Korea:'50-51 AAR/Advice

[rustinpeace91]

In the process of learning TOAIII someone suggested that I make an AAR of my the Korea 1950 scenario I am currently playing.

I'll start off with the landing of UN troops in Korea since the first few turns are basically being beaten back by the North Koreans and trying to stop them from taking Pusan


The battle for Pusan was a slugfest, slowly but steadily pushing the North Koreans back with a stream of reinforcements



It was at turn 14 (with the arrival of marine units) That I decided it was time to decide where to land. I chose the historical Inchon



Here is where I am now. My current plan is to drive a bit more up the east coast of Korea, then swing back around and envelop the main units on the southern border, cutting them off or driving them into the marine units near inchon. The biggest issue I am having here is map control. The two scenerios I was able to complete well were Aarncourt and Iwo Jima, which were very small scenarios. In This scenario there are far more hexes than units to occupy them. I am now dealing with the North Koreans retreating out of my line of sight then attacking in places I least expect.



Another thing I don't quite get is supply. I've watched Steve Sills tutorial on it and he says that the red circles are enemy supply points, those seem like really weird places to have them though. I was thinking maybe those are areas that are out of supply, but how would that be so?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: rustinpeace91
In the process of learning TOAIII someone suggested that I make an AAR of my the Korea 1950 scenario I am currently playing.

Thanks for doing an AAR for us. We can see what you're running into better than a description only.

ORIGINAL: rustinpeace91
Another thing I don't quite get is supply. I've watched Steve Sills tutorial on it and he says that the red circles are enemy supply points, those seem like really weird places to have them though.

I've seen those red circles that are enemy supply points and these don't seem to be those kind. I'm thinking that those hexes that
have the red circles are those hexes that you've captured this turn and don't yet have any supply in them. I could be wrong.

[rustinpeace91]

Heres where I'm at now. I spent a lot of energy, maybe too much, elimating the communist 6th division (the hex right below my initial inchon landing)

[sPzAbt653]

... the red circles are enemy supply points ...

I don't think I said that. I know that I didn't want to get into a ten minute explanation of what all the different circle colors represent, so I skirted the issue. I think what I said was there are two sides, one blue and one red. If you are blue, then the enemy would be red, and if you are red, the enemy would be blue.

It really is confusing, maybe some day it will be changed. But maybe it is important to some folks and it will stay as it is. For me, I only pay attention to the numbers, the different colors I ignore [they have to do with hexes changing control during a turn].

[rustinpeace91]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

... the red circles are enemy supply points ...

I don't think I said that. I know that I didn't want to get into a ten minute explanation of what all the different circle colors represent, so I skirted the issue. I think what I said was there are two sides, one blue and one red. If you are blue, then the enemy would be red, and if you are red, the enemy would be blue.

It really is confusing, maybe some day it will be changed. But maybe it is important to some folks and it will stay as it is. For me, I only pay attention to the numbers, the different colors I ignore [they have to do with hexes changing control during a turn].

OK. I think I understand a little better now.



Anyway Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I took a bit of a break from TOAIII to play Unity of Command. When i got back to my Korea scenerio I realized that my original plan to envelop the NK army from the East Coast would not be of much use of at this point. The forces on the east coast were not strong enough to take the bulk of the NK forces and the forces in the middle of the peninsula were more than adequate. I did manage to break through and clear the roads on the East Coast which should be helpful. My current strategy is this: gut their railroads. In my last playthrough they used their railroad system to reinforce really quickly. my goal for turn 20 and 21 was to take as many railroad junctions as I can to deny them maneuverability. As you can see here I've already taken most of them. While I'm still not sure 100% how supply works this must have done soem damage to their supply because I've taken a lot of ground on turn 21 without entering a single round of combat because they just keep retreating. At this rate I may be able to launch my invasion into North Korea on turn 23 or 24

[rustinpeace91]

This strategy seems to have worked really well. I don't know why I havent thought of it before. It leaves me able to concentrate on my forces in the north without having to reinforce the southwest area because they cannot get to that area anyway. Turn 21 was pretty much flawless, 2 unit evaporations on my turn, while the North Korean counter attack caused not a single casualty or territory gain. I think I'll leave it here. I have to get ready to go to work and don't want to do something stupid in my haste. My question is: should I continue to pound the NK army still in South Korea or ignore them at this point and prepare for an invasion into the North? At this point they seem pretty much harmless. That being said I do not want to have too many of them in my rear when invading into the North, especially when the Chinese get involved. I think i'll at least try to take out those two exposed HQ units right there. That couldn't hurt.

