Overview
One nation that Wargame is still lacking is Finland. Perched in between the mighty Soviet Union and fellow non-aligned Sweden, it has somehow been left out. One of the reasons might well be that its unique mix of both western and eastern material during the Cold War makes it hard to fit into either block along the lines of Wargame. Still, most of the units used by the Finnish Defence Forces are already in game, so creating a Finnish deck is still doable, although not necessarily competitive (or even smart…).
A Brief Background
After World War II, Finland managed to remain both independent and outside of the Warsaw Pact. The main goal of the Finnish foreign policy of the time was to make sure that the Russian bear stayed happy enough with Finnish politics so that they would not come and visit. This was also visible in the arms purchases, with few to no western (except Swedish) weapons system being bought during the early Cold War years. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Finland has instead invested in modern western technology, meaning that the defence forces operates a mix of both western and eastern material. This makes it hard to accurately model the Finnish Defence Forces in Wargame, so I have opted to create two decks: one BLUFOR and one REDFOR.
Be warned that neither deck is particularly competitive. In practice, you are playing a single country, without the benefit of bonuses or prototypes. However, this is no different from certain other themed decks, and whether or not you will like it is largely dependent upon your playstyle and why you play the game to begin with.
Note that I have not made any restrictions as regards to era. Certain material present in these decks where withdrawn before the time of the game, while others appeared after the game has ended.
Finally, I am not saying that this is the only way to play as Finland in the game. You can trim the house rules for your Finnish deck whichever way you want to. This is only made to work as starting point and provide some inspiration for those that feel they want to try something a little different. Enjoy.
The Blue Deck
The blue deck is the more modern one of the two, being largely reliant upon equipment acquired by the Finns after the end of the Cold War.
For the logistics, there are a number of obvious choices. The Norwegian Kommandoplass provides CV infantry which rides around in the Finnish built SISU XA-180 (affectionately known as ‘Pasi’), a vehicle which you will see a lot of in this deck. There is also a CV XA-180-series APC, in the form of the XA-186NO KPV. While the machine-gun turret is a Norwegian turret, the differences to Finnish vehicles are rather small. The PzBefWg LEOPARD 2 provides for a serious command tank if you are more inclined to use a vehicle that can take a few punches a keep going. In the other end of the scale, a generic command land rover would certainly fit in the Finnish deck as well.
For logistics, Finland uses domestic SISU trucks, which naturally aren’t included in the game. As such, any generic cargo carrying truck will do as a proxy.
Finnish soldiers have used locally made AKM-versions as their personal firearms since the early 60’s and to this very day. These are nowhere to be found in the BLUFOR arsenal, so Swedish and Norwegian soldiers with G3’s will have to do. Norwegian Gevaermenn in XA-180’s provide reasonable proxies for the baseline Finnish infantry, with the Swedish Norrlandsjägare in trucks being a good proxy of Finnish troops running around in the forests, dragging their beloved ‘Musti’ along (the proper name of this creature being the ’95 S 58-61 heavy recoilless anti-tank weapon’).
If you’re looking for something with a bit more bite to transport your foot soldiers in, the Swedish STRF 9040 will do. In reality, Finland uses the slightly different 9030 version (mainly distinguished by its smaller gun), but I don’t think anyone will notice unless you tell them…
Finland decided in 2014 to get the Stinger to replace the older Soviet-made MANPADS currently in service. As such, a squad of Stinger-wielding Americans aren’t completely out of place in a Finnish deck, and provides some much needed air defence. Which leads us to the…
Finland has a strong artillery corps, centeed on towed pieces and 2S1 Gvozdika and 2S5 Giatsint-S SPG’s. Okay, the BLUFOR doesn’t have those, but the humble Finnish Tampella 120 mm mortar is found mounted on some German chassis. In addition, the M270 MLRS is found in a number of different countries’ arsenals, so it’s just to pick and choose.
For air defence, the Crotale is right at home in a Finnish deck, while the LVKV fm/43 is a slight modification. Finland bought a few vehicles of the earlier LVKV L-62 Anti II-version during WW II, which had a single Bofors 40 mm as opposed to the twin guns of the fm/43. Still, it is a reasonable proxy, and it’s not like it’ll win the war for you…
For tanks, there is only a single option, but it’s a rather nice one: The German Leopard 2A4. At 135 pts, it provides a well-rounded modern tank, without breaking the bank completely.
Note that the 160 pts Swedish Strv 121 prototype is the same tank, but with a superior AP (23 vs 19) and a different machine gun.
The small MD 500 is a nice place to start for a cheap recce unit. E.g. the Danish Cayuse fills the airborne recce need, while the armed Scout Defender is a bit of a stretch. We’ll just use it and call it a wartime modification.
More Norwegians in XA-180 provides the recon infantry and special forces, with Oppklaring and Marinejeger being two units that doesn’t feel out of place.
Again, generic Land Rovers such as the Rover REKV are also suitable for the Finnish BLUFOR deck.
Not much to see here, but as the TOW-2 is used as the PstOhj 83 M, jeeps with TOW-2 launchers are a natural choice.
Nope.
