Team BBC is Off the Air

The other night I played my 3rd game of Nuts! using the Chocolate & Cigarettes rules, and the 10th game of Nuts! Final Version. 

The picture speaks volumes:

No custard tarts today.

Things got off to a bad start when the first PEF resolved as a squad with 6 members and Deacon was knocked out of the fight. That was on turn 1. 

Although Hardcastle killed the German NCO, and managed to drive off the LMG crew (they passed 0 on Man Down test and left the battlefield), the Germans ended up receiving a reinforcement of another LMG crew on the next turn, so no gain there.

Both Peacock and Hardcastle were eventually dropped as Out of Fight as seen above. So, they aren't dead, but they are undoubtedly prisoners of war now. 

Perhaps an escape scenario will occur at some point in the future?

****
As for Nuts! Final Version, this was the 10th game in the 10 game challenge. There is no doubt in my mind that the experiment proved its worth. I feel  I know the game far better than I knew the previous edition and I've given it a genuinely fair shake.

I think the Chocolate & Cigarettes size games work quite well, although I had no chance to use any of the challenge rules for the additional character stats. This was a result of the scenario choices I made and not a function of the rules. Maybe if I play an escape scenario, they will see some use.

I won't be using Nuts! as my default squad to platoon rules, but will Nuts! Final Version : Chocolate & Cigarettes become a staple? 

I recently acquired Five Men in Normandy, so, some day I'll be trying those out, but in the meantime, I think Nuts! FV: C&C is just about perfect for this type of game, providing lot's of action and drama with just a few figures per side.

More Nuts! Chocolate & Cigarettes : Escort the Wounded

I decided on an "escort the wounded" scenario for my second go at Chocolate & Cigarettes.

Operation: Hyacinth - Team BBC must escort a wounded army private out of enemy territory, i.e. across the table.

OOB (I left these details out last time. Oops.):

• Lt. Corporal Hardcastle - Rep 5, Fit: 5, Pep: 3, Sav: 4, Tough, Steely Eyes, Exceptional Fixer, Smooth
• Lance Cpl. Peacock - Rep 5, Fit 3, Pep: 5, Sav: 4, Initiative, Smooth, has a hunk of cheese
• Pvt. Deacon - Rep 5, Fit 3, Pep: 5, Sav:4, Hard as Nails, Attractive
• "The Walking Wounded" - Rep 3, temporarily Rep 2 per scenario setup

As part of the scenario, the wounded can only move a maximum of twice their Rep. So, yeah, FOUR INCHES.

Good lord.

Here's the table with Team BBC and enemy PEFs in place:

[Turn 1, Germans 6, Brits 3. German PEFs won't move.]

Our heroes move through some woods. Hardcastle and Peacock take the lead to make sure there aren't any surprises.

[Turn 2, Germans 2, Brits 1, PEFS all pass two dice and move 8" towards Team BBC]

A surprise was indeed making its way towards them: a single SS-Panzergrenadier armed with an assault rifle. 

Peacock got the draw on the kraut and blasted away. 

His aim wasn't good enough.

[Peacock won the In-Sight check 3-0, he fired and scored enough to hit, but when checking the result, the enemy ended up merely knocked down and able to carry on.]

The German fired at Peacock who ducked back into cover under the barrage of bullets.

[Peacock passed 1 on his crisis test, and, since he has a BA Rifle, he is outgunned and ducks back]

Hardcastle raced up to join the fracas, but the SS trooper was ready. Dodging bullets and unphased, Hardcastle unleashed a fury from his SMG that dropped the enemy.

[Hardcastle moved up and triggered another In-Sight. The German won 4 to 1, I held my breath and hoped for the best: he missed! Hardcastle took a crisis test for receiving fire and passed 2. Even though he was outgunned, as a star I could choose his reaction, so, he returned fire and dropped the dastardly German; Jean would be proud. ]

[Turn 3 the team advanced. The sides tied for initiative on turns 4 and 5 ]

Hardcastle crossed the crest of the hill and hit the dirt as movement from the hill to his right and front caught his eye. A tense few moments passed until he realized it was just his nerves and that his mind had drifted to custard tarts.

