"Winter War Scenario #7 - The Finns attack" Topic

Rules: Nuts! by two hour wargames
The Finns are finally on the offensive

Kind of slow going at first, as the Finns manuevered into position, but plenty of action at the end!

Details:
link

Some teaser photos:

Holy-moley, what a setup, and what a fight! That was fantastic, though I feel compelled to point out that The Kauhu should have captured the field kitchen rather than destroy it ;)

Really cool stuff, loved seeing the ATRs and Molotov Cocktails in play, and very cool reading your comments on NUTS! Seemed like the Soviets had some very successful reinforcement rolls, and it was really looking ugly when the T-28 showed up with two more rifle squads, but the Finns did a great job separating the tank from its infantry and taking it out.

I look forward to more, and need to go read the previous batreps. Thanks for sharing!

V/R,
Jack

Joo hyvä! Kiitos!
I enjoy following your reports.

Finnish General Adolf Ehrnrooth was visiting England some time after the Talvisota, Jatkosota and Lapin Sota. A British general asked him how many Russian troops were stationed in Finland. "A few hundred thousand." answered Ehrnrooth. "Where were they stationed?" asked the British general. Ehrnrooth answered, "Two meters underground around the border."

There is another true quote from General Ehrnrooth, but it is quite grim and dark. I will leave it up for anyone to look up if they are interested.

- Rajala täällä

Buffalo

Next up is a contest with Dolin's Ski Brigade –
should be fun!

Interesting; am I stifled?

Jack

Jack;
Not by me

Sorry man if I seemed a bit sensitive, just I'd been checking back and saw you'd responded, but only to Buffalo. I love chatting about wargaming and you've been pretty prolific posting batreps (I read all of the Winter War posts and just saw the SSgt Rockstar batreps), so was looking forward to opening a dialogue.

Additionally, I'm primarily a solo gamer and very interested in NUTS! but can't seem to figure it out, and you've clearly cracked the code.

V/R,
Jack

Just Jack
Actually I appreciated your comment very much. I should have said so earlier.
Would be happy to discuss things. I am a long time gamer (my first board game was my older brother getting me to play Avalon Hill's Waterloo in about 1970 – I was 9 – LOL). I started miniature wargames in about 1983.
I have always lived in more or less rural areas. For the last 16 years I have lived in a small Calif Gold Rush town (10x bigger pop in 1849 as today). So I am mostly solo too – especially now as an empty nester.
I say that because I found Nuts! to have a bit of a learning curve, even for an experienced wargamer. And I suspect I wore out the forum asking questions. But I think that is the beauty of it. There's a curve because it is different – and for me it's the difference that makes it so much fun.
Feel free to ask me anything you like; I shall be more attentive in the future.

To all
I write my batreps mostly for my own amusement. But I do get great pleasure that others like them as well.
Thanks for you replies.

Korvessa,

No worries. You've got a ton more miles under your belt in wargaming, and yes, that's been exactly my issue. I've read the rules a number of times (and have a few different versions) and love the concepts I'm seeing, but there seems to be a rhythm to NUTS! that I just can't seem to figure out when I get it to the table. I've had some success when I play a squad or less on the table, but I want to do platoon-level (like you are) and it just seems to fall apart for me, really bogs down.

I appreciate the offer; I'm going to keep reading as many of your batreps as I can find and glean what I can from them, and will back to you with specific questions.

V/R,
Jack

Just Jack
Sounds good.

Are you familiar with the forum? If not, can be found here:
link
Ed (the rules author) is very good about answering questions

One of the biggest realzations for me was that the "Reaction sequence" doesn't end your turn, it just temporarily inerrupts it (as long as you end up with a "carry on" result).

For example, suppose you have a group that moves half their move and then reacts to an enemy force. If they are successful and get a "carry on" to any casualties, they can finish their move. This may even result in another reaction.

Korvessa,

Negative, I didn't realize THW had its own forum. That place is a goldmine, thanks!

V/R,
Jack

You are welcome.

One other hint. If you like the bigger games, like I do, the size of the table makes a difference. I play on a 6x4.
The size doesn't matter for the rules, as long as you can divide it into 9 equal sections.
Basically, it takes longer to scout out a larger table. And the more turns you have, the bigger the chance you have a rolling enemy reinforcements or new possible enemy forces.

Yeah, I like the idea of using the 6' x 4' table for platoons games. I bought Nuts Big Battles a couple years ago but I'm looking to just stick with platoon-size like you're doing. I'd like to go on a 4' x 4' table, but I think the 6' x 4' will help with the look (with 28mm being relatively large).

I'm thinking to start out on 4' x 4', maybe even 3' x 3', for my test games, using a late war US Marine rifle squad and team-sized (rather than squad-sized) PEFs. The Marine rifle squad had a Sergeant running it and three four-man fireteams, so kind of a cut down platoon (platoon commander and three squads) to help me learn with the same amount of units but not as many troops, while I learn.

Going through all the threads at THW is fascinating, helping to put some stuff in perspective, but still won't be cemented until I sit down and start working through the processes on the table.

In the past I've gotten frustrated, I didn't have a good grasp and things just bogged down into a "roll dice, consult chart" spiral of death. It always felt like there's a rhythm you're supposed to fall into that I just wasn't getting to. Certainly not all rules work for everyone, but I really feel like there's a great game in there if I can just crack the code.

V/R,
Jack