Matrix Games Forums

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!

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.

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.

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

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...

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.

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.

Thanks for all the tips guys! Really excited to dive in.

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

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 [:)]