Previous Page End Next Page Main Game Screen

Saved Games including PBEM Saved Games and Tournament Save Games | Press this button to get a list of your saved games for each type. Pressing the button will cycle through all three save menu options
Scenarios | Press to see the scenario list (default view on start)
Campaigns | This button will take you to the campaigns main screen
Battle | Build and play a one off battle to your specifications
Editor | This Button will take you to the scenario editor
Preferences | This takes you to the preferences screen where you can adjust game parameter s
Encyclopaedia | Browse the equipment encyclopaedia
Help | Provides some basic in-game help
Exit | Terminates WinSPWW2
Start | Start playing the selected Scenario, saved game etc.

Playing a one off battle

Select the 2 nationalities involved by clicking on the appropriate flag on either side of the dial (the green indicator will light to indicate which is current) and then click on the required nation's flag from the group on the top half of the screen.

Battle date, use to set the year and month of the battle. Note that some nation's flags will appear and disappear as time changes, or will change due to political circumstances (French flag to Free French for example). The game restricts the time frame to the lesser period of the 2 nationalities selected, so if you simply want to cycle through from 1930 to 1946, it is best to set both the initial countries to 2 available right from 1930 to 1946, for example UK or Germany or USA or Russia, then set the 2 'real' players after setting the battle date.

Player 1 goes first, and is normally the human player when playing against the computer. Player is either human or computer (it is possible to play computer AI versus computer AI, if so, use the space bar to break into such a game at the next move end). A human versus human game assumes a Play By EMAIL (PBEM) game, but it is perfectly possible to play on the same PC versus a friend by this method (Hot Seat play). See PBEM games section. NB: A computer versus computer game will pit the AI to play both sides in a sort of "demonstration" game mode. If you start such an AI v AI game, simply press the space bar when you have seen enough, should you wish to terminate the game before the end, or to intervene. The game will halt at the next player break, then you can then choose to exit or break into the game and intervene as you like.

The purchase button determines whether the computer selects the force, or the human player does. Usually left at human for human players. You could of course set this to human for your AI opponent, should you wish to set this yourself for some reason (at a loss of any surprise element).

Deploy, selects whether the computer or the human deploys your forces at game start, again it is recommended that the human deploys his own troops. Note that if you take computer deployment, you may find troops deployed outside the legal areas for a human deploy. The auto deploy uses the AI deploy, and it is allowed this. Note that in a human plays human game (PBEM or on the same PC), setting human player 2 as 'computer purchase' does not work, player 2 will always be asked to manually buy his force. You can select human deploy here for an AI player, if perhaps you want to set up a specific situation (for testing purposes perhaps), again with a loss of any surprise element.

Water Conditions, this selector becomes visible if you select an assault type battle, and allows you to select the water conditions including river width where 0 is a sort of part dried up river bed.

The Battle Arrow. Click on the increments along the bottom to change the battle type. The default is the meeting engagement.

Battle Type | Description
Meeting Engagement | Both sides advance and try to take the various victory hexes on the map, dealing out casualties to the enemy whilst trying to reduce their own. Both sides get the same points to buy troops. Victory points per hex tend to be low, so points scored for destruction of units tends to be as equally important as taking objective hexes. 3 objectives deep in each sides own area are pointed relatively high, to reward a deep thrust into enemy territory if the shotgun type of victory hex assignment is used. NB- Victory hexes can overlap thus adding their value, there may not always be 21 visible.
Advance vs. Delay | One side (depending on the direction of the battle arrow) is making a hasty attack against an enemy who is in a defensive posture, but has not yet had time to dig in and prepare static field defences. The attacker gets more points than the delaying player, but the victory hexes are in the defenders part of the map, and the defender gets a larger area to deploy inside.

Victory hexes are more valuable than in the meeting engagement, so the attacker should focus on taking these whilst minimising his own casualties, destruction of enemy troops being regarded as a bonus. The delaying player wants to inflict maximum casualties on the attacker while remaining in possession of as many victory hexes as possible at game end, without losing too many troops in the process.

Assault vs. Defend | The attacker is making a formal assault on a prepared enemy position, the defender gets less points than in the delay, but is allowed to buy fortifications and field defences, mines and dragons teeth etc. All the defenders troops are dug in as well.

Objectives are far more valuable than in the advance/delay battle.

There are several assault sub-variations as set out below.

-Plain assault | This is played out on a normal battlefield. No special buttons have been pressed, but the water conditions setting for a random wide river can be used, this does NOT generate a river crossing (so no rafts are issued for example!), and is best left for a human versus human game only. The default assault battle type.
-River crossing assault | Use the water conditions button to select 'Wide river, North to South' and the assault becomes a river crossing. A wide river extends down the map centre, and any bridges are usually blown. The attacker needs to cross the river to get to the objective, and the defender gets to sink lots of rubber rafts. Usually a turkey shoot when the human plays the AI, it can be moderately difficult for a human playing against the AI, and a tough game to play human versus human. All attacker infantry squads carry a rubber raft, but you will as the attacker require to buy barge carriers (carry a barge each) to get vehicles across. Helicopters very useful to the attacker, and possibly to a defender who has a long front to cover (e.g. on a wider map).

Note: there is a limit to the number of attacker units at about 400. This is intended to leave a "pool" of free units to generate rafts from. If the attacker has 400 units, he can only have a maximum of 100 infantry in the water in rafts (minus any deployed barges) at any one time. For example, if he had only 300, then he could have 200 active rafts.

In WinSPMBT many APC's can swim, meaning the river is less of an obstacle than in WinSPWW2, but your AFV's will still need to be barged across so you will need to buy BARGE CARRIERS to do so.

Barge Carriers already carry a barge when you buy them so you do not need to buy separate barges as there is no way to get them to the river without the Barge carriers. The only time you would buy a barge without the carrier vehicle is in Beach Assaults where you always start on the water

-Beach assault | Use the water conditions button to select 'Beach'. Half the map (the attacker's half!) will be ocean, and the attackers units will be deployed in amphibious transport. The attacker gets naval artillery support, not field artillery in this one. Note that there is a limit to the attacker's total number of units, as the transports require to be allocated from the total number of units available to him, about 350 units maximum.

The attacker has to cross the water in transport and then fight over the beach to the objectives, and the defenders task naturally enough is to stop this process as bloodily as he can. The defender should try to sink as many incoming transports while still in the water as he can, using say pillboxes with large guns, or driving tanks to the water edge. He may also lay mines and so on to make the attacker's task more interesting.

Similar to the water crossing in difficulty, the attacker should use smoke to mask his approach, the defender should plan to paste the unloading area of the beach with artillery. Again, against the AI, usually a shooting gallery for a human player, moderate difficulty for a human versus the AI, and perhaps quite challenging as a human versus human game. Helicopters very useful to the attacker.

Once Thermal Imaging sights become common, this will likely be a 'turkey shoot' for the defender unless the area overlooking the beach is very highly saturated with high explosives!. Consider a narrow thrust in those conditions rather than a broad front approach. Find the weak spot and exploit it.

