Order of Battle

This was fairly easy to put together because the sources are widely available. Each corps represents three divisions. Various nondivisional armor, mechanized, infantry, and marine brigades on each side were factored into the strengths of the corps and divisions to keep things manageable on the compact map. North Korean mechanized corps have a movement allowance of five rather than six because they still include one or two leg divisions. North Korean special operations units lack airmobile capability because UN air superiority in that regard is virtually assured, and the "Pre-War infiltration" scenario option takes care of any initial air insertion of these troops.

The US 2nd infantry division is beefed up a bit because of its higher inventory of armored vehicles. Air units are represented as generic "air strikes" because modern air warfare doctrine calls for organizing ad hoc mission packages. Consequently, individual groups/wings will not necessarily be flying as integral organizations. Instead, each air strike represents a mix of fighter-bomber, bomber, electronic warfare, and refueling craft designed to accomplish specific missions.

Air units were calculated at 50 aircraft per US air unit, 100 per South Korean, and 75 for the others. US air is more effective due to its superior technology, training, and ability to maintain and coordinate large numbers of aircraft in action. Performance during the Gulf War counts for a lot here.

The Communist Air Defense Level represents roughly 100 aircraft plus 1000 or so anti-aircraft missile/gun systems per point.

Scenario Options

This is the heart of the game, because the options allow you to explore what may happen. The basic scenario assumes both sides have mobilized their reserves, but the many choices available to both players allows things to take off in many different directions. The concession of victory points represents the overall political cost of each option.

For example, if the United Nations chooses the "No South Korean Mobilization," it gets extra victory points for demonstrating South Korean non-belligerency and shifting war guilt onto the Communists. On the other hand, the "United Nations First Strike" gives points to the Communists because the UN would have to take the blame for starting the war. It is entirely possible to win the war militarily but still lose it politically by giving up too many victory points through the options.

Air Power

As the game's most innovative feature, the air power rules posed the greatest design challenges. The rules needed to show how a modern air campaign works while keeping things clear and simple. This potential clutter necessitated removing most of the air combat from the map, because it was already crowded enough. Only the UN has an effective offensive air component.

Although the North Koreans have a large air force (well over 700 aircraft), it is largely obsolete and ill-trained: it would not be able to conduct a sustained air offensive against superior US training, technology, AWACS/JSTARS recon, and air campaign planning. The North does have a wide scale air defense system. Which, combined with their air force, could inflict considerable attrition on UN air forces until it is suppressed.

Limited Intelligence

The United Nations has the edge here largely because of US satellite and other strategic reconnaissance capabilities. Hence "fog of war" largely works only one way, unless you change it using a scenario option. UN land units still cannot enter China because of all the Chinese self-defense forces not included in the counter mix.

Zones of Control

Unlike many other wargames, ZOCs extend into enemy units and otherwise prohibited terrain, accounting for the increased lethality and ranges of modern weapons, particularly helicopters and portable missiles. It also reflects the capabilities of low-tech units, including North Korean mechanized corps containing leg infantry to operate "offroad," Self Defense units that can spread out effectively to occupy familiar territory, and Logistics units containing extensive rear-area security forces.

On the other hand, terrain and technology combine to allow extensive infiltration by units during battle and by special forces in all situations. Thus, units are allowed to retreat "the wrong way" and turn apparent defeat into an advance.

In Korea, things are liable to become very confused if the front line breaks down and defense in depth does not occur. Then again, units that advance out of contact must deal with logistical problems.

Overstacking

The high percentage of "closed" terrain in Korea, combined with the limited road network, makes congestion highly risky due to air interdiction and ground sabotage, not to mention command control difficulties. Thus overstacking reduces all units in the hex. Make sure you always have a retreat path open to avoid disaster.

The Combat System

Multiple combat results tables allow players to choose each attack's level of intensity. The Probe table is especially useful for the Communists if they want to determine the strength of an enemy hex. Remember, you can attack an enemy hex more than once per turn, so use one unit to probe (Special Operations units are particularly useful here) and then determine whether a full-scale assault with other units is feasible. The Assault table, with its "mutual bloodbath," results reflects outcomes comparable to the 1973 Egyptian and Syrian assaults against Israeli positions during the Yom-Kippur War.

Players can use the Mobile Table only when the defender is on clear terrain (a scarce commodity in Korea) because rough, mountain, city, and port city restrict avenues of approach and generally give the defense a rn~jor advantage. Breakthrough combat represents what happens when a mobile force is able to engage the enemy repeatedly before they can react. The US gets the extra "+U" breakthrough results because of its combat-tested "Air-Land Battle" doctrine.