It’s all about two planes: Saab Draken and F/A-18 Hornet. As Finland lacked air-to-ground missiles, plausible versions are the fighter-versions J 35J Draken (Swedish) and CF-188 Hornet (Canadian), as well as bomb-loaded F 35 Draken WDNS (Danish) and F/A-18A Hornet (Australian).
No ‘true’ Finnish vessels or anti-ship systems found. The STRB 90H can provide a littoral vessel that would feel at home along the Finnish coastline, while the MOBA can proxy the truck-mounted Rbs 15 that are used for coastal defence.
The most glaring problem is the lack of helicopters, which is natural as Finland never has operated any attack helicopters. For those that like myself like to have some infantry in helicopters, proxying Mi-8’s with for example UH-1 (or some other version of the classic Bell-design) is the logical step. In order to unlock some bonuses, going for a Scandinavian deck gives you almost all the options listed, plus adding a few interesting high-end choices: the baseline 120 mm mortar is gone, but the Patria AMOS is available, while the NASAMS replaces the Crotale.
The Red Deck
The REDFOR deck is largely based on slightly older material, but there are some interesting choices here too.
The T-72MIK is the Finnish high-end command vehicle, while the humble UAZ represents the low end. In between, a number of different choices are valid, ranging from the Mi-4 command helicopter, BMP-1/2 based command IFV’s, BTR-60-versions, and naturally Kalashnikov armed infantry teams riding in any of the above.
For supply, besides generic trucks, the MTP-LB offers an interesting choice, and Mi-4 and Mi-8 supply helicopters provides some options when you need those supplies fast.
The infantry tab provides a host of different options. The Finnish soldiers were equipped with locally-made AKM-derivatives, so basically any AK-version firing a 7.62 mm round is spot on. For support, both the PKM light machine gun and the SVD sniper/marksman rifle have been used, as well as a local recoilless anti-tank weapon dubbed the 55 S 55, which is somewhat similar to a RPG-2, and a light local machine gun dubbed the KvKK 62 patterned after the Czech vz. 52.
These troops can then be ferried around in a number of vehicles, see above, which ranges from BMP-2 IFV’s to generic trucks, and includes BTR-60, MT-LB, and Mi-4 and Mi-8 helicopters.
For heavier weapons, the ♥♥♥♥♥ anti-tank missile and Igla MANPAD are used. While these might not be the top of the line, they still offer you the possibility to have a well-rounded infantry force to play around with.
Support is one of the areas where the Finnish Red Deck shines. At least in comparison with some categories…
The baseline artillery is the 2S1 Gvozdika, no presentation needed. For rocket artillery, the Czech RM-70 is found, so we don’t have to proxy in any BM-series launchers. The (in)famous 9K37 Buk-M1 provides the long-range air defence, with the Chinese (!) Crotale, the HQ-7, providing short-ranged IR-missiles.
The East German army sports the very same export-version of the T-72, the KPz T-72M1, that Finnish army used, so these are a given. These can then be backed up by T-55A’s, to flesh out the numbers.
All three Finnish helicopter types, the Mi-4, Mi-8, and MD 500, are available in recce versions, with the last one being found in the North Korean tab. Note that the Finnish helicopters were unarmed, but it might be plausible to argue that in wartime someone would have strapped a few rocket launchers onto these sooner rather than later. How far you want to take the ‘what-if’ argument is obviously up to you!
If you didn’t get tired of T-55’s in the tank-category, there are more here, although their value as recon units are rather limited…
Two rather interesting infantry units that portray the equipment of Finnish units very well are the DDR Grenzer that can stand in for the Finnish Border Guard’s units, and the DPRK Jeongchaldae, that can stand in for Finnish Special Forces.
Finland bought twelve ZSU-57-2, and you can get all twelve on a single card from the DDR, under the Fla SFL 57-2 name. Otherwise, there are some ♥♥♥♥♥-carrying light vehicles that fits well into your force.
As said, historically the Finnish helicopters weren’t armed, but if you want to you can make a case for including some rocket-carrying Mi-4 or Mi-8.
For your fighters, the Polish MiG-21Bis sporting four IR-missiles is a given ‘high-end’ choice (yes, I know…), while the DPRK F-7B or Chinese J-7II(M) can stand in for the older MiG-21F.
Finland had a few Il-28 for target towing and mapping use. No, we had no thought about fitting them with bombs in case of war, none at all…
Okay, despite their Neuvostoliittolainen Hinaaja (Soviet target tower) register, they might have been intended for more aggressive use in case of war. So throw in a few DPRK B-5’s, and unleash the power of the 3000 kg bomb. If you can reach your target area intact…
Finland operated four Moskit as the Tuima-class, so these are a given. Other than that, it’s basically to follow the same pattern as the above categories.
The Finnish Red Deck provides for an unspectacular themed deck, that is focused on low ot middle-end units. The lack of helicopters is felt, but other than that it isn’t much weaker than some other themed decks out there. In order to unlock some bonuses, running it as a typed deck might be an idea. If that was to be the case, I probably would go for Motorized or Support, unless you really want to spawn T-55’s or T-72’s, in which case Armoured is the best option.
