This short scenario, with just a handful of units, looked like the perfect thing for a few hours of quiet time. ROK Police force of 3 units and 2 leaders, reinforced by 2 US Army I&R platoons with 2 more leaders, have to hold the walled city of Ka-San, represented by an entrenchment on a hill hex south of the river on board 110. I placed the entrenchment on the hill just south of the multi-hex town. Everything not in the entrenchment starts adjacent, so I put one of the Police units with a Sergeant in the entrenchment, the other two with the LT in the town hex down the hill. The US troops were dug in to the east of the entrenchment in light woods. The NKPA entered on the road from the north and in a couple of turns entered the town and sent an assault force to destroy the ROK Police in the town, while the NKPA mortar set up in a town hex just north of the river where he could support by fire. The NKPA assault quickly bogged down in town, and a second assault force sent around the west side of town to try to strike the entrenchment was hit at close range and shot to bits. For the first 12 turns, all the blood on the field was that of the NKPA, but luck like that never holds forever, and in the next turn the Police in town started to crumble, while another assault force managed to actually assault the entrenchment on turn 14. The US I&R force counterattacked, but did little damage. In the nail biting end, both sides had troops in the hex, so neither side controlled it, resulting in a draw. Both sides ended up with casualties, but the NKPA had 6 points in the dead pile, while the ROK Police lost just 2, enough to bring their initiative bonus to zero. Good game right to the end.

Korean War: Counter-Attack, scenario #31: Walled City of Ka-san

So many scenarios I want to play but not enough time but I figure this small one I could fit into a Monday night! Only 14 turns, one map and very few counters, so it hit the spot and filled about an hour of time, counting setup and trying to figure out strategies.

The ROK and US forces must defend the entrenchment representing the ancient Walled City of Ka-san. The South Koreans and American forces can’t decide who’s area of responsibility this area is but the American I&R troops from the 1st Cavalry Division take up positions inside the fortress while the South Korean Police units dig-in just outside. The North Korean enter from the north with little time for the ROK and US forces to settle in.

It takes almost four turns before the NKPA forces close in with a striking strategy and setup a 82mm mortar unit as well. As the NKPA flank up the UNC positions they strike with everything. There is no long range units in this scenario other than the North Korean mortar unit. After closing the NKPA suffer their first step loss to the adjacent entrenched American I&R units. But the rest of the NKPA concentrate on knocking out the ROK police forces blocking their attacking lanes and eliminate 3 steps of them before they leave the battlefield area disrupted and demoralized never to return to the combat area again but time is running out. The NKPA follow up with assaulting the American position without weaken it, as the time was factor and lose another step in the process and readjust their assault for one last attempt on turn 14. With no real results but with both side ending in the same entrenchment hex, ending the game in a Draw.

It wasn’t as bloody as I thought, the ROK lost three steps, the NKPA lost two steps and the Americans none but there was fair amount of disrupted and demoralized units at games end and the Americans maybe played too passive trying to hold their entrenchment. Neither side drew quality leaders and different setup and attack strategies makes this and interesting replay or repeat scenario!

This was a very quick playing scenario. The North Koreans have 4 INF, 3 SMGs and an 82mm mortar that, at least in my play, had very few safe shots and are trying to wrest an entrenchment from 3 South Korean POL units and 2 US I&R units. The Americans and North Koreans have good morale (8/6), the South Koreans mediocre (7/6).

I set up the entrenchment (The Walled City) outside of the town, with 2 POL in it. I put the 2 I&R dug in on a light woods hex in front, and the other POL in the town. This unit quickly moved to block the bridge crossing. For the North Koreans, I had the INF march along the hill from the east, while the SMGs came from the north and the mortar, also coming from the north, set up where it could shell the entrenchment. Except, of course, the entrenchment was in light woods, so that didn't work out so well, because by the time it fired, all shots were going to have the possibility of friendly fire.

The SMGs outflanked the 12, and I decided they would brave fire from the dug-in US troops to get adjacent to them, as I wanted to take them out first. The 1st opportunity shot (8 FP adjusted to the 22) rolled boxcars and wiped out the unit. The 2nd unit hoped for better results...which it got...an 11 instead. Oops. So, yeah, that wiped out most of the SMGs. The 1 step that survived (and also barely survived friendly fire from the mortars) was later executed by the Kommisar. So I figured this would be an easy Allied win. That was right up until the North Koreans kept surviving point blank shots and then a 4 shot from them managed to disrupt the dug-in Americans, who promptly got assaulted do death when the North Koreans decided to roll 2s and 3s.

This left the 3 South Koreans in the entrenchment. I expected them to put up a good fight. They didn't, rolling 7s and 8s when firing and seeing the North Koreans roll 4s or less and 10s or more. They were demoralized after a couple of turns of this, and then fled to the town, leaving the fortress empty so the North Koreans walked right in. The South Koreans did get their act together and rally in 2 turns, however the 2nd turn of that was turn 13. There was no way for them to take the entrenchment on turn 14, so the North Koreans won.

In a scenario with only 10 Allied steps and 15 North Korean steps, casualties were very high. 5 steps for the Allies, 6 for the North Koreans.

A crazy scenario, and one I might play as a filler, but the 3 rating reflects that it's just basically a "run up and hope you roll better dice than the other guy" scenario.