Winter War: Byevivor

Winter War is an immerse reality gaming experience that recreates a very brief but absolutely brutal military conflict between Russia and Finland at the dawn of WWII.

Overview
November 30, 1939

The USSR Red Army invades Finland in order to claim border territories that could provide enormous strategic advantages for the Russians in protecting Leningrad. What was expected to be an easy mission for The Red Army became a living nightmare that pushed soldiers to their limits and make a seemingly unstoppable force suddenly vulnerable. An operation that Stalin himself expected to last only 2 weeks stretched into a 3 month entanglement. Finland repelled Russians time and again before finally issuing a surrender and giving up some of its most useful land. Despite lasting only a few months, it took a devastating toll on the Russian forces and their international reputation.The USSR suffered nearly 5 times as many casualties as their counterparts. A similar operation in Poland resulted in minimal casualties, but the Red Army lost more than a quarter million soldiers in this endeavor. The USSR prevailed only through sheer volume of forces, as the Finns continually perplexed the Red Army with guerrilla warfare tactics and the precision sniper attacks. The Russians were renowned for their snipers, but were still completely outmatched by the skill of the Finns.

The Winter War format gives new found life to this forgotten conflict that was defined by strategy, determination and some of the most dangerous snipers the world has ever seen. Players will need not only social and strategic skills, but also the ability to gather and assess information in extremely high pressure situations. Acquiring Intel, and assessing its accuracy, is the difference between life and death in The Winter War.

Format
Day 1

Comp for immunity that is socially or strategically driven.

Day 2

All soldiers submit trust lists to elect two snipers. The soldiers with the two best average placements become a sniper team for the round and must agree on a target for eviction. Choose your snipers carefully, because they will cast the ONLY vote to evict for the round.

Day 3

The snipers make their decision, but it's not as simple as one might think. Failure to agree on a target means the duo hits a landmine, and is instantly evicted. While they are setting up the killshot, the process to select a Simo is also underway. This name is based upon the deadliest sniper of all time, Simo Hayha, who killed roughly 500 Russian soldiers himself in the Winter War conflict. The player named Simo will become equally deadly and also be granted immunity.

The Simo will be determined by a the immunity winner, but the process is cloaked in ambiguity, which will truly test the strategic warfare capabilities of our soldiers. The immune soldier will pick a number on the aggregated trust list to be granted the role. But trust list averages are not revealed, aside from the top 2 that became snipers, so the Simo will be anonymous in theory. However, soldiers and snipers alike can communicate with one another about trust lists and attempt to identify this individual. Whoever the sniper team votes to evict will be a confirmed kill and immediately leave the game. HOWEVER, if the sniper team falls into a trap and targets the Simo, the snipers must battle one another in order to remain in the game. The loser of this elimination comp will be removed from the comp. The winner will remain, but will be ineligible for immunity in the following round.

Note: If an elimination comp between snipers is necessary, it will take place on Day 1 of the following cycle. This way all players are able to remain active and engaged at all times. The snipers will duel to remain in the game, while all other soldiers will fight for immunity in the next cycle. The logistics will make it impossible for the surviving sniper to be immune after surviving the duel, but this just adds incentive for snipers to carefully select targets and avoid the Simo.

Final 5-6

Beginning at the Final 6, only one sniper will be elected via the trustlists. Therefore the elimination comp is also out of play for the remainder of the game. All other elements of the round continue forward in the same fashion.

Final 4

No immunity or Simo starting at final 4. Simply a trustlist to determine a sniper, then the sniper casts his or her vote to evict.

Final 3

The final 3 will simply be an open vote to evict. The brutal simplicity of this round represents the battle coming to a close and strength in numbers ruling the day.

Finals

Our finalists face the War Council and one of the finalists will be named Hero of the Soviet Union (highest possible military honor) and win the game. The sniper theme makes one last appearance, as each finalist is granted the ability to eliminate a member of the Council. The final War Council will consist of 5 members charged with examining the achievements of each remaining soldier in order to determine the most deserving winner.

Voting History
Note 1: The snipers attempted to kill Connor. However, Connor was secretly the Simo of the week, and was protected. Therefore, the two snipers competed and one was eliminated. Note 2: At the final six, only one Sniper is selected, as the person who is at the top of the trust list Note 3: The sniper attempted to kill TheBreeze. However, TheBreeze was secretly the Simo of the week, and was protected. Therefore, the sniper was eliminated. Note 4: At the final four, the Immunity and Simo positions disappear, and the players select one sniper to automatically eliminate a player. Note 5: At the final three, the Sniper position disappears, and the final three vote someone out of the game. Note 6: The final two each select a member of the War Council to execute prior to the vote. Connor chose to execute TheBreeze, joeyc chose to execute TJP1122. Note 7: The final vote is a vote to win the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Weekly History
Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 1=

Snipers Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 2=

Snipers

Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 3=

Snipers Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 4=

Snipers

Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 5=

Snipers Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 6=

Snipers Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 7=

Sniper

Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Immunity Winner
 * -|Week 8=

Sniper

Simo

Eliminated

Trust List

Sniper
 * -|Week 9=

Eliminated

Trust List

F3 Vote
 * -|Week 10=

Eliminated

Sniper Executions
 * -|Final War Council=

War Council

Runner-Up

HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION