FourDeuceMF
Senior Member
Which is quite laughable, given that although Ken is our resident math geek, he was always the one who strove to "keep things simple."And that is very very obvious in your designs and rules for KW.
The CVPA will NOT play like your run-of-the-mill Soviet clone. That is intentional. Want a Soviet-clone army with a little Asian zing? That's the NKPA.
There really was nothing like the CVPA in the system up until this point - indeed, the massed infantry tactics employed echoed an older time, however the weapons tech made it so these tactics became especially bloody. Indeed, the CVPA wasn't even the same of either constituent part that fought the Chinese Civil War - it was a new animal, so to speak.
One tried-and-true ASL design feature, the step-reducing squad, pioneered by the Japanese in ASL, helped to flesh out the 'Bugs Mr Rico, Zillions of 'em!' aspect of an enemy that could take hits and keep on coming. However, the tactical flexibility of such a large beast, without some sort of restraint on individuality (anathema in the Chinese army of that time), would end up with actions that bore no resemblance to the war being simulated. Hence, an adaptation of another ASL artifact, Platoon Movement, was adapted.
Try out the same tactics that you use for Soviets, Germans, Brits, or Americans with the CVPA, you will fail. This is not a problem with the system. This is a direct result of the most different troop type introduced to the system since the Japanese. Just like the Japanese/PTO, you will have to learn how to use them well, and just as with the Japanese, using them well will reward you with a different, satisfying experience of ASL, in a new theater. As for all intents and purposes, from early '51 to the end of the conflict, the CVPA were the main opponent (the NKPA having shot their wad and ground down to a shell), they are the major antagonist for the UN in the KW, not some 'add-on'.
It's really not that hard. Even Ken could do it. ;-) Surely, you could, too. You know the Japanese rules, just learn to grok Infantry Platoon Movement, and you would be there. You'll be out of your comfort zone for awhile. EXPECT to take casualties. Unlike most other armies, those are expected...the key is to accomplish the mission, men are expendable in that army (sucks to be them, to be sure).
And it is quite obvious from some of the comments, that you may not be as familiar with the Korean War as you may be of the Eastern Front in WWII. That can be remedied. Plenty of good books out there on the topic. Roy Appleman's series (started as a Black Book by the US Army History division - South to the Natkong, North to the Yalu) is a great start...though the Chinese really shine in his later books, East of Chosin being the best.