Korean War: Counter-Attack, scenario #18: Pedal to the Metal

Another fun, small size, action packed, fast playing scenario, pitting North Koreans vs South Koreans. There are points for eliminated enemy steps, 60 meter hill control, road control and for NKPA units exiting south. The South Koreans (ROK) setup in a defensive line from east to west, kind of thin but filled in with five minefield counters. The North Koreans don’t have a large force either but have some armor in the form of T34/85s and Su76s mixed in with their Infantry types. The NKPA decide to enter force on both sided of the north-south river and go after the road control, hill control and enemy steps eliminated victory conditions and forget trying to exit units. The ROKs are dug-in with Infantry types, Bazooka Teams, engineers and minefields, waiting the NKPA forces but are still stretched thin but have American air-support.

The ebb and flow of the battlefield was interesting, the Americans tried assisting the ROKs with their air-strikes concentrating on the NKPA armor but out of four airstrikes only one hit home and destroyed one step of T34/85s and disrupting another, so three steps remained with the disrupted one recovering quickly. This was the first time I ever got to use a North Korean engineer unit to try and remove minefield counters. The first two were dummies/decoys, in fact the South Koreans drew the worst minefield counters possible with 3 out of 5 being dummies. I kept them unknown to myself until flipped in action. Other ROK highlights; they managed to knockout one step of NKPA Su76s in an assault hex with a puny 2.36 Bazooka Team before getting killed off themselves. The 3.5Bz never had a chance to get into the assault. The ROK overall had the worst assault combat dice rolls compared to the NKPA, enough to swing the battle against them at a critical time in the action.

By the end of 18 turns, the ROKs had only 4 steps left on the map plus three leaders. The North Koreans lost 7 steps, the South Koreans lost 18 steps. Each side controlled one 60-meter hill hex but the NKPA also controlled all of the road hexes south of the intersection. The NKPA had a 16 point advantage overall, for a major victory.

Despite the North Koreans major victory, this was a fun scenario to play and offered a little of everything. If I replay this one, I’ll not try and defend the whole map from east to west as the ROK player but the road south and the two 60 meter hill hexes and then I believe they will get a result in their favor.

So for my first foray into the Korean War, I chose Pedal to the Metal; I wanted to use both Korean combatants right off of the bat. It’s a small scenario (one map, 15 turns) in which the NKPA is trying to cross the board north to south. Since the two 60-level hilltops are part of the VP schedule, the ROK place an HMG and an INF on each, spreading the rest of their forces (and the minefields – placed without looking at the backs, since I’m playing solo) at potential approach or choke points. The NKPA enter all of their forces west of the river gorge, save for the two T34/85 platoons which enter east, planning to cross the gorge at the one bridge as a flank run.

As the North Korean infantry approaches the northern hilltop position, the long-range HMG fire does no damage, but when several stacks close, their plan to assault the position is delayed with various morale setbacks. (On the other hand, one minefield is revealed to be a decoy.) However, once adjacent those who aren’t recovering fire point-blank and force some recovery attempts by the defenders as well. Coming up on the eastern flank of this swarm, a group consisting of infantry plus the SU-76 unit is attacked twice by P-51’s (after an F-80 strike misses the target entirely) with no effect. But then one of the ROK stacks assaults, and the 2.36” BAZ takes out both SU76 steps (thanks to the “0” armor on the self-propelled guns.) However, the defender’s fire takes out 3 steps, wiping out the bazooka team and reducing the other two infantry units.

On the eastern side of the gorge, the final USAF strike – once again, P-51’s – drops a step of T34/85’s. The reduced step is demoralized and flees, while the unaffected step moves to cross the bridge (after both steps had chased away the infantry in the gorge adjacent to the bridge.) A minefield on the east edge of the bridge turns up a “1”, which halts the tanks but does no damage. Then upon crossing, the hex on the opposite side also proves to be a “1” minefield. This too does no damage but once again halts the T-34’s; risking minefield damage, another ROK stack (with the 3.5” bazooka) assaults the tanks and demoralizes them. But in return the Bazookas are demoralized and flee.

Once the morale situation allows, the hilltop assault is on. The HMG is demoralized twice, the second incident removing a step before it can attempt rally – it flees, leaving one INF alone in the hex. But morale issues among the attackers make the continuation of the assault a halting affair, though the NKPA are occasionally able to feed fresh combatants in. (One SMG unit, having previously fled, loses a step when the “8” morale Kommissar fails to rally it on its first attempt.)

Finally, on Turn 11, the northern hilltop falls. Another scrum, involving recovered ROK units that were intercepted prior to reaching the hilltop to try and reclaim it, ultimately removes both of these steps – after they demoralize a reduced NKPA INF, which then is eliminated by a Kommisar’s failed rally attempt. Over in the other assault near the river bridge the T34/85 platoon recovered to disrupted, escapes the assault, but then is re-engaged when its one-hex movement limit (by virtue of being disrupted) allows the pursuers to catch up. Before escaping a second time, the 3.5-inch BAZ reduces the T-34’s. Meanwhile, the previously-reduced T-34 across the river finally recovers to good order, moves towards the bridge…and is eliminated by the “1” minefield on the east side.

As the scenario end, both sides are in shambles. The NKPA has taken one of the two 60-level hilltops, but is not in any shape to move on the second one (and in any case they’re out of time.) Losses on both sides are heavy. The summary:

NKPA: 3 T34/85, 2 SU-76, 3 INF, 2 SMG, 0 Leaders.

ROK: 4 INF, 2 ENG, 2 HMG, 1 2.36 Bz, 1 leader.

With tanks counting double, this makes the VP for enemy losses ROK 15, NKPA 9. Each side holds one hilltop, canceling each other out. The NKPA exited no one, and in the process of being harried by assaulting ROK infantry, the remaining T-34 step was unable to gain the road south of the intersection, handing 5 VP to the ROK. Final tally: 20 to 9, a major ROK win.

This one seems to favor the ROK, albeit not dramatically so. It’s probably the airpower that furnishes the edge, though the USAF only took out one step of T-34/85 in four tries (3 actual strikes and one miss.) The fact that both sides are 7/6 in morale led to a lot of morale troubles, despite which there was plenty of carnage. A fine intro to Korean War: Counterattack.