[A PEF moved over the top o the hill and passed 0 dice to resolve.Right about now I was starting to feel pretty good.

Turns 7 and 8, the team continued their advance, going prone immediately after moving. This costs half movement to stand the next activation but, as I finally learned, the benefit when receiving fire is totally worth it.

On Turn 8, the Brits scored a 4 for initiative and the Germans a 3. With a total of 7, I could have checked to see if the Brits got reinforcements, but like I said, I was feeling pretty good.

Never a good sign.]

Peacock had leap frogged past Hardcastle to the hill to their front and took up a position watching the forest to their right. Something was out there.

This time Lione's hunches weren't custard card dreams, but an SS LMG team. In his haste, Hardcastle opened fire but was wide of the mark. The LMG fired at Peacock and dropped him, wounded. Then they turned their gun on Hardcastle and by the luck of the gods, missed him. 

[For the In-Sight, since Peacock and Hardcastle were two different groups for activation purposes, each of them took the test separately.

Hardcastle scored 3 successes
Peacock and the LMG team tied with 2. On their re-roll, the LMG team scored 2 successes, while Peacock only scored 1.

For the sake of activation it means that Hardcastle gets to act, then the LMG team, and then reactions are taken and the active side completes their activation if they can. 

As noted on the last page of the rules, it's not about winning In-Sight, but about not losing it.]

In a hail of bullets, Hardcastle dropped the gunner. The loader, unable to return fire, ducked out of sight.

[The LMG team passed 1 for their crisis test for received fire, which resulted in a snap fire at Hardcastle. Their results: 444321. All miss because he is prone.

For Lionel, I put 2 dice on the gunner and 1 for the loader. Boom! Obviously Dead result for the gunner.

The loader passed his crisis test for man down with 2 dice, but he was outgunned, so ducked back.]

The firefight continued between Hardcastle and the loader, who, seizing initiative, grabbed the MG-42 and opened up on Our Hero.

[Three of the dice hit and one resulted in an OOF. 

But, Lionel is the star and has Star Power. He scored three successes and shifted the OOF to knock down but carry on (he's already prone, so there's no knocking down) ]

Bullets whizzed by his helmet, one ripping a hole in his sleeve. Angered at the damage to his fastidiously maintained uniform, he dropped the loader cold in his tracks.

Even before the last gurgle of life left the German, Hardcastle ran to Peacock to ready to carry him out.

[On Turn 11, the initiative summed up to 7, in favor of the Germans. This led to a new PEF right next to Deacon and the wounded.

SON OF A &%#!@!*&%]

[Fortunately it only passed 1 die, and resolved to nothing. Thankfully, no additional PEFs appeared before the team made it across the table. ]

Mission : Success!

After the mission, I checked for Peacock's status (a rule I had missed on EVERY PREVIOUS GAME PLAYED) and he passed two dice, meaning he returns to the squad for the next mission.

Impressions of Chocolate & Cigarettes : RPG-Lite / Small Scale Skirmish

Chocolate & Cigarettes is a system included with Nuts! Final Edition from THW. This is something new for this edition. It also happens to tap what I think is the sweet spot for THW systems: very small scale skirmish with 3-5 figures making up the entirety of the player's force.

Three skills are used to differentiate your characters beyond REP: Fitness, People and Savvy. There are two additional attribute tables to be used in addition to the attributes normally used during the generation of the player's force. Finally, characters have the possibility of carrying special items that may or may not be useful on the mission (chocolate and cigarettes among them).

Although the regular mechanisms are still used, there is a system for Opposed and Unopposed Challenges - something common to any number of RPGs, lite or otherwise. I like this as it shows that actions more typical of role-playing are expected in these missions.

