Nuts! a WW2 armoured battle report Germany vs Russia



In case YT fails here is the raw text I used in the video:
WARNING the below was generated using android text to speech. I cleaned it up a little bit but it is probably full of odd words and errors. Read at your won risk, I strongly suggest watching the report instead :)


Good morning tankers commanders!


in today's battle report we are going in for some armoured action in NUTS a world war two game by TwoHourWargames. before we begin two things need to be mentioned.

First, this report is most certainly NOT historically accurate, I am are aware of that, my priority is to maximize the entertainment of the report not to focus on accuracy.

Second, if you are unfamiliar with TwoHourWargames chain reaction system I highly suggest that you check it out by yourself. Knowing the system can provide more entertainment is not a mandatory requirement. As an introductory, I will only mention that it is a very interesting divergence from the standard I go U go model namely it allows units to react to changing battlefield conditions outside of their turn

The most widely used is the insight test - it is performed by tank commanders (in this particular game as they come into the line of sight of one another. 


once that happens both parties roll the test and the person who has more successes (or is the active side in case of a tie) can act depending on how many successes they actually rolled. This means that for example an enemy unit can move in it's turn, come in sight and despite it not being my turn I could be able to activate and react first. If you are interested in knowing more about the chain reaction system leave a comment below and I will prepare a separate video on that topic.



Winter 1942 somewhere on the eastern front. late night with little starlight and snowfall (visibility reduced to 16 inches,  which thanks to "interesting" initiative rolls is reduced to 12 inches before the actual fighting begins. The two forces need to capture the remains of a burned down fire school each of the buildings has a limited structure strength which means that if one side sees that it's chances for victory are dwindling they can start blasting at the buildings in order to level them and deny the victory to the enemy

The German forces consist of four machines each crewed by a veteran crew (which means half of the crew knows what they are doing and a half (usually drivers and loaders) are green rookie replacements
 

StuG III B

Panzer III Auf F "Brawuhr"

Panzer III Auf J "Pride"

Panzer III Auf F "Klappe" 


These forces will be under my command 


My opponent Peter will be commanding the Russian forces which consist of six machines three BT 7 and three t-34 all crewed by regular crews (meaning there is probably a veteran tank commander and a bunch of rookies)



In the cover of night and snow both groups approach


Germans split into two groups, Brawuhr and Pride move in a line while Stug and klappe slip through the buildings,


at the same time one t34 and a single bt7  break off north while the rest head eastand split in two to meet  the germans


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The assault begins with the Russian t34 manoeuvring through the dense woods and  catching Klappe as it decided to ride a bit too far

Russians fail the in sight test while Klappe has just enough luck to try a shot at -1 gunery so rolling on twos. Hans - The tank commander gives the order and jurgen firesa shell at the position where the Russian tank should have been if it did not stop dead in it's tracks! The loader is having some difficulties with the round so the gun is not ready to fire again!

Seeing that shots were fired the BT7 drives up and can spot Klappe through the dense snow. In sight is rolled and again the Russians fail to do anything. If Klappe's gun was properly loaded it might have fired but the occasion is lost.


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The second attack group rides north. 
The leading BT7 speeds through a hill and tries to go through some light trees to pass unnoticed behind the building. Luck would have it that a smaller tree gets entangled into the tank threads and forces the machine to move very slowly to handle the issue


The t34 follows in its trail using it as a safe travel path

Being a bigger machine it's not quite able to reach the hill 


The final t34 takes up position behind some woods to cover the third forest opening  with that action all ways into the forest are covered with Soviet tanks 



Pride drives up at half speed and notices the BT7 laying in ambush! Germans win the in sight and open fire!


The shot although hastily aligned connects with the turret, penetrates and blasts the Russian tank commander to Valhalla. The force of the explosion destroys the turret rotation mechanism making it stuck in a forward-facing position. The driver panics tries to turn the tank left and drive away but in all of the action forgets that there is a friendly tank in front of it and thus rams its side 


fortunately for the Russians, the collision ends with no major damage to any of their machines



next klappe activates and reloads properly. it turns a bit to face the t34 with its front armour and again opens fire



klappe strzela trafia w gąsienice i unieruchamia nieprzyjaciela następnie ma problem z przełądowaniem więc wycofuje się aby wyjść z pola widzenia 


Brawuhr rides up behind the pride and puts a bullet through the previously damaged BT7. The projectile hits the turret killing the loader and destroying the machine.

Its loader has some hard issues with preparing the gun and as a result, it is unoperational till the next turn.



