Arctic Front: Delaying Action At Ylimaa

[Crossroads]

The version included in the EF:FB download archive is now obsolete

THIS SCENARIO IS NOW UPDATED AND AVAILABLE IN THE SCENARIO DB

Link: https://www.theblitz.club/scenarios/Camp...8&ladder=2

This time an actual Lapland War scenario! And it needs to begin with letter "D"!

Either (edit: I chose this one) Delaying action at Ylimaa isthmus, to buy time to evacuate supply depots before the advancing Finnish army. Protagonists: Elements of German Mountain Jäeger Regiment 218 holding off elements of Finnish Jäeger Brigade, which at the time consisted no more of veterans, but mostly of fresh conscripts.

**Delaying Action at Ylimaa LWM


Picture: German soldiers having a picture taken by an Arctic Circle sign


Picture: Finnish soldiers taking a position somewhere in Lapland


Picture: Das War... [add a city limits sign]


Picture: German Mountain Jäegers on a move, somewhere in Lapland

** Delaying Action at Ylimaa EF:FB

Complexity: 4
Turns: 16
Modified complexity: 4 * 16 = 64
Size modifier: 2

First side: Allied

Visibility: 5
Ground: Normal

Allied Air 2; Ammo 75; Smoke 8
Axis Air 2; Ammo 70; Smoke 2
AI Allied 75; Axis 35

Major Loss 0; Minor Loss 150; Minor Win 350; Major Win 500
14 October 1944

[October 7, 1944, Lapland, 50 km SW from Rovaniemi, Finland.] [H2H HIS BZ] [ALL: N VV OPT: AF EA)]

For Germans, Lapland War was about execution of Operation Birke plan to the letter: evacuating the vast amounts of fuel and supplies the Reich could ill afford to lose, from Finland to Norway, with the scarce motor transportation and even scarcer fuel supplies available to 20th Mountain Army.

For Finns, Lapland War was about clearing the Northern Finland from their new enemy, in a manner of advancing carefully among the very scarce road network, now devilishly mined with bridges blown. When in touch with the well entrenched German rearguard, the only option available was to sent the infantry on foot to flank the well dug-in defenders, often for 10-15 miles in difficult wilderness. Only to witness the Germans hopping into their trucks, blowing another set of bridgesm, then retreating another 20 miles further to north.

Ylimaa isthmus was one of the well trenched areas where Germans prepared to stop the enemy for a longer period of time. Colonel Kühler of 218th Mtn Jgr Rgt was fuming, however. Well aware the Finns would not try to force their way through his defences but would flank him with strong forces instead, he had repeatedly asked for but time again strictly refused to deviate from the written plans of defence. Worse still, Kühler was just informed his liaison officer had got lost and been captured by Finns with full details of the German defence plan in his person.

Victory conditions: German player receives points for holding the key areas of his defence lines and, possibly, protecting his supply depots with possibly exiting them off the map towards Rovaniemi with 'the few transports available', ie. as and when they become unfixed (15% chance, Depot 1 as of turn 1, Depot 2 as of turn 2, etc).

Scenario picture: Finnish soldiers clearing mines some where in Lapland, Late 1944

[** Requires players to install East Front: Forgotten Battles Mod version 1.3 or newer **]
[Scandinavian Terrain sub mod recommended to be enabled when playing this scenario.]




German map, documenting the action at and around Ylimaa

or (edit: maybe later)

** Das War... Muonio LWM

"That was... Muonio" - a Muonio city limits sign welcoming the advancing Finns, with an added prefix "Das War..."; German gallows humour as they resorted to scorched earth tactics, burning anything even remotely usable for military as the winter was coming. Muonio: another town swallowed in flames, another delaying battle, Germans hard pressed to buy time to evacuate their valuable depots according to guidelines of their Operation Birke.

While the former would make perhaps a more interesting battle, the latter has a way cooler scenario name

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.p...5&t=183449
http://www.tammenlehva.fi.test.mediatraf...php?id=489
http://rajajoki.com/lapland.htm
http://niehorster.orbat.com/011_germany/...ls_43.html

[Crossroads]

More pictures, these are from the personal archives of writer Pekka Jaatinen, availale in web: http://personal.inet.fi/koti/pekka.jaati...ller1.html

A modern day Google Street view from German side of the river


A humble landmark with a painting of the battle in the same location.

[Crossroads]

Feedback time, I believe

** Delaying Action at Ylimaa

Scenario
So, how was Lapland? Enjoyed the snow?

Map
Marshes, forests, rivers, a scarce road network. Historically this would have required muddy conditions, but since the first snow had just landed I thougth this would be more fun.

Comments?

OOB
Germans had second rate armour in Lapland, which is displayed here.

Picture: A German tank destroyed in Lapland. Hotchkiss 35? Source: www.SA-kuva.fi

Typical German OOB otherwise, no surprises I guess.

For Finns, I rather enjoyed the late war infantry units on skis together with the few T-34s that move really fast too.

At this time, Finnish Army was starting their downscaling, as defined by the armistice conditions. Later parts of Lapland War were mainly fought by young, 19-20 year old conscripts, with some experienced NCOs and Officers around. Children's Crusade, as the Lapland War is also called.

Picture: Finnish soldiers looking for mines. They look so young! Source: www.SA-kuva.fi

Any thoughts?

Objectives
Tried to use the supply depots a bit differently on this one. Finns lost all the test games though, I believe. Keeping their losses down is important, but not possible here then?

What changes would you like to see.

Length
Comments?

Balance
So, something needs to change. What?

Fun

What was fun? What was not?

Scenario description

Comments?