For my first mission, I brought out my Conte British Paratroopers, hereafter referred to as Corporal Lionel Hardcastle, Lance Corporal Alistair Deacon and Pvt. Stephen Peacock aka Team BBC.

Intel had located a high ranking German officer enjoying a holiday on a remote farm in rural France. Hardcastle and his team were called on to parachute into the area under cover of dark, make their way to the farm and capture the officer. They would rendezvous with the transport team in a village some 3 miles away.

[Night scenarios limit visibility to 12"]

The drop went swimmingly and the team descended on the farm, approaching through a small patch of woods to the south.

Utilizing the hills to their right for additional cover, the team swept right over the crest of the hills, and moved unseen towards the buildings.

[The PEF on my right advanced towards us but was found to be nothing]

On Hardcastle's signal, Peacock and Deacon stormed towards the back of the yellow building, while Hardcastle himself covered the front. 

[The building PEF resolved as nothing, meaning I'd roll 3d6 when entering the building.

The leftmost PEF advanced into range of Hardcastle. It revealed a lone guard on duty]

A lone guard tromped through the darkness, whistling a folk tune. He caught a glimpse of Hardcastle and brought his gun up to his shoulder, but he was too slow.

[Hardcastle won the In Sight and gunned the man down. ]

[Although it's not written anywhere, I really should have tested to see if anyone in the buildings reacted to this but I didn't. To my knowledge, as written, building PEFs don't leave the building (unless they're revealed to be troops]

Peacock and Deacon cleared out the building while Hardcastle kept watch for enemy reinforcements. The building was empty. With no welcoming party other than the lone guard, the team stormed the second building.

[Building PEF was nothing, so 3d6 when door opened. Rather than use the Ready the Grenade test, I used a Savvy challenge, and then did the same with kicking down the door, and putting the pin back IN the grenade after the first floor PEF turned out to be nothing. The upstairs PEF had to be the objective.]

With nowhere left to hide, the team rightly believed the officer must be on the upper floor and Hardcastle joined his men racing up the back stairs.

[I tested In Sight and the German Officer won. I decided to forgo the way the rules usually work and had him dash down the front stairs - that I didn't know existed until I rolled some dice: Does he engage them in a fire fight? 1- Yes and he's turned over a table so he has cover, 2-3 - yes but only until he can fight his way to the front stairs, 4-5 No, but he takes off running down the stairs, 6 No and he surrenders. I rolled a 4. ]

[He won the initiative for the next turn and took off running for the woods and out of sight.]

Team BBC raced down the steps behind the officer. 

[Thankfully the Officer then rolled a 6 for initiative, which meant no action for him. This allowed the team to get within range.]

Unable to catch him, they opened fire and dropped him in his tracks.

Mission : Failed!

***
This is more like it. 

A handful of figures makes it easy to keep track of everything, not too much dice rolling and a loose RPG-Lite feel. In fact, I imagine I could run a solo RPG using this system, and only break out the miniatures when combat necessitated it.

Nuts! Final Edition : Some Pictures and Reflections

I already see the point of the 10 games, 10 times challenge : it's all too easy to miss things in the first second, or even third play. It is not enough to just read rules, you need to PLAY them. 

And play I did - 3 more games of Nuts! - bringing my total to four, so far. 

Because I know I'm playing ten games, there is incentive to play the next one and make sure I fix any mistakes I made previously. I want to make sure that I'm not assuming things, so there was a lot of page flipping, with games taking around 2 hours to play and document. 

There is definitely a learning curve, as with all but the simplest rules. I missed things each game, mostly related to the control of the non-player force, but by the fourth, I had much of it committed to memory, or at least knew where to look when I wanted to be sure of my understanding.

Patrol Mission Setup. '44. France Somewhere.

I even found the rule I was hoping for regarding multiple groups and the In Sight test on what would be page 104, if it was numbered.   Unfortunately, it only made the matter a tiny bit less foggy.

