well, it was.

Safe in the knowledge that their target could only fire one cannonball every five minutes, the rest of the Russians continued to pour forward while my troops peered into the gloom and wondered what all the noise was about. Apart, that is, from the two broken half squads at the bottom edge of the board who got trapped against the board edge and were subsequently gunned down in the act of surrender. So much for the Geneva Convention. At the end of Russian Turn 3, the writing was on the wall for the ART gun in W6. That said, the Russian squad in X5 wasn’t making any holiday plans either.

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Did any of those of you reading this ever watch the “Pulp Fiction” movie? Do you remember the scene where some dude with a handgun empties its magazine in the direction of John Travolta and Samuel Lee Jackson but only succeeds in filling the wall behind them with bullet holes? Remember how, after checking themselves for gunshot wounds and wondering how they are still alive, they then proceed to kill their attacker with a hail of bullets? Well, that was a bit like what happened next. The Finnish gun crew shoved a cannonball into their weapon and took aim at the Russians who were busy writing their wills in X5. Even without acquisition, the crew just needed a 9 to hit and a 4 to get a critical hit. They went with the odds and rolled a 7. Even a DR of 11 would now be sufficient for a PTC but it goes without saying that they could only manage boxcars. Amid the subsequent whining about the total uselessness of Finnish guns and SWs in general, Marc reminded me that HE didn’t roll duds so there might be hope of causing some kind of damage. Not that it made any difference but I then had to remind him of the SSR whereby a 6 on the coloured die was always a dud with this piece of scrap metal. In their defensive fire, the Russians broke the crew and it subsequently died to interdiction in the rout phase. Meanwhile, the rest of the Finns got into position to await the arrival of the reinforcements on Turn 4.

[Marc: Yeah, once I snuck through that hole in his line, my main job was to capture the ART hex, huddle up in good-orderly blob formations and wait for his line of supermen to show up from offboard. They would start frog-marching (and dragging their cute HMG sleigh] in a solid line of skirmishers that could assault fire in large firegroups – no night FG restriction in the tundra this day/night/whenever it was. I created one line to screen easy attacks by his reinforcements and another glob of troops to protect the gun/hex. At this point I thought I could start counting on my commissar to rally units broken on the fringe who rallied towards him, but soon learned all he was really good at was executions].

Having read the scenario card, the Russians knew that more Finns were on their way and they formed a defensive line to meet them rather than simply retreat and form and Alamo type defence around the woods where the recently captured ART gun was located. Annoyingly, the Russians never actually tried to fire it but used the emplacement benefit to protect the manning squad. Despite this, the Finns managed to break the first squad to man the prize. This is how the battlefield looked as the reinforcements prepared to enter the playing area.

[Marc: it’s a good thing they issue these scenario cards to Russian commanders who can occasionally read them accurately.]

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Basically, the name of the game for the Finns now was to try to break or eliminate enough Russians to reduce their CVP within the victory are to less than 12. This was a tall order given the way that the Russians had breezed through the defences in the early going. To do this, they were essentially forced to move units to within four hexes of Russian targets (usually in the open) and advance to within three so that the Russians couldn’t just keep falling back out of LOS one hex at a time. The Finnish turn got off to a good start when the AA gun won the prize for the only Finnish weapon to kill any Russians when it took out the Russian squad in B4 with a couple of IFE shots. The rest of the Finns in that sector started what was to prove a fairly inconclusive firefight with the Russians in and around the X5 woods. The ART was pushed into a position at the edge of the W10 woods from where it would be able to fire uselessly at Russian gun flashes to the west.

End of Finnish Turn 4
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To be continued...
 

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Doug Leslie

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C11.2 EMPLACEMENT: ...A Gun ... does not receive the +2 TEM while manned by a squad.
Wait, what? I demand that the result be voided!

Seriously, good catch. I won't let Marc get away with such shenanigans again!
 
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