Subject: MacArthur's War Replay From: Scott Holmgren MACARTHUR'S WAR Solitare Game Replay-June, 1998 TOTAL VP AVAILABLE: 19 JULY, 1950 COMMUNIST FORCES: The initial KPA attack swings south and west to nearly surround Seoul, but the North Koreans can only manage a Dr result for their efforts. The South Koreans retreat to Inchon and the hex southeast of it, and KPA units secure Seoul. UN FORCES: Having lost their capital, the ROK forces only regain one step, but manage to concentrate all their divisions but one (left holding Taegu) in an attempt to retake Seoul. But disaster strikes: the ROK 2-1 attack drops to a 1-1 (because of the KPA initial surprise rule), the die roll is a "6" modified to a "8" because of the major city, and the entire attacking ROK army dissolves in an Ae combat result! VP TOTALS: 16-3 UN AUGUST, 1950 COM: The KPA wave rolls southward but ebbs around the only remaining ROK unit on the map, a half-strength division at that! Inchon and Taejon are gobbled up, and a quick attack eliminates the last of the South Koreans and captures Taegu. Had more KPA units advanced further south in July, the remaining cities and ports might have been captured by now and the game won. But not the case. UN: Well, "escalate or perish" as they say. After some serious arm-twisting in Congress (on a roll of "2") the "incident" in Korea becomes a "police action." While the 7th Fleet steams toward Korea, ROK troops gather in Pusan as the US Far East command lands there and northwest of Kwangju. US troops attack and gain no real ground while bloodying the KPA forces. VP TOTALS: 10-9 COM SEPTEMBER, 1950 COM: The KPA attack doggedly and drive the UN defenders out of Pusan while securing every other objective except the port at the end of the Korean peninsula (Mokpo). Might the war be nearly over? UN: The remaining UN forces are trapped on the coast southwest of Pusan and are OOS. UN air interdiction knocks 3 KPA divisions OOS, but they are resupplied at the expense of all but one other occupying division at Inchon. A UN division is brought into play and joins replacement ROK and FE troops at Mokpo while the 1st Marine Division is shipped Koreaward. As the UN and ROK divisions march east, the 7th Fleet appears off Yosu (hex 0211) which is held by the KPA reinforced armored brigade. The North Koreans are forced out of Yosu while the remaining FE division at Mokpo strikes northward toward Kwangju and takes the city. All is not yet lost. VP TOTALS: 15-2 COM OCTOBER, 1950 COM: Snow! This slows the movement of PLA units south. The KPA make two offensive thrusts. The first against Kwangju retakes the city, eliminating the FE division there. But the second, from Pusan, fails and the North Koreans are forced to abandon the city. UN: Reinforcements pour ashore at Yosu and Mokpo, and the 7th Fleet sails toward Kunsan (hex 0409). While two ROK divisions contest the KPA ZOCs at Kwangju, a combined UN/FE force drives a KPA division out of Kunsan with the help of the navy. To the east, the Marines and UN/FE divisions blast Taegu and eliminate two KPA divisions. The North Koreans reel back. VP TOTALS: 10-6 COM NOVEMBER, 1950 COM: As the 42nd Red Army crosses into South Korea, the KPA continues its counterattacks along two axes. A swarming assault on Kunsan fails (thanks to 7th Fleet assistance to the defenders), but Taegu is recaptured at the cost of two step losses. But every step forward seems to have one back as well; Kwangju is left to the enemy. UN: No action is taken in the west, but a combined gound/air/naval attack forces two KPA divisions out of Taegu. Things are beginning to stabilize, but the Chinese are approaching. VP TOTALS: 8-8 TIE DECEMBER, 1950 COM: An escalation attempt fails, and the war remains a "police action"! (Bad news, for now the North Koreans must take South Korean objectives or lose!) Also, the Chinese must return to Red China and wait there (*Note: correction to game play due to a rules clarification!) until the KPA attempt their next escalatory roll. The KPA pulls back to regroup and holds a line from Inchon and Seoul south to Taejon, thereby guarding the coastal approach to the former cities. UN: US, UN, and ROK divisions hammer Taejon causing two weakened divisions to disappear. The advance northward continues. VP TOTALS: 10-6 UN JANUARY, 1951 COM: A last ditch effort to escalate the warŠ FAILS! Total Soviet neutrality. Ouch. The KPA digs in along two lines, one north of Taejon and the other at Inchon and Seoul. Since it's 1951, the Communists will challenge the UN to a stalemate. UN: Hmmm, the UN's got to take one more city by March. The bitter weather doesn't significantly slow the Allied units swinging west to flank the first KPA line. With naval and air support the attack is sure to succeed, but the weather prevents total elimination, and the North Koreans pull back, battered but not broken. VP TOTALS: 10-6 UN FEBRUARY, 1951 COM: The KPA counterattacks south of Inchon with six divisions but is repulsed. The gamble may have sealed the fate of the war, for now the road to Inchon is open. UN: Troops storm up the coast and blast through Inchon's defenders. The stalemate is broken. VP TOTALS: 13-3 UN The North Koreans concede the game. The UN forces (particularily their stacks of units) are becoming too strong for the KPA units to budge, and the likelyhood of Seoul falling very soon is high. By failing to be more vigorous on Turn 1, the Communists lost their best chance of winning the game by August, 1950. The failure to escalate the war -- twice! -- sealed their fate. The UN played patient and conservative and fought well enough to hang on at the beginning. Then once things remained a police action, it seemed only a matter of time. I'm looking forward to playing again. Next time with reckless abandon. _________________________________ Scott Holmgren