Gemigabok presents...
Winter of No Surrender
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ejuhola/7.62/ ... index.html
Special Scenario – Rajajoki Station
Date: 30 November 1939, Day One of the Winter War, 0650 hours, night.
Location: Rajajoki border post, on the Karelian Isthmus. About twenty meters from the Soviet Union.
Weather Conditions: overcast, +3 degrees Celsius (+37 degrees Fahrenheit). There is about 5 cm (2 inches) of very wet snow. It is still dark at 0700 hours. A semblance of dawn will appear around 0730 hours.
History: This is how the Red Army's assault on Finland began.
The village of Rajajoki (literally "Border River") is Finland's south-easternmost point, being situated
but thirty kilometers from the huge city of Leningrad. The village itself is an insignificant collection
of little houses but its railway station, built in 1917 and located only half a kilometer from the border,
is strategically important.
The Rajajoki border post, 500 meters east of the station.
Relations between Finland and the Soviet Union have been deteriorating day by day. Both sides know
that if war breaks out the first action will be fought right here at Rajajoki. The Finns have prepared
for the worst: civilians have been evacuated and only a small detachment of expendable border
guards remains at the frontier.
Since 1918, this is the border between the free world and Communist tyranny. On the other side of the river, the Red Paradise beckons, complete with a celebratory gate...
Beyond it there are the happy denizens of that land, reaping huge crops from the fertile fields, at least that is what we are told. Very few of them travel to Finland nowadays and when they do they will attempt to buy anything they can get their hands on...
The old water tower dates from the times of the Russian Empire. During the Finnish Civil War of 1918 the Reds had a machine-gun post in the top floor of the tower which was taken out by a White cannon. The building had a huge hole in it for years, but it has since been fixed by the Russians.
Rajajoki Station is a special scenario in the Winter of No Surrender series. It describes the events of the first half-hour of the war, as told in two Finnish books. The scenario encompasses action on three tables, forming a tiny campaign of sorts.
The scenario can be played as a one-off, or as a prelude to WoNS Campaign One – Fire in the Sky. It is planned for inclusion in the Full Version of the campaign.
This is our playtest of Rajajoki Station. We're using Chain of Command rules with loads of special campaign rules, and 20mm figures. This is actually the third time we're playing this scenario, and the second time we're using Chain of Command.
We have John, Karri and Mikko playing the Red Army and Jarkko as the Finns. We're playing on Discord and we have three HD cameras online. We've been playing these remote games for something like two years now.
The Finns have a very small detachment at Rajajoki. Their task is to guard the frontier and to demolish the station should a war break out. And it just might... the tensions have been mounting for months and the negotiations have been ended. Anything could happen.
Only a very limited number of men may be deployed at the border post at any time. As always, the Russians may claim that anything is a “provocation” and use it as an excuse to launch an attack against Finland.
There is always a guardsman at the bridge, tasked with checking the papers of anyone crossing the border, and this morning is no exception...
This morning the guardsman is Private Vilho Manninen. It is still dark but despite the limited 18” visual range he suddenly becomes aware of the fact that he is not alone!
Yes, there are now a dozen Russians standing in the middle of the bridge... just standing there, on the Soviet side, staring at him... this is most unusual!
What's more, there's an officer there – Leytenant Michalovich in fact – and he is constantly glancing at his watch...
Cold sweat begins running down Manninen's back. This does not look good!
Some of those Russians are now jeering at him and pointing their rifles at him, threateningly...
Manninen knows that he should remain at his post but... he also knows that he will be dead any moment now if he stays...
Just then the eastern sky explodes with artillery fire! It is 0700 hours, the Winter War has begun!
Manninen runs hell-bent into the woods behind the guard house....
Ltn Michalovich orders Mladshiy Serzhant Kasparov's men forward! Michalovich's orders are to apprehend the border guards and proceed as quickly as possible to the railway station, preventing its destruction by the war-mongering Fascists there.
Running as fast as they can, the section reaches the guardhouse, blocking the jump-off point there...
Meanwhile, another Red Army section – that of Mladshiy Serzhant Lagenovsky - appears from behind the gates where they have been hiding...
And an MMG team runs to the corner of the building and setup their PM1910 there. But they're not going to see much from that far away...
At the guard house...
Michalovich orders Kasparov's section to get into the house...
Manninen decides it would be prudent to get out of here... like right now!
The second section is now crossing the bridge...
