Scenario of the Month - Jan 2011: **Bitter Kuuterselka

[Crossroads]

Finally finished. Fun scenario. Got new sound mods in at the end, which made it even more enjoyable.

I rated it well-balanced, although I got a major V as the Finns. My reasoning was that I believe my opponent got too bogged down in spots that should have been bypassed. Had he not done so, I think the score would have been way different.

Soviets should prepare for a brutal opening. The Finn's line, especially with extreme assault, is murder to crack. It goes eventually, but in my game, reinforcements were arriving to halt effective advance in the northeast.

The victory conditions do require the Soviet player to circle and capture the Finnish units in forward positions. Taking the victory conditions is not enough, alone.

My experience is the Finnish lines break surprisingly fast. One tactic would be to concentrate all the artillery to one breakthrough location at the time. Should enough forces be available for assaulting, especially the trenches fall soon.

Soviet focus in the south might be the best play for them, using enough force in the northeast to keep the Finns from driving all the way south to reinforce.

My opponent reached the southwestern exits with two tanks on the second to last turn, only to find my Finns dug in and waiting. Everything else had been stopped. His focus on the two western most objectives came two hexes short, his infanty there badly hurt and disrupted.

I guess the eastern exit hexes are the ones to worry. Breaking through towards Kuuterselka village, then swinging east to have the western forces joining with the eastern forces would be quite difficult to defend against?

Then again, the Finns can be a quite pain in the butt, given the good assault values the Jaeger units have. A bold counter attack often causes a lot of damage to an overly eager Soviet player.
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It will be interesting to see how well balanced the scenario really is as more results come in. Was my game a fluke?

Dave

Thanks for your input! For one thing, I do believe the scenario is too short. It would need at least a few turns more. Otherwise, I've seen it can go spectacularly wrong for either side...

I hope KKR is able to return to forums one day, I am nearing the last turns against him, it can still go both ways...