Korean War: Counter-Attack, scenario #26: Manzai or Misery

I think this has a good scenario name and it was a little of both, Manzai and Misery. It is all about control of the most town hexes and casualties don’t matter. The South Korean (ROK) forces set up pretty much in town with the overflow units dug-in adjacent to town. The scenario starts off at 0400 hours in the dark, so the North Koreans can close pretty much adjacent to the ROK units before daylight and this is a straight Infantry slugfest and with no artillery support for either side. I won’t go into too many details of who shot who but by the scenarios end, the North Koreans had control of three out of four town hexes for the victory and lost eight steps while the ROK lost six steps and a Major Leader counter for decapitation and the game. The lower morale didn’t help the South Koreans and by games end, many were demoralize in the hills south of town. But this is a great small urban assault scenario.

In this battle the ROK holds the town on Map 114 and the DPRK has to shove them out. Pretty straightforward and a game more for solo play than a head-to-head match. No tanks, no infantry, no planes, just a bunch of dudes with rifles and machine guns.

I set up nearly all of the ROK troops in the town (why not?) and leave only a low-quality Lieutenant and 2 INF hiding in the trees on the ridge south of town. The Norks advance from the, well, north, and I divide them, with the SMGs forming one group coming straight down the road while the INF hooks around to the west. The early turns are at night, so the SMGs hold up while the INF maneuvers into position for a coordinated attack.

They go in right at dawn and the dice gods doomed the DPRK. The ROK kept getting initiative and the combination of INF and HMG simply cut down the attackers before they could make much headway. They were able to put in assaults in two hexes, but these were soon brought under control as the reserves held south of town were fed in.

In the end the North simply could never gain momentum and the ROK was never really in danger of losing. Ultimately the North lost 8 SMG steps, 5 INF steps and a LT, while the South lost 2 INF. Easy ROK win.

Analysis: For whatever reason I simply cannot win with the Norks. In most of my games they end up being cannon fodder--I think my dice hate them. Overall this was a quick, tidy scenario (took a little over an hour and a half) and is entertaining if your preference is for street fights.

This is a tough scenario to rate. You've got a good sized, good quality (8/6) North Korean force, heavy on SMGs, trying to take a town from some mediocre (7/6) South Korean defenders. It's at night, and the only objective is the town. Casualties don't matter. So the South Koreans pile into the town, with a couple of HMGs guarding the sides of it, 2 to a hex, and wait for the North Koreans to approach. The North Koreans advance, set up to attack the town from the point moving downwards (that way, the back hex of the town can't hit the front hex) and then it becomes a lot of die rolling.

I tried shooting the South Koreans out of the town for a couple of turns, and decided that was a bad idea. The North Koreans are getting 2 shifts for adjacent, but losing 3 (2 for town and 1 for night) so their shots are pretty mediocre. Meanwhile, the South Koreans get the +2 for adjacent and -1 for night, so a net of +1 and with their better base firepower can just pick apart the North Koreans. However, I then realize that 3 SMGs get you to the 18 column on the assault chart. Sure, there's -2 for town, but +1 for a leader and +1 for better morale keeps you on the 18. Meanwhile, 2 ROK 5-3 with a leader fire back on the 13 column. So, that's great for the NorKs, right?

Well, in theory...and the South Koreans just kept outrolling the North Koreans, and even with the 7/6 morale kept passing M2s, so progress was slow. And about halfway through, this scenario became a die rolling exercise. The NorKs had enough troops to shuttle more into the assaults, and when the ROK refused to die or demoralize (a few did, and the South Koreans could replace them) is was slow going with almost no maneuver. The dice started to turn towards the North Koreans on the last few turns, and it was too little, too late. They only took one town hex, giving the South Koreans the victory.

The one funny part was the North Korean Kommissar, who got to do almost nothing. Every time a guy in an assault hex got demoralized, it would rally before the Discipline Officer could get there to "inspire" them. However, he did have fun running from one side of the outskirts of town to the other.

I won't recommend this scenario for face to face play. The South Korean player has almost no decisions. For solo play, it's okay. It's a very straight-forward and fast scenario, and can get tense (the NorKs had a chance up until turn 17 of 18) and it also has almost no maneuver. I'm not likely to return to it.