Thread: User Review

Ilikegames — 2004-08-09T04:30:09+00:00

I played this game for the first time a couple of days ago, and we had a pretty good go at it. As it was our first game it took us a while to learn the rules (btw, I recommend getting the rewritten version from here on BGG).
The game plays fast, but with a lot of tactical depth (e.g. should I move this unit here; it would give me more firepower but break up this formation). Combat is mainly a dice-fest but with interesting choices to be made, particularly in the defender's use of terrain, which must be chosen in his own movement phase.
The game seems to reflect the battle itself well, with the Germans eventually (after a few days hard fighting) managing to break through the American line using the "blitz" movement rule; if a mech unit rolls a six in combat it may immediately move two grid squares through the enemy position.
On first play, therefore, the game seems to be well balanced, strategic, and fun, but with some luck involved in the die rolling and card-draw mechanisms. It was good, and I hope to play again very soon.

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2002-04-23T12:04:11+00:00

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2002-04-23T12:04:06+00:00

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-04-23T05:06:31+00:00

Well this was my first game of NUTS! After a thorough interpretation of the rules and scouring of the FAQ at Grognard.com we gave it a go with me taking on the Germans. We played the South deck alone (both decks together on the first try seemed too much). The Germans got off to a slow start but were finally able to open a gap through the Herborner Forrest. Quickly all three elements of the 2nd Panzer division were brought over from the center and pushed through to make a run for the Meuse river. The Semois and Meuse river cards had not made it into play and by day 7 I was well underway to a breakthrough following some resistance in the town of Mersch. Meanwhile, elements of Panzer Lehr and the 3rd Panzer Division were slowly pushing past the Our and Clerf Rivers. Patton was holed and surrounded under Wiltz causing an effective block to supply should I bypass the town. He finally took some hits with his unit and then failed a cohesion check in the following turn. Tye was having a tough time getting Allied reinforcements into play as they just weren't showing up. The 2nd Panzers made it to Sedan with all three elements and it looked like the end of the game by day nine... that's when the tables turned. Elements of the 10th US Division managed to get behind the 2nd Panzers cutting off their supply route. Then mud showed up when clear weather thawed the snow (and me without a foul weather card). That plus a traffic jam in Sedan only allowed only one element of the 2nd to clear the table on day 10. Then to make things worse, an airstrike on them caused enough damage that one of them failed the cohesion check (along with the lack of supply hit) and got wiped out, so only one other element of Panzers made it off the board on the following turn. US Airborne divisions started reinforcing Wiltz and Ettelbruck, and finally the river cards showed up for the Clerf (on which the bridges were proptly blown up by the Allies on the next turn). Finally I managed to get the 506th Panzer Brigade into play by turn 11, but now it looked bleak for them to make the breakthrough without running out of time or supply. The Panzer Lehr had fuel shortages and was pretty much demolished along with the 3rd Division trying to get past Bastogne. The Allies managed to delay and hold off the remaining German forces through the end of the game. Final score, Allies 1, Germans Nil. So close and yet so far. Overall, a fantastic, close game right until the end. I look forward to trying out the North deck which seems to have more German armor. I'll have to do a thumbs up review on this game at some point. The rules though are another story. There's a lot of questions that come up that even the FAQ didn't answer and they could use a complete overhaul. Once past that problem it's one of the best non-collectible card games I've played. I should add that we downloaded a copy of the printable map key from the Grognard, blew it up in size, laminated it all together and got a great "board" to play this card game on. My rating - 8 (would have been 9 if the rules were more clear).

Game: NUTS!

Thread: User Review

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Thread: Session Report