This night engagement has a small ROK force set up to defend against NK armor, while the NKPA have decided to send a small infantry force on without armor support. 3 NK leaders, a Captain, Lieutenant and Sergeant, make for a good chain of command force that can move on a single activation. The ROK force sets up with the two AT sections defending a bridge, a natural choke point in the town when waiting for enemy armor, while the rest of the small force sets up with them in the town, leaving the single step HMG platoon set up in a rice paddy just north of town to sound an alarm when they see the enemy. The NKPA has to stay on or adjacent to the road until sighting or being fired on by the enemy. Turn 1 has the group on the road heading south, and the turn ends with the Captain and the leading elements stopped in the woods, still outside the 2-hex visibility. Turn 2, and the NKPA Captain decides to send out his Sergeant with a single step of infantry to see if they draw fire, and sure enough, the ROK HMG fires on them, giving the alarm for the rest of the ROK force. This tells the NKPA Captain he wants to follow the river to his left and cross further down. The ROK troops sense this move and head to their left to try to catch the enemy forces as they cross. Turn 3 and the NKPA sergeant manages to break off contact and head towards the others and cross the river as well. The NKPA get far enough ahead to make the crossing but don't get far until the ROK force sets up and forces an assault. Both sides have such small elements that neither has much chance of inflicting damage. The NKPA Lieutenant, a single step of Infantry and an SMG platoon make a break for the hills and the south edge while two ROK stacks stall the rest of the force in two assaults. With both sides trading disruptions, the LT makes it off the board, an NKPA victory, but then the ROK inflicts the first loss, a single step Infantry unit. Halfway to their own victory, they continue, but have to break off and work on their own morale, while the NKPA Captain, another single step of infantry and an SMG head towards the south edge. This leaves only the NKPA Sergeant and another single step on the board, and they have become demoralized and fled back across the river. Passing their morale check, they turn around and prepare to join their comrades, but are left with a choice of which ROK stack they want to be assaulted by on the next turn, as the two stacks are set up forcing the communists to pass between or to waste a lot more time and effort evading further to the east with no guarantee that the ROK forces wont be there anyway. Choice made, they head into the hex closest to the one ROK leader that doesn't have a combat modifier, but he is stacked with the slightly higher power stack of Engineer and SMG platoons, and both Sergeant and infantry are demoralized in the exchange doing no damage to the ROK force. A following morale check attempt fails, and the Infantry is eliminated when required to flee and are killed in the free assault shot trying to leave the hex. 2 steps lost by the NKPA now, and both sides have made their victory condition, a Draw result. Good little scenario, ending at the end of turn 12. Another great puzzle to work on.

Korean War: Pusan Perimeter, scenario #7: Night Ambush

A small 15 turn, 16 counters total, counting leaders, scenario. The slightest mistake either way can spell disaster. The North Koreans send a small recon unit ahead, at night, to scout ahead of the next day’s offensive. The South Korean also setting up an ambush for the NKPA expected armor the next day, trying to make up for the Engineers and AT-units, which failed the day before to blow up the bridges that allowed the NKPA armor to cross. Now they want to make up for their mistake and have some units, armed with captured weapons from the day’s before fighting but more importantly, anti-tank infantry with pole charges, mines, and other suicidal bombs/TNT/explosives and so on.

The unexpected encounter happens at night, while the ROK setup most of their units north, the only use for the AT Teams against enemy infantry, is to add a point in the assault combat and to absorb the hits for more valuable units. The first major mistake I made, was I assaulted to big stacks of NKPA units, instead of making them fight through the ROK lines and the ROK rolled very poorly on the dice, allowing the NKPA an easy victory that shouldn’t have been that easy, but for my poor game play.

This low counter scenarios is one of maneuver. The ROK needs to set up in the town to figure out which way to move. Boths sides have 5 units. The 20 turns go by fast. I won by herding him against the east edge. As he moved around to avoid OP, I shifted. I got lucky on 2 different assaults to inflicts the 2 step losses.

This was a very fast scenario, with very few forces. A NKPA recon force was ambushed by a similar-sized RoK force. The RoKs managed to tie the NKPA in some assaults, wearing them down by two steps and slowing their advance to prevent them from exiting the board in sufficient number. The NKPA should have avoided contact with more discipline.

This was a 'revision' game after a 3 year absence from PG (its been too long)

South Korean forces were stationed primarily in the suburbs, both sides of the river. Nothing in any advanced positions. The hope was to see where the NK may go (I forgot the rule about staying on the road - it'll prove key soon). The NKPA came down in 3 columns. One along the road and two following the eastern River Bank (oops).

This forced the ROK to split their forces. Leaving the HMG in the northern tip of the town they sent the engineers, an AT team and infantry north east and the rest north west. What followed was 2 hours of melee and assaults in woodland and hills. NKPA units were demoralised and disrupted but whenever the ROK were in a position to fire on the NKPD in the open they failed miserably, allowing the NKPA to regroup. On two separate occasions the ROK forces assaulted with overwhelming odds and only managed to disrupt a NK sergeant. In the end the NKPA managed to keep enough ROK engaged to slip around the flanks and then run to the south.

Bad luck on the part of the ROK, good luck that I didn't register the movement/engagement rules for the NKPA until the latter turns.

Still, an engaging battle with zero casualties and loads of demoralised units fleeing all over the place.

I'll try to keep the time between games less than 3 years for the next one!