Blood in the Winter
An Army of Lappland Preview
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
July 2007

Watching the neighbor's six-year-old play with my children in my back yard, I'm reminded that some things creep into your consciousness at an early age. I also knew very young that, just like my father was doing at the time, long before those days my grandfather had also gone to a very far away place — to the North Pole! — to fight in a very bad war.

I don't normally like to work on wargames based on conflicts where people I knew were involved; even less so if people I knew died there. That is of course a very self-centered view of the universe, since our little cardboard pieces represent someone's fathers and sons and brothers and the pain of their loss is no less just because I felt none of it.

However, once I found out there really was a campaign along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and that my grandfather indeed fought in it, I became fascinated by it. I wanted to know what had happened there, and why, and in particular why it failed. I did some Panzer Grenadier scenarios based on actions there in Edelweiss but I always wanted to do a full-sized game. I did manage to get one published by another publisher some years ago, but unfortunately they showed so much faith in my design abilities that they ran exactly what I sent them, word for word, without the slightest trace of editing, testing or "development" (a word that seems to have many meanings, depending on who uses it). With developers like Doug McNair and Paul Dangel working at such a fanatical pace these days, that's hard to imagine happening here.

The area of operations. U.S. Army map.

The northernmost land combat World War Two took place just west of the Soviet port of Murmansk. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Murmansk is free of ice year-round. The Tsar's men built it during the First World War to handle supplies and equipment sent from Russia's Western allies, and during the Second World War it performed the same vital function. A German conquest of the port would deny a good deal of the British and American material assistance sent to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program.

Army of Lappland will cover three campaigns waged in this region. First will be the 1941 German advance from Petsamo, Finland's port on the Arctic Ocean, toward Murmansk. Two mountain divisions advanced through very tough, rocky tundra and ran into severe supply problems and fierce Soviet resistance. It stalled on the line of the Litsa River. Next, the Soviet offensive in the spring of 1942 aimed at throwing the Germans back from the Litsa; there's also the German plan for a 1942 push on Murmansk. Finally, there's the October, 1944 Soviet offensive known as the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation that drove the Nazis back into Norway.

There are multiple scenarios for each of these phases of the war on the Arctic Coast — it would not be an 119694_avalanche Press game if you couldn't play it many different ways. In addition, there's an option for one of Winston Churchill's pet projects — Operation Jupiter, an amphibious landing between Tromso and Petsamo to place British and American forces literally as well as figuratively alongside the Soviets in the struggle against Nazism. Several of the Jupiter landing areas are not on the Army of Lappland map, but the easternmost landings are included along with the 1st Canadian Division, Royal Marine Division and other Allied forces. Churchill pushed hard for the operation, and the Germans took the threat very seriously, detailing large forces to coastal defense. The Axis player, of course, does not know if the landing is really coming.

The game system is the same one we used in Blood on the Snow and Winter Fury, and the more recent Tiger of Malaya. Units are battalions for the most part, rated in the traditional manner for attack, defense and movement. Artillery can offer offensive or defensive support. Combat is resolved by an odds-based chart, with modifications for terrain and other factors. If you want to dislodge an enemy from a good defensive position, you're going to need artillery support and it helps to attack from multiple directions to outflank him.

But the centerpiece of the system is what we call the "chit draw" mechanic. At the start of each turn, each player places a number of chits in a common, opaque container. The number varies based on the weather and sometimes outside factors (usually the overall supply situation). Each of these indicates what that player's units may do: FULL, for example, lets all units both move and attack to their full capability. MOVE only lets them move, ATTACK only lets them attack and so forth. Sometimes these are limited by formation; for example, in 1941 scenarios there are chits that only apply to one German division. Movement and combat are fairly standard wargame fare.

	Santa hates Nazis, too. Here reindeer help re-arm a Soviet Pe-2 bomber.

I've always liked this system much more than that we used in Alamein and will use in Red Fortress or Red Desert. It's simpler, and most importantly, it's asymmetric. Different command and supply capabilities of two sides can be very easily modeled just by adjusting the option chits available. The Soviets had a significant edge in supply capability, and while the German mountain divisions were very well led the overall command in the hands of Eduard Dietl showed repeated incompetence. During the 1941 campaign, German chits will allow activation of one mountain division or the other, and their attached units, but rarely both at once. In 1944 the Soviets will have better chit selections. If the Operation Jupiter forces slog ashore in 1942 scenarios, they'll activate separately from the Soviets and come under numerous restrictions on joint operations.

Extreme terrain makes elite light infantry highly valuable, and the rough-terrain capabilities of German mountain troops and Soviet ski brigades are vitally important. On the German side, the real striking power comes from their mountain divisions, at first the elite 2nd and 3rd. There are attached tank battalions and some strikingly incompetent third-line infantry. The Germans can also attempt to bring in better Finnish reinforcements, including an elite light infantry brigade or a third mountain division — but this will exacerbate their supply situation.

Soviet fire support: an 82mm mortar and crew

The Soviets have naval gunnery support, though in 1941 and 1942 the Germans can summon a flotilla of destroyers to drive them off. In the first campaign there defense is based on two very good regular army rifle divisions, plus a division's worth of Arctic Fleet marines. Later, a division of prison camp convicts adds its dubious assistance. The Soviets are improved in 1942, and very good in 1944, with a large contingent of ski troops plus tanks, rocket artillery and several more rifle divisions.

Altogether, it's a package containing a solid, well-tried game system and over a dozen scenarios, with Austrian mountain troops, Finnish ski troops, Canadians, British marines, captured French tanks, panic-stricken SS men, Soviet Guards, rocket launchers, more ski troops, and Norwegian collaborationists. It's my personal favorite of the three proposed Classic Wargames.

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