This scenario has a mixed ROK force, half reduced and half full strength infantry with a couple of HMGs, a 57mm AT, a 105 short and a bazooka holding a large town, part of which is protected by a major river, against several companies of NKPA troops, mostly infantry but including 6 platoons of SMGs, and bring along a Kommissar. The random draw for leaders was very much in favor of the North with no leaders having any morale influence and only 1 having a direct fire influence of 1, while the NKPA came in with a very good Major and a 10-1-2 Captain and lots of 8s and 9s. The South drew 4 leaders with only 7s, a good bunch that sort of reinforced some thoughts of families buying their sons good places in the military when they had no military leadership ability. The ROKs set up in a strong line along the north edge of the town with casemates at either extreme, the 105 set up on the hill west of town with it's M3 tow vehicle and a 7-0-0 LT, the 57mm AT set up with the ROK Captain covering the bridges towards the center of town and the bazooka team in the next row of hexes back with the ROK Colonel and reserves where he could be moved into the line where most needed. It took 1 turn for the T-34s to find a spot 3 hexes away from town where they could pound town hexes while the NKPA infantry worked their way across the hills in the northwest corner of the map. I split the forces up with a force centered on the engineer to cross the river to the west while the other force came towards the bridges and the town hexes east of the bend in the river. It took quite some time before NKPA troops were in position to do any damage but the ROK troops decided to take advantage of the time to sally forth with a unit and the bazooka team trying to flank the T-34s and engage in a turn or two of assaults in hopes of taking out as many steps of tanks as possible. With the NKPA getting the initiative next turn, the tanks got a point blank shot on the adjacent ROK troops, demoralizing them and then watching them flee when they failed their next turn's morale checks, with brought them back into the ROK line pretty much where they started. Then the NKPA struck. Bridge crossing and swinging around to the hexes to the east of the river bend, the NKPA were able to initiate 4 hexes of assaults while their river crossing to the west didn't fare so well and took longer to make. First ROK casualties were the two guns, both demoralized and then required to flee. ROK luck turned out to be slightly better in the assaults than the NKPA's as both sides exchanged demoralizations and disruptions, with the NKPA getting a bit worse of the trade, and even that 10-1-2 Captain and his troops became demoralized and found themselves having to flee along with nearly the whole NKPA assault force. With the NKPA losing contact and falling back for the Kommissar to work his magic, the ROK troops had the breathing space they needed to regroup. With so many losses and NKPA just getting their own troops regrouped on the 11th turn, there was nothing they could do under any circumstances to move forward to contact and initiate enough assaults to take 6 town hexes. With losses of 11 steps (including 1 tank step for 2 points) to only 4 ROK steps lost, the ROK line was just too much for them. ROK victory. In hindsight, I'd like to try the NKPA with a tank rider force moving with the armor for an early attempt at an assault instead of waiting more than half the game for assaults that can go either way. The short scenario keeps the NKPA hopping with little time to spare. Great game.

Forgot to mention after the title of my AAR, the Kommissar ran around and successfully rallied nearly a dozen units, including the tanks, without shooting anyone. The game I played the day before went just the opposite, with nearly every unit he touched dying.

Pusan Perimeter, scenario #43: The Andong Battles

On paper this looks to be a great small Stalingrad type battle with NKPA T34/85s even but my dice rolls destroyed this battle. Out of all the scenarios I have ever played, I never rolled this lopsided dice rolls. Just about every dice roll the ROK side made was a 2, 3, 11 or 12 on the first 6 turns while every combat roll the NKPA rolled were 6, 7 or 8 on the same first six turns. I tried rolling all kinds of different way and should have stopped and restarted the game but I continued and went for one large all out desperate assault of the mini Stalingrad only to be blunted again as the North Korean side. The South Korean side controlled 8 town hexes to 3 town hexes for the North Koreans for a ROK victory on the game board but I am sure fighting would continue for many hours after the 12 turn limit.