NUTS Initial Impressions - Enjoy the Movie or Comic Book

A certain type of gamer will like NUTS!, by Two Hour Wargames. The type I'm thinking of: if you want to recreate the cinematic flair of a 40's/50's war movie, then this may be your type of game. If you like the idea of adding a small level of role playing to your miniatures game, then this may be your type of game.

Understand I'm only to page 18, but when I was reading the section entitled "Stars and Grunts" I was hit with how this game was different than say, Bolt Action or Blitzkrieg Commander or Command Decision. Besides the scale/level of play differences, there's a different approach. Command Decision is more "serious" in it's approach, stick to the facts. Blitzkrieg Commander abstracts more, but still seems to come across as more "serious". Now Bolt Action is definitely going for some of that cinematic feel (look at the covers) but i didn't get that vibe reading through them and playing them.

I don't want to get to the "realistic" debate. I'm strictly talking feel/vibe/groove of the game. And when I read the following (italics mine), I realized that I need to take a more relaxed attitude toward the game:

WHY USE STARS?
One question that may be asked is why do we use Stars in THW? It's to give the player, personal control of his character. All Grunts are controlled by the Reaction Tests. They will behave according to their quality and training but more importantly will respond to the situations that you put them in. Grunts will behave in a realistic manner that balances a desire to stay alive with the desire to do their job. But Stars? That's you. You will see that you have much more freedom, as in real life, to do what you want, as well as some distinct advantages that separate you from the Grunts.

STAR ADVANTAGES
As a Star in NUTS! - Final Version you have four important advantages. These are:

• Star Power (Allows you to shrug off damage, to a point)
• Larger Than Life (You can't be killed with figure/character with a lower Reputation than you.)
• Cheating Death (When killed, by an equal or higher Rep character/figure you can leave the fight and come back to fight another day with one lower Reputation. We'll discuss Reputation in a future post.)
• Free Will (You can ignore certain reaction tests.)

 In addition to this there are reaction tests which basically means guys start and keep firing back at each other until someone is dead or ducked into cover and out of line of sight.

You can also give one or all the figures an attribute (choose or roll from 36 choices). They can be brave, wusses, slow, fast, strong, etc. The fact that he bounces back and forth between calling the miniatures, "figures" or "characters" says a lot of the feel for the game.

He's designed it in such a way that you don't need to use the attributes if you don't want, which is nice as I learn the game. If you don't want to know this level of detail of your fighting men and have crazy heroics happening that may not be "realistic" then you may not want this. However, you read stories of crazy bravery/stupidity/etc that amaze in war accounts, so why not have them happen on your table.

As far as the rulebook itself so far. I like the way they're laid out. The PDF is bookmarked meaning you can click on the index and go to the section/page. That is nice.

Speaking of Table of contents, they are comprehensive and are accompanied by a detailed index.

So far it seems well laid out and giving information to me in small bites.

The last thing I'll speak to about the rulebook, the instructional/textbook method of having questions and reviews after certain sections. See below for an example of one. Ed is introducing many new concepts here and he stops after each section and asks questions and highlights issues in each section. That is pretty cool.

As I learn them and get some minis on the table I will give more feedback. But in the meantime, enjoy the movie/comic book of a game that is NUTS!

I Can't Decide What to do

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm in kind of a funk and also my time is just crazy right now. There isn't a lot of time for hobbying of any kind. In the big scheme it's all good because I love being with my fam and raising the boys and helping them find their passion.  In addition, supporting my wife's growing business is pretty cool.

And there are people with greater issues and problems.

Just trying to keep some perspective.

But this is a hobby blog so let's talk how this affects my hobbying. One way, is that my gamer ADHD (scientists says it afflicts 97.65% of all gamers...to varying degrees) combined with my little time makes it so I spend little tidbits of time trying to figure out what I want to play.

Such good memories of CD games at Jerry's

 I've been assembling 15mm for Command Decision for a loong time.  And I partially also went to 15mm because I thought it would interest my 12 year old a bit more. It's easier to get wrapped into the lives of the little guys if you can see them as more like people than little specks of metal (6mm - don't worry, you'll always be my first love.)  I also thought it would be more attractive on a con table as way to attract onlookers. I've really enjoyed 15mm.

