Winter War

Review

 Selecting a new game, you currently have the option of five scenarios to play: “The 1939 Attack” (this scenario covers the first four weeks on the initial Soviet onslaught on Finland in December 1939), “The Winter War (this is the grand campaign scenario of the Soviet onslaught on Finland between November 1939 and March 1940), “Tolajarvi” (this scenario covers the battle during the Soviet attack in December 1939), “Suomussalmi” (this scenario covers the battles of Suomussalmi and Raate road in central Finland in late 1939), and the “Mannerheim Line” (this scenario covers the last two months of the Soviet attack on the Mannerheim Line in February and March 1940).

Once you have decided which scenario to play, you can then select which side to play as, either Finland or Soviet Union. Each side has the option of being played by real folk, AI and the Soviet Union has the option of being played by Email. Hitting the Start Game button once you’ve decided will start your game. Next a newspaper will appear which will give you some information on your goal and your current situation.

Once the newspaper is out of the way, you’ll be on the game screen, with a map of Finland and a slither of the Soviet Union. In the top right corner is the Date and the turn of your current game; the scenarios are played out over four or six turns. The bottom right corner is a mini map along with some tabs for Minimise/Maximise, Centre View, go to next Stack that has not moved yet, Open/Close Information Window, Toggle On/Off Region Control Filter, Toggle On/Off Supply Filter and Toggle On/Off Stacking Filter.

Each turn will start with the Card Draw; here you’ll draw two battle cards where you be able to choose one card which you can then use to influence a battle, after which you’ll move on to Air Movement, then Land Movement and finally your Air Defence. Your units are shown in blue for Finland and Red for the Soviets “stacks”. These stacks can be individual to multiple units consisting of troops, mine fields, barricades, armoured units etcetera. The map is divided into regions and your stacks move from region to region; the terrain will determine how many movement points it will cost to move.

Moving into an enemy’s region will then instigate combat mode once you and your opponent have finished your movement turns. A dice is rolled for each unit, and this, along with the units modified combat factor, will determine the result; the dice rolls are automatically rolled and applied to your units. If a unit loses more than half its strength it can demoralise or panic the units. If this happens, the soldiers leave the battlefield and can no longer fight. If a unit's morale reaches zero, then the unit is Routed. When routed, a unit can be pursued by the enemy, resulting in a free round of attack against the routed surviving units. To win the game you must be the one with the most victory points collected at the end of the scenario.

On the main menu screen, you’ll find Continue (a game already started) New Game, Load Saved Game (load a previously save game), Options, Video Tutorials and Quit. Selecting Video Tutorials will allow you to watch five video categories on how to play the game. 1. Region Inspection (Information on the game’s regions, units and structures), 2. Air Movement and Rebase (How to move your air units and have them change base), 3. Land Movement and Stack Split (How to move land units and split or create new stacks), 4. Stacking (How to see region’s maximum stacking and handle your stacks accordingly, 5. Battle (How to play cards during a battle and quick description.

In the options you’ll find settings for Display – Language (English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian and Finnish). Resolution, Full Screen, V-Sync, Display Card Messages, Always Display Summary Phase, Fog of War and Display Tutorial First. Audio - Sound Effects, Ambient Sounds and Music Volume Sliders. A.I. Levels (Voluntary, Basic and Expert) and Auto A.I. Actions. Play by Email (Player Name, Player Email, Saves Directory, Use the Default Email Client App to Send Saves and Delete Imported Zip Files.

This game is in Early Access and is still being worked upon; they have just added tutorial videos and there is other information to help you play the game. There are plenty of updates being made by the developer.

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com!