A how-to for beginners

[Nowi Ribak]

I can only underline what shunwick said about the "advanced mode".

Maybe it should be called "standard mode" and the "standard mode" should be called "beginners mode" or something like that.
All PBEM-games (well, all that I know of) are played with the advanced rules.
I myself started to play with them from the start on and never had any big troubles.

Just give it a try!
Greets,
Ribak

[1st Sgt Tnic]

Thanks guys. I'll have to suck it up and get on with it.

Italy 43 is up to turn 78 or so and near the end of the anticipated 8o turns. I'll see what I can do in advanced with the rest of this scenario.

After having skimmed a little more in the manual I'm guessing the sudden appearence of enemy troops has something to do with the Fog of War function.

Sorry for being such a noob, but I AM a noob to war gaming in general. The closest I''ve come to it in my foggy past is Risk and Axis & Allies board games. Both fun, but a far cry from TOAW.

[sPzAbt653]

...the German outfits would suddenly appear out of nowhere whenever I moved a unit in place for a strategic attack ...

As the others have said, forget the Standard Mode and go with Advanced. You can turn 'Fog of War' off for a while if you like, but try to get yourself back to 'On' as soon as you can.

[sPzAbt653]

Many scenario designers have been playing the game for so long that they have forgeottten that Standard mode exists.

Truly. Its not even listed in scenario briefings as to which set of rules to use.

[1st Sgt Tnic]

Thanks guys. Made it through a couple turns with Advanced as the standard mode. All's well, but Fog stays off for awhile as I just like to see what I'm up against. I def like using the options that advanced gives me.

[shunwick]

1st Sgt Tnic,

Let us know how you get on and if you have any questions, no matter how basic, don't worry about asking. Plenty of people here only too happy to help.

And you have absolutely no need to apologise for being a noobie. We have all been there.

I am still a novice and I've been playing the damn thing since 1998. [:)]

By the way, fog of war is great. Just remember - just because you can't see it - it doesn't mean it isn't there.

Best wishes,
Steve

[1st Sgt Tnic]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

I ended the Italy 43 campaign in a draw about half way up "the shoe" at turn 82.

On to Cobra 44. I'm stuck aon the beach at Normandy now trying to break out. It's a bit boring just pounding away with artie, but it seems to be working and I use a little armor to knock the last unit out of a hex.

My big question this time is;

How do I resupply ships?

I have a small flotilla of brit pea shooters that are down to 50% supply and I'd like to refill the magazines. I have parked em around some supply points in the AO, but nothing showed up when I cycled to the next turn.

DO I need to boogy back to merry ole Emgland for ammo?

I did look through the help files but couldn't find anything definite.

Tanks guys!

[shunwick]

1st Sgt Tnic,

You should not be having any problems with getting supply for your ships. I am assuming you mean France 1944 Cobra since Cobra 44 has no ships.

Still, in general, ships get resupplied at sea and you can always move them into a friendly port for resupply. But the thing is - you should be getting supply. It works for me anyway.

Best wishes,
Steve

[1st Sgt Tnic]

Hmm, ok. I'll go another turn or two and keep an eye on them. SO basically if I just stop shooting I should see the supply level rise then?

Thanks Shunwick and yes its France 1944 Cobra

[Oberst_Klink]

ORIGINAL: 1st Sgt Tnic

Hmm, ok. I'll go another turn or two and keep an eye on them. SO basically if I just stop shooting I should see the supply level rise then?

Thanks Shunwick and yes its France 1944 Cobra

To understand the basic mechanics of the game... have a look at my tutorial. You can find it at the Gefechtsstand. Regarding supply, see - tm.asp?m=2605708&mpage=1&key=Supply&#2605848

Klink, Oberst

[1st Sgt Tnic]

Danke Herr Oberst!

I have meant to go through your info, but the pressures of war kept pushing them from my feeble swiss cheese memory. Saved to favs now and looking for the tutorial you mentioned, but having a hard time finding "Tutorial". [:'(]

Oh btw. Do I know you from a forum somewhere?

[Oberst_Klink]

Tutorial and other goodies -> http://gefechtsstand.wordpress.com/2011 ... utorial-2/

Klink, Oberst

[1st Sgt Tnic]

Thank you kind sir.

[1st Sgt Tnic]

Well what a difference knowing some basics of this game makes!

I've been plinking away at Italy 43 and after several false starts I hit it again from the beginning armed with knowledge. By turn 40 I was in complete control of Rome and by T 55 or 60 not a single nazi could even see the smoke from the home fires in the burbs. I'm at T75 now and have a double ring with armor forward around all of Rome and the Anchorages just waiting for someone to have a go at me. I also have some "rover" (quick action) divisions inside the ring to quickly throttle any potential breach.

The odd thing is that I may still get scored as losing because I haven't captured and held enough objectives. meh, I can deal with that. The scenario description says its the ATTEMPT to liberate Rome, which I have beyond the shadow of a doubt.

I'm knocking off for the day and will finish it over coffee in the AM.

[sPzAbt653]

Elmer is no Kesselring, eh ?

[1st Sgt Tnic]

If the PO is Elmer then I would agree. [:)]

TBH, I simply paid attention to my supply points (and theirs) and took full advantage of the 5000 Sea lift capacity between T32 & 38 to move the bulk of my armor and some infantry into position to strike at the Roman occupiers. I also sent forth my Engineers, AB & Spec. Forces to garrison key bridges, intersections & anchorages and their Supply Depots. So they had no place to go and nothing to wear if they did.

I also put decoys in places to draw them away from key SPs and it worked every time. Anzio fell into my hands without firing a shot.

I decided, why go through them, when you can go around them? So I didn't have as many epic losses in battles but they suffered heavily attacking my defenses.

I am extremely impressed with the Garrison troops. Once dug in the AB, SSF & Engs. are untouchable unless by a very heavy armor/arty assault. Not one of them were pushed out of their positions after entrenching. I had to reentrench the Engs a few times but no losses and they stayed supplied. Then I blew the bridges on withdrawal.

So by the time the Nazis arrived at the Roman AO from the south they were exhausted and starving and in no hurry to engage my well fed and fully supplied forces.

5 turns to go yet so things might change, but I think its safe to say that Rome is liberated.

EDIT: I got a draw out of it. Even though there was zero chance for the Nazis to recapture Rome, the main objective in this one.

It'd be nice if the game designer could give a win for achieving the primary goal instead of only scoring all those dinky little flags, which have to be left behind to achieve the main goal.

[hapla]

As a newcomer to TOAW I'm trying to find tutorials and other helpful documents to get started. This set of documents was recommended in a few places, but alas, they are no longer available from the mediafire site.
Are they perhaps still available from somewhere?

[FrankieITA]

I'm looking too to take a look at those tutorials...eager to confront myself

[Oberst_Klink]

They're on dropbox now:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/562 ... torial.zip
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/562 ... 0%2741.zip

If there's a greater interest I'll update the tutorial scenario with a new
equipment database and more scenarios, as in how to mop-up partisans, or how partisans
cut supply links, etc.

Klink, Oberst

[rjantzi]

I'm wondering if these files as still available? When I follow the links provided in the first post I get an error message. Thanks