In the early morning hours of December 11, 1939, Soviet units identified as the Finnish People’s Army (FPA), 718th Rifle Regiment, had penetrated well behind Finnish lines. Tired after a five-day forced march, they secured a Finnish kitchen and gorged themselves with the still-warm sausage stew. Despite heavy snow, a counterattack by troops of the Finnish 16th Infantry Regiment and 3rd Machine Gun Company that was launched at 0200 hours caught them by surprise. As they attempted to escape the Finnish ski troops by heading north, the FPA units split up with Kommissar Vatukov and Captain Smirnov leading a group of three ski platoons up the west flank, and a similar group with Lt. Dossovitch moving up the east flank. Machine gun fire forced the east group back into cover, while the west group continued to move north. They were caught by Finnish ski patrols by 0245 hours, and two FPA platoons were eliminated. The skirmish ended at 0345 hours with FPA units still hiding in the southeast woods, and a demoralized group retreating on the west flank.

This is a quick 8-turn scenario that requires either the exit of at least six FPA steps off the north edge of the map, or complete elimination of FPA units by the Finnish forces for their respective victories, with anything else being a draw. The latter happened in this case since the FPA units made a break for the six-step escape, but fell short due to the lack of initiative. Had they gotten the initiative rolls necessary on Turns 3 & 4, the game would have been a Soviet victory in short order. Once it is apparent that the steps cannot be exited, it is fairly easy for the FPA player to “turtle” a unit of two and reach a draw. The FPA lost five steps to none lost for the Finnish forces.

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.