Gary Grigsby’s War in the West, the most ambitious and detailed computer wargame on the Western Front of World War II ever made, has finally been released on Steam! Join the fight and lead your troops to victory with this incredibly detailed simulation. A crash course in Gary Grigsby's War in the West. This guide is meant to allow a new player to jump in to War in the West and learn the game by navigating the information directly, rather than reading the manual cover to cover. It's time to learn how to lead your troops on the ground! Discover how it works with this tutorial! Steam Store: http://bit.ly/2eKDHQ9. Jul 21, 2015 Gary Grigsby’s War in the East – Basics. July 21, 2015 / gaming Grognard Games PC Games War in the East /. I saw the box contents of the War on the West on Youtube and I’m wondering if War on the East has the same highly detailed manual or is it exactly the same as the PDF? The War in the West hardcover manual is supposed to be.
I am beginning to write a beginner's guide to Gary Grigsby's War in the West, meant to allow new players to start learning within the game itself without needing to flip back and forth through a difficult game manual (or, more likely, a PDF).
I'd like to ask for some feedback on this first draft of the beginning portions of the guide. I am skipping the air combat, leaving it on auto, to jump straight into the basic information needed for ground combat. The early stages of the guide are meant for letting the player know what everything means, without going into the minutiae of how many movement points this is, how much ammunition that requires, etc etc etc. Enough information to get by, and after the player gets their foot in the door they can look into the fine details.
So here's my first draft of the beginning portions of the guide, it covers opening the example scenario, inspecting a combat unit, and knowing what all of the symbols and numbers in the unit details represent.
Any feedback on style, grammar, and corrected information will be greatly appreciated. I hope to gradually lower the barrier of entry to allow this game to be enjoyed by more people.
A crash course in Gary Grigsby's War in the West
This guide is meant to allow a new player to jump in to War in the West and learn the game by navigating the information directly, rather than reading the manual cover to cover. I also hope to organize the information in such a way that it is more accessable to a new player than the game manual permits.
(This is also a learning aid for myself, also a new player, to learn the ins and outs of the game while sparing a bit of frustation to fellow newbies)
Note: for the sake of relative simplicity, this guide assumes that the air phases will remain automated.
Guide Start
From the title screen, do the following: -Select the Axis player as Computer -Select the W Allies player as Human -Click the Pick Scenario Button -Select 'Battle for Tunisia 43' and load the scenario
The game starts out on the Axis player's turn. The first part you should notice is the enemy air execution phase. If there is a table that appears on top of the screen showing the outcomes of different air missions, press 1 while one of these messages is up to change the message level of enemy air missions, skipping these messages. The same will happen with enemy ground combat; I recommend leaving the ground combat messages at least message level 2, so you can see any changes to the front lines that occurs during the enemy's turn.
After the Axis turn is over, you will get a menu where you can view the losses either side took of ground troops, aircraft, or entire units, for both the current turn and the total (some games start with a casualty count). Click the X in the top right corner when you are ready to continue to your turn, beginning with the Air Planning Phase.
Now you will see the Automatic Air Directive Creation menu. This allows you to automate your air phases by setting priorities of targets for your air forces. In this scenario, your air forces are divided into Tactical Air Mediterranean and Strategic Air Day. For now, leave the AI in control of your air forces as is with default priorities by pressing Execute in the top of the menu. As before, you can change the message priority to 2-7 to see each air mission, or set it to one to run through all air missions in quick succession; after this is finished, you will see the Air Execution Phase Summary menu. Press the X in the top right corner to continue to your Action phase, where you will be in control of your ground units.
(You may want to always have the Air phases automated except for the smallest scenarios; even after you learn to control each air unit individually, due to the sheer number of air missions that may be assigned)
Here is where most of your game decisions will be made. On the map you see the various Axis and Allied units of different colors. As the West Allies, in this scenario you control the British (tan), American (olive drab), and Free French (blue) units, while the Axis controls the German army(grey), German Air Force (Grey & Blue), and Italians (Yellow). In other scenarios the Allies will have units from countries like Canada and New Zealand, while the Axis will have units such as the German SS, or the Hungarian and Romanian armies.
At the north end of the front line where Allied and Axis forces meet in Africa, there is a single blue Free French unit. Click that unit to select it. on the right of the screen a sidebar will appear with the units in that hex, in this case the 'Crps FF Franc d'Afrique Inf Rgt'.
From the unit's square icon, you will get the following information:
-Nationality: As said before, the color indicates nationality, in this case blue for Free French.
-Unit size: A unit will have a series if I's or X's representing its size as a unit; from lowest to highest:
A unit's size gives a general idea of how much manpower and equipment are in the unit; a corps will likely be a great deal larger than a brigade. The unit selected is marked with III, so it is a regiment.
