Congratulations to Gary Stagliano (designer) and A.E. Goodwin (developer) for A Winter War. The game is a lot of fun to play and is a great re-creation of the Winter War.

Having played the game several times, including demonstrating it twice at the 1992 Origins convention, I enjoyed it greatly and can't wait to play it again. It's playable in one evening, and it's well suited to introduce newcomers to Europa. If you do use it as an introductory game, have the experienced player take the Finns the first time. A new player is likely to botch the defense of the Mannerheim Line while learning the nuances of defensive tactics against the Soviet hordes. (in one demo game, for example, I lost about 50 strength points through AEs and AHs in low-odds attacks against a well-manned Mannerheim Line. I could afford the losses but not the waste of time-when I finally broke through it was too late to take Viipuri.)

Whenever a Europa game is published, the E-grognards rush to print with their variants, alternate rules, and nit picking. Having been on the receiving end of nit picking more times than I prefer to think about, you'd think I'd magnanimously rise above it all and refrain from nit-picking someone else's Europa design. But, no, I can pick nits with the best of them. Gary and Art, it's your turn!

After several playings, I suspect Soviet deployment is slightly too liberal. (I got to play the Soviets in both games, and, see, there's a trick you can do with the motorized division that has a chance of collapsing the north flank of the Finnish Ladoga defenses . . . . ) I'd add the following to the deployment instructions for the Soviet 8th and 9th Armies:

"Except for Winter-Capable and NKVD units, Soviet units may only deploy in or adjacent to hexes containing a road or rail line. Winter-Capable and NKVD units may deploy anywhere in their army's deployment zone." This builds in the road-bound nature of the Soviet initial deployments in the war.

The situation around Murmansk may also be a bit too liberal for the Soviets:

• First, for the 14th Army's deployment instructions of "Place in the Soviet Union within five hexes of Murmansk (35:0701) I'd add "on or north of hex row 35:0800." This prevents the Soviet player from deploying the forces ahistorically too far to the south, should he decide to transfer them to another sector of the front.
• Second, the Soviets kept back their 14th Division to guard against an Allied landing in the Murmansk area. In the game, the Allies can't land in the Soviet Union. I'd allow Western Intervention Forces to land at Polyarnyy (35:0501) if the port is unoccupied. To account for amphibious invasion effects, each Allied unit landing at Polyarnyy while it is Soviet owned counts double against the number of REs that may land in a turn. Since there's a (small) chance that the Allies will intervene at any time in the game, this change gives the Soviet player some worries about his northern coast.
• Third, in checking out the 14th Army situation, I noticed that most sources put the (unwinterized) 52nd Division in the 14th Army. AWW` has the 52nd in the Strategic Reserves and puts the (winterized) 3rd Division in 14th Army instead. Who's correct? I look forward to seeing Gary's and Art's designers' notes on the Soviet OB.

One final nit pick concerns "forest fright." (If we can have "panzer scare," why not "forest fright"?) Most Soviet units in the actual Winter War were extremely reluctant to venture far from the roads into the depths of the snow-bound forests. While the off-road movement point costs for the forests are no prize in the game, the Soviet player seems more able to push units through the forests than was the case historically.

Hence a forest fright rule: "Except for Winter-Capable and NKVD units, Soviet units may not enter a forest hex during a movement phase unless the hex contains a road or rail line." I don't know if this rule is fully justified or even if it is really needed, but, remember, I did say I was nit picking. (By the way, note that the rule allows a Soviet unit to enter a forest hex that contains a road/railroad, even if the unit isn't moving along the road/railroad when entering the hex. This is to keep the rule from becoming too restrictive.)

With the nits now picked, on to a couple of variants!

Finland Prepared

Most of the hypothetical options in AWW give the Soviets a boost-for good reason. Finland, too, could have been better prepared for war, and this option explores this possibility.

