Usually the comment is hit and run but if you are trying to deny control of a geographical objective hitting and hiding nearby is probably the best thing that can be done. Especially if you happen to be cavalry and your opponent has some nasty artillery.

A Finnish cavalry batallion is attempting to delay a Soviet force from taking a relatively large town at the beginning of the Winter War. Their self appointed task is to keep the Soviets from taking the town. In reality all that they gained was 24 hours at the cost of way too many men. The scenario tries to get you to notice this by putting an upper limit on the Finnish losses if they are to get a win.

The Finns really shouldn't get caught up in a firefight as this will permit the Soviets to pummel the cavalry with multiple rounds of artillery fire which will cause losses, especially in conjunction with direct fire. So the Finns have to commit to an odd, disruptive defense with lots of counterattacks and even cavalry charges followed by disengagements. In my play the Finns were able to eliminate the Soviet ability to take the town by the end of turn 6 and spent the rest of the game huddling away from the Soviet artillery in the nether reaches of the town, thus denying the Soviets control of the town and keeping their losses sufficiently low to get the win.

The real trick in this one is for the Soviet player to realize that control of the town is probably out of reach and to focus on causing losses. It didn't take long to figure that out and I spent most of the game pursuing that goal but my Soviet losses were just too great to catch up and the hide and seek nature of the Finnish defense frustrated the use of the artillery.

I enjoyed the thinking necessary for the Finnish player to win this one. It isn't a simple matter of standing up and fighting the Soviets toe to tow. You will certainly keep them from winning but may not win yourself. It is far more useful to find areas where you are safe from artillery in the town and sally forth as necessary to keep the Soviets from crushing you. I enjoyed it a ton and give it a "4"

In the late afternoon of November 30, 1939, Soviet units from the 70th Rifle Division moved west across the Finnish border. By 1600, they had engaged elements of the Finnish Neuland Cavalry Regiment along the road east of Terijoki. The Finnish cavalry did their best to slow the Soviet forces, but by 1630, most of their forces had withdrawn to the town with the notable exception of one HMG unit that held out over 90 minutes against continuous Soviet assaults. After the Soviet forces regrouped, they attacked the town from the south and east, moving into the south side of Terijoki by 1700 hours. Within the next hour, Soviet units had advanced toward the town center from both south and east sides, pushing all cavalry units back into the northeast sector. The Finnish Majuri withdrew to the hill northeast of town, while Lt. Col. Vorovich moved forward into the east side of town to rally his fellow Soviet troops. Despite heavy Soviet bombardment, the Finnish forces managed to retain a foothold in the town, thus delaying Stalin’s announcement of the Finnish Democratic Republic for another day.

This first scenario in the Lions of Finland monograph provides a quick cavalry battle against some difficult odds. However, if the Finns can survive the scenario with a loss of no more than five steps and hold a single town hex they can win. In this case, they did achieve victory with a fairly firm hold on two town hexes, but came extremely close to losing a sixth step from Soviet bombardment, which would have led to a draw. A roll of “11” instead of “10” on one bombardment would have done it. The total step loss was 5 steps for the Finnish to 8 steps for the Soviets.

NOTE: This scenario was played using updates and corrections from the PG-HQ site contributed by plloyd1010, rerathbun, and Shad. Maps and Soviet units from Eastern Front were used, and Finnish units were from Arctic Front Deluxe. It was played with 4th Edition rules, and the visibility values from page 14 of Arctic Front Deluxe were used since that scenario occurred on the same date and in the same locale. Also, since no tank leaders were originally assigned, the T-26’s were not allowed to advance into an assault situation.