Few shipping routes connected the Soviet Union to its western allies. One ran through Murmansk in the far north, kept ice-free by the Gulf Stream and built during the First World War for the express purpose of receiving military supplies from Britain and the United States. In June 1941, two German mountain divisions crossed the border from Finland, intent on capturing the port and sealing off this vital access. After fierce fighting along the Litsa River, the offensive finally failed in the face of fierce resistance by the Red Army and Navy and workers’ militia units. In 1944, the Red Army returned the favor, with a lightning offensive spearheaded by elite light infantry and aimed at capturing Finland’s ice-free port of Petsamo and occupying northern Norway. The Soviets rolled back the Germans into Norway, crushing the Army of Lappland and closing the war's Arctic front. Army of Lappland covers both of these campaigns, both the 1941 and 1942 battles in front of Murmansk and the 1944 counter-offensive. The game system is the same as that used in Tiger of Malaya, and in our long out-of-print Blood on the Snow. Units are mostly battalions, with the maps covering the area along the coast of the Arctic Ocean from Kirkenes in Norway to Murmansk at a scale of two kilometers per hex. Components: 1,120 1/2-inch playing pieces Two maps (from Avalanche Press website)