THE TUTORIAL

[madgamer2]

As I am interested in learning the German side first can the tutorial be played from that side and do you gain anything from doing so or is it only a learning tool if you play the Russians? I am reading the manual still and hope I can remember enough to at least start at normal against the AI Russian ......survive the winter (doubtful for the first time).
i am not sure if reading the whole manual is a good idea but Just jumping in in other games has never seemed to help much and it was the school of very hard knocks. As I love this game the idea is to read the manual (some parts more than others) while the development team is working on patch's (up to 1.03 2 already) as I am in no hurry because I plan to spend dome large amount of time with this game I think for me being a little older than most(70) it would be a sound approach.

I was thinking of starting a poll about how old and how much education players have. Perhaps some younger player with a little more energy could do that. It might provide some interesting information for Matrix and the developers and testers and players ........ just a thought.

Madgamer2

[morganbj]

The tutorial helps with basic movement and the use of headquarters, etc, so it's good to play if you're unfamiliar with those concepts. I played it twice, just enough to get the basics, and then went straight to a 41 campaign on easy. I upped the difficulty level the next CG and will do so again the next time I restart.

[Uhtred]

Hi madgamer,

Like you, I'm new to the game and am also currently working my way through the manual (somewhere around page 250 so far). I played the tutorial first as the Russians but also played it through as the Germans several times so far and have found it equally valuable from both sides in terms of just getting a handle on the basic game mechanics.

As soon as you start working your way through the manual, the "road to Minsk" is an ideal scenario for getting your feet wet. It's just three turns in length, but it offers a large enough map area and enough units that you can start putting into practice the things you learn in the manual without feeling like you have to start all over again each time you have an "ah ha" moment, such as proper command and control, supply, air doctrine, when to use hasty versus deliberate attacks, etc. You can also use it to experiment with transferring units around, assigning new leaders, and similar things. Because the scenario is so short, it also makes for learning lessons and seeing where things went wrong pretty clear and fairly quick. It's an excellent training scenario.

For your stats... I'm 37, which is likely about average for this game, am an American who lives in Germany, and studied history, art, and German literature for a grand total of four degrees, the highest being a Master's in literary studies. My mother was sure that I was thoroughly unemployable. [;)]

[Fänrik Stål]

Yeah, I think the tutorial is mostly for learning the game mechanics, hasty attacks, deliberate attacks, forming corps units as the Soviets, and so on.
The Minsk scenario is good for understanding encirclement and the effects of ZoCs. Then the Leningrad scenario is great for learning about supplies and fuel, and the importance of rail (and the repair of it). I've played Minsk until I got a decisive victory, and Leningrad until a major (planning to make a fourth try for a decisive, mostly to satisfy my ego [:D]).

As for age and education, I'm 42 with university degrees in physics and mathematics (not currently employed in those fields though) but with a deep and life-long interest in history.

[TulliusDetritus]

Madgamer, I would say don't be shy and jump! [:)]

I did NOT, repeat, did NOT play any scenario at all [:D] I read the manual quite superficially and then started a game vs the German AI. On turn 4 or 5 I decided I would be starting a PBEM game and that's what I did...

So far so good... This is not rocket science so don't be shy and jump [8D]

[56ajax]

I read the early forum posts, some of the short manual, played the tutorial once then started on the Road to scenarios. I started/played the RtL scenario as the AXIS 10 times before I took Leningrad (bit of a let down really - the last 3 turns i knew i was going to win).

I'm 54, hold a bachelor of Arts degree, and spent most of my professional life in IT. Semi retired and widowed, I just wonder where people find the time to play a full campaign. Love it.

[RobertWevodau]

madgamer2,

I'm also 70 yrs old; nice to hear from a fellow old timer playing wargames. I have a BS in Chem Engr and MS in Meteorology, and I'm retired and working part time for a solar installation company.

Some one may have already suggested this, but there is a tutorial of sorts, I believe in the War Room, or maybe the AAR section, that is based on the Axis side of the Road to Stalingrad scenario. It was done by dlazov (or something close to that) and is an excellent way to learn to play the Axis side. I never tried the official Tutorial from the Axis side.

Robert

[Tarhunnas]

Almost a retirment home here [:D]. I am pushing fifty, have an education in economic history and East European studies. I started playing Avalon Hill boardgames when I was 15, my first ones were Waterloo and Jutland. Always loved Jutland, that was a great game to play...

[barkman44]

I found the bootcamp over at the war room to be very helpfull.
The fact you can minimize the game screen is helpful since you can run the boot camp and game at the same time and minimize game,refer to text then maximise

[Zovs]

Yes, it's dlazov, (or Don) the scenario I used for the boot camp is the Road to Leningrad as a starting point if you go near the last page there is a link for a cleaned up PDF to download.

Been testing like mad we have some new scenarios and changes coming your way soon so have not be around to answer question much.

Let's just say I started board war gaming late in 1977 and still play board war games, although I mostly only play ASL (Advanced Squad Leader) face to face about once a week. But I still have over 400+ war games 'hidden' out in my garage that I setup up from time to time.