Korea? Again? Again???

[John B.]

Liberation turn 12. As you can see in the far south east corner of the map, there is a true Hero of North Korea that managed to hold off American attacks and defend the town. Meanwhile, a see saw battle has opened up at Seoul. I held in one attack but the Americans managed to push an RCT from the 2nd division into the VP hex.

[John B.]

So, to retake the hex and keep the Americans as busy as possible fighting in the city, I moved up reinforcements and went "all in". Come to think of it, all NK attacks are "all in." In any event, it worked, and the regiment was pushed back and Seoul liberated again, no doubt to great rejoicing by the civilians huddled in their shelters. War Crimes is just a Bourgeoisie construct designed to divert attention from the re liberation of the capital. .

I've also set up road blocks to slow Marc's advance north. I figure it makes more sense to put the units off the road so, when he does the overruns his units spend more points than if they were simply pushing up the road.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 13. Not too much to report. I did hold Seoul this turn. It did leave several of my units disorganized but it does keep the UN pretty much bottled up for another turn. Marc can swing around my southern flank and his forces are pushing north but, based on unit recon, I'm wearing him down.

One intel item of note, two Marine RCTs are unaccounted for. So, I'm leaving a division in P'yongyang and a division in Wonsan just in case.

My only attack was to shell his CA TF off the coast of seoul. I lost a 76 mm gun and damaged to CAs.[&o]

[John B.]

Liberation turn 14. I continue to hold Seoul and the People's Courts of Infinite Justice continue to mete out punishment to the class enemies (those reports of mass graves by the UN are, of course true, the mass graves of Capitalism).

I did account for at least one of the missing Marine RCTs, it landed in the West and was held up by the Regiment I had fortified there just in case. At least one company of the Marine recon unit is also there. They are also out of supply so Marc may have to withdrawal them in fairly short order. Lesson of the day? Always (and I do mean always) have reserves.

One annoying bug is that the UN again went nuclear and this time dropped the bomb on a South Korean city under Marc's control. I've never seen this type of bug before in this game. Anyone know what's up? Marc has been able to reload the turn and it does not happen but that can get old.

[John B.]

My casualties to date. This is, of course, just a flesh wound.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 15. In the East Marc made more progress that I would have hoped and seemed to have no trouble pushing aside a division as he marches up the coast. Seoul held but wasn't attacked.

Marc did land more troops on the West coast. I'm not sure how long their supply levels can hold out and he did leave himself open to a counter attack as he has engineers, HQ and recon stacked in the hex next to me.

[John B.]

I brought in a fresh division from Seoul and have cut off the airborne and the Marine RCTs but, I really had to push. A Marine engineer battalion held the fist hex for an extra turn and, in the end, some of his troops retreated from the anchorage but other did not. Now, to see if Marc can save his units. He probably can but this should keep them tied up for awhile.

No other attacks, just resting, resupplying, and digging in.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 16. Well, the good news is that the NK regiment cutting off the Marines from the anchorage held. This made Oh So Witty Leader Kim Il-Sung smile. The bad news is that my attack on the isolated Marine RCT plus an airborne RCT did not seem to do much damage to those units. The made Smiling Grandpa Leader Kim Il-Sung frown. Trust me, you don't want to make him frown.

Also on the bright side there were heavy UN casualties on the ongoing battle for Seoul. If there is one thing commies know, that's street fighting in an urban area. Well, they may forget that lesson in Budapest in a few years but, as for now, the Soviet advisers who fought at Stalingrad are giving good advice.

Marc is repairing the railroad from Pusan (why didn't I think of that!) and so his supply status there has to be very good.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 17. It looks like the Marines have through better of their little expedition and they are pulling back. If they are then I count it as a victory since the expedition tied up two marine RCTs, a US infantry RCT, and the US airborne RCT and hopefully it will take them a few turns to recover.