Kasparov's men take over the Finnish guardhouse. On the wall there they find a telephone, and a coffee pot is still warm on the stove... the Finnish jump-off point is now destroyed... it is unlikely that any more border guards will be found here...
There is now constant artillery fire from the east, with the rumble of explosions from the west...
Lagenovsky's second section is now running as fast as they can over the bridge...
The MMG team is ordered forward... behind them, a third section appears from behind the gates...
Having secured the house, Kasparov's men clamber out of the windows onto the north side...
The second Finnish jump-off point is just north of here... and that's where Kasparov will be headed next...
Having sent Kasparov away, the Lieutenant turns around and runs after the second section...
… who are now approaching the southern Finnish jump-off point...If the Finns intend to deploy some troops on this table, they should do it right now!
Prodded on by the Lieutenant, Lagenovsky's second section reaches the southern jump-off point, neutralizing it...
Kasparov meanwhile approaches the northernmost jump-off point...
The last Finnish jump-off point taken out, Kasparov turns his attention on the fleeing Private Manninen, who is struggling to move through the woods (he needs 1s for command rolls as he is a Team)...
Manninen is soon captured and will spend the rest of his Winter War in a Soviet prison camp...
The Soviets have taken Table One without casualties. Because the Finns were only allowed to have two men on this table, they elected not to deploy the other border guard.
The action now moves to Table Two, the approach to the station. Here the Finns have the option of not fighting here at all. If they fight here, they may gain some pips on their Chain of Command dice and cause some casualties to the Russians. But of course they may well sustain major casualties.
After discussing this with the Russians, Jarkko decides to fight here...
Jarkko deploys a team of border guards led by a Sergeant Kuittu onto the Finnish left flank. They go on overwatch. Closest to the camera, we have Private Reijo.
Leytenant Michalovich leads Kasparov's men out of the forest and they approach the Finns very quickly...
On the Soviet left, Lagenovsky's men are advancing along the road...
High in the air, the sound of dozens of bombers can be heard... they are headed for Finnish population centers where they will bomb civilians at random...
Jarkko now deploys a team of Civil Guards from the demolition detachment...
to run up the road. It is still dark and the Russians are more than 18” away so there is no visual contact yet... 
They too go on overwatch and wait for Lagenovsky's men
The Soviets (in Red):
1 – Kasparov's section, with Leytenant Michalovich, advancing along the woodsline
2 – Lagenovsky's section, advancing along the dirt road...
The Finns (in Blue):
1 – Sgt Kuittu's Border Guards Team, on overwatch
2 – Civil Guards Team, on overwatch
Kasparov's aggressive advance puts Kuittu in a difficult situation... He is on overwatch but he has only a team and no automatic weapons.
Kasparov's section is large and they have the Bayonet Training national characteristic, which makes the otherwise Green-rated Red Army men equal to the Regular-rated Finns in close combat...
The Russians move forward...
Kuittu decides to fire his overwatch, even though only two of his riflemen can see the enemy...
The inexperienced border guards are too hasty and the two shots go wide...
At this point Jarkko considers his options... practically his whole force is on the table (the Finns only have two Senior Leaders and ten men in this scenario) so deploying more forces here is not possible. Staying put will lead to a close combat where horrendous casualties are likely and he cannot afford that.
Jarkko declares that he is retreating to Table Three... John's Russians have now taken the first two tables without casualties.
Table Three, seen from the south-east, the Russian table side. This is the strategic rail yard, the Red Army's objective for the scenario. They must capture it before the Finns demolish it...
The Rajajoki station building is the main prize here, housing the objective jump-off point.
It is a massive concrete building offering hard cover.
At the eastern end of the table there is an underpass where the road from the border post switches to the southern side of the railway line. Russian spies have discovered that the Finns have dug a 300 kg TNT charge under it.
Also various railway switches and other locations on the rail yard could be set with explosives.
Ltn Michalovich's first priority is to prevent this planned, villainous destruction of the property of the People of Finland.
Mladshiy Serzhant Lagenovsky's section is the first to deploy, on the Soviet left flank
On the Soviet right flank, Kasparov's men suddenly appear in the woods...
And by the underpass, a team of three engineers can be seen heading for the bridge... undoubtedly intending to prevent the charges from being detonated.