Visibility | This button selects the maximum visibility in hexes from 1 to 99. (In this game visibility covers both night and fog, rain etc.). Note low visibility (less than 40 hexes or so) means that air strikes are unlikely to be allocated, even if set to a positive number in the preferences screen, as visibility is too low at the airfields for flying that day.
Map | Leave at random for a computer generated map, or load to use a map previously created in the game scenario editor and saved in a map save file (ensure that the map will be correct for the season etc. of the generated battle as this information (season) is not part of the map data, but comes from the scenario data, a 'white snow' map loaded into summer just means that you have white ordinary summer grass hexes, barring any special tiles like deep snow).
Map Size | Use to select a map size from the list for the random map generator. A loaded map will override the settings here. There are now 180 map sizes to choose from ranging from 20x20 hexes up to 200x160 hexes
Preferences | See the preferences section, but there you would set up things like aircraft availability, buy points etc. Understanding the game preferences is most helpful in generating battles.
Continue | Go on and set up the battle with the selected parameters.
Exit | Abandon this process, and go back to the game main screen

Purchase Screen

(Note that if you selected the computer to buy your units you will skip the purchase screens and go straight to deployment)

POINTS | The important bit, how much you have left to buy toys with. Player No 2's points depend on what player No 1 spent, and are multiplied or reduced depending on the battle type, if Player 1 is assaulting and spent 2000 points, then Player 2 will have rather less than 2000 buy points when it is his turn to purchase.

Note, even if player 1 selected max points, but only spent 2000 of that, then that 2000 will be the basis of player two's point allocation and not the max points.

Exception, if player 2's points are not set to XXX in the preferences screen he will get the value set for player 2 in the preferences screen regardless of player 1's buy.

View map | Allows you to look at the map you are going to play over, and it is usually a good idea to look at the ground first before buying your troops. (A whole bucket load of expensive long range tank types who really want wide open fields of fire may be somewhat embarrassed if the battlefield is closed woodland and/or it is night time!).

Map side is determined by the 2 sides involved. You will usually know your side by any victory hexes shown in your colours, or the oppositions. Game play is always left to right.

Encyclopaedia | Look at the stats for the game units, useful info when buying things.
Mission | Tells you what you are going to do, and against whom just in case you forgot, or are player 2 in a PBEM game set up by somebody else.
Max Points | Make the maximum points available to buy troops, if you want this use it before buying anything as it goes away immediately something is purchased. Only available to player 1.(Remember, the player 2 opponents buy is based on what player 1 actually spends, not what was initially allocated)
Repair Points v1.1 | When buying support troops in campaign battles other than the first one. If you have 1000 or more Repair points left, you now have the option to spend 1000 campaign repair points in order to purchase 750 Build points for support troops in this battle. The button will disappear once you have either less than 1000 repair points, or you have exceeded the maximum points allowance. The button replaces the generated battle "Max Points" and is titled "Use Repair Points". The help string is "Spend 1000 Campaign Repair Points (XXX remain) to gain 750 Build Points for support troops now" where XXX is the amount of repair points you have accumulated. It does not appear in the first battle of a campaign as you will not have gained any repair points at that point.
Base Experience | This tells you what your army's average experience level is, 70 is the basic level, more experienced troops will cost more and be more effective, less cost less, but perform less well. Set in Preferences, either user selected or based on a year by year national troop quality.
Force value | The true cost of your troops bought so far (not the actual points spent), as there is variance around the selected average base level when a formation is created (actually bought), some of the bought troops will be much better than Base Experience and some rather less in the formations you have purchased. This indicates the true points value of your men, not the basic 'book' value you paid in points.
Unit List | The list of things you have bought so far, this grows as you buy things. To delete something you have bought, click on it in the Unit List and it goes away. Note, it deletes by platoon, and the next unit bought will use that platoon slot. Deleting a platoon from under a company type HQ makes a 'short' company with less platoons under command. Any individually bought platoons go under the A0 unit's direct command (A Company, or the HQ Company in organisational terms). All company HQ are under A0, and their subordinates are under them for rallying purposes. In the deployment menu in turn 0 (set up) you can now cross attach platoons under different company HQ.

Note that the overall HQ unit (A0) cannot be deleted, this is you!

COST | At the top of the Unit List, How many points you have spent on buying the listed troops. This will not necessarily agree with Force Value! You pay 'book' price based on Base Experience (and any unit quality modifiers), when the bought formation is created, some of the troops will be better experience, some lesser around the mean of the Base Experience.
ARMOUR | View a list of the tank type units you can purchase, NOTE: some armies might have say soft skin AT units here, as they are considered part of the tank forces (like WW2 USA towed Tank Destroyers). Some may have armoured SP guns and Flak units here, it depends on the OB designer.
ARTILLERY | View a list of your artillery types, Off and on map artillery, forward observer teams, AAA, both towed and SPA, some SP AT units will be found here, AT guns and Naval Artillery etc.
INFANTRY | See what you have available in the grunt category. Some light infantry support weapons types may be available also in this section.
MISC | Oddments which do not fit elsewhere, APCs, trucks, some scouts, barge carriers, and most importantly, aircraft are found here when made available, except for integrated air transport + passenger formations, which appear on the Infantry page..
ALLIES | This takes you to a screen where you can change the troops nationality that you are buying to any other allowed nation at that point in time. From that point on, the troop choice is from that list, as and until you reset it back to your preferred main nationality.

SET ALLIED is the default, the troops bought will appear with their own national ID flag, and their leaders will be taken from that nation's leader table, not those of your main army.

You can elect to SET CAPTURED to use those troops as part of your force, but as captured items. They will display the same nationality flag as your main army, and their leaders and crews will be taken from your main army types and troop quality ratings, e.g. if you were German, and changed to Soviet, and bought some T34s after pressing SET CAPTURED, you will have T34 tanks, but with German ID tags crewed by Gefreiter Schmidt, rather than with Russian flags and crewed by Sterleit Romanov. As well as 'captured from the enemy', this can be useful for utilising Allied kit not in your OB but with your own nation's crew (and ID flag), rather than the provider nation's.

There is no restriction as to whom you can have as allies, so use this facility sensibly :-).

In order to return to your main army, say after a purchase of some captures or allies, just go back to the allies screen, press the flag of your main army, and select SET ALLIED.

DONE | Finished all purchases, go on to the next stage and deploy.
Units | Totals how many playing pieces you have bought.
Mines | If you are defending, totals how many mine buy points you have bought to build obstacles with later on in the deployment phase.
Remaining Flights | If you are allocated air support a total of the number of air formations (not individual aircraft!) you have available. Strike planes (Attack air, attack helo, spotter, bomber and SEAD plane) formations reduce the strike number by 1 per formation bought, number of planes in the formation is irrelevant. Strike formations are therefore limited usually to elements of 2 planes. Transport planes and helos do not decrement the strike points, but buy your attack air first (or ensure at least 1 strike point is remaining!) as once strike points is reduced to zero, transport plane formations are removed from the listing. Deleting a strike flight adds back the 1 air strike point it deducted.
Formations | The total number of formations (platoons) bought. Note that a company HQ is a formation, a company of HQ platoon and 4 platoons is 5 formations in total. Formation total is limited, so an army of 1 man sniper formations will tend to exhaust the maximum formation count long before it runs out of buy points.
Formation List | On the left of the screen is a list of formations of the type selected, Use the next and previous buttons if more than a page full of these are available. Pressing on one of these buttons brings up the Formation Purchase Screen. The current page and total number of pages is listed below the active button set.
EXIT | Abandon purchases, and go back to game main screen.

