Once again, the NKPA attempt to take the town of Ch'unch'on with all that open space to the north and lots of hills and woods for the ROK to hide in. A self imposed time limit forced me to call the game at the halfway point, but the NKPA infantry was just about cut in half, and the NKPA armor sat outside the eastern gates of the city pounding away but doing no lasting damage that didn't immediately repair itself. Even with a 45+ column attack, the ROK troops just shrugged it off. The chances are that the NKPA armor, afraid of assaulting all that infantry in the streets without any infantry support of their own, have to fire adjacent hex into town, and even with a probable shift in luck to them at some point, the ROK force holding on to at least 1 hex looks innevitable. With 26 NKPA steps lost to only 2 ROK, the NKPA strength to take and hold the town was bleeding out. Great scenario to play again face-to-face when I have a chance and a little more time.

I decided that the report lacked some key things. In the last 2 attacks on this city, the NKPA lacked armor. This scenario added 2 platoons of T-34s and 3 of SU-76, as well as some armored personnell carriers. I decided to run an all armor force with the armored infantry down the eastern side to get closer to the city with armor while the infantry slogged through the rough terrain to try to hit the town from the west. This largely worked. The SMG tank riders were hit and left behind fairly early, and the BA-64 armored car got a bit too close and was demoralized in assault by a force that ventured out of the city, but the AC limped away to spend the rest of the game trying to recover. A well placed ROK AT gun succeeded in taking out 2 steps of SU-76 before a very well aimed OBA attack took out the gun. The armored infantry dismounted and were eliminated by effective direct fire from the city before they could attack. All this left a stack of 2 T-34s, a stack of 2 SU-76s and a stack of 2 BTR-40s, and I broke down the APCs to accompany the tanks and assault guns, and struck the east side of town with the two stacks. This is not without its risks, but risking assault in the open was not in my plan for the ROK troops, so the NKPA armor was in little danger. I suggest the NKPA follow this again, but massing the infantry to the west side of the road on board 94 and ignoring any defenders on board 95 to have the best chance of having enough survivors to assault the western city hexes. I managed several times to get a stack into the adjacent rice paddies and into assault with the western city hex, only to lose them entirely to the ROK first fire in assault. Concentrate what arty there is on the city to weaken the defense, and keep that AC back where it can use the recon ability to call OBA from a safe distance. The ROK has a big advantage in arty and terrain, so use the time available in the 24 turns and pound with everything you can bring to bear.

Another edit. The AC cannot call OBA but can spot the units in the city from 4 hexes instead of the usual 3. If he is accompanied by the armored infantry with a leader, that leader can take advantage of that spotting early on.

Korean War: Pusan Perimeter, scenario #9: Ch’unch’on Day 3

After playing all three Ch’unch’on scenarios you start to see what works for both sides and what doesn’t and you can try some new things out as well. On day one the ROKs won, on day two NKPA won by the skin of their teeth but on day 3 the NKPA won. Instead of using the good strategies for the ROKs I had on earlier Ch’unch’on scenarios I thought if I contracted my defenses into a smaller zone I could concentrate them better but what that did was allow the North Korean to move in close without those long delaying speed-bumps. The North Koreans also added for Day 3 some armor: T334/85s, SU-76s, BA-64s and BTR-40s which could pretty much lead the infantry into engagements, without losing so many infantry steps.

If you put together stack of 3 SU-76s you get a Death Star, as long as you avoid infantry assaults and Anti-Tank Guns, as they have a weak armor protection of zero! Also, there is nothing like the feeling of rolling a 3X on the combat charts, as it is a rarity but feels good when you do get it.