Just read the latest issue (#88) and, once again, enjoyed it, I also had some thoughts on two reviews I would like to share with you. Two Tins Soldiers 15mm WWII Finns (page 31) Bill Rutherford says that some of the miniatures are equipped with PPsH. Perhaps so, some of them were used after they were captured, but the submachine gun is more likely to be KP/-31 “Suomi” submachine gun of local manufacture (designed by Aimo Lahti). You see during the Winter War Finns had a limited number of these fine weapons while Russians didn’t have basically any submachine guns and they were so impressed by this weapon and its performance that after capturing some they decided to copy it. The result of which was PPsH. more data on the Suomi SMG can for example be found at: http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ejuhola/7.62/suomi.html Also Bill wonders about the clip fed LMG. The one on the picture at least is no LMG. It is a local 20mm ATR, Lahti m/39 Anti-Tank Rifle, usually called “Norsupyssy” ie. Elephant Gun and was also designed by Aimo Lahti. More info can for example be found at: http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ejuhola/7.62/lahti20mm.html. Picture of an actual weapons can be found at: http://www.joensuu.fi/mekri/sotahistoria/20mm.jpg FN 4 does also have 2 LMG’s and they are Lahti/Saloranta m/26 LMGs. A picture of this is in the site of the manufacturer: http://www.twotinsoldiers.com/images/finnlmg1.JPG http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ejuhola/7.62/lahtisaloranta.html GURPS WWII: Frozen Hell (page 40) Here Bill claims that the Equipment section is through and Finns didn’t have that much equipment. I beg to differ. Finns did have an extemely varied range of equipment and the one in the book just barely scrathes the surface. No need to list all the equipment that can be found on other sourcebooks as well. The armor section does mention some of the non-featured tanks but the small arms and aeroplane sections seem to neglect this. Proper searches in the net should remedy this as information, even in english, is abundantly available. Part of the reason of this great variation of equipment was that during the 30’s the government tried to save money by not allocating that much to defence. When Winter War was nearly upon us they started noticing the serious defects in the military equipment and started buying whatever was available from all over. Another part was on the basis of our nation. During 1918’s Civil War white Finns were supplied with some equipment from Germany and also captured Russian equipment from the red Finns and Russians. German equipment was also bought and recieved before and during the Continuation War and Russian equipment was captured during Winter and Continuation War. Too bad that the vast majority (11.5 pages) of the background information was about Winter War (105 days) and the 4 years of Continuation War get a two pager treatment. Then again, I gather that much more material is available in english on Winter War than on Continuation War when we were part of the bad axis and not opposing red tyranny of Soviet Union all by ourselves. Then again, shouldn’t nitpick too much since it is great to get cheap sourcebooks for international audience on the subject and one can’t cover everything in 48 pages. The references section of the book lists William Trotter’s Frozen Hell as a comprehensive treatment of Winter War. Haven’t read the book myself (so much exellent sourcebooks in Finnish) but apparently it ain’t that great a book since in the Finnish translation the translator desperately tries to correct at least the biggest mistakes in the text with his side notes. Janne Lonnqvist, Finland Review: GURPS WWII: Frozen Hell, Dogfaces, and Grim Legions Review: Two Tin Soldiers 15mm WWII Finnish Infantry and Weapons Response Janne, Thanks for your contact! Regarding the Soumi vs. the PPsH, I’ve done a bit of a search for the former on my own and agree with you completely. I suppose that one could argue that in 15mm scale, the SMG’s whichever the gamer wants it to be, but as you note, the Soumi was much more common. I appreciate the note on the ATR - I understood I’d been sent LMGs, not ATRs, so it didn’t even occur to me to look at ATRs... Looking at pictures of the Lhati, though, I agree - this certainly is what was represented! Unfortunately, I was not able to look at the LMG pictures on the Two Tin Soldiers’ website as they “went up” after my review “went in”. I’m not going to try to pick nits with you over the variety of small arms the Finns used during the Winter War or the Continuation War; I suspect and expect that you’ve studied them more than I have. My point was that the Finnish army simply wasn’t that big and their equipment lists were not that large, compared with the USA, Germany, the USSR, etc. One point I should have made (and I think I may’ve, in an earlier GURPS review) was that none of the GURPS WW II books provide much more than a mere skimming of vehicles and aircraft - perhaps enough to provide an object to fight over in an RPG. My comments, then, were aimed mainly at small arms because they’re what one would see most in an RPG or a skirmish game. I did do some on-line searches before writing my review. The book provides statistics for three pistols, five rifles, two ATRs, three SMGs, five MGs, and eight types of hand grenades. I’ve not been able to find that much more on-line. The two main websites I visited were http://www.winterwar.com and http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ejuhola/7.62/weapons.html (which I note that you visited, too!). I was somewhat amazed at the variety of rifles I’d found at the saunalahti site until I realized that they were all basic variants of the Mosin-Nagant M1891. My suspicion is that the author of Frozen Hell thought that three variants was an adequate number to sate most RPGers... Sub-types aside (e.g., like the rifle varieties, above), I thought the Frozen Hell equipment lists weren’t bad - other than for the mysterious and complete absence of mortars... And it’s *not* that big a variety. My conclusion’s changed, though. I looked at the Finnish equipment and thought “That’s not so great a variety!” but didn’t look at German, US, British, etc., equipment at the same time. Their variety simply wasn’t that great, despite their increased numbers, was it? I appreciate your taking the time to send in a note - nobody (especially me) is an expert on everything and I appreciate the information! If Winter War/Continuation War are periods that interest you, perhaps you’d consider sending in a scenario or two on those topics for the Courier? I’m sure your reference material’s considerably better than what’s generally available in the USA and it might spur interest in a neat - if relatively unknown in the USA - theater of WWII (Please forgive the inclusion of the Winter War in WWII!)...BILL RUTHERFORD Back to Table of Contents -- Courier # 89 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com