View Map Screen

The View map screen allows players to have a look around at the map before playing but also includes a number of features that allow players to alter their battle conditions before starting play. The 15 buttons on this screen have the following functions ( described from top left to bottom right)

- Redraw the Map for the Current Opponents --use different battle location, and map, for these opponents and date
- Redraw Map for the Current Battle Location --use same battle location but a different version of that map
- Change Map ID --specifically change battle location to another one by indicating batloc ID number. These numbers can be found in the in-game Help file.
- Redraw V-Hexes without changing terrain -- This resorts the V hexes.
- Access the help screen
- Change Game Length --allows you to change the game length from 0 - 90 turns.
- Zoom in
- Zoom out
- EXIT the View Map screen
- Edit the Victory Objectives. --You can change the position of the Victory hexes with this function and place them anywhere you like.
- Make Victory hexes visible/invisible -- used to inspect the area under the V-Hexes
- Change Game Visibility --Allows you to change the game visibility from 0 - 90 hexes
- Save the map in the custom map folder
- Access the random map generator. Click HERE for detailed info on the Map Generator.
- Load a custom map from the custom map folder

Formation Purchase Screen

Select the available units from the list on the left, unit data will be shown only if there is room (some larger companies need much more room in the central column to list their items). The formation's title is shown at the top centre, and its cost in buy points, and how many pennies you have left, if it costs more than the remainder, then only as much as can be bought will be added to the unit list.

Note the 2 fields, Morale mod and Experience mod. Some formations (like guards units) will have positive values in these fields, better morale than average or better general experience, or both. These are elite formations, and naturally enough, will cost you more than the same equipment if bought for a line formation. Some formations will have negative values in these fields, such as reserve units. These will be poorer quality than average, and so will cost you less money. These numbers are applied as variations on the current army Base Experience.

Units actually purchased will vary both above and below this benchmark figure (see Force value above). So an army with BE of 70, and an elite unit of +10 experience will be about 80 experience level.

Aircraft when displayed may have a strafe number (S:N), this is the number of gun passes, a variable introduced for WW2 to allow aircraft with rifle calibre and .50 calibre MG to strafe, SP games only consider 20mm and above cannon rounds remaining for strafing, this overrides it for planes with small MG. Not required for planes with 20mm plus cannon, but some OOB designers may have entered the variable.

BUY | Buys the selected formation. Repeated presses of this key will buy duplicates.
EXIT | Returns you to the purchase screen.
Information | If present, additional information provided by the OB designer can be referenced.
Unit Data | Has detailed information about a units weapons and armour if any. Chick HERE for more information

Important note.

The game knows about 2 types of formation, companies and platoons. A company is a formation that can contain platoon type formations under its command, whereas a platoon is 'flat' and cannot have sub formations. Some OOB designers may have made formations they have titled 'platoon', but used a company type formation in order to have this allowed sub units which operate at distances from the HQ element, Recce units perhaps. Off map artillery is an example of the other way round, often a 'battalion' of artillery is 3 batteries in a platoon type formation. See the cross attachment section for more details.

Deployment Main Menu

Once you press done, you will see this screen (unless you chose computer deploy in the main battle generator screen!).

Your nation is displayed (in case you save and come back later on) at the top of the screen.

Auto deploy | The computer drops your pieces on the board. Not available in a user campaign, as the start line for the human player is variable at the designer's whim in these.
Human deploy | This is the recommended deployment option for human players!, takes you to the pre game deployment screen.
Quit deploy | Hit this when finished deploying (the pre game deploy process comes back to this screen once you are done deploying). Continue on to the actual battle.
Save game | Save the game at this (deployment) point, this is usually a very good idea in case of mistakes, in fact it is a good idea to save the game before you deploy anything at all, just in case you make a complete hash of the set up, and need to start over. Also save (just after completing deployment) to a separate save, so you can then come back and replay from the start if you desire.

Setting up and deploying your units

In turn 0 of a game (but not a scenario, where the scenario designer has deployed your troops for you as well as planning any pre game bombardment for you) you deploy the forces allocated to you inside your deployment area, and plan any pre game bombardment missions, as well as plotting your artillery quick reaction fire hexes or 'gold spots'.

Your forces will be laid out in a line along your side of the map. Pick up and place your troops as desired, however, note that paratroop transport planes get stripped off the map immediately at the end of the deployment turn, so be sure you load those paratroops who will be jumping, or they will just be walking to battle!.

You may deploy from your map edge to the deployment line of darkened hexes.

Please note Occasionally a map may be produced that does not show the grey map edge completely around the map but shows it as normal terrain. Always treat the last full set of hexes bordering a map as if they were the standard grey map edges

Enter the bombardment screen to place artillery quick reaction fire points, you have up to 10 of these. Select a deployed quick reaction fire point a second time to delete it and then replace elsewhere if you change your mind.

Any artillery you plot here will drop in the initial turn, just after deployment (end of your turn 1 for some air missions, such as spotter planes or para drops). Note the delay key available for use when plotting pre game bombardment, you can delay the appearance of missions after the initial opportunity if desired, say if you want your para drop to arrive around turn 10. As many human players get into the habit of lining the roads in their deployment area with convoys of vehicles, in PBEM it is a good idea to liberally dose such obvious assembly areas with a deluge of artillery. The AI now also knows about this, so those of you new to WinSPWW2 or WinSPMBT from SP2 where the AI never fired a pre game bombardment on assembly areas - you were warned!

Plotting your level bomber and para or glider missions in this phase is a good idea as these can have long delays if called for in an impromptu manner. NB - if plotting a para assault, leave your HQ (or an artillery spotter) on the ground if you mount all troops into gliders or transports. Use him to plot the air drop zones and only then, mount him into his plane.

If you are the defender, use the mines key to lay any mines, dragons teeth and fire trenches you desire using the fortification points you spent in the purchase phase now, or they will be wasted!. Use the X key to show current dug in states, troops do not get to dig in in some places, like marshland hexes, and moving a unit may leave a 'phantom' fortification behind, on deployment end the game will automatically 'press' this for you in any case, marrying the dug in graphics with units. Remember that infantry who enter a slit trench hex get the benefit, vehicles which move from their initial dug in place can reoccupy these once they wait one full turn as well, they can get cover if driven into a fire trench, at the risk of becoming stuck in that hex.

Do any cross attaching of platoons in this phase, or reassignment of individual units to other platoons, as you cannot change the command structure after the deployment turn.

Note that you can now unload barges and amphibious transports into the water in the deployment phase of an amphibious assault mission. This allows you to move your troops into the desired carriers pre-game, should you prefer to do this (cross-decking, in naval parlance). Remember to ensure that all are actually in a boat before you finish deployment, troops left in the ocean will drown!

Also note the set range button, this can be useful in the deployment phase, especially if you are the second player and do not want your ambushes to give away their positions if defending or delaying.

Retreat / Rally Hex

New for WinSPWW2v2. These allow you to set a point for your troops to retreat towards. These can be set up for individual platoons or companies or the entire force. This new feature is accessed from the deploy screen or the main screen during game play and can be changed at any time

After pressing the "Rally Hex" button you will be brought to a sub-screen with the following buttons

The four rows of buttons perform the following functions

- Zoom in
- Zoom out
- Find the Retreat/Rally hex for the current formation

- Find the current formations HQ unit
- Find the Previous formations HQ unit
- Find the Next formations HQ unit

- Clear this formations Retreat/Rally hex
- Apply this Retreat/Rally hex to the entire Company
- Apply this Retreat/Rally hex to the entire Force

- Clear dark hexes
- Show all hexes visible to the Unit in all directions
- Exit this subcreen

When you enter this screen you will be placing the retreat/ rally hex for the HQ unit of whatever formation you were last working with in the main screen. You the Retreat/Rally hex simply by clicking on the map. You will automatically be applying that Retreat/Rally hex to that platoon. If you wish to apply this Retreat/Rally hex to the entire company or your whole force click on the appropriate button. If you want to place a Retreat/Rally hex for the next formation press the Next formation button. If you wish to select an entirely new formation simply press the red up arrow exit button and you will be taken to the main battle screen. Find the new formation you wish to set a Retreat/Rally hex for then press the "Rally Hex" button again an you will automatically be brought to that platoons leader. Click on the map where you want your Retreat/Rally hex for that unit to be then move on to the next formation.

