Cut and Run Finnland at War #9

Gunner Scott

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From Critical Hits! Finnland at War module FaW#9

Played another Finnland at War scenario today called Cut and Run. This is basically a 71/2 turn affair with boards 45 and 21 making an appearance.
Yup, it’s a city fight with the Russians reinforced with heavy armor slugging it out with a bunch of Finn squads that are supported by two ATG’s, four BT-42's, these are old captured Russian tank hulls mounting 114mm ART pieces and a few fortifications.

The russians have to capture 20 buildings in the Finnish set-up area and as an added bonus, if they capture all the cemetery hexes, it counts as capturing 4 buildings, whaooo!
The Finn order of battle consists of the following: nine 558 squads(these are CH! Variant counters for finnlands continuation war squads)
Five green squads and four 338 squads. Leardership consists of one 10-1, two 8-0's and one Finnish Hero. This force is then further complimented with an assortment of SW IE they get two german HMG’s, two German MMG’s, Two LMG’s and two PSK’s. Additional assets consist of two 75L ATG’s, and four BT-42's, these are the ubiquitous rolling Tin cans mounting a nasty heavy arty piece, a real infantry killer indeed. To top this great order of battle off, the Finns get two trench’s, one road block and 6 concealment counters, which are basically dummies sense the Russians gotta enter from off board.

Oh ya, did I mention HIP? The Finns not only get to HIP two ATG’s, but also two MMC’s to hide in the Finn playing area. Opps for got one last little tid bit, the Finns also get Molotov capability AND Tank-hunter heros. Well as a consolation the Finn green squads cannot self rally, whoopty doo!
As should also be noted, there are several rubble locations designated by SSR and this can be a bugger of a situation depending on where the Russians launch there attack. The northern part of board 21 has a couple of Rubble counters strewn around the streets, not good if you commit all your Russians for northern flank attack.
Ok, you are the Russian player and your force consists of the following: 10 628's, 10 447's, a 9-2, 9-1 and 8-0. For SW’s, the Russians gotta lug on board two heavy machine guns, 4 LMG’s, two Flamethrowers and five DC’s. Armor support consists of 3 ISU 152's, 2 ISU 122's and 2 IS-2's.
Well, just looking at this scenario and both order of battle’s, I have to say it might favor the Finn’s but I do have some heavy duty armor, plus the ISU 122's have smoke capability of s9 (these guys are guard quality units)
I have 8 turns to capture 20 buildings, so the game begins:
Turn 1:
I see my opponent has placed a few of his Finn squads up on the 2nd level of some of the 2nd level buildings on board 21, infact, the only pieces I see on board 45 are two sets of ? 5/8th inch counters in hexes 45C2/ 45D1, everything else is on board 21. Still gotta clear board 45 out just incase Rob has left any HIP stuff forward to grab buildings towards game end. I should also mention that, this is one scenario where you do not want to invoke no quarter, to do so means spending more time then usual searching floor by bloody floor for any HIP Finn’s. I go ahead and bring my ISU 152 on board first, placing it in hex 45B5 and allowing me a clear shot 21 J4. I then move my ISU 122 in bypass of hex 45B6, once more I am looking to get a shot at the upper level of 21G8. Next up, I move my IS-2 into bypass of 45B8 and I am looking for a clear shot into the upper level of building 21G8. I send the rest of my armor on the northern flank along with a couple of squads to secure the outlaying buildings (45K3 and O4). The Armor mission was not only support my flanking squads, but to also gain a more advantageous LOS to the Finn Squads occupying the following upper levels: 21G8 and 21J4, yup, lots of lead will by flying around in the advancing fire phase. The main body of Russian Squads slowly move into the street from 45D6 to 45H8, thereby keeping their concealment and then advancing into the buildings adjacent to them, no CX’ing, no rush forward, just a slow methodical advance forward. Advancing Fire phase passes and no Finns are broken, but four of my tanks are suffering from low ammo, one 8-0 leader is dead and his accompanying squad is broken from a 1 sniper check.
On Rob’s turn 1, He skulks back with his second level guys as well as any squads or ½ inch concealment counters he had in my LOS. I ended up breaking two of my MA’s trying to convert the Acquisitions to -2. So without even firing a shot, I’m down two tanks.

Turn 2:
Once more I attempt to suppress the upper level Finn’s, but my luck with the Russian Armor is pretty terrible and two more Russian AFV’s go down with malfunctioned MA’s. I have two good tanks left and my personal morel is plummeting like a lead zeppelin. My infantry on the other hand is in pretty good shape, but without a lot of armor, I might be wasting my time in further play of this scenario.

This scenario is boring, I tried to do a decent AAR on it, but here is what happened in a nut shell: the game ended on turn 7, my Russians just did not have enough bodies left to occupy their gains and the Finns still had a HIP 75L and MMC out there to take back buildings that I could not cover. One 75L ATG was placed in hex 21I8 which critical hit two of my squads in building 21F9. I did manage to knock off the Finns upper level guys but I did not follow through and they came back to be a real pain. I was so desperate at one point, that I abandoned one of my malfunctioned AFV’s to try and reinforce a CC, but a sniper put and to that idea, in fact, the combination of 6 1 sniper rolls and low rolling Finn retaliation on my units pretty much made any skilled attempt at winning this scenario impossible. My flame throwers crapped out on their first shots, I could only get a ROF with my HMG’s twice in a row, then 11's became my average roll.
Afterthoughts:
Is this one a dog? I would say maybe, is it pro Finn? 70% perhaps? But the crux of the problem is not weather its pro Finn or not, its just a very boring scenario to play as the Finns and as the Russians, I would have to say its boring to play them to. Just looking at the scenario card kinda set the bell’s and whistles going IE, all the Finns basically do is hide out in the back and the only thing that keeps the Russians from a headlong lung into the Finn defense is the fact that there are ATG’s and other HIP stuff out there IE Tank-hunter heros and PSK toting squads.
I’d recommend skipping this ne and playing something a bit more fun in this pack like “Karoline Dream†which is a lot of fun.


Scott
 

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CPL ScottH said:
From Critical Hits! Finnland at War module FaW#9

Played another Finnland at War scenario today called Cut and Run. This is basically a 71/2 turn affair with boards 45 and 21 making an appearance.
Yup, it’s a city fight with the Russians reinforced with heavy armor slugging it out with a bunch of Finn squads that are supported by two ATG’s, four BT-42's, these are old captured Russian tank hulls mounting 114mm ART pieces and a few fortifications.
Sounds like this one is about the battle for Viipuri on 20th of June 1944?
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi-

You are correct sir, The battle for Viipuri on 20th of June 1944. An intresting scenario, but somewhat tough on the Russians and a real yawner to play as the Finn's and the Russians to a certain extent.



Scott
 
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