In the huge station building, Sergeant Kuittu sees the Russian engineers heading for the underpass. In his hand he holds a plunger detonator, which is connected to the 300 kg charge... but he needs permission from the HQ before he can blow up anything... he reaches for the radio... and finds out that the ether is filled with traditional Russian folk music, you know, Kalinka type stuff. The Russians are jamming the airwaves.
The Russians approach the bridge. Grunting, Sergeant Kuittu grabs his field telephone... a few turns of the crank and there is a ring, but the telephone central does not answer... now that the war has started everyone is of course calling the headquarters to ask for instructions, and the HQ itself is calling its subordinates... So the telephone central is frightfully busy...
It's then the Russians' phase. The engineers move to the underpass, looking for signs of the explosives...
Jarkko decides that he cannot have this, he decides to blow up the bridge even though Sergeant Kuittu does not have the permission to do so. Doing this will forfeit any victory points for the bridge, but most likely the Russians will never find any pieces of those engineers.
Sergeant Kuittu presses the plunger... Jarkko rolls a 6... there is a problem... he rolls another 6... nothing! The explosives have failed and would need to be reset, and that's not going to happen. Jarkko has lost the bridge!
Meanwhile, the two Soviet sections are advancing, on on each flank...
The engineers waste no time and immediately discover the explosive charges. Setting them up, the White Bandits forgot one wire so there was no detonation. Typical Capitalistic incompetence!
The engineer team then proceed up the railway line toward the station, looking for more explosives.
Meanwhile, Kuittu finally reaches the headquarters by phone. He spends a command initiative to report the situation, and another to receive the go-ahead to start blowing up the rail yard.
Nearing the first switch, the engineers notice the tell-tale wires in the snow... it's another bomb!
But as soon as they reach for the wires, Kuittu – three hundred meters away - attaches the other end of the wires to his plunger and presses it... a humongous explosion blows up the railway line, flinging gravel, wood splinters and lengths of rail at the engineers...
One engineer is killed, and the team suffers two points of shock...
Undeterred, Kasparov's men make their way through the woods and are now more than half-way to their target...
Lagenovsky is also making progress on the left flank...
John now uses a CoC die to move his jump-off point forward. This is an excellent move.
In the station building, Kuittu attaches the next set of wires to his plunger, cranks it and presses it down again... A deafening explosion as a four-kilo charge demolishes the next switch...
While this is going on, John dispatches another team of engineers using the jump-off point which he had cleverly moved up a few phases ago. They are now within striking distance of one switch...
But John is concerned that the Finns will deploy some more forces at any point now...
...so he deploys his MMG squad to give them support.
The MMG squad leader places the MMG on Sustained Overwatch, a special MMG fire mode. Up to three groups of enemies may be taken under fire.
On the Soviet right flank, Kasparov is nearing the Finnish jump-off point...
Mladshiy Serzhant Lagenovsky's men are closing in on the station building... Soon they will be close enough to charge...
At the station Sergeant Kuittu and Private Reijo, who has been helping the sergeant, get out of the building and hide behind it... this situation isn't tenable for long...
The Russians start moving...
The engineers sprint to the railway switch...
A third section, overseen by Leytenant Michalovich himself, arrives to support them.
On the other side of the station house, Sergeant Kuittu and Private Reijo destroy the phone and the radio, and run away...
The Red Army has taken Rajajoki station. The Finns destroyed one section of railway and two switches, and got 9 men and two senior leaders off the map, for a total of 22 victory points.
The Soviets apprehended one border guard, and captured the underpass, four of sections of railway, three railway switches, and the station itself, for a total of 28 victory points.
This was a rather different scenario from the ordinary Chain of Command fare. We played for two evenings and there were a total of two rifle shots fired, one casualty. I had a great time and I think the players were very cordial, claiming they enjoyed it too.
Stay tuned for more Winter of No Surrender series games in the near-ish future!
The minis:
http://thewargamersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=790
http://thewargamersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=84&p=46130
Some of our Chain of Command campaigns:
Fire in the Sky http://thewargamersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4055
April 9th http://thewargamersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3636
Citadel – The Breakthrough – Grossdeutschland Attack at Kursk http://thewargamersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1353
Other Games:
The Drive on Minsk; http://thewargamersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=815
Unternehmen Nordwind: http://thewargamersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&p=30957
Our Clubs:
GeMiGaBoK: http://www.the-ancients.com/gemigabok/
Stadin Strategit: http://stadinstrategit.fi/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/474796192532203
cheers John