These Retreat/Rally hexes can be changed anytime during the game and can be placed anywhere on the map. Please note: These points do not increase the rate at which units rally. The only provide a point which you can have your units retreat towards once they have entered a retreat or rout condition. Units that are in "retreat" mode may hang around that point for a turn or two.Units in route mode will not stop at the points. If they regain normal status they can be brought back into the game. If they still retain their retreat or rout status they will then begin moving towards YOUR MAP EDGE. Please also note that these retreat hexes DO NOT affect the direction units retreat when fired upon during combat. In those cases the units will initially still retreat in the tradition "east" or "west" direction the game has always used. These new points only affect the direction of retreat for units that would normally, in the old system, be retreating or routing towards your map edge.

These points were added primarily to allow sceanrio designer better control of the general retreat direction of troops and vehicles in scenarios that may not use the regular "East - West" map orientation but they can also be used in regular games or campaigns as well

Range Set Screen

( HOTKEY: "Y" )

You can now set the range (in hexes ONLY) from this screen for both individual units and whole platoons. The default is UNITS so if all you want to set is the range of the unit you clicked on, press either the 0-9 buttons on your screen or the 0-9 buttons on your numeric keyboard. If you wish to set this range for the entire platoon first press the UNITS button and it when it changes to FORM enter you new range and all the units in that platoon will be set to your new firing range. You can quickly set the range to 1/4. 1/2, 3/4 or maximum range on the screen or by pressing the RANGE button on the screen you will see a blue bar appear at the bottom of the screen and you can enter any range you like as in the example below

You can now deploy units stacked in the same hex in the deploy phase, should you so desire. Select the unit to place, then shift-click the mouse pointer onto the hex containing another unit in which you wish to stack with.

Special note about User Campaigns and deployment, remember that a unit moved to the far right or far left rows will exit the map! User campaign maps are generated from scenario maps, which allow you to set up in the 2 grey exit rows (free deployment), remember to move any troops you deploy there into the main map area on turn 1 or they will depart the battle!. (You can do this with on map forces in order to save them in really bad situations as well)

We have made the game preferences button available in the deployment phase as this can be handy sometimes.

The Help (? key hot key) will list the deployment basic help, including hot keys.

Hot keys: |
A | Deploy all of the current formation close by the current unit.
B | Go to the bombardment menu screen to plot artillery.
C | Clear dark hexes and smoke (e.g. those created by a V action)
D | Load all loadable units into the NEAREST available transport (not necessarily units own transport), or unload all currently loaded units from transports (prompt).
E | Entrench your units (Assault or Defence only, less types entrench for assaulter). NB, you cannot entrench in water type hexes, e.g. marshes.
F | Find (go to) the current unit if on the map.
G | Go to the next formation's HQ unit, i.e. cycle through formations.
H | Go to the Unit Status list menu.
J | Rejoins gun or vehicle crews unloaded from transport aircraft during deployment
L | Load/Unload unit onto/from a transport. Must be in the same hex to load unless beside a barge.
M | Toggle Map Text on or off (map text is only found on scenario maps or loaded maps)
N | Select the next unit. In regular games, only on-map units - in the scenario editor, off map units are allowed to be selected, so you may edit their characteristics
P | Select the previous unit, opposite to N key. NB - N and P keys do not move the map to centre on the unit - use F to centre the map if the unit is off the current map section.
Q | Quit deploying.
S | Save the game to disk.
V | Show the hexes visible to the current unit in the facing it is currently pointing at, turn the unit by right clicking on a clear hex, then use this key again, to look all round, if desired.
W | Assign individual unit to another formation. Note that support units can be assigned only to support formations, and campaign core units can only be assigned to other core formations. Support units cannot be assigned to core formations and vice versa. You cannot assign away the commander of a company or platoon!.
X | Allows the defender (in an assault/defence game) to deploy mines and dragons teeth etc., provided that he spent build points on mines in the purchase menu.
Y | Set the maximum fire range for the unit. Useful mainly for defenders who do not wish their troops to fire at long ranges and hence give away their positions too soon.
? | Call up help screen.
- and + | Unzoom or zoom the map.
. (period) | Set game length in turns, (Player No 1 in a PBEM game only) from the VIEW MAP screen only - NB do NOT go over 80, as the code uses high 90's numbers to indicate end-of-game internally. 80+ any possible game extensions in length will work OK, but generally recommended to keep under about 70 turns
Space Bar | Shows the current unit's information screen. (Adjust aircraft height here, rename leaders etc.).
\ | Toggle the victory hex display on or off (e.g. to see what the terrain in the hex under the flag looks like)
0 ( Zero ) | Accesses the Opfire filtering screen for holders of the extended CD version. Click HERE for more details
^ | Rally Point
5 | Shows unit detail ( cd version only )
} | Unit view of all around LOS hexes
. (period) | Turns map hex grid on and off in the deployment and main game screens
J | Unit Clipboard
8 | Reverses vehicles while keeping the vehicles front pointed towards the enemy. Reverse costs 3 times the value of going forwards into the hex.
M | Toggle Map Text on or off (map text is only found on scenario maps or loaded maps)
N | Select the next unit. In regular games, only on-map units - in the scenario editor, off map units are allowed to be selected, so you may edit their characteristics
P | Select the previous unit, opposite to N key. NB - N and P keys do not move the map to centre on the unit - use F to centre the map if the unit is off the current map section.
Q | Quit deploying.
S | Save the game to disk.
V | Show the hexes visible to the current unit in the facing it is currently pointing at, turn the unit by right clicking on a clear hex, then use this key again, to look all round, if desired.
W | Assign individual unit to another formation. Note that support units can be assigned only to support formations, and campaign core units can only be assigned to other core formations. Support units cannot be assigned to core formations and vice versa. You cannot assign away the commander of a company or platoon!.
X | Allows the defender (in an assault/defence game) to deploy mines and dragons teeth etc., provided that he spent build points on mines in the purchase menu.
Y | Set the maximum fire range for the unit. Useful mainly for defenders who do not wish their troops to fire at long ranges and hence give away their positions too soon.
? | Call up help screen.
- and + | Unzoom or zoom the map.
. (period) | Set game length in turns, (Player No 1 in a PBEM game only) from the VIEW MAP screen only - NB do NOT go over 80, as the code uses high 90's numbers to indicate end-of-game internally. 80+ any possible game extensions in length will work OK, but generally recommended to keep under about 70 turns
Space Bar | Shows the current unit's information screen. (Adjust aircraft height here, rename leaders etc.).
\ | Toggle the victory hex display on or off (e.g. to see what the terrain in the hex under the flag looks like)
0 ( Zero ) | Accesses the Opfire filtering screen for holders of the extended CD version. Click HERE for more details
^ | Rally Point
5 | Shows unit detail ( cd version only )
} | Unit view of all around LOS hexes
. (period) | Turns map hex grid on and off in the deployment and main game screens
J | Unit Clipboard
8 | Reverses vehicles while keeping the vehicles front pointed towards the enemy. Reverse costs 3 times the value of going forwards into the hex.

