NUTS Comic WW2 battle report - North of Cheux 2 Normandy Game 03

Introduction

This is the third game in a short campaign following a British section post D-Day.

I am using my streamlined version of the NUTS! rules and 20mm figures on a 2'x2' table and am halving all distances in the rules. The terrain generation is from Platoon Forward and the wound effects and random events are based on Patrol:WW2.  The writeup is using Comic Life.

Background

I am loosely basing the campaign on the journey of the British 7th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment of the 43rd (Wessex) Division in 1944.  28-2 July 1944 saw many patrols and a few German stragglers captured.   

It is my third game with NUTS! and I did some streamlining to the rules after game 1, mainly converting it to single d6 rolls but it is still mostly NUTS!  This game has the 8 members of the section patrolling once again.

Game

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Verdict
Another fun game.  I think these rules are great at capturing low level skirmishes like this.  Still takes over an hour and the writeup is longer than normal doing them in Comic Life. Due to the interactions and the chaos on the battlefield, I cannot really stop this game at a certain point and come back to it later.  It does not really lend itself to it.  I am used to playing in smaller stints than over an hour at a time.  I am going to stop doing these for a while and get back to other projects.

NUTS Comic WW2 battle report - North of Cheux Normandy Game 02

Introduction

This is the second game in a short campaign following a British section post D-Day.  First game is here:  28 June Cheux Normandy Game 01 

I am using my streamlined version of the NUTS! rules and 20mm figures on a 2'x2' table and am halving all distances in the rules. The terrain generation is from Platoon Forward and the wound effects and random events are based on Patrol:WW2.  The writeup is using Comic Life.

Background

I am loosely basing the campaign on the journey of the British 7th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment of the 43rd (Wessex) Division in 1944.  28-30 June 1944 saw many patrols and a few German stragglers captured.   

It is my second game with NUTS! and I have done some streamlining to the rules, mostly converting it to single d6 rolls but it is still mostly NUTS!.  First games was 5 soldiers, this time it is the whole section, well 8 of them as one died in the first game and another is recovering from his wounds.

Game

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In NUTS! terms
A random reinforcement turns up just behind the LMG team.  Like the first game, the random placement put it right next to some British soldiers.  The LMG team gain the initiative from the In Sight test but miss.  The German LMG'er receives a light wound and goes prone while the assistant hunkers down (going prone).  Next activation the British charge and the LMG and assistant surrender.

For the other section members, once near the buildings, no PEF appears in either.
Box and others advance into the barn, resolving the PEF for in the barn, becomes 3 Germans.  The British win the in sight and the room is sprayed with SMG and rifle fire for a dead German and the other two duck back to behind the building.
The British then charge into melee with the 2 remaining Germans and win that too!
All of the three PEFs on the table at the start resolve to nothing.

Verdict
Another fun game.  It is really interesting as you have no idea what you will come up against, nor how it will play out.  I think two things helped with no casualties for the British.  Firstly, the dice were with the Allies and so bad for the Germans.  And secondly, I fudged it when Box and the others stormed the barn.  I could just visualise them kicking down the door and firing the SMG into the room.  So that is what happened (the Germans did roll poor dice for whatever test would apply). but the damage and result was rolled for.

The game still took too long (just over 1.5 hours excluding setup but it does include taking about 100 photos and writing some notes).   Mostly it was looking up some rules clarifications on the tablet and also how PEFs moved.  I have created a cheat sheet for PEFs and random events and my recent third game (yet to be posted) was 1 hour excluding setup.  Getting faster!

NUTS Comic WW2 battle report - Cheux Normandy Game 01

Introduction

I was going to do a company based 6mm ww2 Normandy mini-campaign on a 2'x2' board. I am likely to still do so.  But I have been distracted by an idea to use my 20mm figures on the 2'x2' table and play skirmish instead.  I have always wanted to have a go with Two Hour Wargame NUTS! as it is very solo friendly and will use that, although the terrain generation is from Platoon Forward and the wound effects and random events are from Patrol:WW2.  Lastly, comic style AARs are all the rage at the moment, so I used Comic Life (for the first time) to do the report.

Background

I have recently acquired the history of the British 7th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment of the 43rd (Wessex) Division.  I am loosely basing the campaign on their journey.  28-30 June 1944 saw many patrols and a few German stragglers captures. 

It is my first game with NUTS! so I am going with only 5 soldiers. I expect I will normally run with an entire section.   With the small 2'x2' table, I am halving all distances.

The Game

Note: images can be clicked on to show a larger version.

Commentary

I rolled randomly for 5 British soldiers.  I chose not to use any Stars:

Corporal Box, REP 5, Stealth

Private Harrison, REP 5, Tough

Private Jones, REP 4, Hard as Nails

Private Killan, REP 5, Nerves of Steel

Private Trimmer, REP 3, Runt.

Campaign Morale: 4

British Investment Level: 3 (on Patrol)

German Investment Level: 3 (Brits are on Patrol)

I made a mistake with the first German fire when I rolled for all the 5 Germans firing and then started applying damage to the different figures.  I should have done it one by one.  But I did remember half way through, and even remembered the Man Down tests.
There was a time when Killan and a German traded shots - three times each - without hitting as both in cover.  That was frustrating but part of the game.
There were three random event in a row near the end of the the game.  I used Patrol:WW2 and the third one was the artillery strike (the other events were less exciting such as finding a PIAT).
I could not believe it when I rolled German replacements as Box and Jones were returning back to the line.  And even more unbelievable when the entry location was so close! It was a squad so I rolled a d6 for the number of soldiers that turned up.
Lastly, I should have picked up the wounded soldiers.  I forgot and only remembered when I got to the end.  If real life, they would not have forgotten so assumed they made it back.

Using Patrol: WW2 I determined the Out of the Fight effects::

Harrison:  Light wound Arm; out for 8 days.

Killan: Light wound Arm; Completely healed within the day.

Verdict

Well, that was fun. Comic Life runs a little slow on my under-powered machine but it was so easy to use and I really enjoyed putting it altogether.  I also really like Nuts! for its solo suitability and also the campaign detail.  The whole game took 2 hours from taking out the board, filling it with terrain and playing the game.  I did not use any paper and referred to the rules on a Windows 7 notebook.  The bookmarks are fantastic and I found the rules fine to work with.  I think the game with 5 soldiers would be over in under an hour in a game or two.
But of course, and I had a feeling this would happen, there are a lot of dice rolls in the game. I did think about switching to something similar with less dice and Gut Check! looks good.  However, as an incessant rules writer,  I am already nearly finished writing a simpler set (infantry only so far) borrowing some of the reaction concepts but with less dice rolls.