Korean War: Pusan Perimeter, scenario #6: Chaos at Uijongbu

This is larger scenario but looks simple enough, as the victory conditions solely depends on the North Koreans exiting off 70 steps off the south edge of the map and they have a pretty large armor-infantry battlegroup with about half of the infantry mobile in some way; Trucks, Motorcycle or APC-BTR-40s. But it is not that simple, as the South Koreans have great defendable terrain on map 95, three entrenchments and tons of off-board artillery that won’t do much against armor but may help slow the foot-infantry.

The ROK defensive lines were setup right at the front with an artillery park a couple maps back. The NKPA sent their armor forward to attack the ROK infantry and heavy weapons followed by their foot-infantry to make or exploit holes in the lines and bring down their own off-board artillery. Waiting further back was the mobile NKPA infantry to drive off the edge of the map if a hole in the ROK lines did open up or if they were needed to reinforce the attack.

This scenario turned very tense, as the NKPA had a time line to meet and breaking the ROK front line was taking too much time. Finally after a large enough hole in the ROK lines were open, the armor and mobile infantry poured through to the south edge of the map. But barely enough, only 71 steps, one step over what was needed and thankful for them the tanks steps counted double. The North Koreans won this one with one turn to spare and only by a couple of steps and left most of the foot-infantry behind to battle it out with the ROK units. Casualties don’t really matter in this scenario, so it’s kind of fun not to worry about it in this scenario. A couple more road-blocks by the ROKs and they might have won this scenario.

Funny thing is, as a Designer note, I noticed many guys claim they want large scenarios but from what I see in the PG-HQ, the smaller and medium scenarios get played much more offend.

This was an interesting large-ish battle, where a mostly motorized/mechanized NKPA force of about three battalions of infantry, 1-2 battalions of T34s, and about a battalion of recon and support have to advance across 3 board widths and exit 70+ steps off the opposite side in 24 turns. Opposing them are about two battalions of RoK infantry with some AT, armored car and artillery support. It promised to be a fast-paced game and it lived up to the scenario title of "Chaos".

The RoK defenders used the streams and hills of each board to form 3 dispersed lines of defense, each line held by give or take two companies of infantry. The AT guns and armored cars sat behind cover on the middle board in a weak tank crossfire trap formation. The NKPA advanced onboard with their recon units driving rapidly up the central road to seize the stream crossing and town on the center board, blowing past the first RoK line of defense. On their right, a battalion of infantry with SU76 support advanced, on their left, a weak infantry screen moved ahead to pin down the RoK left, and in reserve waited a large motorized infantry force.

The fight for the middle board town and river crossing dominated the early hours of the game. Motorcycle scouts of the NKPA attempted to seize the crossing, but the follow-on BTR-mounted infantry failed to secure the town. Spirited RoK defense of the crossing suffered repeatedly from friendly fire incidents, but the RoK artillery managed to inflict more harm on foe than friend. All along the front, NKPA troops advanced at top speed, their strategy being to blow past RoK defenders and dislocate the whole defensive plan. It largely worked, with units of both sides becoming interspersed and chaotic firefights breaking out in all directions. NKPA troops under orders to advance, not shoot, were still suffering heavy losses and disruptions of their formations.

By mid game, after three hours, the NKPA was reaching the third line of defense in staggering bands of troops and tanks. Bypassed RoK defenders were moving in to threaten the NKPA motorized reserve, so it began a partial advance in the wake of the assault forces, looking for a safe location to await their breakout move. Unfortunately, RoK mortars caught them loaded in the open and wrecked a significant portion of the column, along with follow-up artillery strikes. It was a devastating turn of events for the NKPA. At this point I took stock of the NKPA forces and realized there was very little chance of them successfully exiting the required forces, so I called it a RoK victory.

This was a larger scenario than I've been playing lately, and it was a fun one. Utter chaos. The organized initial attacks broke down into a swirling melee across the entire board. I think both sides' strategies were the right ones to attempt, but the NKPA just needed to move faster, dammit, faster!