But the struggle with it taking so long to get these guys painted up and the lack of time and money to buy what I need, I start to waver, if I really want to keep basing them 2 to a stand and will I ever play CD with them.

Loving the 15MM Action - Again CD but why not CoC or ?

 In addition, I've been trying the new slew of Squad/Platoon level games - Bolt Action, Rate of Fire, Chain of Command and deciding if I want to play any of those with the 15mm.  It's a bit of a stretch with the way I'm basing them, but it's not too bad. And I can't decide if I really like any of these.  I'm working through the Chain of Command rules right now. Again, I really want to enjoy and like Too Fat Lardies rules, so I'm trying another set.

All that said, at one point, I thought, "I really enjoy Blitzkrieg Commander II. Why don't I attempt to adapt these for WWII Platoon level games?"  Pete already created a skirmish set for Future War Commander and another BKC player sent me his WWII skirmish adaption of these rules.  But being a gamer, I'm not happy with any of this and have begun to create my own adaptation.  We'll see how this goes.  Here's a video of me explaining this as well.

End of Samurai Test and Game AAR

Welcome to new subscribers/followers, Kullervo's Niche of Melancholia,
Sergeant Crunch's Miniature Madness, Roundwood's World
1914-45

All you who read and keep up with my silliness, put me over 3,000 pageviews in one month for the first time in my blog's history.  I hit 3,258 views last month.  Cool.  I'm glad I'm putting stuff up that people want to read or at least click through because they're curious.

Table Setup

To the topic of the post. My most recent samurai game using Kings of War. I set up a scenario I'd found in the most recent Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy magazine.  The battle of the two tombs.

I fought the battle and well. The attacking Eastern Army was struggling. One, they started in too heavy of terrain and were severely slowed.  I should've moved them up for deployment. Two, they were leading the charge with Cavalry and were getting slaughtered at the ford crossing. At this point, no one could get over.

Eastern Army - The attackers

I should've made one of two choices when seeing this road block developing.  Pulled the cavalry back and inserted the pikes in their place for more punch. Or, shifted more of the units to use the completely open bridge to the South. Even when playing solo, it's easy to stick to a plan without looking and adjusting to the developing game.

Western Army - The defenders

Also, I should've also stationed more ranged units to fire over the river while the attack was going on.  I didn't need them to the South in the woods because they could've assisted in the attack across the river and then moved over to assist in the taking of the hills.

Now, the biggest causality in the game. I'm putting up the ancients/medieval/samurai army thoughts for now. I've played both Impetus and Kings of War (I like both rulesets for simplicity and free availablility.) and I just don't get that excited while playing them  or the period. I think it's the lines of blocks and positioning.  I'm not sure.  I have a couple board games, Samurai, and Saints in Armor that I would like to try. I feel these may inform my decision: is it the period(s), the rules, or something else.

First Blood - Cavalry crossing river.

I like reading the rules and reading about the period. But once a game is set up and ready to go, I want to try something else.

This is all good, because I'd begun pricing out what it would cost to have two 6mm armies built, painted and based for me.  Anywhere between $700-900.  Money saved for now.

More casualties and game end - hand of god is done with this.

I'll keep the rules, but I will be putting it all on the back burner for now.

Samurai Testing Take 2 - Kings of War AAR

I think this is the second full play through I had with King of War to find a ruleset I want to play Samurai with.  If I want to play Samurai at all. I think that i do because my last play of Basic Impetus and now KOW were both more fun than the first go around.

This may be partially familiarity with the rules. And it may be a partial understanding of the nuances of this type of wargaming vs WWII gaming.

But the thought of painting a ton of Samurai scares me off just a bit.  However, I don't want to play with blocks of wood forever.  It's shown me that the models are what draw me to this type of gaming.

The color
The majesty
of
MINIATURE GAMING!!!!

Samurai Testing - Black Powder

And now Black Power testing for the Samurai. Any thoughts or opinions on this? 

Samurai Testing - Kings of War - Basing

This is a project that will take forever, but the planning is most of the fun.

Samurai Test - Kings of War - Melee

Previously, I showed how shooting may work for Sengoku (sp) era Samurai battles, with my amazingly drawn up blocks.  Now, let's look at Melee.  There are some rules I need to get down, but this rule set is definitely easy and quick playing.  I'm trying out Black Powder and/or Hail Caesar at the moment.

