My weekend at Kinkkucon was spent mostly at playing Winter War games this year.
Advanced Squad Leader (The Borders are Burning)
This was a long Winter War scenario in which the Soviets must achieve a breakthrough in deep snow conditions. I printed out a winter version of the terrain boards for this game as the stock green terrain in ASL would have been a real immersion killer. The soviets opted to attack through the woods only and managed to slowly make their way through. In the end, they ran out of time and didn't get enough troops through.
Chain of Command
The first official outing of my Winter War figure and terrain set. There's still work to be done on terrain and the scenario, but fun was had. In this scenario, the Soviets attack a village defended by Finns. Playing as the soviets I tried to get a human wave going, but was shot to bits in the open. I still have some learning to do on handling green troops. Those 4 command dice and limited team activations make them hard to get going.
Jäinen Kuolema - Freezing Death
A Finnish production, this is a short wargame encompassing the whole winter war. It's a mix of a Card Driven wargame and block game mechanics (without the blocks). It felt overly simple and gamey. Not my favourite.
Red Winter (GMT)
A GMT production of the Battle of Tolvajärvi. We played the introductionary scenario and the two day scenario. This game is awesome! The mechanics are tried and true, but the scenario is one of the best I've seen with plenty of room to manoeuver and opportunities for different tactics.