-Unit symbol: War in the West uses NATO symbols to represent its units. There are many to learn, but the ones you will see most in this scenario are Infantry on foot (crossed diagonal lines), Armored units (an oval on its side, representing a tank's tracks), different Headquarters units (either a simple HQ lettering or HQ combined with another symbol), paratroopers (a parachute symbol), mountaineers (an infantry symbol with a black triangle in the bottom center), and Motorized infantry (an infantry symbol with two black circles centered on the left and right halves). The unit selected is an Infantry unit.
(Note: you can find a full list of unit symbols in Appendix A of the War in the West manual, on page 211)
-Combat value and Movement value: Based on different factors such as manpower, equipment, and many other variable, a unit is assigned an Offensive Combat Value, a Defensive Combat Value, and a Movement Value.
These values are represented on unit icons on the map in three different formats, which can be changed in the User Preferences menu (select the Administration tab at the top left of the screen, then click the button that is second on the left below it for the Preferences menu). On the bottom right, under Unit Counter Info, you can choose between the following:
The mode you should choose is related to your personal preferences, but in this case we are largely making a forward offensive, choose CV-MOVE to display attack combat values and movement points. This will allow you to make decisions of what units to choose for combat while making sure no potential movement is wasted.
Now that you know how to read the icons, look at the unit bar on the right. You will see the selected unit with a purple border. The units will be shown as though the CV-MOVE option is selected; that preference choice only affects units as shown on the map.
At the top of the unit bar you will see the unit name; click this, or right click the unit bar, to open the unit details menu (more on this shortly)
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Below that is the HQ unit in command of the selected unit. Clicking it selects that HQ unit. The numbers in parintheses are the distance from the assigned HQ unit compared to the maximum distance before receiving out-of-command penalties (e.g. 4/5 means the unit is four hexes away from it HQ, out of a maximum of 5). Combat units generally need to be closer to their HQs, while other units assigned to higher-tier HQs can be further away. All units share this hierarchy all the way up to the Army Group, High Command (XXXXX) HQs (in this scenario, it is AFHQ, locaded on the far west end of the map).
To the right of the unit icon you see three symbols and associated percentage points, From top to bottom:
Now, below the unit icon:
Below the Strategic Movement Points is a button that can be switched between the following options:
Finally, at the bottom of the unit bar, numbers representing unit strength in total manpower, guns(artillery pieces), and armored fighting vehicles (halftracks, tanks, etc)
Now, by either clicking the unit name in the unit baror right-clicking the unit bar itself, you can open the unit details screen.
From this screen you can find out much more information about the units. On the left side of the screen:
Combat value: The precise offensive and defensive combat values
TOE: Table of Equipment (TOE) shows the number of actual and prescribed equipment assigned to the unit. A big difference in actual and assigned TOE means the unit has taken damage from combat or attrition and needs to be reinforced.
MAX TOE: This is the maximum percentage of TOE to which a unit can be reinforced. With a default setting at 100, you may lower the value to allow less important units like garrisons to avoid receiving valuable equipment that can go to other places where it can be of more use, such as the front line. You mainly need to adjust this number if you have equpment shortages.
HHQ: The HQ that this unit is directly attached to
OHQ: The Operational Headquarters is the highest level HQ in this unit's hierarchy; in this scenario the only OHQ for the allies is AFHQ
Morale: Current morale level
Nation: Which nation owns this unit
Supply/Fuel/Ammo/Support current amounts and needs. Support is related to the Support element (a part of the unit) and any support contributed by higher HQs.
Construction value: The number of points this unit can contribute towards constructing fortifications on its hex
Transport cost: The first number is transport cost for rail, naval transport, and amphibious transport, while the second number (if any) is its transport cost for air transportation
Vehicles/Need: Similar to TOE, this is the number of vehicles assigned to the unit compared to the number they need. Below this number is either 'Motorized' or 'Non-Motorized'. If non-motorized, a number is assigned that means the following:
Supply status: Shows whether or not this unit is currently in supply or isolated.
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On the right side of the menu is the following:
Supply Details: Click for a Unit Supply Detail menu, giving you details such as where this unit's supplies originate
Merge Unit: Allows two understrength units of the same type to merge to create one unit at up to full strength.
Motorize Unit: If applicable, this unit may be temporarily motorized by acquiring vehicles from nearby supply depots, at the cost of Administrative points.
Below is three tabs:
Toolbars
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Now that you have a basic idea of what you are looking at as far as ground units, we will look into the different toolbars at the top of the screen to learn how to find more information about the map and your units.
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That's all I have so far. Constructive criticism is appreciated.