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Blood on the Snow

	Author: Peter Gade Article Type: Board Game Review Publication Date: 3/19/2004 Publisher: Avalanche Press Related Categories: World War II, Turn-based, Operational, Eastern Front

Introduction

Name one other wargame that has a counter for a Soviet brass band, and a motorized brass band at that. Avalanche Press's Blood on the Snow offers one up in all its cardboard glory and is an indicator of the top-heavy order of battle that Soviets brought to bear against the Finns in the Winter War of 1939-40. But brass bands are just pepper in the pot for Blood on the Snow, which presents one of modern military history's great mismatches in an eminently playable and easy-to-learn package.

In modeling the Battle of Suomussalmi, players are presented with a wargaming experience that echoes the Vietnam War or even the American Revolutionary War, thus making it a refreshing departure from what we've come to expect from European conflict simulations framed around World War II. This isn't panzer country; it's that of ski-equipped Finns striking at over-extended supply lines as the Soviets take the square peg in the round hole approach of forcing armor through snow-laden forests. Delaying actions, hit-and-run raids, and intimate knowledge of home turf is the order of the day for the Finns while the challenge of the Soviet player is to maintain enough supply and cohesion to face the Finns in more conventional combat where toe-to-toe matchups likely mean slaughter for the outgunned Finns.

The grim sub-arctic nights of December and January 1939-40 saw Finnish companies and battalions pick apart not one, but two Soviet divisions as the Reds attempted to cut Finland in two with a drive for the Baltic through the village of Suomussalmi. The potential for a historical replay of actual events is indeed here, but the Soviet juggernaut, for all its clumsiness, is still a damnable beast. While both sides are hamstrung by what could be perceived as glaring weaknesses, the game allows a variety of ways to turn those weaknesses into strengths, thus underscoring why the Battle of Suomussalmi maintains its place on the syllabi of West Point.

The Basics

If the Blood on the Snow game system has a godfather, it's in the form of the old Avalon Hill titles such as D-Day or Afrika Corps where the rules are minimal and terrain exerts the usual straightforward modifiers on movement and combat. My edition of Blood on the Snow speaks to the lean and mean nature of this title as the contents include one sheet of 140 of battalion and company-level counters, an eight-page rulebook, a 17x22 inch unmounted color map, and one player aid card. Everything about this kit says that a player can buy it after breakfast and start playing before lunch.

That said, a familiar d6-based Combat Results Table (CRT) awaits the player, and units have a number of strength steps ascribed to them; all very familiar to the practiced wargamer. The map scale is 2km/hex and turns are conducted on a daily basis with one to seven impulses per turn pending weather conditions. Three scenarios are offered up along with a campaign game, which covers the action from 5 December 1939 to 9 January 1940. With a small map, low counter density, and a streamlined turn sequence, this title is ideal for wargamers tight on space and time.

Clean-cut counters. Note the lack of administrative chits, implying smooth play.	Not a Formica countertop pattern from 1975, it's a portion of the game map. A questionable red hex overlay is lost in the mottled green forests.

A single sheet of charts streamlines play. Note the reduced movement Finnish ski troops receive in forest hexes.