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Gary Grigsby’s War in the West is unprecedented in its historical depth, detail and scope among computer wargames that depict the entire Western Front of World War II both on land and in the air. War in the West is a “monster game” by any measure, but retains the ease of play that made its predecessor, War in the East, a classic.

Nevertheless, 2by3 Games has not been resting on their laurels. The team was eager to add more material and many improvements to the game. The result of all these efforts is Operation Torch, a stunning expansion that covers not only the eponymous operation by the combined forces of the Western Allies against the Afrika Korps after El Alamein, but also much more!

We are now ready to announce that this great expansion will be available on the 8th of October!

As reported here, the game will use the enhancements made for the base game (for the full list of features please visit Grigsby’s War in the West product page) adding new scenarios with plenty of strategic options (like the 1945 Campaign scenario that starts on the 16th December 1944 and runs to the end of the war in Europe, playable both on the Allied or Axis side), both historical and what if scenarios.

This is a title that every true wargamer simply cannot miss!

Get more information about the game on its official Product Page

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West: Operation Torch is an expansion for War in the West and requires the base game to play.

Good news - looking forward to this. Will the enhancements (such as the ability to attach construction units to airfields) apply just to the scenarios, or will they also be available in the existing campaigns? If the latter, will it apply to existing games or just new ones?

Code changes will work on all scenarios - both the original ones and the new Torch ones. Unless the change is related to data then it should work with existing games.

(I may have missed something but I thinkk the new ability allows you to attach construction units only to cities but the city repair function is hooked to depot, factory and air base repairs so they don't wander off to find rails to repair or build forts.)

Thanks. The notes say city/airfields so it wasn't clear. It's a pity if you can't prioritise 'freestanding' airfields, especially if playing as the allies.

They can be assigned to a freestanding airfield's location (same way you would assign to a city), in which case it will help with the airfield repair/construction. You can already do this with extra flak units.

Let me put an obvious question on the table that I believe has an equally obvious answer, but just so we're clear:
Does this expansion expand the timeline of the campaign game?

ORIGINAL: Kriegsspieler
Does this expansion expand the timeline of the campaign game?

No. The long campaigns still begin in July 43. There is a Torch to Tunisia scenario that covers Nov 42 to July 43, but there is no scenario that covers operations in North Africa and then moves into Europe. That would have been a much larger undertaking, requiring more involved naval rules and AI, and AI that could transition from Africa to Europe. We decided that was outside the scope of what we could handle in this expansion. The Torch to Tunisia scenario is a completely new situation and provides the WitW player a very unique game in itself.

Thanks, Joel. I understand your reasoning, and I was pretty sure that would be your answer. If you had planned to extend the length of the campaign with this release, you surely would have said so, but I thought it helpful to have it made clear so there would be no doubt in anyone's mind.

Great news!!

The wait is already excruciating! I will be buying this for the air campaigns alone, but I'm thoroughly looking forward to all of it.

Joel

Will any AAR's be available to view?

Gary

cant wait for it

ORIGINAL: GARY L

Joel

Will any AAR's be available to view?

Gary

We hope so. Erik is going to try to get some testers to create some AARs in the near future. There are some test game AARs in progress now, but they aren't being done for public consumption so not sure if any of those will get moved over in the future.

Do we know what it will cost? Is there a Pre-release price?

Or at least a price range. Those of us on fixed incomes have to allocate resources carefully.

Given that the base game was almost $100, this could cost anything from $20 up.

You can be sure it will be priced more like an expansion than like a stand alone game (since it is an expansion and you must already own WitW). In my book it's more than just new scenarios though as it adds a new theater not covered by the original game (3 scenarios in North Africa) and new features (3 and 4 player multiplayer and cooperative play versus the AI).

I've set aside $30 for it. Hopefully that will be more than enough.