Hotkey info can also be found by pressing the ? key while playing. Note that there can be some differences in hotkeys between deployment and actually playing the game

Note: it is in the deploy screen where you set out your 10 pre planned artillery quick reaction fire target hexes (gold spots), and also any artillery plotted now will fall in turn 0, i.e. as a pre-game bombardment (or later if you use the delay key). Any such artillery fires, when complete can of course be fired with minimal delays even if adjusted, later on, select the firing unit on the bombard menu in game, then hit the appropriate ammo button and the battery will aim at the last spot fired on. Therefore, any pre game bombardment is a prime candidate for say a creeping barrage, adjusting each mission minimally and avoiding long delays for impromptu fire requests later. Use the B key to go to the bombardments menu and set these up. Use the B key to plot your air drops here, if you have bought transport planes, once they have been loaded, and also you can now time your barrage or air drop missions,- see Artillery Bombardment Screens, including Air Unit Handling

Note on loading and unloading : Select the unit to be transported, hit 'L', and then click on the unit to load onto is the best method to use. You can select the transport and hit L, then point at the unit to load as a passenger but this only works for one (1) transported unit! (as if you hit L on a loaded transport, it will firstly unload all its passengers, L is also the unload key for transports, recall!). Therefore, select the unit to load, then L, then point at the intended transport, as this allows multiple passenger units on a single transport, assuming that the intended transport has the lift capacity. Also, in the deploy menu, there is no distance checking from the loader to the transport, unlike in the game itself. Thus, in the deploy phase only, you do not need to place the unit to be transported into the same hex as the transport (alongside for barges and rafts).

WinSPMBT and WinSPWW2 introduce MAJOR changes to the way infantry and vehicles load and un-load. There is a MP penalty for both loading and unloading for BOTH vehicles and their passengers

- Unloaded passengers are already charged for unloading (transport movement value is added) there is a charge of 1 Movement Point to passengers if the transport move is zero, i.e. min charge 1 MP to get out.
- The Unloading vehicle is now charged 1/4 of its MP allowance to unload (whatever the passengers were).
- Loading counts number of men + load cost so a 7 man 40mm AA gun with 7 crew costs 10 MP. Passengers are charged 1/2 their MP on loading up.

This virtually eliminates the "train" effect where you could pass one infantry unit down a line of vehicles. It also means you need to revise the way you co-ordinate tanks and infantry carriers because now the carriers cannot hang back then charge across the open ground and dump the infantry right in the enemy positions quite like had been the case in the past. It also eliminates moving half way, getting out, having a look around then getting back in and charging into the attack. This change affects "tank riders" as well .

Load/Unload options

WinSPWW2 extends the options available for the load and unload side screen. A button is provided to load (unload) for this hex only. All units/transports of the same formation (platoon) in the current hex will load or unload (L key). Another button is provided for a platoon load/unload operation (D key). This applies to the entire platoon. To load, the infantry must be in the same hex as a transport, and there must be room, during game play. In the deployment phase only, range from passenger to transport is ignored. This is a very handy way to mount your mech inf platoons!.

Cross Attaching Platoons

In the deployment turn, when you call up the company structure display, when selecting a platoon type formation (a platoon or a section formation class, not one merely with 'platoon' in its title, in other words, one which shows a 'P' in the HQ display page, not a 'C') you will be allowed to cross attach this platoon under a different company command group. Note that A0, your Battle Group commander, directly commands any independent platoons not currently under other company HQ commanders in his role as commander of the HQ company (A Company).

Main Map Window

Main Map Window, where the game action occurs, this can be zoomed (+ and, keyboard keys). Move mouse to edges of the screen to scroll this window.

Force Broken text message, if this appears at the top of the button screen, your force has suffered 50% casualties, or 50% are in retreat or rout, or a combination. Your command is in a bad way, and when force morale is broken, morale and rally chances are reduced.

Status window, the black window at the bottom of the Main Map, shows the basic data for the selected unit , shots left, maximum range setting, remaining move points, and how many enemy seen. Also printed here is the current game turn and length of the game (funnily enough, we get lots of queries as to 'how to find the game length' or 'what turn it is', here is this information that many players seem to miss..). Game maximum visibility level is also displayed here in hexes.

Info Window, at the top, usually red background, is used to post informational messages. Note that the value of an objective hex is also displayed by hovering the mouse over it.

Mini Map Window, Bottom right, shows an overview of the map area. Click on this map to move the main map window focus. If the map size is greater than 80 hexes in Y (North/South) and 100 Hexes in X (East/West), then click on the top 1/4 of the mini map to move up, the bottom 1/4 to move it down, the left 1/4 of the mini map to move left, the right 1/4 to move it right

NOTE If you are viewing a map with a stream you may notice on the Mini map yellow flashing pixels at various parts of the stream. These are not "bugs" they are shallow fording points in the stream you can cross which have a greatly lessened chance of immobilizing your vehicle

Button Window, at the right hand side. Contains the game action buttons. Flag at the top tells you your nationality, and if an action replay is available from previous activity the LED beside the map turns green. If it is green, clicking it will run the replay. Not all game functions have buttons, and are provided or duplicated with hot keys.

Unit Communications Status, On the unit information pane at the bottom of the screen, the unit's comms link status with its superior HQ is now noted. The selected unit shown is 'In Contact' and so will be able to be rallied by its HQ, however if it is out of contact (shown in red) then it can only be rallied by its own leader. Radio contact is OK, but the link is not 100% reliable!

Water Speed, Water speed in hexes is now shown in blue alongside normal movement points, as this avoids confusion when a unit with swim speed of say 4 hexes, and land speed of say 12 hexes 'stopped' in water, many users did not realise that swimming speed differs from normal. If swimming, points used for normal movement are considered first, so a unit running cross country 12 hexes to a river, with swim speed of 2 will not be able to cross as it has gone more than 2 hexes before meeting the water. It can move 2 hexes over the water obstacle next turn, provided that it does this as its first 2 MP expended. Units can ford some water hexes (-1 depth) at reduced rate, non swimming vehicles may however bog down. You may therefore be able to unload your assault barges in shallows in a beach assault without going right up to the water edge however the offloaded passengers may take some time to wade ashore!.

