We greatly enjoyed playing two sessions of MASHED by Mark Plemmons of Brabblemark Press. MASHED is an Apocalypse Engine take on a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. (Not a license of the TV show.) The book is well produced, and you can purchase decks of Camp cards, Wound cards, and Event cards if playing a campaign.
One aspect I particularly enjoyed was getting to learn the history of the Korean war better (from the book) and then seeing it unfold in play. The PCs landed in Pusan after crossing over from Japan. They ended up bugging out multiple times over 6 months while the US/UN front advanced north. A highlight for the players was when the wounded finally started being shipped in by helicopter. Once the Allies advanced to Pyongang, the Chinese invaded without warning.
Most of the gameplay was around personal interactions and surgeries. Our group was all drama, no dramedy: no one played for laughs. The priest was a closeted homosexual who had a crush on a Navy officer temporarily assigned to the 8099th, but was afraid to show any affection, because the XO was a homophobe. The doctor was a jingoistic anti-Red officer who himself fell under suspicion because he never went to church. The corpsman was happy to do as he was told and never questioned orders.
For instance, the triage rules require taking care of all the Americans first, then the allies (no matter the severity of their wounds), then the POWs. The priest got in trouble with the CO for putting an ROK officer ahead of Yanks in triage, whereas the corpsman wouldn’t move a POW up in triage order because he didn’t want to get in trouble.
While most of the gameplay was around surgery and camp interactions, we did end with an action scene, occurring during the retreat from Pyongang. While others packed up the hospital, the corpsman held back advancing Chinese troops with a machine gun, then was shot. The doctor operated on him in the jeep while the priest drove it, until the priest stopped and helped because they were about to lose the corpsman. They saved him, and he was decorated with the Bronze Star and sent home a hero!