Samurai Testing - Kings of War - Shooting

I refuse to let go of the dream that I may one day paint up a Samurai army.  I must be crazy.  I also like the idea of gaming this or other similar eras, but I go back and forth.  I'm used to manuever and fire tactics from WWII and like them.  Can I get into the more chess-like, manuever and troop placement that ancient through early/mid-19th  century warfare seems to be.

Understand that the last sentence is an uneducated one and how I've observed these games to go.  I also understand that warfare in such a stretch of time isn't dictated by one tactic/discipline.  I was painting with a humongus brush to generalize.

So I keep trying rules to see how I may want to play with these little soldiers if I decide to dive in.  And to see if I like this style of gaming.  I'm looking for fairly simple and fast playing.

Here I test the Kings of War set with 40mm x 20mm blocks and lists I've found on the web.



I had fun playing this short test.

Links to Phil's Blog and some of his Samurai stories
http://philbancients.blogspot.com/?q=samurai
Free Rules from Mantic
http://www.manticgames.com/Hobby/Gaming.html
Free Historic Army Lists
http://files.sigil.biz/data/kings_and_khans_1600bc_to_1700ad_22jan2013.pdf

Kings of War Sengoko Period Test

Tested out the Kings of War rules as another possible set for Samurai gaming when I had an hour during a recent trip. (20 year anniversary trip with my Awesome Wife to the town where we were married. Great time.)

There currently isn't a list, but I modified an English Civil War/Pike and Shot list someone has created as well as taking some hints from the Kingdom Of Men list. Needs some tweaking with the lists.

Also, I had no leaders, banners, or musicians...of which there would be some...and they are necessary. Otherwise units hit their nerve tests way too easy and are quickly routed off the field. Also, cavalry is way tough. I also made it way to the blue's favor just so I could get a quick result. But this was crazy fast.

One thing, the arquebus has the same range as the bows. It seems as though this era of weapon technology, the bow would shoot further than the guns - and be more effective. But I'm very new to this era, so I'm open to opinions/facts on this issue.

Cool thing about this set - even easier than Impetus and Black Powder/HC.

Will have to try this again.

Yellow Clan against Blue Clan on snowy fields

You'll see Yellow is down one unit and Cavalry Samurai unit (blue) will charge the yellow Samurai next turn

And, the end. Only the long blue Yari (Sprears) have one wound.

Platoon Commander and 15mm Buildings

timmy! had some guys over at his house recently to play a game of Kevin and Doug's Platoon Commander ruleset. They are currently in the process of developing them which sounds fun and challenging.

I was only able to swing by as the game was winding down, so I took a couple pics, enjoyed the post game discussion, and took a look at some of the 15mm buildings timmy! recently bought from Crescent Root  http://www.crescent-root.com/15mm_index.htm.


They played a Guadalcanal game with 3 companies of Marines trying to take a ridge being held by ? number of Japanese. I believe Doug told me the figures were 25mm. They said it was a draw, but even the Marine commanders were questioning whether or not they had even done that well.

They're still making a few tweaks to the rules (does it ever end?). I wish them luck in this endeavor.

The buildings were very detailed. One thing that I wish I could do with the 6mm guys is put them in the buildings - tough to do at this scale. They felt lighter than normal resin. However, he says they are less expensive so it must be a tad different kind of resin. Can't wait to see them painted. The coolest building is the large church.

timmy! Plays a Developing WWII Ruleset - Platoon Commander

What follows is a quick battle report of a 15mm WWII game:

 

Late afternoon on Tuesday we had a very impromptu WW2 15mm game at my house. Due to it being a quickly scheduled game we didn't have the entire gaming group. In attendance were Dave S, Doug H, Corey S and myself.

 

We were playing a home brew set of rules written by Kevin M titled Platoon Commander 44.  These rules are a lot of fun, very well written and execute smoothly. Put up against most ww2 set of rules such as IABSM; it pales no comparison!

 

Here is a picture of the initial board.  A small French village that might be occupied by Jerry!

