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I'm looking to try and get into this period, any information regarding rules, miniature ranges etc would be gratefully received. I'm not too fussed about figure scale but I would prefer for one of the forces to be British and Commonwealth as I grew up hearing stories about this conflict from family and their friends who fought there.
Definitely avoiding US Airforce asy father in particular was no fan, having been attacked on three occasions by very unfriendly fire including a serious wound. Any information/advice gratefully received.

Are you interested in the air war, or more the ground war?

Mostly ground as it's always my preferred method of playing thanks

Bolt Action has rules for Korea. Combat is between reinforced platoons, with rules for vehicles, artillery and even airstrikes!

Thanks I'll have a look, although preferably something on a larger scale force wise.

On the macro scale there's Victory Games' The Korean War, published in the 80s. Full-on simulation, including political escalation (one option is the bring in Chinese Nationalist troops from Taiwan!).

It is very detailed and time-consuming, which is why I sold it (and about 80 others) a few years ago. I have a couple dozen board games left, most the 'easy' ones like Axis and Allies.

The time period is close enough that you could probably adapt any system that does Late War WW2 Commonwealth and Soviets (for the North Koreans and Chinese).

Thanks for the replies, gives me ideas on direction to go.

Eumerin wrote:
The time period is close enough that you could probably adapt any system that does Late War WW2 Commonwealth and Soviets (for the North Koreans and Chinese).

For the Chinese and North Koreans, I'd go with early war Soviet rifle units to reflect their equipment. The SKS and AK did not enter Chinese production until 1956, and the Soviets were busy re-equipping, so Chinese weapons were mostly Mosins and captured Nationalist Kar98ks leavened with submachineguns.

Commissar von Toussaint wrote:

Eumerin wrote:
The time period is close enough that you could probably adapt any system that does Late War WW2 Commonwealth and Soviets (for the North Koreans and Chinese).

For the Chinese and North Koreans, I'd go with early war Soviet rifle units to reflect their equipment. The SKS and AK did not enter Chinese production until 1956, and the Soviets were busy re-equipping, so Chinese weapons were mostly Mosins and captured Nationalist Kar98ks leavened with submachineguns.

Well, the AK by default also wouldn't be a Late War Soviet thing, so...

In any event, that would cover the small arms. The tanks, though, should be the ubiquitous T-34, as opposed to the variety of beasts available to face the Germans at the opening of Barbarossa.

I'm not sure what the anti-tank and artillery should look like.

Eumerin wrote:
Well, the AK by default also wouldn't be a Late War Soviet thing, so...

Not everyone might be aware that the Chinese Red Army lagged considerably behind the Soviets. The expeditionary army sent to Korea was generally the less trusted Chinese troops using the lower-tier weapons. Many of them were defected Nationalists who could be expended in mass infantry attacks.

In any event, that would cover the small arms. The tanks, though, should be the ubiquitous T-34, as opposed to the variety of beasts available to face the Germans at the opening of Barbarossa.

I'm not sure what the anti-tank and artillery should look like.

Depending on the scale of the game, artillery might be abstracted to the point where it didn't matter. Certainly Soviet mortars would have been available. As to AT weapons, the Chinese favored swarming tactics similar to those used by the Japanese. During the initial phase the United Nations forces often took heavy losses because they were simply overrun during night assaults.

The Chinese understood that long-range firefights were not an option, so they would creep in close during the hours of darkness and then overwhelm the defenders with SMGs and grenades.

This is where we see lots of wire entanglements and command-detonated mines being deployed. My father went through Army basic training between Korea and Vietnam (training on an M14) and said a great deal of emphasis was laid on close-quarters fighting.