Opponents Wanted

Find Gaming Opponents!

Another new feature for Grognard.com, "Opponents Wanted" provides a quick and easy way to locate gaming opponents with similar gaming preferences. Requires site registration.

Spotlight Articles

Outstanding articles that are not necessarily linked to one particular game, but may have broad appeal to gamers.

The Origins of the AVALON HILL GAME COMPANY 1952-1963

The Avalon Hill Game Company is 72 years old this year and time to chronicle the history of Avalon Hill. In Part 1, Origins, we will look at the story of not only the establishment of a game company, but an industry and a hobby. Thanks to Legendary Tactics YouTube Channel for this great series.

Poster: Robert Holifield
Post Date: 4/18/2024

Tributes pour in after death of award-winning veteran wargame designer Dean Essig

Mike Didymus-True, in BoardGameWire, brings us the sad news of the passing of designer Dean Essig.

Poster: Doug Holt
Post Date: 4/1/2024

Alumwell Wargame Show 2024

"...I actually enjoyed this show more than any other that I have been to in the past couple of years." Norm Smith, in Battlefields & Warriors, regales us with sights and surprises from this show, along with some great pictures! And check out the source of an insight that led Norm to conclude "It made me realise that considering these things went into the air in their thousands, the financial investment in longbow archers must have been huge."

Poster: Doug Holt
Post Date: 3/22/2024

Fields of Corn & Rye

"...I was pretty sure that I had found something that might do the job." Norm Smith, in Battlefields & Warriors, discusses a way he's found to address an old itch, namely adding texture and/or crop fields to tabletop settings. Check out what he finds to be a reasonable, cost-effective approach, considering that "...sometimes I think we have made ourselves a picture perfect world and lost something along the way."

Poster: Doug Holt
Post Date: 3/11/2024

Gaming Conventions

Another new feature for Grognard.com, the Gaming Convention calendar will make it a snap to keep up with all the latest gaming conventions in your area. But we need your gaming convention information, so please contribute.

Grognard News

Grognard Challenge - Expanded Room for Comments! (6/25/2023)

The Comments entry area has been resized to 512 characters.

Grognard Opponents Wanted (9/14/2022)

New Opponents Wanted function. You can now set your ad expiration date, up to one year. Requires site registration.

Gaming Conventions

New Gaming Conventions calendar. You can see all upcoming gaming conventions worldwide.

If you are sponsoring a board gaming convention of some type, or know of one that is not listed on Grognard.com, then please contact us and let us know!

Gaming Clubs/Organziations

New Gaming Clubs/Organizations listing. You can search for existing gaming clubs worldwide.

If you belong to a gaming club, or know of one, please drop us a line and let us know so we can get it listed on Grognard.com!

New Search Features

Now you can search for specific games (or games by publisher) using the new Game Search feature, located at the top right corner of the this page. In addition you can now harness the power of Google to search the entire Grognard.com site for any specific information you'd like. Just enter a search word or phrase into the Google box labeled "Search All of Grognard.com" and click magnifying glass button. Search features will continue to be improved and enhanced going forward so check back often to see the latest stuff.

Grognard Originals

In addition to our links to great content all around the internet, expect to see more Grognard.com "originals" in the future.

Fast, simple, not expensive, little errata, but only reasonably fun. (War game Review)

In his review on BoardGameGeek, Brendan Whyte first turns a critical eye towards the components and rules and lists their shortcomings. Game play fares better: “…the game is fast and quite fun”. Whyte then goes into comprehensive details covering game mechanics and spares no criticism for the game opponent (AI). His discussion concerning solitaire board games vs solitaire computer games is very interesting.

PE TANG 1900 Q&A with Marco Campari

Some Q & A between myself and Marco Campari, designer of Pe Tang 1900 from Lumaca Games.

PE TANG 1900 Strategy Tips

This is the strategy I developed after playing Pe Tang 1900 from Lumaca Games.

