At least two minor errors have been detected so far in the Jan II 40 Soviet turn report posted at the EA. First, the Soviet 9-6 Art XX 1 is not supposed to advance after combat per Rule 37H5a-The Soviet Artillery Division. Therefore the dispositions of of the Soviet ground forces in two Karelian Isthmus hexes have been adjusted to comply with the SoS rules:

Wooded intermittent lake G. of Finland coast hex 4717: two 4-6 Inf XX 43 and 97, advanced in after combat 3-2-8 Arm X 24, advanced in after combat 1-6 Eng 9, advanced in after combat 1-8 Ptcl Pol III 2, advanced in after combat pos flk unit, advanced in after combat

G. of Finland clear terrain hex 4816: 9-6 Art XX 1, never moved *1-2-8 Mot MG 50, exploited in from 4815 3-2-8 Arm X 39, exploited in from 4815.

Second, when doing the big Soviet terror bombing attack against Helsinki late in the exploitation phase using the two DB-3m’s, the DB-3b, the DB-3t, and the three SB-2bis’, the Soviets conveniently forgot to halve their strat bombing factors due to snow weather per Rule 20B (Intro). All B and A type air units originally got through Helsinki’s two pos flk factors; and so a redo was done of the strat bombing factor tallies and die rolls. The redo result was 1 terror bombing hit against Helsinki instead of the originally posted 3.

Finally, regarding the dispositions of the Soviet air units at the end of the Jan II 40 Soviet turn, an important Soviet airfield was accidently omitted:

At start 3-cap permanent airfield at wooded swamp Lake Ladoga coast road hex 4608: I-16/t10 I-16/t17 R-10

When the current SoS NTO Scenario game was begun, one of the intentions was to attempt to play an essentially “historical” (read: in the context of a preliminary and provisional Basic Grand Europa 1939-40 campaign scenario) Winter War campaign using the newer SoS NTO rules rather than the earlier AWW rules, thinking this was the wisest approach in an effort to contribute to the advancement the Europa war game project. By “historical” I mean specifically without actual Allied intervention into the Winter War, just as happened historically, at least in war game terms prior to the Mar II or Apr I 40 game turns, (eg., allow Allied intervention to occur only beyond the historical March 12, 1940 end date of the Winter War) if the Finns in fact held out that long. In pursuit of this “good intention,” the die roll (using two dice) for Allied intervention called for per Rule 41G3a-NTO Scenario: Allied Intervention required “at the start of each Finnish initial phase” from the game’s first Finnish turn has been consistently “controlled” by the invisible hand of the war game player to be sure and not trigger Allied intervention by a roll of 2 or 3. Subsequently, the strategy and tactics of the current SoS NTO scenario study war game has been largely determined by the necessity of the Soviets to accumulate Finnish “demoralization points” per Rule 41G3d-End to Russo-Finnish War, in order to end the conflict basically as soon as possible.

This EA member confesses to not currently being an expert on either the Europa AWW or SoS games. I have played/messed with some with AWW about 25 years ago with a good Europa player, but many of these memories are admittedly hazy by 2013. However, the more this war gamer plays SoS and studies its various scenarios, the better he likes it as the correct and ready made basis for playing what might be called Basic or Advanced Grand Europa campaign specific scenarios involving Scandinavia; but these games could also accurately be called “stand alone” games for those who suspect that “Grand Europa” talk inevitably leads to a chain hobble.

If playing a complete SoS NTO scenario war game with all the SoS maps and all the NTO counters, a neutral Norway at neutrality watch will order partial mobilization if Finland is invaded by the USSR, per Rule 38G1-[Norwegian] Neutrality and Activation. Evidently this partial mobilization occurs on the Dec II 39 turn. “Norway is now Axis-leaning (but still neutral).” The situation is essentially the same for Sweden in SoS NTO scenarios, I believe, per Rule 38I1-[Swedish] Neutrality and Activation. See the SoS Orders of Battle for the inevitable partial mobilizations of Norway and Sweden in NTO scenarios after the Winter War starts. Note that the SoS Campaign for Norway and Nordic Adventure scenarios both begin with Norway and Sweden at partial mobilization, I believe, on their Apr I 40 start turn. A neutral Denmark remains at neutrality watch until either Norway or Sweden is invaded. All this implies, I think, that the SoS NTO scenario is in essence what could be called the basis for a first class GE 1939-40 Scandinavian campaign scenario, at least for those who might like the idea.

I’d like to propose an additional SoS NTO scenario variant with the following rules changes. First, drop the required each Finnish turn die roll for possible Allied intervention and instead allow the Allied/Finnish player to either a) voluntarily choose to intervene on the Mar II 40 turn, if the Winter War lasts that long, or if Europa players feel this is too restrictive, then b) voluntarily choose to intervene any Finnish turn after the Winter War begins. After declaring the Allied intervention, the Norwegian and Swedish die rolls would take place per Rule 41G3b-Neutral Reaction to Allied Intervention. There is apparently already in place some rules provisions in the SoS NTO scenario for a Winter War continuing after standard German historical intervention into Norway on the Apr I 40 turn at Rule 41G3c-Axis Intervention, with or without any prior Allied intervention into the Winter War.

Secondly I’m also thinking now that in the proposed SoS NTO scenario variant discussed above the Apr I 40 game turn weather should automatically be what it is in both the SoS Campaign for Norway and Nordic Adventure scenarios per their starting conditions (on the Apr I 40 game turn) found in Rule 41B and C. This gives the Axis the historical weather conditions on their historical invasion date. Of course I’m assuming this turn the Axis (or Allies) will invade Norway in SoS NTO scenarios played like a hypothetical Basic GE Scandinavian campaign scenario.

Note that per SoS NTO scenario rules the Winter War will continue after Allied intervention has occurred until “…Finland has at least 25 demoralization points” in a Soviet/Axis initial phase after subtracting 10 for Allied intervention.