Sunday, January 11, 2015

With the Patricias in Korea

Pasha Dan has been over the years buying kits and slowly converting figures to represent Canadian infantry in the Korean War. This past month he has put a burst on and gotten enough done for a game, which he brought over last night to fight on my new winter terrain.

The figures are mostly Bolt Action, British Commandos and Airborne with enough American bits in there and green stuff to make them look like this fellow:


So here are some staged shots of the figures so you can admire his converting handiwork:

Vickers team

Command team

Bazooka

Infantry section

NCOs with sten guns
The PRK/Chicom troops were made from Russians in the padded coats and fur hats:
Communist infantry

command group

mortar
The game involved a Patricias fighting patrol of almost platoon strength being sent to eliminate a Chicom mortar pit and snatch a prisoner. The Canadians get to start the game coming in behind the Communist trenches. After a freezing night of infiltrating through the dark, they now have to take out the objective and make their escape.

Canadians deploy
 I sent one rifle group to cover my left flank and keep the Chinese heads down in one trench. A bren group, the bazooka team and my HQ deployed around a small treed hillock to support my second rifle group which tried rushing the mortar pit. A second bren group went wide to the right to get up on the rocky hill behind the mortar pit to shoot down into it.
Advancing on the objective
 Patrick played the Chinese. He quickly reinforced the mortar pit  with the rifle section and LMG team from his right flank trench. So even though I was putting a pile of casualties on them (the Lt. took a bazooka rocket to the head...) there were lots of defenders still in the trench. A second rifle group tried rushing up the center but kept getting cut down by my central bren team.
Chicom mortar pit
 I almost got my assault team onto the mortars, advancing to grenade range, but defensive fire piled too much suppression on them to advance. Some Chinese infantry rushed in for hand to hand and got the worst of things. My Lt. came up to rally the troops and support the hand to hand netting me a prisoner.

Then an armoured car rolled up to help the Chinese out. It's MG took out two of the bren team on the hill (they'd been doing a nice job of shooting up the occupants of the mortar pit). The bazooka immobilized it, but not before it rolled up to a nice firing position.
Reinforcements
Just can't get up the slope! Yellow chits are suppression markers

MORE reinforcements!
 A few turns later a T34/85 clanked up and sent an HE round towards my support team. I decided with about 4 (or 5?) men down, a prisoner in hand and enemy armour about, it was time to bug out.

Time to go!

7 comments:

  1. I went to Kapyong during my time in Korea from 1996-99. I also went back with my father in 2001. Just a suggestion. Korea has A LOT of hills. Open flat ground in most areas outside of Seoul might only be about 500m square. I was suprised at how narrow the Kapyong Valley was. Great looking figures though. I was lucky enough to visit the PPCLI museum in April 2014.

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    1. Thanks. I've sent your comments on to Dan.
      I'm bugging him to make more earthworks, barbed wire and paint up more figures too! :-D

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  2. Nice conversions, looks great...looking forward to seeing more in the future. The Canadian War Museum has some good Korean War displays, I can try to take some pics in the future if you'd like...cheers.

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  4. Great game- nice scenario too.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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