On the main front, Marc actually dug me out of Seoul but his units did not advance, so, my units have moved back in. It's a real seesaw battle as we move into the middle of October.

but, on a sad note, over to the east of Seoul an attack on the lacky ROK stack failed to do any damage to it. Something is wrong with this world when I can't make ROK troops retreat! I decided not to press the attack as I am running out of troops and I do need to prevent Marc from making one giant pocket out of Seoul

[John B.]

Liberation turn 18. You know, if the Elder brother Russians and Chinese want to intervene right about now, who would the Most Wise and Deliberate of Brilliant Geniuses Kim Il-Sung be to say no? The UN recaptured the Seoul VP hex and made more gains in the East than I thought that he could. I had a fresh division dug in there and it is creaking.

[John B.]

I tried one counter attack on the Seoul VP hex and was not able to dislodge the defenders. However, I did break the pocket (for what it's worth) with two attacks and push back to US RCTs in the process. In the West, I like to think that I have a nice marine POW camp going on. He can't attack out of there and I can't attack in, but I really don't need to.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 19. We still have some part of South Korea liberated so we're still winning despite what the Capitalist Lickspittle victory conditions say. I did push back the ROK regiment in the far west but otherwise my two attacks did not get many anything but weaker troops. A new NK division did show up and it railroaded to just outside of P'Yongyang. And I have a fresh division dug in at Wonsan so we're not done yet.

But, really, it would be churlish of us to claim all the glory when the Elder Brothers can come be in on the kill. Come on in China/Russia the water is fine!

[John B.]

Liberation turn 20. More UN illegally ravaging of the Workers and Peasants Army. I did push an armored unit back in the east but otherwise put the fresh division into P'Yongyang and prepared for more death and destruction.

Elder Brother China has devoted some Mig-15s to the cause so I hope that helps out with the UN air support. And, as you can see, snow is making it's way down the Korean peninsula.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 21. It still counts as liberation since I still control one hex of S. Korea on the far west coast. But, much bigger news, Elder Brother Mao in a show of stunning class solidarity has intervened in the war. As you can see, there are numerous armies that have crossed the boarder. [&o]

The turn ended before I could take another picture, but, emboldened by the huge infusion of fresh troops, I took my fresh division out of Wonsan and launched an attack on the east coast and cut off the two UN units (it's the Turkish Brigade and the Greek Battalion (perhaps not the best combination in the same hex)) and drove them with their backs to the sea. It remains to be seen if the UN can rescue them.

Otherwise, the Chinese units moved up and should see action in the next turn.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 22. The Elder Brother Chinese forces move to contact on both fronts. The US, clearly without MacArthur in charge, have run away leaving a screen of ROK forces to take the brunt of the initial assault. Typical capitalists, leave the working man behind while the plutocrats shelter in their bunkers.

[John B.]

Sorry, that was the picture from last turn. Here it is in the middle of Liberation turn 22. I used up all the movement points getting to contact on the West coast but on the East coast I was able to get some attacks in. More UN units (a few ROK battalions) are isolated on the coast and I"m pushing down the road. The ROK regiment in the middle took heavy casualties but held on. I'm sure more will develop as this offensive unfolds!

[John B.]

Liberation turn 23. The Chinese forces advance to the UN MLR. Basically the ROK units in the way were dismissed and the pockets along the coast were destroyed. Now the question will be can I force my way through the UN lines? It depends on supply but if I can get four Chinese units on a hex I might be able to make progress. And, the UN does not have a whole lot in the way of reserves.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 24. The first round of attacks on the main UN line went ok with some units retreating and some not and getting set up for a second round.

[John B.]

And then, after heavy losses, I failed a force proficiency check for the fist time in the game. [:@] Now Marc can reconstitute his line and we'll have to do it all over again. He is in great supply near Seoul so I don't expect too much progress there but it was disappointing in the East.

[John B.]

Liberation turn 25. I suspect that this game may be heading towards stalemate. The UN is entrenched and fortified and I had a shot last turn to break the line but the proficiency check ruined it. This turn, I lost a lot of men and made a few units retreat but did not take any hexes. Meanwhile, the rest of his units rest up and resupply. So, next turn I"ll pull back and see what he does. No sense in beating my head against the wall.