LittleWars TV NUTS review

[brian]

Hey,

I haven’t watched it yet, but I follow littlewars tv on YouTube and apparently they did a review of NUTS?!

I haven’t seen an AAR for the game yet, which is a little odd. In the past, they’d play a game and then follow up with a review.

Brian

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Review

Check it out and post comments if you like. They were asking for actual players to comment and especially solo games as they aren't solo gamers.
Nice guys.

[atomicfloozy]

I liked the review. One of the things they didn't mention was that the THW reaction system was so innovative that gamers seasoned in other rule systems at the time found the game hard to get into. I had that problem & way back in 2011, I attended a small game convention where Ed was running a game & learned from the master. In fact, many of those who played in that game would run THW games at several conventions over the years.

As far as using a full platoon, I've found, for me anyway, that dropping the use of attributes for all, but the star really helps when playing with multiple squads.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

May 23, 2022 17:24:51 GMT atomicfloozy said:

I liked the review. One of the things they didn't mention was that the THW reaction system was so innovative that gamers seasoned in other rule systems at the time found the game hard to get into. I had that problem & way back in 2011, I attended a small game convention where Ed was running a game & learned from the master. In fact, many of those who played in that game would run THW games at several conventions over the years.

As far as using a full platoon, I've found, for me anyway, that dropping the use of attributes for all, but the star really helps when playing with multiple squads.

With me, it's about the rules and how they play. So, when they downrated it for not having color pictures, etc. I didn't care as it's really about the game. I've seen many great looking games that are terrible. Anyway, glad they took the time to do it.

[easyeight]

As far as using a full platoon, I've found, for me anyway, that dropping the use of attributes for all, but the star really helps when playing with multiple squads.

Yeah, that's what I do as well -- only the Star and maybe its immediate core squad get Attributes, every other figure doesn't get Attributes. That maintains the flavor of Attributes without bogging the game down at all.

[tb76]

I found with THW that I started learning by rolling dice rather than reading straight through the rule books. Once I made a few mistakes and adjusted, picked up the system quickly.

[saint19]

May 23, 2022 17:34:05 GMT Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy said:

May 23, 2022 17:24:51 GMT atomicfloozy said:

I liked the review. One of the things they didn't mention was that the THW reaction system was so innovative that gamers seasoned in other rule systems at the time found the game hard to get into. I had that problem & way back in 2011, I attended a small game convention where Ed was running a game & learned from the master. In fact, many of those who played in that game would run THW games at several conventions over the years.

As far as using a full platoon, I've found, for me anyway, that dropping the use of attributes for all, but the star really helps when playing with multiple squads.

With me, it's about the rules and how they play. So, when they downrated it for not having color pictures, etc. I didn't care as it's really about the game. I've seen many great looking games that are terrible. Anyway, glad they took the time to do it.

I don't really care if the illustrations are in color.  For one being legally blind, I found the contrast black on white, or switching to white on black nice.  Plus in FOW(which I didn't try to play after buying Hit the Beach) the font was tiny.  I thought the rules layout was ok.  Any problems I had were usually just me.

Michael

[bobd91]

It was the obvious pleasure that the reviewers had in playing the game that persuaded me to buy the rules.  The paper copy is still being printed by Amazon but Ed was very prompt in sending me the PDF to read. 

Like the posters above, I am not impressed by rule books with pretty pictures.  I will look at the rule book as little as possible once I have learned how to play.

That said, I was concerned at the difficulty the reviewers had in learning the game and wondered if I would struggle as well.  My first read through suggests that I might, but I haven't got figures and dice out yet so hopefully, as tb76 suggests, rolling some dice will help.

[phinster]

I thought the review quite fair. The rules are chart heavy but once understood is very enjoyable. The rules lay out is hard to understand initially, but the reaction system is brilliant. I own Nuts, ATZ, Colonial Adventures, Muskets and Mohawks, and 5150.

[brian]

May 24, 2022 16:12:11 GMT phinster said:

I thought the review quite fair. The rules are chart heavy but once understood is very enjoyable. The rules lay out is hard to understand initially, but the reaction system is brilliant. I own Nuts, ATZ, Colonial Adventures, Muskets and Mohawks, and 5150.

Yes, I agree. I feel like it was an honest assessment. I enjoy their content. They did a review of Disposable Heroes Two that was written by Keith Stine one of their own club members and content creators…it was straight forward and honest (the ending was hilarious)…I say all of that to say I think they’re pretty fair in their evaluations.

I too agree with the above posts that in order to play at a larger level you simply drop attributes or use them sparingly ( exceptional leaders, squad leaders, stars…etc).

I’ll try to comment on YouTube as well. It was good to see Ed’s rules getting some attention and videos! I also recommend Greg’s Wargaming World too!

Brian

[tb76]

Hi bobd91, what I did was just use a few figures and work on learning just the basic reaction system at first. Then I started working in attributes, cover modifiers, etc. I find I'm not the kind of person who can really grasp a concept by reading a rulebook, any rulebook, but things fall into place by "doing", even if a little at a time. Just goes to show my first grade teacher was right about my slow learning lol.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

May 24, 2022 19:15:04 GMT tb76 said:

Hi bobd91, what I did was just use a few figures and work on learning just the basic reaction system at first. Then I started working in attributes, cover modifiers, etc. I find I'm not the kind of person who can really grasp a concept by reading a rulebook, any rulebook, but things fall into place by "doing", even if a little at a time. Just goes to show my first grade teacher was right about my slow learning lol.

Nope, not slow learning. I used to go around the country opening stores and training for Starbucks.  I was taught that people learn in three ways. Reading, watching it being done and doing it themselves. None of them are better than the others. And training people how to use the espresso machine solidified it for me. Me? I have to do it myself.

[squarepeg]

Hey - I am here from the Little Wars TV review of NUTS. I have been looking at this wargame for a while now and I am going to pick up the core rules this payday. I really do not have anyone at the moment to play against due to current events. So a Solo Wargame such as NUTs sounds something I could do in the mean time.

[dakkadakka]

I just watched the review as well, which prompted me to download the two freebie games in order to check out the rules system. From what they showed of the rulebook, the Presentation part seemed pretty accurate. I’m still reading the Swordplay rules, so I can’t speak to the ease of learning the system. However, as far as the lack of pretty pictures, that doesn’t bother me either. I come from the age of the SPI monster games, with dozens of pages of rules, double column and single spaced, with little to no diagrams, and absolutely no photos. Reading a college textbook was easier!!

What I look for in a ruleset are diagrams explaining different rules. That is what helps me learn a game. Keep all your cool photos and cram in as many examples of play as you possibly can!! From what I’ve seen so far I really like not only the THW system, but also the substantial amount of support for this system. I’m looking forward to getting into it further.