Hot keys: |
A | Selects the 'All Formation' mode. This is very useful if you wish to set the targeting range of an entire formation with the 'Y' key OR if you wish to move an entire formation to a specific point but it is VERY important to remember that you cannot undo a group move so Remember to toggle this off after the 'Y' operation, or the next time you try to move a unit, the entire formation will move simultaneously under AI control and you will be stuck with that move
B | Go to the bombardment menu screen to plot artillery and air strikes.
D | Fire unit's smoke dischargers, if fitted and ammo left.
E | Go to the Encyclopaedia.
G | Go to the next formation's HQ unit, i.e. cycle through formations.
L | Load/Unload unit onto/from a transport. (See note on this in deployment above).
H | Go to the roster (clipboard) menu.
M and < | Toggle map text strings on or off (If a scenario designer has provided map text info)
N,P | Go to the Next or Previous on map unit.
Q | End turn (current situation is autosaved to slot No. 1 if this is not a PBEM game)
R | Rally the current unit, provided it is capable.
S | Save the game to disk.
T | Select targets from those available.
U | Clear dark hexes and smoke. (Toggles, hit twice to get smoke back after clearing dark hexes)
W | Select a single weapon to fire. (From submenu), ignored for close assaults.
X | Fire a smoke round at the target hex.
Y | Set the maximum fire range for the unit. Useful mainly for defenders who do not wish their troops to fire at long ranges and hence give away their positions too soon.
Z | Fires suppressive or area fire at a hex. There is no requirement for a target to be located there so it can be used to "shoot up" an area of the map, a tree line for example or any other areas you think may be harbouring hidden enemy troop concentrations. This can be used during the player turn by any unit with a direct LOS to the target hex but also, on map indirect fire artillery units such as mortars, SP guns and howitzers as well as tripod mounted machine guns have the ability to fire through smoke or over tree lines ( but NOT hills ) to engage targets out of their LOS. This gives weapons like MMG's and HMG's the ability to create a "beaten zone" of area fire out of their own LOS to harass enemy troop movements
? | Call up help screen.
- or + | Unzoom or zoom the map.
> | Enable or disable the display of victory hexes.
@ | For a vehicle or other crewed item, bail the crew out, mainly useful to rescue core crews in a campaign game.
Spacebar | Show the unit's information screen. (Here is where you set aircraft altitude, and rename leaders (click on the leaders name) etc. Also, click on a weapon and it toggles to red, and will not fire until toggled back on once again
right click | On an enemy unit to see basic information about it.
8 | Reverses vehicles while keeping the vehicles front pointed towards the enemy. Reverse costs 3 times the value of going forwards into the hex.

For Loading and unloading, you must be in the same hex as the transport, unless it is a barge or raft which allow alongside loading, as they are typically in deep water.

Users often ask how to move a unit into the same hex as another. The answer is to firstly select the unit to be moved, then shift-click onto the hex with unit(s) in it which you want to move into.

Users often ask how to turn a unit in place, select the unit and right click in the desired direction on a clear hex and the unit will turn and the visible hexes for that unit will also be highlighted. (Right clicking on an enemy unit will bring up the statistics for that unit, hence right click on an empty hex or one containing friends only to turn or inspect the visible hex region for a unit). Note that we have removed the old 'cheat' whereby if you right clicked on a hex containing an unspotted enemy unit, your unit 'refused to turn', thus giving you 'free' information you should not have had. (Hint: forts can turn in the deployment turn, use this to set up crossing fires from your pillboxes and bunkers in turn 0)

Note also that the end turn button is now BLUE and end GAME is in RED in regular games, campaigns and scenarios. In a PBEM game, the Blue button will END YOUR TURN and autosave it in your PBEM slot in for you to send it to your opponent. In a PBEM game the RED button allows you to save your turn for you to FINISH LATER

We have gone back to the SP1 method of reporting firing ranges as so many yards, (or indirect fire) rather than so many hexes, as a lot of users have asked for this feature to be restored. Also, many new users did not seem to realise that '20 hexes' is a kilometer in this game, 2 hexes are about the length of a football field, though the units seem to be alongside. The reporting in hexes, metres or yards can be set in GameOptions under the MISC tab. For long range SAM and Artillery, ranges of 200 hexes and above are an abstraction of long range, a field gun with range 203 outranges a field gun of 201 hexes range in counterbattery fires. What 201 actually means in terms of actual range is irrelevant. 200 to 255 is the available spread for artillery allowed to be off map units, LR SAM, Anti Radiation Missiles, other long range air missiles allowed stand-off attacks etc. The game will report a range in metres or yards if the ini file setting is not set to 'hexes'.

Artillery Bombardment Screens, including Air Unit Handling

There have been major changes in the way aircraft are handled in WinSPWW2 as opposed to the way SP2 for example treated them.

All air units, barring the helicopter classes are now off map units no longer moved as on map units one hex at a time by the player under 100% human control. Aircraft now belong to the Air Force or higher commands than yours, so are not available in campaign cores or as upgrades. Aircraft missions are therefore now requested from the expanded off map bombardment menu.

Note that transport parachute missions, bomber missions and gliders require a lot of pre battle planning, therefore if you do not plot these in the deployment phase you will find that the delays are rather long (though in no way as long as they should be in real terms!). So plot these before the game start!

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There is a new Switch To: button which is used to cycle through the various pages of the bombardment menu, there is no longer a single artillery page!

Artillery Page

For artillery, Air strikes and the Level Bomber class to plot fire missions with.

Plotting Fire Missions

See the Tutorial section on Artillery.

Spotter Page

Used to plot air observation plane missions. Set the binocular icon on the spot where you want the spotter plane to circle round, after setting the air entry and exit directions as required. Spotter planes enter after a short delay, as they are 'on call' and fly their mission at the start of your move, therefore any enemy units they spot will remain so during your move. They will fly to nearby the binocular symbol, then circle twice and fly off (if not killed). Note that if part of the circle takes them off map, that ends the current pass, so take care when plotting spotter missions near the map edges. Spotter planes remain available until they are shot down, or are damaged, or in some cases if enough AAA fire is received, they will "Return To Base" prematurely. Spotters will not fly before turn 1 of a game. Spotters are unarmed.

Airborne Page

This page is where you plot any air transport paratroop drops or glider landings. Remember to set the air entry and exit directions to your requirements before plotting a Landing Zone marker, and to load the troops onto the planes in the deployment turn 0 as well, as unloaded transports are useless! Airborne missions are plotted from turn 1 onwards.

The Bombardment Delay Adjustment Buttons (+) and (-)

These 2 buttons will only appear on the pre game bombardment plot (Turn 0 of the game). They allow you to plot your artillery, air strikes, spotter planes, or airborne missions to come in on a turn other than turn 0 (1 for some air types).

For example, you may want to plot a large barrage of artillery onto a cross-roads that you think your enemy will reach on turn 3. To do this, hit the (+) key until delay is shown as turn 3 on the artillery page, then plot the appropriate batteries, which will now fall on that spot on turn 3, not turn 0 (with a small margin of error in timing e.g. for batteries with low experience).

Note: The delay modifier will apply to all missions of all types plotted after you increment it or decrement it. Therefore, for example, after plotting your turn 3 fire mission as outlined above, you may now want to plot some batteries for turn 1. If so, remember to hit the (-) key to reduce the delay back to 1 before plotting these missions.

This feature provides an important new tool for the scenario designer that allows for the creative use of fireplanning. One could, for example, reserve smoke screening until just the right moment before the attacking AI force needs it rather than firing on turn zero only.

Artillery Priority Hexes changes in WinSPWW2v2

There have been changes to the way the artillery priority hexes are assigned. You no longer get 10 artillery priority hexes automatically. Here is the new system at a glance

- The are NO restrictions to the scenario designer in the sceanrio editor. There are still 10 available when designing scenarios
- In a meeting engagement, both sides get only 1 Artillery priority hex. It is assumed in a meeting engagement that the battlefield has not been surveyed but we will spot each side one in this case anyway
- If your mission is an assault, you get 5 to start
- If your mission is an advance (hasty attack) you get 3 to start
- If your mission is a delay, you get 2 to start
- if your mission is a defend you get 4 to start

We have not increased the number of priority hexes in the game. You will still get a maximum of 10 but you get an extra Artillery Priority hex for each FOO bought except in a meeting engagement which will still only give one priority hex no matter how many Artillery Observers you buy.

