New Finnish home rule

[Agent Smith]

1. All Finnish armed forces must be within finnish korpses. All finnish korpses must be attached to “Karelian Fin Army” HQ. All finnish airgroups (A.R.) must stay with “Karelian Fin Army” HQ.
2. Only German forces can be added to Finnish korps. No more than 3 Infantry divisions can be attached to Finnish forces at the same time. A Finnish korps must have at least one Finnish division in it.
3. Finnish forces cannot attack (but can bombard) Leningrad (40;7), it’s supply hex (41;6) or hex (40;6). The Soviet player has to garrison hex (40;6) with minimum 5 division sized units after September the 1 of 1941.
4. Finnish forses can be transferred in to Soviet territory only via Tallinn port and must remain on or above 12 parallel. “Karelian Fin Army” must have a direct land path to Helsinki.

This rule is designed to reflect political issues of Finnish participation in the war on one side. On the other side, the ability to transfer a significant number of Finns into mainland Russia (which is a bit ahistorical) can lead to a more historical situation around Leningrad:
Finns can more easily defend against Soviet winter offense which can lead to a prolonged siege of Leningrad. The capture of Leningrad would be a German option for 1942.

What do you think?

P.S. Grammar corrections would be highly appriciated.

[pyguinard]

ORIGINAL: Agent Smith

1. All Finnish armed forces must be within finnish korpses. All finnish korpses must be attached to “Karelian Fin Army” HQ. All finnish airgroups (A.R.) must stay with “Karelian Fin Army” HQ.

Many Finnish soldiers fought within German Korpses (Just think of 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division Wiking or 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. Why couldn't Finn divisions (or airgroups) be attached to German Korpses? ...especially if Leningrad is taken!

2. Only German forces can be added to Finnish korps. No more than 3 Infantry divisions can be attached to Finnish forces at the same time. A Finnish korps must have at least one Finnish division in it.

The same rule should apply to Hungarians, Romanians and Italians!

3. Finnish forces cannot attack (but can bombard) Leningrad (40;7), it’s supply hex (41;6) or hex (40;6). The Soviet player has to garrison hex (40;6) with minimum 5 division sized units after September the 1 of 1941.

I think (I may be wrong, though) that it was planned in Barbarossa that the Finns were to fight their way through the Karelian Isthmus to join the Germans in the Siege of Leningrad. It never materialized because the Wermacht failed to reach their objectives... nevertheless, the Finns were supposed to fight against the Russians and they would have done it given the proper circumstances... not just bombard them. In the game, it doesn't matter at all because if the Soviet Player garrisons Northern Leningrad, there is not much that the Finns can do to the Russians!

4. Finnish forses can be transferred in to Soviet territory only via Tallinn port and must remain on or above 12 parallel. “Karelian Fin Army” must have a direct land path to Helsinki.

In my humble opinion, the 12th parallel looks a bit too high if Leningrad is taken. I can easily imagine Hitler requesting assistance from the Finns for the capture of Moscow, in order to achieve complete victory over the Soviets... so Finns would keep the "City of Preter the Great" when the war is over!

This rule is designed to reflect political issues of Finnish participation in the war on one side. On the other side, the ability to transfer a significant number of Finns into mainland Russia (which is a bit ahistorical) can lead to a more historical situation around Leningrad:
Finns can more easily defend against Soviet winter offense which can lead to a prolonged siege of Leningrad. The capture of Leningrad would be a German option for 1942.

What do you think?

P.S. Grammar corrections would be highly appriciated.

What I think about those rules is that they give more chances to the Russian player to hold Leningrad until the Blitzkrieg rules are over thus, it is of great help in terms of play balance in 1941. If Leningrad is captured, any additionnal rule (the 12th parallel one and so on...) is just based on speculation and can be easily argued.

In a nutshell, as the german player, I would agree to those rules only to get a better match against a russian player, but certainly not to correct ahistorical situations

[Agent Smith]

I have read a part of Mannerheim memoirs about Finland in WW2. He write what it was never planned that Finns would take active part in the assault of Leningrad.
Finns fought arm to arm with German but never under german command. It was not the same with other german allies.
Yes, the application of this rule would help Russians to hold Leningrad in 1941 and help Axis to hold ground during blizzards of 1941-1942

[pyguinard]

Mannerheim Memoirs would have been very different if the Wermacht had performed a better performance with Barbarossa don't you think?