Assault rules explanation by Doug

Battlefront (old) & JR Miniatures Buildings

More buildings, some are Hovels and timmy! built the gated terrain himself

Placing troops one side at a time. Germans go first and take advantage of the terrain

Germans then win the initiative. Having seen the Tommy's move into the buildings, Jerry responds with initial gun fire that can be heard throughout the village.

The Brits exchanged fire causing casualties and mass confusion to the Jerry's.   :)

The Germans responded with an intense amount of fire power causing the Brits casualties and breaking their morale. The only safe place to run back to was the church.

Having been initially given the order to flank the town from the right, the Commandos decided to flank the town from the left!  Those bastards had a plan of their own the entire time.  :)

Brit commandos move forward taking the building and begin exchanging fire with the Germans.

Brits exchange fire with German machine gun crew causing casualties and breaking their moral: forcing them to leave the building.  Clearly a victory for the British!!

And around that time is when my phone ran out of juice  :(

All in all this was a great time. Fun was had by all. 

We continued to play several more turns. I would say it ended with a British victory but then again me being a brit player I am a bit biased!   :)  :)

 Here's some of info on the game, by Kevin, who's developing the game:

Platoon Commander is a 1 to 1 scale rules set designed to simulate military combat with each player taking command of a 30 to 50 man platoon sized organization along with some representative support weapons and vehicles.  The game can be played by as few as 2 or as many as 6-8 players.  Platoon Commander uses a one-to-one game scale for all units.  One infantry model equals one soldier, one AFV model equals one armored vehicle or tank, one artillery model equals one artillery gun, one aircraft model equals one aircraft and one truck model equals one soft transport vehicle.  Ground scale is approximately 1-inch equal 6 to 10 yards.  Each formation action simulates 5-15 minutes of time.  Each complete game turn simulates roughly 30 minutes of combat action depending upon how many units are involved per side.

All measurements are in inches and most action is resolved with D6 dice.  Most of the game play charts will fit on two sides of a single 11" sheet.

The rules are loosely based on a combination of Warhammer Epic and Frank Chadwick's Command Decision.  Activation is by formation, and formation is defined as infantry squad or tank platoon sized units.  They were originally conceived as a player activating  by squad for smaller games, 1-2 players per side, but more recently by platoon for larger games of 3 or more players per side or faster game play.

 

The turn sequence is simple and very open but must be followed.  Let's face it, most gamers I know only want to move and kill something, and the turn sequence encourages this.

 

1) Action Phase - a single marker is drawn to indicate which side may attempt activation.

2) End Phase - the action marker count is reset based on remaining formations and all orders except unactivated Overwatch orders are removed

 

The heart of the game is the orders.  I have always preferred games where the player makes the action decision up front and then carries it out.  It seems like a simple notion on the surface, but also seems to be difficult to master as it requires planning ahead for success.  (On that note, I am still toying with the idea of having all players secretly issue orders first; Command Decision style, and then write a new order revelation sequence.  Maybe a future play test.)  Orders available are,

 

1) Advance - your basic combat advancement with the opportunity to fire

2) Double - faster movement but reduced shooting accuracy

3) March - all out movement, but no shooting allowed

4) Sustained Fire - all out offensive shooting

5) Overwatch - opportunity fire at enemy units that move or shoot

6) Opportunity Hold - a hasty order that helps offset the anomalies of the turn sequence by allowing a unit to react

7) Hold - a default order when a unit does not pass an activation check

8) Engage - a close combat order

9) Under Command - the ability to combine several smaller units into a single formation

10) Marshall - allows units to regroup and remove blast markers

11) Call Fire - allows headquarters units only to call in off board artillery fire

 

In addition, there are several game situation markers:

 

1) Prone - indicates a formation has gone prone to help with save modifiers

2) Pinned - a unit that is broken but cannot or does not wish to fall back

3) Broken - morale is completely broken; unit must rally

4) Command re-roll - a pure game mechanic to smooth out the vagaries of the dice

 

The game mechanics for movement are pretty straight forward (all infantry moves 6" on the Advance) with the active player moving or shooting and the defensive player rolling for saves.  I prefer the idea of keeping players involved during all phases of the game by allowing them to attempt saves no matter how small the chance.  It just makes them feel better!