Here is an example of how this will work. Assume you are playing an Advance in any type of game but not a sceanrio. You will be given 3 priority hexes to start with and one for each Artillery Observer you buy so if you buy 2 more you will have 5 priority hexes to use. If you are playing the delay side of an advance you would start with 2 priority hexes to start with and one for each Artillery Observer you buy so if you buy 2 more you will have 4 priority hexes to use. Remember, in a meeting engagement you do NOT get an extra Priority Hex for any additional Artillery Observers.

NOTE NONE of this applies to the AI in any way. The AI uses the full delay for any artillery plotting and does not use priority hexes at all

Show Blast Radius

If you wish to view the maximum blast radius for aircraft and artillery weapons press "R" while in the bombardment plotting screen and you will see the maximum blast radius for each type of shell that lands during the game represented by a white circle. Press "R" again to turn this off. This is also available from the "Z" key ( area fire ) screen.

This screen shots shows the blast radius of a 25 Pounder Troop attack with the preferences set to " fast arty"

additionally, any KNOWN enemy units in the blast area that receive damage from the blast will be circled in yellow as shown here

This function is controlled by the following line in the CamoGame.ini file found in the WinSPWW2\Game Data folder

;show or hide secondary blast areas 1=on, 0=off ShowBlastCircles=0

This sets the blast radius circles to be always OFF at game start and the player can turn them ON by pressing the "R" key while in the bombardment or "Z" key windows. If you always wish to see the blast radius circles each time you start the game change that to read

ShowBlastCircles=1

It is important to remember that even though the blast effect for some weapons like 2000 pound bombs may be quite large this does **NOT** mean that every hex and unit within the blast effect area is affected by the blast. This addition allows players who are interested to see just how the blast area works in the game. Blast effects are reduced by the distance from the impact hex, and by the usual effects of dug-in status, being in cover etc. Cluster munitions are more evenly distributed over the blast area than an HE round, so range effect is reduced for them. Armoured vehicles more than 1 hex from the impact will tend to be supressed by blast rather than be destroyed by fragments, except with cluster munitions.

Air Transports And Gliders

Transport aircraft and gliders are shown on map in turn 0 pre game deployment, so that you can load the passengers into them. After deployment is finished, they will be stripped off map, therefore remember to load up the appropriate troops, or you will not be able to in the game!

Note that we have provided some 'ready made' glider and Airborne units with the appropriate aircraft included, these will be shown on the purchase screen as say 'Para Co. [G]' or 'Para Co. [A]' where [G} stands for glider borne and [A] for Airborne, and perhaps [H] for helicopter transport.

Any infantry unit can be put into a transport plane and dropped by parachute, however unless the unit is a proper paratrooper class (class type, not unit name, like 'Para Inf-AT'), then expect horrible casualties on landing as these are not properly parachute trained troops.

When plotting Para drops, try to drop your men in clear open hexes, not in woods, on slopes, or in deep water for example or casualties will be bad. Gliders will also prefer to land in wide open spaces as well. Remember that gliders, transport planes (and level bombers) will drift 'off target' depending on troop quality (experience) and particularly in low visibility, less than 2 KM, 40 hexes, getting worse down to dark night or fog type conditions (2 or 3). gliders are more likely to have a rough landing in poor conditions, or to crash land, and also recall that smoke is treated as fog, landing gliders blind into smoke is not a bright idea! gliders do not like to land in minefields, and treat dragons teeth as anti glider obstacles, which are rather fatal to them.

Parachute dropper planes, and bombers make one pass and then "Return To Base", gliders are considered destroyed after landing. Transport planes which are shot down may manage to get some paratroops out the doors, and aborts due to damage may simply drop the troops as they exit. Transports with multiple Para squads will not always drop these all in one 'stick, there may be a 'hang up' and therefore a gap.

Note : Air transport formations do not reduce the number of available air strikes, but you will need at least 1 available air strike to buy them. Therefore if all your air transports 'disappear' it is likely because you bought all the air strikes you were allocated as fighter bomber, spotter or bomber missions, delete one of these, then your transport plane units should return, finally when done, re purchase that last air strike!.

Summary of aircraft types:

Fighter Bomber, The default strike/attack aircraft. Able to use all air class weapons including stand-off missiles. Flies in, optionally releasing a long range missile from off map as a stand-off attack (and may be shot at before arriving by long range SAM, as a stand-off attack). Flies towards its target, tries to find an actual unit to attack, strafes and bombs this, and then flies off in the selected exit direction. Returns to base if damaged, or when it has run out of ammunition. can be armoured - if so, it is less vulnerable to small arms ammo, and light flak and smaller missiles than the regular planes.

Air OP Aircraft, A Small plane or RPV which enters in the entry direction, flies to its recce point, and then circles this while searching for enemy units, before flying off along the selected exit direction. Unarmed. Quicker reaction time when plotted than for strike planes. If the spotting circle takes it off map, the spotting run ends. NB - an RPV will have 1 (or more) "crew" as it is a unit, it needs crew, or is considered destroyed. Consider the "crew" of the RPV the "CPU" - as a flak hit which kills the "crew" will kill the plane even if the airframe is not damaged.

Paratroop Transport, Transport Aircraft, Large unarmed transport planes which fly in along the entry route and then drop paratroopers near the plotted DZ. They then fly off and return to base. If they exit the map before dropping the entire stick, they will tend to fly home with the undropped troops, so be careful when plotting too near the map edge!. If shot down, some paras may manage to jump out of the crashing plane.

Glider, an unpowered transport plane which flies to its designated landing zone and lands. Can be destroyed by crash landing on bad terrain, deep water etc. so try to plot the LZ in clear flat terrain.

Level Bomber. This class goes to the area selected and then offloads its bombload and goes home. It does not select individual enemy ground units to target, it is an area weapon. It flies at very high altitude, above some light SAM, and AAA. Bombers only use iron bombs, napalm/FAE or CB type weapons with range of 1 hex . In other words, used for area fire only. This is NOT a "precision" weapon, it's a big club that you must be careful of or you're liable to hurt your own side with it as well.

Artillery Buttons

Switch to | This button switches the display in sequence from artillery units (including air strikes) to Spotter planes, to air transport (paratrooper) missions and then back
Air entry and Exit | This button shows the buttons to select air mission and egress buttons. Set this before poltting an air mission.
Clear dark hexes | Toggles smoke on and off.
Target | Available in the turn 0 (pre game bombardment). Use to set up to 10 priority target hexes. Select the desired hex, and then press this button. To remove a priority hex, select the priority hex target and press this button.
Zoom in | Zoom the map in one level per press
Zoom out | Zoom the map out one level per press
Find Observer | Moves the map to the spotting unit
Exit Button | Exits the bombarment menu
+ Button | Available in the pre game bombardment screen only. Adds a turn delay to all subseqently plotted missions, that if you press this twice, missions plotted will fall on turn 2, not turn 0. (The turn delay is shown at the top as Entry Delay (for planes) or Bombarment Turn for arty). Missions plotted on a priority target hex have a much reduced delay, and will scatter less even if the spotter has no LOS to the target hex.
- Button | Available in the pre game bombardment screen only. Opposite effect to the + Button.
Blast Radius | Available after the pre game bombardment. Toggles blast radius circles on or off.

