Nuts! Final Edition : First Patrol AAR pt 1

Rather than dive in with a platoon vs platoon game, I decided to send a squad out on a patrol mission (p .74). 

First I generated the terrain, using the rules on page 59. It's pretty much the same as previous editions. 

The board's overall terrain type was clear but individual sections had hills, woods and buildings as follows:

Section 1 - Clear
Section 2 - Hill
Section 3 - Hill
Section 4 - Woods
Section 5 - Clear
Section 6 - Building
Section 7 - Clear
Section 8 - Building
Section 9 - Clear

To generate my force, up to a full squad, I used the American force table (identical to Nuts! 2.0). US squads start with 7 + 1d6 men. And i rolled a 1. Of course.

Interestingly, in Nuts! 2.0, the Patrol mission was called Reconnaissance Patrol and you could take up to a platoon. I much prefer the smaller force for a patrol.

I decided the NCO would be a Rep 5, but I'd roll for the rest. And the dice were very kind (some of you may recognize the names):

Sgt. Orecchiette - Rep 5 - SMG
Cpl. Malazar - Rep 5 - SA Rifle
Pvt. Perceval - Rep 5 - BAR
Pvt. Linkat - Rep 5 - SA Rifle
Pvt. Irongrim - Rvp 4 - SA Rifle
Pvt. Theodotus - Rep 4 - SA Rifle
Pvt. Blarg - Rep 4 - SA Rifle
Pvt. Manchiever- Rep 3 -SA Rifle

I opted not to use a Star, and I left off the attributes, to keep things simple for my first real attempt at using this edition.

As in Nuts! 2.0, the scenarios in the core rules have a list of the steps to take to set them up, with references to the necessary pages in the rule book.

• My first step was to establish my Investment Level. In Nuts! 2.0 this was called Activity Level. The Investment Level is functions the same, as far as I can tell - the big difference is that it isn't randomly generated
•  According to the rules, both sides start with an IL of 3. Except, patrols are 1 level lower, so both the US and the Germans will start with an Investment Level of 2.

• Which also takes care of the second step, Establish the Enemy Investment Level.

• I decided my squad would enter in section 7.

• I generated 3 PEFs (Possible Enemy Force) markers, 1 behind the crest line of the hill in 3, 1 in the woods in 4, and 1 behind the woods in 4.

• In Final Edition, all PEFs are Rep 4 and I can imagine why this was changed: in the previous edition you rolled 2d6, and kept the lower as the Rep, which half of the time led to very low Rep PEFs that didn't move much if ever. Still, as a solo gamer, I might use the old method now and again for the variety it provides.

At this point, the table is ready for play to begin. I'll continue the write-up in the next post.