The North Koreas set up a defense on Board 94 defending the western high ground on the west side of the river with a blocking position at the bridge and then a reverse slope defense covering the open ground on the hill with good fields. Three hexes of the road were covered in depth with one behind the hill in the woods-road hex. Along the entire route the SMGs platoons were placed in limited terrain along road in blocking/ambush positions. The goal was to delay the Americans and then cause them to have to fight hard to clear the road at the NJK MLR.

The US moved out well and cleared the first few blocking positions with ease. But once at the main NK they were delayed getting the forward NK infantry-HMG position out of the way. Then they moved on the main line with the 75 RCL in overwatch and attempt to flank around the north. They managed to break through but not break the NK position and suffered enough casualties for a NK win. The US commander, the colonel was killed leading the final flanking attack.

This is a very good scenario. The US has firepower and mobility on its side while the North Koreans have position, terrain and time on their side. The low US casualty cap make the US player ponder each move and attack carefully.

Pusan Perimeter, scenario #44: Battle at the Notch

This scenario is very tense and with only 20 turns to clear two map’s east-west road hexes, the pressure is on for the Americans to move fast and furious! The North Korean setup some units in the forward town/road on map 92 including the 45mm AT gun and the rest spread out along the east-west road all the way back into the far reaches of map 94, to really put the pressure on the American mobile force to consolidate territory fast.

I made the mistake early on of using the two 50 Cal. Jeeps as recon units and pushed them right into the reach of strong fire from the NKPA controlled town on map 92 and lost both of them. After that I brought forward my infantry/armor teams including the M4/76 and M8 armor and together with Infantry they reduced the town with INF and ENG help but lost another INF step. The race was on to push to the NKPA next roadblock. Not having the time to organize my attacks like I would like and the NKPA rolling a 2 on the assault dice I lost another two INF steps, so the best I can hope for now is a Draw! With time getting short, I destroy some more NKPA units/steps and push on to the last road blocking position and recklessly attack the last enemy dug-in stack, losing one more INF step but destroying most of the enemy units but one demoralized enemy INF step still remained on the road causing me to lose this scenario as the Americans. The North Koreans had far more casualties but won by the narrowest results.

Such a close fought scenario and so tense, well worth the play! I really like these fast playing, American attacking scenarios for a change and with South Flank, The Return Trip and Surprise being somewhat similar I will play these next.

I guess I should have called this one, the road too long! I am the designer or I would have ranked this a 5!