I see one 10mm figure manufacturer sees poised to launch a dedicated a set of Korean war figures. A good many of WW2 Pendraken range are of course transferrable, plus the magnificent Centurion. Is this the next war to be gamed in terms of wargamers fads and fashions ? I must confess the terrain has always put me off gaming it.
Yes. I have always been a trend setter. :-[
HI
I`m exactly the same as you the hilly/mountainous terrain puts me off too.
the first year of the war was quite fluid but after that it was static.
The likes of the destruction of task force Smith or the retreat from the Chosin reservoir would be easy to game but after that not sure.
I`m a bit of a Korean war buff and would love to game it but don`t have the resources to do it justice
Jim
I bought a couple of books with the aim to game the conflict, but after reading them my interest waned somewhat :(. However no reason not to do some 'what if?' type scenarios.
Yes, it's always been hovering around at the periphery of the mainstream. I could be persuaded to give it a go if the right figures came along. As for the terrain, it couldn't be any worse than Burma.
Don't forget Korean turtle ships!
Did the north or south use them. ;D
And lo after Sunray had spoken.....Korean war figures are appearing........It is now the period to game. And it has...Centurions, and um turtle ships.
The US are a straight crib of the WWII stuff, they need 3 vehicles - Chaffee, M26 and M46. Brits need new infantry for winter stuff, and the NBK and Chinese need new figures. Lots of Chinese had Russian weapons.
IanS
Quote from: ianrs54 on 20 April 2014, 08:19:22 AM
Chinese need new figures.
IanS
Aye, there's the rub.
Lots of new figures. :o
Yes, lots of figures ....but no more than say for 19th century actions like ACW or FPW. We will always base to fit the table top.
I am looking forward to South Korean types in soft field caps, and British & Commonwealth commando types in smocks. Lots of applications to wee wars of the 1950s-60s.
As to rules, is there any that allow for these massed attacks by Chinese ?
Quote from: Sunray on 23 April 2014, 03:40:54 PM
As to rules, is there any that allow for these massed attacks by Chinese ?
BKC would cope with it, and there is a rule in FOW(ugh) for early Russians which would work. However I suspect that the massed unsupport infantry attacks are a bit of a myth.
IanS :)
Quote from: ianrs54 on 23 April 2014, 03:54:31 PM
BKC would cope with it, and there is a rule in FOW(ugh) for early Russians which would work. However I suspect that the massed unsupport infantry attacks are a bit of a myth.
IanS :)
No they're not. That's why the Gloucesters were able to inflict such massive casualties on the Chinese as they came over the river. They were dug in with lmg, mortar and artillery support, whilst the Chinese were woefully supported, badly coordinated and unable to suppress the defenders as a result. I worked out that I'd need a 7 to 1 ratio of Chinese to Brits to do Gloucester hill, and though it was eventually a fighting withdrawal (centurions hosing each other down with coaxial mg to get the Chinese off) it was a very phyrric victory for the Chinese and basically cost them an army to displace a regiment or two.
The UN forces eventually stopped the Chinese by weight of fire, using overwhelming artillery support which the Chinese never came close to matching. Making them pay such a high price for an advance of a few miles that eventually even they baulked, and dug in on the reverse sides of hills, massing infantry to deter a UN advance.
Of course, for the flip side you can do early war, where the North Koreans had the advantage in armour and field artillery, and the us bazookas in theatre were the smaller type that bounced off the T34/85s. I'm looking at the battle of the bowling alley, an NK / US shoot out (T34 vs Pershing) at night.
You are right to a point agtfos. If you are talking about the PVA attacks on Hill 235 (23/25 April 1951), then we have to unpack what we mean by "mass" waves of infantry attack.
The Chinese military doctrine directed by General Chen Peng Dehuai was not the WW1 style long waves of infantry, but rather repeated attacks by small concentrated formations or what we now call fire teams.
Section after section of these small units attacking on a very narrow front with SMGs and grenades. A human blitz that kept on coming. Intense and relentless they need high CA and hits if you play BCK or CWC.
In 1986, I had a chance to chat with a Gloucester's officer (A.F-H) who was in Korea in 51. We were at the Somme for the 70th, and he compared and contrasted the waves of the British Army advancing in lines on July 1st, with the PVA tactic of "short attack". The Chinese fed sections up in a continuous funnel as opposed to long waves of men. Usually at night, and directed by bugles. A F-H added that the Chinese reverted to this crude tactic in the 1970s against Vietnam- he was well placed to comment.
I have gamed Korean War in this scale. North Koreans vs Americans, Pusan Perimeter. I am interested in summer Chinese figures. Hilly/Mountainous terrain is challenging for gaming this war. Also, I'm thinking the lack of armour on the Chinese side may limit the interest in this war. Lots of infantry and no tanks may not be that interesting, but I don't think that would stop me from doing it.
Doesn't do it for me so that will be a saving then.
just an aside about Korea
I worked in china in 1989 for the Chinese army in shijiahzuang in northern china
as part of my work I taught some officers from the hq which was in the city
at the end of the year I was invited to a meal with the commandant in the actual hq campus
it was a great experience and at the meal conversation turned to what I was going to do when I returned to Britain
I was going back to Gloucestershire and said that the Marshall may have known about this through imjin
he smiled and said he had been one of the commanders at the battle
I mentioned that the British commanding officer had just died
he replied that was sad and that the previous year they had met and discussed the battle
conversation was ended then by the phrase we are all friends now
I have no interest.
Neither do I in gaming the war, but that was a very interesting anecdote.
thanks
'I have no interest'
seemed a little harsh lol
Pendraken do Centurions?
Na - just a nasty rumor....
IanS ;)
I'd heard something to that effect ... which reminds me, whatever happened to the Centurion AVRE?
Quote from: fsn on 31 August 2014, 07:11:51 PM
I'd heard something to that effect ... which reminds me, whatever happened to the Centurion AVRE?
Here we go again ;) ;D ;D ;D
You should know that Centurions were far too important to do digging and other engineering tasks, thats why they had auxiliaries.
Most of the digging was done by the legionaries as I understand it. However, that's by the by. :)