Alan Snider - Nov 12, 2004 11:45 am (#7467 Total: 7479) Soon to hit the Playtest Table: Adam Starkweather's "The Devil's Cauldron"; and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, Canada GAMENIGHT, Nov 10th: Terence Co and put Pac-Rim's "Korea 1995" on the table, which pits the South Koreans against a hypothetical invading North Korea in the mid-nineties. I took the South and the US forces, while Terence took the offensive with the North Koreans. The game starts off with plenty of infiltration attempts across the militarized zone by the North Korean player. On the first turn, it is highly likely the infiltrations will be successful, which is the case on a roll of 1-5 on a D6. This is especially important as once infiltrated and the unit is followed up with an attack, not only can more combat factors be brought to bear. but the unit is eliminated if it receives a retreat result as result of combat. The North managed to eliminate quite a few South Koreans with this strategy. The South held strong in the west, mostly using Seoul as an anchor for the end of the line. Terence had more success with the middle and eastern side of his big surprise invasion, pushing the South back several hexes. The South struggled to cover the roads, to slow the advance of Northern forces, and buy some time for the US to pitch in with the helicopter troop transports (which are used as a reaction move). The main defence of the South hinges upon the tactical air points used to target stacks, which will be most useful when used to eliminate Corps units, as this will begin to erode the tactical nuke capability of the North Koreans (and the column shift it gives). This is targetted to shift the balance of military capability back to the Southern side, especially with the growing troop support from the U.S. Terence has begun to work on some optional rules to introduce the idea that the U.S, would have responded with nukes themselves if U.S. troops were eliminated in a tactical nuke attack (nice idea, really). The South is a little worried about being able to hold onto Seoul, but that all depends on the use of tactical air, or possibly opening up another front in the rear of the main lines via amphibious landing (perhaps ). As the North no longer has the element of surprise with the infiltrations, this may be a little easier as well... Our game is slated to continue on Monday, and we should be able to finish this scenario. Next up: OSG's "7 Days of 1809" Alan Snider - Nov 18, 2004 8:13 pm (#7511 Total: 7515) Soon to hit the Playtest Table: Adam Starkweather's "The Devil's Cauldron"; and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, Canada GAMENIGHT Nov 15th: Terence Co and I finished up with our game of Pac-Rim's "Korea 1995", with Nathan Hiebert joining in about halfway through our night to help the South Korean strategy. The North Koreans continued their push to the South, easily breaking the line, and causing the Southern forces to look for the next available defensible terrain. In fact, the chemical weapons (I incorrectly referred to them as tactical nukes in the first post) possessed by North effectively negate the advantage gained by rivers and terrain. The Souths' decline prevented only by reinforcements from both South Korea and the USA, which are rapid enough to prevent the decline of the main battle lines. Nathan spent about 10-15mins with the game and offered up the most useful bit of strategy for the South Koreans...As the Southern forces move second, and get to react to Northern movement prior to combat being resolved; a solid strategy of fanning out with helicopters and airlift troops to provide a "phantom wall" was employed. The troops could then be airlifted out as a reaction move prior to the Northern player declaring combats. This essentially allowed the South to concentrate their forces to cover the entire line of battle without wearing down... The occasional stray North Korean division or far too ambitious North Korean forces advancing after combat can be an easy target..OR a surround and eliminate in combat can provide an opportunity to surround a second group of Northern forces. It took a great series of the above sets of strategy to save Seoul from falling...and even with some innovative gambits by the South, 2 out of 3 Seoul hexes did remain in North Korean hands at games end. I believe that Nathan's "phantom wall" was central to defending the capital. By games end, all but 1 of the Corps units containing "chemical attack" capability were destroyed, partially with surround tactics using the 'copters and the balance by tactical air strikes... A late effort by all 3 helicopters to take a urban city hex in the North failed miserably, and the South was forced to be happy with a minor victory rather than a major one that the extra urban hex would have produced...(drats!) The verdict on this game is again..another pleasant gaming surprise!! There is plenty to keep both sides amused, as the North must make hay before their fuel reserves run out (15 turns)..and the South must eliminate Corps units which contain chemical weapons, and avoid losses until enough helicopters arrive arrive at turn 6. At that point the occasion counterattack by the South can be undertaken. A diversionary invasion of the North also does a fair bit to keep many North Koreans off the main battle lines, at least until it's time to scamper to safety.