War is the apparent opposite of safety. Yet, there are always levels to how much you can be endangered. It is one thing to fight at the front line: advancing or retreating, being stuck in trench warfare or forced to run and shoot - but at least you always know where your enemies and friends are. Guess who cannot say the same?
Being a scout is like playing a deadly version of hide-n-seek, but losing is much worse. It is not surprising then that to be a successful scout - you must be good at what you do. Extremely good if you want to be both successful and alive.
Finnish scouts were undisputable masters of survival in the wild, no matter what season they’d find themselves working. Physical and mental requirements for scouts were very demanding. Not only would traversing long distances through rough terrains with equipment be physically challenging but there was this constant presence of danger stressing you out even more. Keeping your mind clear despite physical and mental stress was a must!
Add to that a couple of extra skills like parachuting (not commonly used due to the limited airforce potential), tactical medicine (not many medics would follow you to the frontline and beyond), being stealthy and a good shot, cunning and creative - and you’ll get a true jack-of-all-trades recon master, the Finnish scout.
And if you get extremely good at scouting, you might end up being a member of Kaukopartio, long-distance recon. That is, you will go deeper into the enemy territory, testing your abilities and skills at the utmost level.
Historically, long-range recon patrols were created after the Winter War, recruiting the battered veterans of that war. At the time of creation, members of Kaukopartio had dealt with peacetime intelligence, but as the Continuation War started, four detachments were called to arms. The line between Kaukopartio scouts and a special task force was thin: reconnaissance, sabotage, extermination, guerilla warfare, and raiding, to name but a few of Kaukopartio’s activities during wartime.
In the game
For the first time in the Strategic Mind series, we will feature dedicated Infantry recon units (on top of our usual recon cars and equipment) - Scouts and their “upgrade” to Kaukopartio. Both units will have segmented movement ability and ignore enemy overwatch, as well as increased movement.
They will play a critical role in your army as Fins historically did not have a lot of scout cars, so you will have to exploit difficult terrain to your advantage with these new types of units.
Let us know what you think of this new addition to the series.
See our previous unit posts:
Landsverk L-182
Vickers 6-ton tank
Jaeger
Karjalan pelastaja (“The Saviour of Karelia”)
Finnish artillery 1939-1945
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With Best Regards from Kyiv
Starni Games team