Arctic Front: Bitter Kuuterselka

[Crossroads]

I would again like to ask for your feedback

** Bitter Kuuterselkä LWM 1.2

1. Scenario Feedback
Objective: Balanced and fun-to-play recreation for JTCS for battle of Kuuterselkä on June 14. 1944, representing the Leningrad Front's 109th Army Corps' decisive breakthrough through the fortified Vammelsuu-Taipale (VT) -line.

See the map in the previous post.

Map
Objective: historical, accurate map. Contemporary maps from late 1930's are available digitally here: http://www.karjalankartat.fi/ Just switch to English and type Liikola into search box, and double-click the "Liikola, LIIKOLA" result. Switching to 1:100 000 recommended.

- While the map should be pretty accurate, do you have any comments game playing wise?
- Exit hexes are on all major roads and railway lines on purpose, to simulate the surprise of a major Red Army attack on this sector. Taken by a surprose, how do you defend all directions, with the scarce amount of troops available?

OOB
Objective: Historical OOBs, with Red Army having 'only' some 65% of their real strength to make this more balanced.

- Finns are stretched thin on purpose, to model the scarce resources and need to avoid unnecessary losses. Allowing any larger detachment to be encircled and destroyed should spell big problems. Still, are they stretched too thin? Perhaps a small reinforcement from the West should be in order, to protect the exit hex there. Company, or two?
- Should I replace the vanilla StuGs with a bit beefed up new platoons, with hard attack values on short distances similar to PzKpfw IV H?

- Red Army Mobile Group 1 that historically made the decisive pincer is modeled here as well. Very strong, but arrives a bit late so it needs a clear route of advance to have a chance to perhaps drive towards an exit hex, or to attack a remaining major objective. It is modeled here to remind the players of the decisive advantage the 109th AC had in the sector.

- What would you like to have changed?

Victory Locations, Exit Hexes
Objective: Large enough objectives to encourage direct action and to make them important despite of large scenario size. Placed on what I considered important locations, and also accurate to reflect the actual battle results.

- Again, the exit hexes everywhere while perhaps not accessible for Allied player should stress the Axis player to secure them with small forces instead of moving everyone to major objective hexes.

- Comments?

Length
Objective: Short enough to force Allied player to come out in force, long enough for Axis player to be punished hard for any reckless actions. As with Vuoksi scenario, given the difference in size of the respective force pools, it is important to get this spot on.

- With its earlier version it was 22 turns. But that was perhaps a bit too short. I am sure 25 turns feels like an eternity from Axis point of view, so my question is: is it too long now?
- Instead of shortening the scenario, how about some reinforcements to Finns from the west? Your comments?

Balance
- What would you like to see changed?

Fun
- What was fun? What was not?

- Should I take the extra effort to convert this into a 2 x 2 team game. First player for Kuuterselkä sector, other player for Sahakylä sector? I'm not quite sure it works well though, especially for the Allied side given the 2nd Mobile Group's late and one sided entry into battle.

Scenario description

- Did it set the scene properly? Did it give both sides enough information for a proper battle plan?
- A more detailed scenario description available in the previous post. Better, or too exhaustive?

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

2. H2H Score

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

- Balance [0-10]
- Enjoyment [0-10]
- Briefings [0-10]

From H2H message board:
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).

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Ta!