The Finns, seeking restitution for the Winter War of 1939, had erupted across the borders and breached the Soviet Karelian front even as the crisis to the south of Leningrad came. In a desperate attempt to salvage something and form a new defense line along the Sestra River, orders went out to break off and retreat southward. One such unit was the 131st Border Battalion, which was to serve as a rearguard. At 1530, orders arrived releasing them to save themselves. . .if they could. Behind them a bakery was on fire, the town hall was ablaze, and ammunition was dwindling. Nevertheless, their young officers organized a fighting withdrawal towards the hills in an attempt to reach newly established lines.
Attacker: Finnish (Elements of 1st Parachute Regiment)
Defender: Russian (Remnants of 131st Border Battalion)
7 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:16.0 D:14.0
AFVs: A:0 D:0
Guns: A:0 D:0
Misc Rules:
Building Blazes w D: Ammunition Shortage
Map Board(s):
21
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
The Finnish attack was focused on the east side of the board. The attack progressed slowly forcing its way across the road into the row houses. On the west side, the Finnish maintained a small force preventing a safe Russian withdrawal. Broken Finnish units repeatedly failed to rally while numerous consecutive Finnish 7 DR activating the Russian sniper complicated the Finnish options. But the flank was forced open and the game transitioned to a race with strategically placed blocking units. The outcome was unclear until Turn 6 Russian MPh when the Russian 9-1 and 4-4-7 broke securing a clear win for the Finnish.
2022-06-05
(A) Scott Fischbein
vs
Craig Renier
Finnish win
Always enjoy this scenario... despite having played it a few times, I made the mistake of concentrating on the "Fighting" more than the "Withdrawal", and despite Craig's run of perfectly average (ie: 7) DRs that granted me numerous sniper opportunities, I lost the race to get off the board. I also made the mistake (which I've made before) of waiting a bit too long to un-HIP my MG nest near the graveyard, keeping the element of surprise, but losing the chance for more shots. Craig did a nice job of maneuvering and avoiding LOS as he managed to get multiple units in position to exit, so I conceded.
2022-02-21
(D) David Garvin
vs
Martin Hubley
Finnish win
Martin is a great player. The Soviet Sniper was strangely silent as Martin only rolled "7" a few times. I think I hit his sniper more often!
In the end, he captured a bunch of POWs and ended up running them off the board. I tried to shoot them, I really did. Ha!
2021-10-20
(A) Craig Renier
vs
Rich Matheson
Finnish win
The Finnish morale weighed heavily throughout their advance, regularly passing MCs and Rallying the few times they needed to. Spreading fires also helped cover the advance subduing the few available Russian attacks. In Turn 6, the Finns could exit more VPs unharassed than the Russians had within striking distance of the board edge.
