New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 is a turn-based World War II strategy game stretching across the entire Eastern Front. Gamers can engage in an epic campaign, including division-sized battles with realistic and historical terrain, weather, orders of battle, logistics and combat results.

The critically and fan-acclaimed Eastern Front mega-game Gary Grigsby’s War in the East just got bigger and better with Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: Don to the Danube! This expansion to the award-winning War in the East comes with a wide array of later war scenarios ranging from short but intense 6 turn bouts like the Battle for Kharkov (1942) to immense 37-turn engagements taking place across multiple nations like Drama on the Danube (Summer 1944 – Spring 1945).

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PaxAmericana
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Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 2:28 am

New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by PaxAmericana »

Hello one and all! Having owned WITE for several years, but the sheer scale of it having daunted me, I have finally had the time to begin considering how to get in to this massive beast. What is the best way to get in to this game? I really want to but the magnitude of it scares me. Thanks in advance!
eskuche
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Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:29 am
Location: OH, USA

RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by eskuche »

Hi! I had the exact same problem. Only really committed on my third try. Watching youtube and reading AARs is probably the easiest way to the immersed. There are some that are catered towards newer players with more explanations than action:
ttps://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4589517
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4773226
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4717612
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4754512

For actual playing, probably easiest is to work your way up from the Road to xx scenarios into a full campaign against AI, then dive into multiplayer.
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erichswafford
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Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 7:20 pm

RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by erichswafford »

The beauty of this game (and why it's a timeless classic that will still be played 30+ years from now) is that you don't actually have to know every little thing going on "under the hood" to play it, and even play it well. Just reading a basic history of the war during the period would tell you what you need to do as the Germans (for instance). I use my Osprey Campaign books as my "user manual" for most scenarios!

WITE is nearly unique in that it will teach you things that only later will you discover lurking in some obscure paragraph of a history book. It illuminates both the large concepts and the small details extremely well, and in a way I have rarely experienced in a wargame.
"It is right to learn, even from the enemy."
- Ovid
redrum68
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Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2017 1:53 am

RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by redrum68 »

I just went through the same experience a few months ago and would recommend reading through this thread: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4771870. I outline what I ended up doing and now I'm to the point of playing games against other human opponents!

The game is pretty overwhelming to get started with though rewarding if you can stick with it. My other advice is to join the discord server where you can meet other players and quickly ask questions and get answers: https://discord.gg/ME6af8c
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Laits
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RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by Laits »

I definitly would advise you to try a "road to" scenario. The scale is perfect to discover the game and the grand campaign. It's even more interesting in multiplayer.
Don't be afraid to make some mistakes. Even the most experienced players discover new things after years of practice...
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GloriousRuse
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Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2013 12:51 am

RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by GloriousRuse »

I will say that, having snagged all three games on sale, I found WitW to be an excellent starting point for the series. The mechanics are different in some key ways, but in many ways it teaches the series basics and keeps the scale of even the longest campaigns for more digestible.
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joelmar
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RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by joelmar »

My advice to a new player awed by the magnitude of this game... change the pace of your minding. This is a game that even played at the utmost speed takes forever to finish. Might as well forget about that and take each turn for the small journey it is. :-)
"The closer you get to the meaning, the sooner you'll know that you're dreamin'" -Dio
PaxAmericana
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 2:28 am

RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by PaxAmericana »

Thanks for all the tips guys! Really excited to dive in.
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Franciscus
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Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:29 pm
Location: Portugal

RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by Franciscus »

Road to Leningrad as Axis in Easy vs the AI is doing it for me, coupled with the reading the Operational bootcamp pdf (even if outdated).

Enjoy, have fun and learn as you go

Former AJE team member
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sillyflower
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Location: Back in Blighty

RE: New Player - Wondering how to get in to the game.

Post by sillyflower »

Welcome to the World of WiTE PaxAm.

You've had a lot of good advice already, particularly about reading materials and starting small so my only suggestion is that you update to the latest version [:)]
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