NUTS!

Once again it has been a while since I have posted. I blame work. Again.

Anyway at the last club day I managed to get in two games of NUTS! using my Russian and partially painted Germans (pictures of them soon).

Apart from the usual fumbling with new rules it went very well. The second game was very quick as the reaction tables were quite easy to remember. We got the usual number of rules wrong which changed the game subtly I am sure, but all in all it worked out very well. The main rule we missed was setup time for a moved LMG. As a result we had guys bouncing around the table like Arnie, shooting from the hip with MG-42's and DP-28's. A bit funny when you think about it.

Funniest event of the game was a misthrown grenade by the Germans, that somehow managed to ricochet of a Russian helmet and hit a German group some distance away and take two men out. Not sure we interpreted the rule correctly here, but certainly a funny and somewhat cinematic outcome. :)

As a result of those two games I am thinking about terrain, extra infantry, and some vehicles. Otherwise some scenarios are in order, probably as a campaign sequence, that can be played in a typical club day.

If you have not given NUTS! a try, I recommend doing so. It is the nuts. :D

New rules

Been a while since I last posted. Must try and do better.

At the last club game I arranged to play a game of Chain Reaction 2 from the Two Hour Wargames guys. This is a free set of rules that predated the more specialised WW2 and sci-fi versions. This idea all started with some other members talking about playing TW&T from Too Fat Lardies.

Having these rules available for free made a great opportunity to get a feel for the Two Hour Wargames mechanics. And really this is what it is all about with these rules - new, novel mechanics.

The basic difference is that the figures will react to events around them - two big ones being: seeing or being seen by the enemy; and receiving fire. Depending on the quality of the troop involved the troop will react in different ways. All the reactions seemed reasonable and logical and for the most part made the game feel realistic.

As a first game we fumbled with the rules a bit and forget where we were up to in the heat of the moment. But as a first game it went quite smoothly and we all enjoyed it. A few more games should cement in the concepts and we can get on with some serious games.

This brings me to the other area of interest for me - not a points based, tournament driven game. I am not against tournaments and competitions per se, but it seems that rules tailored towards competitions lose something in the process. Not to mention the tournament weenies that super tune their lists and get very picky about applying and interpreting their rules (read anal retentive). Not so much fun.

So a game that focuses on scenarios (not necessarily "balanced" like a tournament style game) and therefore the story should be a lot more engaging. It will require more effort to assemble the scenario for a game, but should really be quite flexible. I can already see a scenario for the allied paratrooper landings after D-Day. The Two Hour Wargames rules support campaigns (or linked scenarios) by allowing Stars (your battlefield representative) to develop and improve over time.

The more focused rules NUTS! (WW2) and 5150 (sci-fi) are looking very attractive.

There are a number of reviews out on the 'net worth reading about the Two Hour Wargames rules. Recommended.

Thanks to the BIG guys who broadened my horizons.

40k 5th Edition

Here are some notes on the upcoming 5th ed. rules, including a link to a torrent download of the pre-release rulebook: Samurai Gunslinger

I must say that I am facing this rule change with some trepidation. Mostly for the rumours about nerfing the Necrons gauss weapon ability. It seems that the ability to fluke a lucky vehicle kill via a glancing shot will be removed and the troops need to wear down a vehicle - one weapon at a time.

Ick. Yuck. Barf.

With the new rules vehicles like the Falcon will take 5 or 6 rolls of 5 or 6 to take down. That is a massive difference and I hope, but seriously doubt, that the point cost will be adjusted accordingly. The choice of high S weapons is pretty limited as I recall (codex not at hand), to the Heavy Destroyer and the Monolith.

I am yet to figure out what the effect will be on my growing Chaos army. But with the vehicle changes I expect something nasty to happen to the dakka predator I was planning. For reference a Dakka Predator (from Librarium Online):

Predator w/ AC + HB Sponsons + Havoc Launcher

Here we have the “dakka” predator. Capable of spewing out enough hot lead to choke a horse. This thing is usually seen running beside two of its AT brethren in larger sized games, the enemy should be so focused on killing the AT predators that this should receive little to no attention.

With the new rules, any movement over 6" will reduce this torrent of horse-choking lead, possibly making other units like heavy weapon Chosen or Havoc squads more useful.