Germans pinning down my men in the yellow farm house. Sarge and Pvt. Harry move up to lob grenades.
I'm not sure about the logistics of tossing grenades over hedgerows, but it sounded right.

Looks like things might go my way, right? Nope.
Despite their losses, Germans would kill or capture the entire team in the yellow farmhouse.

Second game.
Mission : Defend
Enemy Objective : Exit from my edge of the table.
I took my squad (dubbed 1st squad) and another squad, aptly called 2nd squad)
I made the Sarge a Star, and rolled up attributes per the rules for all of 1st squad.

I had the bright idea to send 2nd squad's BAR team up to identify the last PEF.
Turns out there was one in the ruined building.
(all buildings automatically contain a Potential Enemy)

The figure top center lobbed a grenade up over the hill and that was followed by the remainder of the Germans charging into melee. Melee is brutal, as seen here.
Red 6s are Dead, Red 3s are Out of Fight.

A chaotic and deadly melee at that.
You can see 1st squad, bottom left, trying to join the fight.

On a combined score of 7 for initiative, the higher rolling side gets to roll for reinforcements. Germans rolled high:
It's only a squad because I ran out of figures for the "rest of platoon" called for.
I decided my forces would fall back with the wounded.

The biggest thing I have learned so far is: 

If i had been in charge of the US forces in WWII, Hitler would have conquered North America.

Setup for 3rd game.
Mission : Defend.
Enemy Objective : Eliminate us.
I took a whole platoon sans HQ this time.

Everyone in the clear is actually prone (both sides), except the guys on the road.
They are running, but they are sitting ducks.

His last moments caught on camera.

This is just the 2nd turn! Do not get caught in the open!

This game lasted all of 4 turns before 2nd and 3rd squad retreated off table (by my decision, not game mechanics) and first squad was reduced to 2 men as they tried to flank the Germans in the woods.

To that I would also add, I need to throw out all of my six-siders, because clearly they have a pro-German bias

Make no mistake. These games have been enjoyable - full of emotion high and low, and I'm looking forward to the next game. 

Speaking of, the next game will be a patrol on the Eastern front; perhaps my Soviets will fare better. 

But, first, I should probably read up on small unit tactics, because clearly, I have no idea what I am doing!

Nuts! Final Edition : First Patrol AAR pt 3 (In Sight, Shooting, Crisis Tests)

We now resume our battle already in progress...

The Germans are all REP 4 and so would roll 4 dice for In Sight, except they are active, so they only roll 3. The US leader, Sargent Orecchiette, is Rep 5, and so rolls 5 dice - except the Germans are concealed and thus rolls only 4.

A success is a 1,2, or 3 - we tie with 1 success each. In case of tie, the rules say roll again, so, I roll again. The second time, the Germans win it 3:1.

My men are totally in the open (I thought about having them go prone at the end of their move, but then thought, "Nah! I got this." ) and so the results are horrific.

The MG-42 rolls 6 dice and targeted the first 3 men. A rule I don't remember from Nuts! 2.0 is that for every inch between figures, the shooter has to allocate 1 die to the empty space. 

The rifles and SMG target 1 each.

• Theodotous, was hit, but passed 2, so he is knocked down but can carry on.
• Irongrim is Out of the Fight and Blarg is Out of the Fight
• Orecchiette also passes 2 and is knocked down but can carry on normally.
• Pvt Linkat  was both fired on and suffered a man down, so he rolls the dice once and checks to see which is the worse result- he passed two and between those choices, the result for Man Down was worse EXCEPT he was Outgunned and he should have Ducked Back.

The PEF in the woods advances through the German line and thankfully is nothing.

Turn 5 -Germans 4, US 1

Well, crap!

Before I did anything else, I had to check to see if the Germans will pursue their objective. So, I rolled on the NP Pursuing the Objective table (p. 76) vs. their Rep of 4. They passed 1 die and since I wasn't on the enemy's flank, they would move in accordance with their objective.

Wait. What was their objective?

