All,
Test Game #2 of "Nuts!," changed up the map for this one, still sticking with my "Combat!" theme though.
Here's the table, probably too much open area, but we'll see. American will start across the bottom.
The Americans, in three groups:
Left - Lt Hanley, Littlejohn, and Nelson
Center - Sgt Saunders, Braddock, and McCall
Right - Caje and Kirby
Don't know about the Germans as they come in as PEFs, or Potential Enemy Forces.
GIs start at bottom, in three groups:
Left - Caje and Kirby
Center - Lt Hanley, Littlejohn, and Nelson
Right - Sgt Saunders, Braddock, and McCall
Closer look at center and left groups.
And the right.
I roll up the PEFs and place them, using these cool little markers from Litko.
And on the German far right.
Lt Hanley, Littlejohn, and Nelson move up (far right, with Caje and Kirby at far left) in the center and spot a PEF that had moved up (top right).
The Doggies win the In-Sight test and gun down three Germans, forcing the other two to "Duck Back."
Caje and Kirby move up on the far left (far left).
But the 'Ducked-Back' Germans (far left) get the drop on them and put Caje (center) down, while Kirby 'Ducks Back' (top right).
Sgt Saunders, Braddock, and McCall move up on the far right, nearing a PEF.
And there are, indeed, Germans present.
WTF!!!??? One German is forced to 'Duck Back,' but Sgt Saunders and Braddock go down, and McCall 'Ducks Back' (bottom left)!
The other three Germans move up, hunting for McCall (just visible on the other side of the tree).
And they quickly drop him!
This isn't going so well.
While on the other flank, the Germans rally: one fails and 'Hunkers Down' (bottom left), but the other passes and moves up (center right), hunting Kirby (top center right).
And quickly puts Kirby down!
That leaves only the three Yanks in the center, Lt Hanley, Littlejohn, and Nelson. They spot the German that whacked Kirby (top left)...
And they drop him (between Kirby and Caje).
But the die rolls cause another PEF to come on the table, in the center.
On the German far left, the 'Duck Back' guy successfully rallies and moves up with his buddies (center and center left), closing in on Lt Hanley, Littlejohn, and Nelson (off camera to top center right) from behind.
Lt Hanley, Littlejohn, and Nelson are basically on the run, so they move left (bottom left).
And keep pushing left (far left, from far right).
They cross the creek and capture the German soldier hunkered there.
But they're still in a tight spot (top center), with a group of Germans trailing them (far left and bottom left) and another PEF at right.
And sure as hell, the PEF at center turns out to be two more German soldiers.
But the Yanks open fire and drop both of them.
That's part of what I don't get; in the last game, Sgt Saunders moved into a room, right on top of four Germans, and opened fire with his Tommy Gun but didn't hit any of them, and now we just spotted two guys 100 yards away, behind a stone wall, and drop them, no sweat. I don't mean to complain, it's a very small sample size, just sticks out as a bit strange to me, right off the top of my head.
Nonplussed by their comrades in hard cover getting gunned down (far right) by the sharpshooting Americans (top center), the Germans from the right continue their aggressive pursuit (bottom left).
They get spotted and another exchange of fire occurs, seeing one of the Germans down, one 'Duck Back' (left, with yellow bead), and one still in good shape (center)...
While Lt Hanley and Littlejohn are good, but Nelson is also 'Duck Back.'
Then another PEF pops up, right in front of the Yanks!
It's two more Germans and another shootout!
One German does down and the other is in 'Duck Back.'
In the center, the 'Duck Back' German tries to rally and fails, going 'Hunkered Down.'
While Lt Hanley moves up to finish off the German in 'Duck Back' on the other side of the hedgerow.
But somehow the German gets the drop on him and... drops him...
Littlejohn and Nelson have had enough and get the hell out of dodge.
Again, small sample size, but I feel like I'm finally playing it correctly but I'm not loving it. I love the quality differences ("Rep") in Nuts!, but with only a D6 spread I fear it's not enough to really differentiate. Lt Hanley was a REP 5 guy and moved up to a hedgerow to take on a REP 3 guy who was 'Ducked Back' and LOST. Sgt Saunders was REP 5 and lost to some chumps in a cornfield. Caje and Kirby were both REP 4 dudes and lost to some chumps standing in open field. And if you want to say 'but hey, the Germans are professional soldiers, they're good at what they do, too,' then sure, but then they shouldn't get a never-ending supply of reinforcements via the "PEF" mechanism. It made it feel more like a video game, just endless enemies with tons of dice rolling, and if the dice didn't go my way then there were big problems. I dunno, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I'm just not loving it. And I'm scared to go bigger (they're supposed to handle platoon-level games, but that just seems like I'll be doing eight million die rolls without actually feeling any more connected to my characters. Please understand that I'm not trying to run the rules down, I'm just saying they may not be for me.
I must meditate on this. More to follow.
V/R,
Jack
