When I sit down to write up an AAR I pull out the log sheet that I use and try to visualize the situation again and find the major themes of the play. This one led to a sad pun.

You see a large group of Soviets are charged with crossing a frozen lake in front of a smaller group of Finns holding the shoreline. It is nightime so any opportunity fire will be very effective if the Soviets are caught on the lake itself (zero cover). The Finns set up in two groups on the left and right with the intention of funnelling the Soviets into the center of the map.

As the Soviets seek to avoid DF attacks they comply with the Finns strategy pushing directly towards the town. At that point there were "Finns to the left, Finns to the right" and those of you who know who Jimmy Buffett is and his song "Fins" will understand the title of this AAR. It will also give you a quick glimpse into my character during my 30s and early 40s. I should note that growing children provide a brake to such behavior...

In any event the Soviets push up the road, the Finns surround them, shooting and assaulting with abandon and deliver the type of slaughter expected in a Winter War scenario. To give the Soviets some respect, they had some units actually reach the town but they were ejected prior to the close of the action.

This is exactly the type of scenario that Arctic Front exists to provide. A horde of Soviets attacking a smaller group of high morale Finns in nastry weather on a frozen lake. How can you go wrong? I give it a "4" and walk away humming that darn song...

Author	triangular_cube
Method	Solo
Victor	Finland
Play Date	2021-05-17
Language	English
Scenario	AFro004

This scenario has no semblance of balance in it (the soviets could barely win unopposed in the turn limit), but it has some special rules that add a lot of flavor to this one sided affair to give it some value as a single player exercise.

Board 8 is a frozen lake, with absolutely no cover on it, giving a +2 modifier to direct fire (paired with vis 1 causing all DF to be adjacent creates the abnormality where regular fire is strictly better than OP FIRE as the soviets will be blobbed...). This means the Soviets have to hustle across and hit the treeline before they disappear under the fire from the Finns. This is no easy task despite the Finns being small in number and spread out.

My Finns split into 3 groups, with a company of inf in on the east and west sides of the map, and the 2 HMG platoons in the middle. The hope is to displace to support impacted areas once the Soviet's intentions are known.

My Soviets blob up on the West side with the hope of overwhelming the western INF company and then sweep into the town before the Finns can fully react. This has to be a rush job, as the Soviets cannot stand on the lake lest they all quickly die.

Soviets advance to the tree line with waiting Finns who unleash a first round of fire resulting in 3 step losses. Each 5 value INF platoon is hitting on the 16 column, so this is a bit lucky in addition to the scenario rules really punishing the Soviet blob.

Turn 2 the Finns win init and send in another volley knocking out 3 more steps and demoralizing the entire frontage. They also eliminate the Soviet Colonel through a roll of 3 on leader loss. Decapitation rules dictate that the blob must now sit tight on the ice for another turn yet. It goes as badly as one can imagine.

I had to call it at this point, with that single Finn company generating 12 step losses and 2 leader losses including the Soviet CO. What a mess.

This scenario probably should rate a "1" for the absurd balance issues even if it isnt strictly "broken" mechnanically, but I just had too much fun with the silly results here. It matched history so I gave it a base 2 instead of 1 and added a point for a memorable ruleset.

of note is that this scenario is also a repeat from Lions of Finland, where my first play also saw a Soviet defeat but not to this comical level.