Under the NP (non-player) Enemy section it notes that on your first patrol, they are on a patrol (1-2), Defend (3-4), or Attack (5-6). I rolled a 6, so they were on an Attack mission. I decided that their objective would be to take the red-roofed farm house.

With that squared away, I rolled on the NP Infantry Movement - Attack table.

They had 2x as many figures as I had on the table (not Out of the Fight, that is) and got a bonus die. Of course, they passed 2 and their tactic would be to fire with the LMG team, while the rifle team moved around to my left.

The MG-42 opened fire on Orecchiette , Linkat and Theodotus

• Theodotus is hit, no damage, but he scores a knock down result. He's already down, so he stays there.
• Linkat is Out of the Fight.
• Orecchiette  is not hit, but received fire. He scored a carry on,but he's outgunned, so he stays prone (but now in Duck Back).

The   rifle team then advanced and opened fire - Orecchiette is killed, Theodotus is Out of the Fight.

this picture was taken after turn 6, but it shows the aftermath of turn 5.

Malazar and Manchiever attempted to fast move around the house but I rolled 5 and 6, so Malazar made it, but Manchiever, a Rep 3, passed 0d6 and can’t keep up.

Since Malazar came into LOS, I had the sides check for In Sight. 

The Germans had two groups (at this point, the MG-42 team was still in the woods). Each group rolled its own In Sight. 

Malazar beat them both, and got the jump on the Germans. He opened up on the LMG gunner and missed.

The gunner passed 1 on his Crisis Test, and since he's not outgunned, he snap fired. Malazar is hit, but he passes 2d6 and  is only knocked down.

Turn 6 - Germans 2 , US 1

The last PEF advances into LOS of Malazar and Manchiever - I roll to see what it is and pass 0d6. WOO!! Finally, some luck!

I check on the NP Pursuing the Objective table and then the NP Infantry Movement - Attack table: the Germans advance and regroup.

I'm outnumbered and outgunned. And, since discretion is the better part of valor, I have Malazar and Manchiever scuttle off the table.

Nuts! Final Edition : First Patrol AAR pt 2

We resume our patrol (click the pictures to enlarge).

After these pictures were taken, I decided to add some stone walls to the houses. Such is life.

Turn 1 - I rolled 1d6 per side and tied with 6s. That's greater than the Interest Level of 2, so no random event.

Turn 2 - Again I rolled doubles this time 2s. Because that's less than or equal to the IL, a random event is triggered (random events are optional. I like them, so I figured what the heck. I mean, how bad could it be?

I dutifully rolled on the random event table and got sniper. Since I was treating my squad as 2 groups (Cpl. Malazar, Pvt. Perceval and Pvt. Manchiever in one, and all the rest in the other), per the rules, I rolled first to see which group the sniper would target, and then which figure in the group.

As luck would have it, the sniper targeted the BAR group, and shot at the gunner, Pvt Perceval. To resolve the attack, I rolled 1d6 to add to the sniper's Rep 4 and scored a hit (which was easy since the target was in the open). 

The d6 for damage was 4, and since the Impact of the weapon is only 3, Pvt Perceval got a chance to escape death.

Rolling 2d6 on the Infantry Reaction Test, using the Recover Test row, Perceval, at Rep 5, had a good chance to skate through. 6 and 2. Oops. He only passed 1 and was Out of the Fight.

I rolled a Crisis Test (Man Down) for Malazar and Manchiever - Manchiever, at Rep 3, unsurprisingly passed only 1 and he hit the dirt (duck back-goes prone) but Cpl. Malazar stood tall.

Turn 3 - I rolled and AGAIN tied, this time with 5s. I figured it was time to switch dice.

Turn 4 - US 4, Germans 3.That's more like it.

And here, because the total is 7, I should have checked to see if I got reinforcements, since my die was higher. But I forgot to do it! Noooooo!

Malazar ordered Manchiever to grab the BAR as they moved to get a bead on the farm house.

When there's a building, the assumption is there's a PEF inside which gets resolved when you're within LOS and 12". 