Stug moves in a bit forward to try and finish of the immobilized t34 in sight is rolled and the Stug wins.  A shot is fired and hits the front armour but glances off the heavy plate. Again the loader fails to reload.


the t34 responds in kindness it turret swings at the stug and a round is fired the round clanks off the armour but it's more than enough to break the nerves of the crew which decides to pull back and run



ROUND 2 


Germans win the initiative and can activate first


Brawuhr moves forward and triggers an in sight with the last fully operational tank

In sight is rolled and both parties score two successes, in our games the active side wins ties so germans open fire


Shot connects but clanks off the thick frontal armour

Russians respond by firing at Brawuhr the shot also clanks the difference between the two tanks armour and armament works to my disadvantage  Brawuhrs morale is tested and they decide to withdraw for now



After using Brawuhr as bait the pride rolls out for the kill!


The Russian loader was unable to reload the main gun so the machine is a sitting duck.


Pride rides up and opens fire and scores a hit! Which unfortunately bounces of the thick armour. This time however the difference in armament and the fact that they can not open fire forces the Russians to fall back effectively stopping the southern flank assault




klappe moves up to a better position to avoid any unexpected attack from the northern attack group


The aforementioned group moves through the trees carving a path in the forest

setting up in formation in preparation of the next turn



The final activation for the turn is the winter BT7 


it rushes forward with all of its speed winning the insight test along the way taking a hard turn at the end and firing almost point-blank into klappes side


the shot is deadly! it penetrates the armour and explodes the ammunition reserves making the turret pop up and fall back down fire consumes the wreckage as the entire crew is killed and the tank wrecked





New Round Germans win the initiative


Stug starts off by firing a round into thee winter BT7 although not perfectly aligned the round penetrates the relatively thin turret armour  and explodes killing all inside wrecking the machine.


Loader failed to reload so the commander orders a fall back to get out of potential enemy fire.



On the southern flank The pride backs up and rallies the panicked Brawuhr. Althou no longer controlled by fear Hans the tank commander orders the driver to fall back to gain a moment to regain their breath. 



The northern group separates, BT plows forward through the snow manoeuvring to avoid the hard terrain


While the accompanying t34 number 510 takes a right turn and  takes up position behind the burning wrecks in preparation of a next turn ambush 


The final t34 the 102 charges forward at the pride. Russians fail the in sight so Germans open fire but fail to do any damage. Russians retaliate but miss completely 


both loaders struggle to reload but for the first ( and I think last ) time in the game the german loader actually does his job


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In a stroke of good fortune the russians win the initiative but are only able to activate tanks with commanders with a reputation of 5 meaning only the last bt7 will get to move this turn!!



Using it tromendeus speed it sprints around the buildings and tries to take a jump on the unprepared stug. The gun commander however is prepared!

russians fail the in sight completely while the gun commander has two successes, just enough to manoeuvre his gun so that the enemy will have to take shots to it's front armour rather than the side 



Pride continues its duel with the 102 this time the roundpenetrates the hull and kills the radio operator - the least useful of the three man crew while not nearly wrecking the hit is enough to break it's drivers nerves. He looses control of the machine as it breaks down and the remaining crew abandons their tank


Using it's remaining move pride backs up and changes facing looking for new prey


Brawuhr sets up in cover to ambush any incoming machines


last but not least the stug. Loader signals that the gun is ready, Aim and FIRE The round penetrates the hull killing the driver. That's more than enough to force the rest of the crew to bail out and run in panic. The russians are now outnumbered 3 to 1

brawuhr retaliates jurgen manages to hit the threads but the low angle and intervening wall causes the round to bounce of without inflicting any significant damage



the streak of bad rolls continues and germans can activate all of their machines prior to the russians

The hunt for the green t34 begins!


First the stug reloads and moves at full speed to catch the enemy from the rear. 
A round is fired but it misses completely.


 If we cant finish it of stealthily its time to do it boldly! pride moves up to see the enemy It's crew wins the insight test and opens fire. Another thread hit this time however a more significant one, not enough to immobilize permanently but enough to permanently reduce mobility, miraculously the loader manages to reload!


Russians respond in kindness and open fire but the projectile misses completely


If we cant do it stealthily and we cant do it boldly then let's just do it! Brawuhr activates aimes and fires! they score a hit on the turret, it's not strong enough to penetrate or kill any of the crew but the continued onslaught is more then they can handle the driver wants to retreat but since the tank is immobilized until the end of it's next activation it's crew bails out and runs away 



An unexpected victory to the german side  despite being outnumbered and outgunned they managed to wreck or bail five out of the six enemy units while loosing only one of theirs  and needing a replacement tank commander for brawuhr


this was a really intense game with lots of unexpected twists and insane rolls

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