Unit Reduction and Recovery

Modern warfare is an all or nothing proposition. Units do not suffer attrition as much as they do degradation of their overall combat effectiveness. A corps-sized unit which loses 10% of its combat assets is not 10% less effective: it may just replace losses by moving its reserves or intensifying fire. On the other hand, there comes a point when loss of cohesion occurs due to combat or rear-area congestion, and the unit is no longer able to function properly - the point in the game where a unit becomes Reduced. Recovery represents the reorganization of units through the infusion of replacements, repair of equipment, and most importantly rallying and reorganizing the troops. The UN has a better chance of recovery because of the vastly superior logistical system maintained by the United States.

Replacements

The game is too short to reconstitute a completely destroyed land unit, and returning US air units reflect the USAF's superior maintenance capabilities and pre-planned staging of new aircraft to an active theater. Most replacements would go toward sustaining units in the field, which is covered by Recovery. Logistics units can be replaced because they represent the tip of an army's logistical system. Eliminating a Logistics unit causes serious disruption of rear-area activities, but these will be reorganized fiirther behind the lines in fairly short order. Thus, Logistics units return to play faster than other units.

Logistics

Units are assumed to have sufficient supply and maintenance capabilities on hand for a week's worth of operations, so they check only once per turn for supply. A reduced unit is not further affected by being out of supply on the theory that it would "hunker down" defensively rather than completely disintegrate without a fight.

Demilitarized Zone

The extra cost for moving across the DMZ is due to the obstacles each side has placed along the border. You only get the defensive advantage when the enemy's attacking exclusively across it and not from other directions because fortifications, kill zones, and minefields only face one way. Mobile combat across the DMZ and rivers is possible because these are narrow-width obstacles. Once the attacker punches through, it can quickly make the transition to a "blitzkrieg" as long as the terrain behind the obstacle is relatively clear.

Communist Barrage

This is another abstraction representing the Communist ability to launch a couple of 11 all or nothing" offensives. By altering the number of points available using scenario options, players can explore the impact of differing North Korean capabilities and strategies.

Victory Conditions

The different objectives of the belligerents Require different victory conditions. The Communists' objectives are mainly territorial, occupying as much of the south as possible. The UN, in contrast, must destroy the North's military capabilities. Hence, the UN gets more points for destroying North Korean units.

There are also some points awarded for knocking out the North's air defense and nuclear capabilities. Non-South Korean units (especially the Americans) are worth more victory points to the Communists because of the political value in destroying forces originating outside the theater and undermining domestic American support for the war.

The victory points also reflect key political realities: The Communists get points each turn they hold Seoul, thereby forcing the enemy to hold or retake it at all costs. The UN gets points for holding its own cities because it is on the strategic defensive, and needs only to hold what it has in order to win. The Communists get victory points for UN air-to-ground attacks against cities due to collateral damage against civilians, causing international media outrage.

Strategy

Each belligerent has its strong points. The Communists have tremendous offensive capabilities, at least in the initial turns. It is vital that they cross the DMZ in force and take Seoul at all costs, punch holes in the UN line and exploit the gaps to infiltrate mechanized and special operations units into rear areas, then hold on as best they can.

For its part, the UN needs to retain control of several key points, especially Seoul, early on. Then it is a matter of building up and counterattacking. The UN must determine its air war strategy early on. Usually, it is best to reduce the Communist air defense level to zero as soon as possible and then concentrate on Close Air Support of ground forces. Airmobile and amphibious movement can envelop Communist flanks due to the nature of a peninsular campaign.

Tactics

Players should exploit the fact that a reduced unit is eliminated when reduced again in combat. The UN can first reduce large numbers of Communist units with Ground Attack air missions, then follow up with land assaults.

Another way to do this is to make mobile attacks and then exploit a Breakthrough combat result to hit reduced units a second time. The recovery rules give the attacker a slight advantage in that he can attempt to restore reduced units to combat effective status at the end of his own turn. This means that units that were reduced in an attack can possibly be restored to combat effectiveness while the defender must remain reduced throughout his ensuing turn. Surrounding enemy units is also very useful, because retreating through enemy ZOC hexes (even when occupied by friendly units) has severe penalties. The two- hex Breakthrough advance option is especially useful for cutting off enemy units. It is therefore very important to defend in depth, which can prevent enemy breakthroughs or at least make them as difficult as possible.

Advanced Rules

US units have a two-hex zone of control in the Advanced Rules (set to appear in the next issue) because US doctrine and equipment allows the commander to fight a "deep battle," striking into the enemy's rear area with artillery fire, helicopters, and special operations forces.

Redline: Korea Wargame Rules

Rules
Designer Notes
Large Map (slow: 179K)
Jumbo Map (monstrously slow: 989K)