Rolled 2d6 against the Enemy Interest Level to see if PEF in building was anything.

this picture was taken at the end of the US 1/2 of the turn, hence the narrative inconsistency.

The building PEF resolved by pass one die - this means nothing is there, but,the next PEF roll will use 3d6 to resolve, and take the two lowest.

Orecchiette's group took off for a Fast Move towards the house - unlike the previous editions, the Fast Move rule is written as +1/2 movement for each d6 passed. I rolled 1 set of d6 for the group: 2, 6. That means the all pass one. Movement is 8", so 12" total (8" + (1/2 * 8") ).

The German half of the turn:

The PEF farthest from my force passed two dice, and as a result moved 8" towards me, using the hill and 2nd building as cover.

The next farthest from me also passed two dice, moved 8" to the edge of the woods and triggered an In Sight between the PEF and Sgt. Orecchiette's group.

First I had to resolve the PEF though.

Because of the result I got for the building PEF, I rolled 3d6 instead of 2d6 vs the Enemy Interest Level, counting the lowest two. The PEF passed two dice. A roll of a single d6 told me to roll on the Enemey Reinforcements Table, rather than the Enemy Defensive Position table. When I rolled on the reinforcements table for the Germans, I found it was an infantry squad.

Germans get 5 + 1d6 men per squad and I rolled a 4.

Ugh. I guess it could have been worse.

Up next, the In Sight check, shooting and chaos!

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.

Nuts! Final Edition - 1st Impressions

As I noted on Friday, I received my print copy of Nuts! Final Edition from THW (I got the PDF immediately on purchase, but I only skimmed it).

Borrowing the approach taken in CR3:FV, the book has review paragraphs and sample situations that gives it a workbook like feel. I think this is a good approach but it would help if they showed the answers to the questions somewhere (For those that are not directly in the text itself. if they're there, I haven't seen them yet).

Most of the first 29 pages is similar or identical to Nuts! 2.0. The most obvious difference is the In Sight check.

Unlike Nuts! 2.0, both sides take the test. This check is based on, but not identical to the test in CR3:FV. Instead of individuals acting in order of number of successes, the group with the leader that scores the most successes gets to take an action, in order of REP, while the other group can only react. 

One thing not addressed, or not clearly, is how to handle things when an active group (Side A) triggers the In Sight for two or more enemy groups (Side B). The problem specifically is the modifiers - if one group for Side B has concealment and one group does not, does Side A subtract a d6 or not?

I decided that yes, they did. For those not inclined to make their own rulings, I suggest submitting questions to the THW discussion forum. They are VERY responsive.

The second notable change is the reduction of reaction checks. The familiar checks are still there, but the table is better organized and looks less intimidating. 

I've only worked through some contrived examples, but, so far, I am quite happy with these rules - the In Sight looks like it might eliminate some of the frustrations I felt with the previous incarnation.

For me, the real test will be trying to run a game with a platoon , using the War Against Japan supplement (that supplement assumes a platoon vs platoon or more as the standard encounter, rather than squads that you find in the core book). I'll probably give that a go this week.

Nuts! Final Version Arrived! (Plus some other stuff that arrived not too long ago)

I went out to the mailbox today and to my surprise, my printed copy of the Nuts! Final Version rulebook was there.

Since I've ordered and received several sets of rules in the last month or so, I thought I'd do a group shot:

The Pacific was a find at the library book sale two weeks ago. It's quite a tome compared to my usual reading, so it might be a while before I can muster the fortitude to confront it. I also just finished No Bended Knee: the Battle for Guadalcanal, so I could use a break from the PTO for now.

The WWI rules were inspired by my reading of The Guns of August (a book I thoroughly enjoyed). Until I read The Guns of August I had only a barebones grasp of WWI. I'm not saying I'm an expert now, but I know more than I did and that's a start. And I find I want to read more about it. 

So, yeah, I fear a new wargaming period in my future.