PE TANG 1900 Optional Line of Sight Table

Here is an optional table to make it a little more difficult to eliminate the Boxer artillery.

More Grognard Originals...

Grognard Challenge

Latest Challenge

Have a look at the graphics for the latest Challenge and see past solutions and contest winners.

Recommended (archives)

Wargaming - General Info

Board Wargames

Miniatures Wargames

Computer Wargames

Academic Gaming

Board Games

Internet Based/PBEM Games

Individual Wargamer Blogs

Wargaming Magazines

Asst Software/Player Aides

In Memoriam

Grognards Lost

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Game: Blood on the Snow: Russo-Finnish War

(b934)		Publisher: Avalanche Press Game Type: Board Search for this and related games with Noble Knight

Description:

When Soviet troops invaded Finland in November, 1939, no one believed the Finns stood much of a chance in this “Winter War.” A small army of citizen-soldiers would face the world’s largest army. The Red Army of Workers and Peasants numbered several million strong, hardened by combat experience gained in Spain and Manchuria. Well-equipped with tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft, the Red Army expected to roll over the Finnish border defenses in a matter of days. Of course, no one designs games about roll-over victories. The Finns called out a brigade of scratch troops: tough border guards, over-aged reservist infantry, regular army bicycle troops and a handful of ancient artillery pieces. At Suomussalmi, Col. Hjalmar Siilasvuo would be asked to stop two full-strength Soviet divisions. Despite all the odds being against them, the Finns triumphed in a furious battle still used as an example in the world’s military academies. Siilasvuo had some advantages: His men knew the terrain, almost all of them could ski, and the Soviets came up the roads at his positions one division at a time. The Finns attacked the Soviet road columns, cutting them into pockets known as “mottis” (from a Finnish term for a cord of firewood, stacked and left in the forest for later retrieval). The town of Suomussalmi stood at a vital road junction on the way to Kemi on Finland’s central coast. The Soviet 9th Army planned to move through here and cut the small nation in two. But Siilasvuo’s men, soon re-designated the 9th Division, destroyed first the 163rd Rifle Division and then the 44th “Blue” Motorized Rifle Division, a first-line regular army unit from western Ukraine. Blood on the Snow re-creates this battle, using a “variable impulse” game system to model the two armies’ very different capabilities. Each turn, each player puts a number of markers into a common container. These are then drawn one by one, the number drawn varying with the current weather condition. The Finnish player has weaker forces, but will usually draw more markers and these allow the Finns to conduct more operations. The good Finnish units are better than the Soviet ones, and much more mobile in the forests. Units are rated for attack and defense strength, and movement. Both sides have artillery units, which can support both attacks and defenses. The Soviet artillery is very powerful; Finnish guns are little more than a nuisance. The Soviet player also has tanks and armored cars, which not only are powerful in battle (at least on the roads), they also might cause the Finns to suffer “pansaari panic” and run away. The map is divided into hexagons, each representing an area two kilometers across. The rendition of frozen forest terrain is very true to Finland in the dead of winter, and thus has a highly unusual look.

Articles

Article ID	Pub Date	Article Description
1031	Date: 12/30/2019 Poster: Doug Holt	Blood On The Snow Review "It almost feels like you are being hypnotized while looking at this map." David Lent reviews Blood On The Snow by Avalanche Press, which covers the Battle of Suomussalmi in the Soviet/Finnish Winter War. Aside from the map, it's interesting to see why David ends up concluding that the "…author tried reinventing the wheel instead of using tried and true wargame mechanics."
1024	Date: N/A Poster: Mark D.	website
1025	Date: N/A Poster: Mark D.	review
1026	Date: N/A Poster: Mark D.	variant
1027	Date: N/A Poster: Mark D.	review
1028	Date: N/A Poster: Mark D.	review
1029	Date: N/A Poster: Mark D.	rules summary (Word file)
1030	Date: N/A Poster: Mark D.	Q&A

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