H2H Score

On scale of 0-10, how would you rate the scenario, using H2H criteria:

- Balance
- Enjoyment
- Briefings

A scenario is scored in three categories, Balance, Enjoyment and Briefings. The score a scenario achieves is an average of these three scores using this formula

(balance*1.6)+(enjoyment*1.2)+(briefings*0.2)/3

From the above formula the 'Balance' score is by far the most important and you should take into account your own performance when making your judgement of this.

'Enjoyment' is self explanatory and 'Briefings' is the least important score. If the Briefing was full and informative you should always score it highly (8 or greater).


Other comments

Feel free to add any observations for the good, bad and outright ugly of this scenario!

Picture: PaK/40 deploying against its former masters. Source: www.SA-kuva.fi

Thanks again guys. You rock!

[Otto von Blotto]

** Delaying Action at Ylimaa Scenario Feedback.

Scenario
So, how was Lapland? Enjoyed the snow?

In short yes a fun game that was tough fought, and mostly enjoyable to play but I think it does need some work to balance it.

Map
Marshes, forests, rivers, a scarce road network. Historically this would have required muddy conditions, but since the first snow had just landed I thougth this would be more fun.
Comments?

Map was nicely laid out and a good representation of the ground the battle was fought on. The addition of the snow was the Finnish forces only real assets as they could use their skis for faster movement over the terrain so a good call adding that as mud would have stopped them before the battle started. The map could be a little larger to give the Finns more options on attack vectors.


OOB
Germans had second rate armour in Lapland, which is displayed here.
Typical German OOB otherwise, no surprises I guess.

For Finns, I rather enjoyed the late war infantry units on skis together with the few T-34s that move really fast too.

At this time, Finnish Army was starting their downscaling, as defined by the armistice conditions. Later parts of Lapland War were mainly fought by young, 18-19 year old conscripts, with some experienced NCOs and Officers around. Children's Crusade, as the Lapland War is also called.Any thoughts?
OOB was good and varied for both sides although I think the Finns could do with some more indirect fire assets to soften up the improved positions of the Axis. The Finns in my game were very poor shots and found it very difficult to damage the Axis even at point blank range in the open.

Objectives
Tried to use the supply depots a bit differently on this one. Finns lost all the test games though, I believe. Keeping their losses down is important, but not possible here then?

What changes would you like to see.
While my Finnish forces using there speed and manoeuvrability did get to and take objectives they just couldn’t hold on to them once the Axis responded and counter attacked, also even though they could put pressure on the Axis supply depots a combination of poor shooting and bad luck meant no real damage was done to them.

Length
Comments?
Game length would be about right to get the job done without rushing if the Finnish forces could do the Job.

Balance
So, something needs to change. What?
Tweaking the quality of troops may help adding some more indirect fire for the Finns. I wouldn’t suggest nerfing the Axis much but improvements for the Finns could go a long way.

Fun
What was fun? What was not?
Yes good fun to play Jim played a tough game from both sides, I was fortunate the Axis were so strong as he could have done the deed if the forces were more balanced.


Scenario description
Comments?
Good no need to do much here.

H2H Score

On scale of 0-10, how would you rate the scenario, using H2H criteria:

- Balance 4
- Enjoyment 7
- Briefings 9

A scenario is scored in three categories, Balance, Enjoyment and Briefings. The score a scenario achieves is an average of these three scores using this formula

(balance*1.6)+(enjoyment*1.2)+(briefings*0.2)/3

From the above formula the 'Balance' score is by far the most important and you should take into account your own performance when making your judgement of this.

'Enjoyment' is self explanatory and 'Briefings' is the least important score. If the Briefing was full and informative you should always score it highly (8 or greater).

Overall score 5.5333333

Other comments

Feel free to add any observations for the good, bad and outright ugly of this scenario!

Nice game with a lot of promise, just needs a bit of work to knock into shape well done.

[Crossroads]

Thanks a ton! I got Huib's initial thoughts on this on email albeit he and Ashcloud are not finished yet. I think this one needs work, we are very close and we'll make a scenario out of it!

The scenario, as-is, is pretty much the reality of Lapland War. No advantage in strength, and heavies e.g. heavy arty not able to follow up due to destroyed road network.


Picture: "Bridge over Yli-Ii, blown out by retreating Germans." 15 Oct 1944, Yli-Ii. Source: www.SA-kuva.fi

Here's a list of changes implemented per your comments:

Strengthened the Finns a bit:
- Mortars, the poor man's arty. Added 2 x 120 mm platoons
- Upgraded the T-34 platoons from SP2 to SP3.
- Added a T-26 recon section too.
- Added a few half squads here and there to infantry platoons.

Weakened the Germans just a tad:
- Removed a couple of MG units
- Removed one arty battery, and one of their rocket arty batteries too.

Other changes:
- A bit larger map for added options: stretching +4 hexes more to East
- Reconsidered the objective values. More valuable objectives, stretching the Germans a bit.
- Reconsidered supply: Axis 70 to reflect their strict orders, 75 for Finns.
- Less smoke for Germans. 2 x air for both.

THE REVISED VERSION IS NOW UPLOADED INTO SCENARIO DB - THANKS EVERYONE!

Link: https://www.theblitz.club/scenarios/Camp...8&ladder=2
.

[Crossroads]

There was a comment with Germans having too many air assets as well. I just realised I had accidentally added Axis Finnish bombers, so they appeared on German side.

The Scenario DB is now updated to include the proper version, with two Me-110 air missions for Germans and a Ju 88 and Do 17 air misison for Finns.

Make sure you have the proper version.

Sorry!