[rustinpeace91]

I've driven the NK forces all the way up past the 38th parallel. Time to begin my invasion into North Korean territory




And after a failed assault on Hamhung and Pyongyang, the Chinese invaded. Is it possible to take any North Korean cities before the Chinese get involved? How would I go about doing that. Oh well, I don't think I'm going to reload a save game just yet. I think i'll play this out as far as I can. It's time to dig in and prepare for 27 more turns.

[larryfulkerson]

Good luck containing all those Chinese troops. There must be a million of them.

[rustinpeace91]

OK so I finished the battle. I basically would play a turn or two each night after work. I decided to hold off on updating here until I finished so I could just post the highlights,



As the Chinese begin to destroy my offensive units I formulate a plan, organize my units in a V like formation behind the 38th parallel, starting in Kangnung and mainly keeping the chinese forces from reaching Seoul. While i build my entrenchments with reinforcements and engineering units I will basically pummel the attacking enemy with artillery and air strikes




The Chinese offensive begins to slow as 1951 rolls around. My guess is a combination of air strikes, increasingly dug in UN units and winter are at hand here. Either way my basic defense plan is holding out well. On february 4th, 1951 the UN successfully defend Kangnung. It is at this point that the status of the war changes from a Draw to a mariginal UN victory. Although I am not exactly sure why. It doesn't say anything about that in the scenario briefing as far as I know. I still haven't taken any North Korean cities. Another thing that I noticed is that the Chinese units are almost always taking heavier losses, in percentages, not just numbers, in their attacks. Why is that? they have stronger defense and attack modifiers on their units.



In April of '51 I decide to launch two offensives up each side of North Korea in a push toward Pyongyang. I am much more careful with my units than I was on the initial offensive.


The offensive fails due to further chinese reinforcements and perhaps my own cautiousness in light of recent events. However I am able to re-reout them to defensive positions.

[rustinpeace91]

I move the 85th tank battalion southwest. My plan is to converge it with the infantry units and cut off the Chinese and North Korean units in the mountains, relieving my relatively weak right wing somewhat.


The Chinese break out of this encirclement quite quickly. They begin to gain some ground in the East and begin to weakn some of the forces in the center left of the defensive V formation. However they do not come very close to penetrating into either of the victory points of Kangnung and Seoul. Thus ending in a minor victory for me. The battle ends looking like this.


aaaand...McArthur in the white house? coups in China? revolution in Hungary? Might be a bit far-fetched. Reminds me a bit of the Ultimate General Gettysburg Confederate victory screen. Doesn't really apply to my particular outcome either. The Chinese did their job of keeping the US out of their back-yard. Even if they failed to take South Korean territory. My guess is the victory screens do not take into account the level of victory you achieved. Either way I might play this scenerio again as the North Kroeans/Chinese to see what it's like. From looking into the scenario briefing it looks like you can take it in a nuclear direction. Playing this all the way through also taught me a lot about the AI: it doesn't really seem to get the big picture. The AI seemed way more focused on countering my every move then pushing toward the objectives, thus the offensive into the east of North Korea, and attempts to cut off their mountain units, while a failure on my part, captured the attention of the AI for quite some time while my units on the right side of the map continued to take better defensive positions. By the time the AI tried more attacks toward Kungnung and Seoul, it was already too late. Even if the Chinese offensive in the East went further. It would still have to contend with dug in UN units, rivers and naval and air support, after trudging across mountains in the middle of the country to reach Seoul. My guess is that it would not work out for them very well.

[larryfulkerson]

Another thing that I noticed is that the Chinese units are almost always taking heavier losses, in percentages, not just numbers, in their attacks. Why is that? they have stronger defense and attack modifiers on their units.

Check the proficiency of the Chinese units. The proficiency of the Chinese units is probably very low. So attacks using them is
going to cause higher losses than "normal".