 

Most small arms and infantry support weapons are included except pistols and grenades.  Pistols because they make no significant impact in battle situations and grenades because they cause the most problems to define and so they are rolled into close combat.

 

The close combat sequence is somewhat lengthy but is usually bloody and decisive.  As you know, I am ready to test this process in a house to house situation which is a unique terrain situation.  My hope is it will hold up well in principal with only a few specialized rules.

 

The game is meant to include some transport and AFV's in the right proportion.  I have play tested this rule set  using only tanks and it plays well up to a point.  My feeling is, if you want lots of tanks, play Command Decision.  If you want single tank action, find an on-line simulation and go for it.

 

This rule set has the advantage of not needing to buy all of the heavy artillery pieces as the ground scale keeps most of this off board.

 

And most especially, thanks for your interest.  I can't wait for some play test feedback.

 Kevin stated that he's willing to answer some questions - send them my way or post in the comments and I'll make sure he gets them.

Naval Thunder Comparison Chart - Renown v. Littorio

As you've seen from previous entries I've been working on some 1:3000 Davco ships. These are British, Italian, and German as I want to play the Atlantic and Mediterranean in WWII. After the last game convention I did a bit of research on Naval rules and not being a huge draw I wanted something fairly straight forward. I.E. less stats and detail.  I certainly see the appeal of General Quarters, but I knew I would never play something at that level on my own. Though, Adam, if you're reading this, I would certainly play in a hosted game.

HMS Renown

Victory at Sea was another, more closely considered, WWII naval game. It also abstracts more things than GQIII. At the moment I can't recall why I moved over those for my own use...but again, The Composer, if you're reading, I would love to play a game your hosting...especially since your miniatures are so well done!

Ultimately, I decided to go with Naval Thunder and I'm pretty happy I did. I've done a couple of solo runs and look forward to trying them with an opponent.

(Side note: Go here to the View from the Turret review of GQIII and of Victory at Sea. They also review Naval Thunder here.)

Littorio on the Right

While working on the ships, I've thought it would be interesting to take a couple of the ships and compare the stats to each other. For the first time, I picked the two ships that looked the coolest to me. Actually, the Italian ship Littorio looked the coolest with all the round secondary guns. Then I perused the British ships to compare it against and picked the Renown. Hindsight, I should have chosen a stronger British candidate, but they're fairly close... or are they?

I also thought this would be a good way to introduce some of the concepts of the Naval Thunder rules. I'll probably do this in 2-3 parts to avoid a book of an entry...wait, this is already a book.



In fact, I may end this now. In the next post, I'll discuss these basic stats and what they mean in the game and how they affect the performance and survivability of the each ship.

Though I will leave you with these little tidbits:
FC is Fire Control (RDR is radar and STD is not what you think it is...it's Standard)
AV is Armor Value, this is the main armor
SAV is Secondary Armor Value
AA is Anti-Aircraft value and
SW is Submarine Warfare value

d10s are the dice used in the game
move and firing for each ship type is simultaneous
move and firing is done in inches
each gun has a specific range band based on diameter and barrel length
each gun also has specific penetration and damage values as well

And, on a slightly different note: I just saw that The Composer has posted some new tutorials on how he built some of his ships. He knows how to model and paint 1:2400 ships - go check out the series beginning with this post.

First Samurai Playtest

On the living room floor with some more nice paper models, similar to my ships. I got these 40x20 playing pieces from the Warmaster forum for their samurai variant. Cut some out and put Daimyo to the test.  Not too thrilled with the first 4 turns.  Something just didn't click for me.  Not sure what's next, Killer Katanas or the Warmaster Variant. I'm thinking Warmaster because I'm more familiar with the system through the BKCII and FWC games.

Some rules are like that, they just don't click (resonate) with me. Doesn't mean they're not good. I can only think of one set of rules that I thought weren't good. That was a boardgame, the new Panzerblitz. And the reason I think I had this impression - because of too high of expectations. I wanted it to have the same feel of the old Panzer Leader. And those feelings were based on my feelings as a 10 year old pulling out my dad's version of Panzer Leader and playing by the rules that I could figure out and rolling some dice. At that age it was more about setting up and dreaming of battles to come than actually fighting them.