Prewar Ground Preparations:

Assume Finland modernized and reequipped its ground forces in 1938-39. For each division in the Dec 1 39 initial forces, substitute one 6-6 Rifle XX. (Use the 6-6 divisions that come with the game, and don't bother about trying to match unit IDs, since you can't. If this bothers you, grab the appropriately-numbered 6-6 divisions out of Scorched Earth.) The units involved are the five 4-5-6 Rifle XX of the Kannaksen Army, the two 3-4-6* Rifle XX of the 4th Army Corps, and the one 4-5-6 Rifle XX of the High Command Reserves.

Prewar Air Preparations:

Assume Finland modernized and expanded its air force in 1938-39. From the Dec I 39 initial forces, remove the C.X and D.X air units.

In their place, use:

1x Bien 1 3B3 1-2/16
1x Glad 3F3 0/8
1x MS.406 4F5 0/8

Note that the Bien 1 is the full bomber version, not the jury-rigged attack bomber variant.

When using this option, ignore the foreign aid air reinforcements of Feb I 40 and Mar I 40.

Prewar Air Defense Preparations:

Assume Finland expanded its air defenses in 1938- 39. Every Finnish dot city has an intrinsic AA strength of 1 point. Helsinki has an intrinsic AA strength of 2 points.

Prewar Fortifications:

Assume Finland built additional fortifications. Place forts at any three Finnish cities (including point cities) south of the A weather line.

Wartime Conversions:

Assume that Finland had the resources to reorganize two wartime divisions to greater strengths. Accordingly, on Jan I 40 convert 1x 3-4-6* Rifle XX (the 9th) to 1x 6-6 Rifle XX (any ID). On Jan I 40 convert 1x 4-6 Rifle XX (the 1st) to 1x 6-6 Rifle XX (any ID).

Breakdowns:

If you have Scorched Earth available, scarf the three 3-6/3-6* Inf X counters (IDs: A, B, C). With the three 6 Rifle XX HQ A B, Q and three 2-6*/2-6 Ski X (A, B, C) in AWW, you can now break down the 6-6s:

6-6 Rifle XX
1x 6 Rifle X HQ
1x 2-6 Ski X
1x 3-6 Inf X

If using this option, remember that the A Rifle XX HQ is used on Dec I 39, so don't use it for a 6-6 breakdown when setting up.

Reasonable Soviets

Finland had offered a compromise resolution to the Soviet demands before the start of the Winter War. The compromise would have given the Soviets less than what they wanted but would have effectively resolved the Soviet border complaints in the Soviets' favor. Had the Soviets been reasonable, they would have accepted the compromise.

Assuming they did, here goes:

No game! The Winter War does not occur. Instead, however, make the following adjustments the next time you play Fire in the East/Scorched Earth:

Finland is strictly neutral. Use SE Rule 39C (Finnish War Effort), with a mandated card draw of a 2.

Use the 1939 Finnish-Soviet border as the border between the two countries, not the 1941 one. Adjust the border as follows:

. The Finnish portion of the Rybachiy Peninsula is part of the Soviet Union: hexes 6A:1119 and 1219 (AWW hexes 35:0202 and 0303).

The plebiscite district is part of Finland. (This district voted to join Finland after World War I, but the Soviets refused to relinquish it.) The district consists of hexes 6A:4128, 4227, and 4327 (A WW hexes 35:3211, 3311, and 3410).

The Karelian border is straightened out. Hex 6A:5125 (AWW hex 35:4108) is part of the Soviet Union.

The Finnish border is rolled back from the outskirts of Leningrad. Hex 2A:0732 (AWW hex 4815) is part of the Soviet Union.

Lavan (AWW hex 35:4819), Tytar (AWW hex 35:4820), and Suur (AWW hexes 35:4621 and 4721) Islands are transferred from Finland to the Soviet Union. These three islands were smaller than the cut-off point for islands when FitE was designed and hence do not appear on those maps. If you're determined to include them in FITE/SE, Lavan and Tytar each are a clear terrain islands about a quarter the size of the island in hex 1B:1715. Lavan is in hex 1B:0704 and Tytar is in hex 1B:0705. Suur is about half the size of 1B:1715 and is split half and half between hexes 113:0506 and 0605.)