I'm more of the camp that understands that some rules just aren't for me. For example, Firestorm Armada. Enjoyable game, nice models, etc. But after playing through them a few times I just didn't care for them. I don't have the focused energy to worry about some mechanics that may or may not be good or accurate. I just know if I'm not excited, even after a couple of playtests solo or not, then I'll move on.



I understand this isn't fair. Possibly I'm not getting enough understanding of the basics of a ruleset to let the mechanics take over. To the point where I'm not thinking about the rules and just playing the game. But that's okay. This is a big reason I don't make critical reviews. Well, one of the reasons. The biggest of which is that I'm not that great a writer. The second being that I don't have a lot of critical things to say about a game that I believe would help someone else choose or not choose it. I like reading those kinds of reviews. When I do read them, I pick out those areas that seem like the author and I agree/disagree and make a personal judgement.

From theviewfromtheturret.com

A site that reviews rules well is View From the Turret: here's their review of Naval Thunder Clash of the Dreadnaughts.

What was supposed to be a short entry has become a rambling session galore. I could still talk about games I don't play but enjoy very much, again, for lack of time. These would include, Nations at War, ASL, and Combat Commander.

Tanksgiving BKCII Rules Test

View of the board-bottom tanks moved to left for flank deployment

The German 88's view before setup was complete. At game start all these visible tanks were behind the hills

German Assault Gun Company rushing to flank & exploit from behind.

The result of the flank, all but 1 tank platoon left and fighting for it's life.

The two tanks behind the hill are PzIVs and will be destroyed after this photo is taken.

I didn't finish this game so I could prepare for some hobby room remodeling. The US was suffering bad, but was making a steady comeback. I used the BKCII rules and was trying out the rules I would use for high area terrain, the impenetrable terrain, the restricted fire arc in, into, and out of these areas. I liked them. I also tried my LOS and LOF clarifications that I discussed in this entry.

This 4-day Thanksgiving holiday saw a lot of 1:1 modeling. IE painting deck railing and preparing my wife's business home office. All that, the holiday, the naval game and 4 turns of BKCII, and preparing or hobby room fixing up. I would say it was a pretty productive 4 days.

Sink The Bismark! Naval Thunder Style

Bismark goes down in 4 turns. Fires and flooding take her down.
Prince of Wales had no damage.
Hood had rudder damage, had lost speed 2" of speed, and 1 main turret.
I should find a Prinz Eugen model, 'cause Bismark needs the help. I guess if I'm using paper I could just cut out some paper and say it's the Prinz.

The ships began the battle fairly close to start so they got into gun range immediately...which, for the sake of what I was trying to do, learn the mechanics.

I was testing the Naval Thunder ruleset out. Very straightforward and fairly easy to remember the various nation specific rules.

I enjoyed myself much more than I thought I would. I've not had much interest in Naval or Space Combat games (Tried Firestorm Armada once and just couldn't get into it.). But I saw a couple at the recent Command Con and my interest was piqued. I had fun seeing the damage done, but it's not in so much detail that it's overwhelming.

I read on the Steel Dreadnought Forums that one of the players adds the fire and flooding situations to each other. In the rules you just have one flooding marker, even if you get another flood critical. But having multiples was pretty fun reading. Though, in the case of my game, it would've been over sooner than it was.

And referring to fast play, these are pretty fast and the games are definitely fast to set up and get going.

Lastly, with the damage, shooting; and movement tracking I felt I was playing a role playing game. (Side note: for some reason the thought of keeping track of Battletechs in those games has never appealed to me. But this was fun.)

I've heard these rules work very well with the pre-dreadnought era. As I type this, I wasn't even sure what it that term meant. So, now to the all knowing site, Wikipedia:

Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905.^[1] Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, and protected by hardened steel armour, pre-dreadnought battleships carried a main battery of very heavy guns in barbettes (open or with armored gunhouses) supported by one or more secondary batteries of lighter weapons. They were powered by coal-fuelled triple-expansion steam engines.
These battleships were abruptly made obsolete by the arrival of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. Dreadnought followed the trend in battleship design to heavier, longer-ranged guns by adopting an "all-big-gun" armament scheme of ten 12-inch (305 mm) guns; her innovative steam turbine engines also made her faster.^[4]