Fire Unit Listing

Name | The name of the unit is displayed here prefixed with its formation identifier.
Eye Button | Press for information on the fire unit
Cancel button | Press to cancel a plotted mission
Smoke button | If shown with a smoke symbol, use to plot a smoke fire mission. Select the target hex, then press this button.
Bombardment button | Shown as an HE button, Paratrooper button or AOP button, or greyed out if not available (e.g. all HE fired). Use to plot the basic bombarment mission (HE for artillery, para drop for transports, or recce mission for spotter planes). Select the target hex, then press this button.
Cluster button | Available for cluster missions, if ammo supplied. Use to plot a cluster munitions r minelet attack (MBT only). Select the target hex, then press this button.
Adjust Fire button | Use to adjust the impact hex of an already plotted. Artillery observers will have less delay added for an adjustment than the Battle Group HQ (if it is an HQ class unit, ability lost if changed to e.g. a tank), then more for other units.
Delay | Shows the dely in turns and fractions before the mission will arrive. Fractions up to 0.4 do not delay, 0.5 will delay to the next turn, and then deliver half a fire mission (for HE, smoke). Thus an HE mission with 1.5 delay will arrive in the second turn from calling, drop 1/2 the amount of HE, and will then drop the remaining 0.5 load in turn 3 from call

Unit Information Screen

This is the screen that comes up when you select one of your units, and then hit the space bar.

At the top in green is the unit ID, formation letter (s) followed by the unit's number in that formation. Then the unit's actual name, you can click on this and change to whatever you want. (NB, the name is what is reported to the other player in PBEM games, e.g. when a hidden unit of yours fires, so creative use of this facility can provide misinformation!, hint: the reported firing weapon info stays the same, so rename to something with a similar weapon).

The '0' unit of a formation (platoon) is the commander, but in campaign cores, should the leader have been destroyed, a subordinate can take over, see the formation info screen and note the 'H' beside a unit for the HQ unit. A is the first formation, and A0 is the battle group commander, you!

Beside the name is a graphic representing his skill level, a set of 'corporals stripes' indicates that he is an average experience unit, sergeant stripes for veterans (80 experience) and USA type 'top sergeant' icon for elite units (100 experience).

In the columns below the unit name is some primary game information:

Status | Here shown as 'ready', can be retreating or routed or other nasties!
CHQ Link | Absolutely vital, so that superiors in the command chain can rally this unit, in addition to itself. Radio equipped units can operate anywhere, but the further from their leader unit they are (or if the leader has no radio, you need 2 to talk!) then there is a likelihood of not being in contact. Units without radios, (or whose radio is on the blink) which are over 5 hexes or so (250 yards) from a leader are usually out of contact, not good! Keep non radio units within 3-4 hexes of the unit commander.

Units not in command contact lose morale (and can gain suppression points), as well as losing the benefits of being rallied by higher formation leaders if required.

Suppression | How badly suppressed this unit is. Suppression reduces morale, and also operating ability (e.g. a suppressed unit finds it harder to spot and to hit targets, and it can reduce number of shots available). Suppression comes from enemy fire, being out of command control, or having routing friends nearby, friendly tanks exploding around you, and so on. Rallying can reduce suppression.
Weapon info | The weapons this unit has (damaged weapons will get a '-'), and the ammunition status for each. Note that only weapon slot 1 can have special ammunition like sabot. Range is the maximum range this weapon can reach in 50 metre hexes. The weapon names are green, pressing a weapon name with the mouse toggles disabling (the name goes red) or re-enabling a particular weapon, should you want to hold ammo, say.
Smoke Ammo | Smoke ammo if available for the primary weapon, grenades for infantry types. If smoke dischargers are fitted, SD:NN is shown, with NN being the number of salvoes of smoke. If SD are fitted, pressing the green SD makes it red and vice versa. This allows you to instruct your vehicle not to fire its SD in reaction to incoming enemy fires, if you so desire!
Experience | This is one of the most vital variables in the entire game. It determines if you are 'green' cannon fodder, or an elite or veteran, who shoots more shots, and hits more often. 70 is about average.
Morale | Another key variable, this one affects rallying ability. 70 is about average.
Damage | For squads and crewed weapons, each point is 1 crew or squad member gone, for vehicles it is less related to crew size. Damage affects morale and therefore rally ability, can remove weapons, and damaged units tend to fire more slowly. Damage is not good news.
Speed | This is the unit's basic road speed in hexes, with any swim capacity shown as the second figure.
Men | Current crew size (after damage) or squad members left.
Radio | 1 if you have one, 0 if not.
Fire Control | How good your optics etc. are, bigger is better. For comparision purposes in WinSPMBT values of 100 plus represent AA radars on AA type units, allowing engagement beyond visibility range at night or in smoke etc. so values that high are not used in a WW2 era game!
Size | Larger is easier to hit and to spot.
Cost | The value of this unit in game terms (buy and victory points)
Vision | If non-zero, the amount of hexes you can see in poor visibility. For comparision purposes in WinSPMBT values of 40 plus represent a thermal imager or a ground surveillance radar, these can see through smoke so values that high are not used in a WW2 era game!
Range Finder | This improves the units' chance to hit, bigger is better, but it is far more effective at the halt, i.e. you did not move in this turn or the last one. A value of 14 or more is a laser range finder.
Carry Cost | An indication how heavy this thing is, how difficult to transport.
Carry Capacity | An indication of how much this unit can carry. 1XX means it can carry a small crewed weapon, 2XX a larger weapon.
Passenger | List of any transported units.
Turret Picture | Lists the steel armour for the turret sides, top armour if this is a non turreted unit. If values are shown in red, this unit is open topped, hence quite vulnerable to artillery fires, and to close assaults by infantry. If a vehicle is open topped, even pistol shots can go through if a top hit is scored!
Hull Picture | Armour diagram for the vehicle hull, lower hull for non-turreted designs.
Armour Type | The label is active, it changes to yellow on selection with the mouse (see cursor in the above illustration). Press to cycle through the armour types, plain steel, anti HEAT (spaced etc.).

The unit leader's name is shown under the picture, pressing on this with the mouse lets you rename the leader, if desired. Also shown is his statistics:

Rally | An indicator as to how good this leader is at rallying unhappy subordinates, or himself. This number will reduce during a turn as rallies occur, and be set to zero for the rest of the turn if the rally attempt fails.
Inf Command | A reflection of how good this leader is at infantry related tasks. If he is performing an infantry function, or is near a subordinate he can sometimes influence their or his actions depending on this value. If he successfully throws a 'skill roll' and has a higher value in some skill than the subordinate then the subordinate will use his higher value for that skill.

The other skills, armour, artillery etc, work in a similar fashion. Therefore, having skilled leaders very close by (within 3 to 5 hexes or so) is good in SP series games.

Low here, this guy is a tanker! (Note, in a mixed formation, if the leader is a tanker and the majority of the subordinates are infantry, he will not be able to help them much).

Art Command | How good this leader is at artillery related tasks, such as directing fires from a remote battery. A key variable for calling fires, naturally better for proper artillery units, or for artillery OP units. Again low as he is a tanker by trade.
Arm Command | This is high, as he is a armoured unit commander.
Kills | A tally of this unit's total kills, deleting an enemy unit is a kill, i.e. an entire squad, not 1 or 2 individuals.

If this unit is in a campaign core, these variables will tend to increase over time, or if the leader was destroyed, a new leader will be generated, or one of the subordinates will take over the formation command. Kills help experience to rise in a campaign, so it is worth 'blooding' even those units which normally live in the rear, if you find the opportunity in a campaign for them maybe to go forwards and sweep up a few stray crews etc. The first 5 kills are the most valuable at raising initial experience. NB, firing your weapons at a real enemy is a major help to experience increases, as is being shot at 'for real'. Campaign core units switched to a new specialty keep their old statistics, so a tank traded to an SPA 105mm indirect piece is less good at that job till it has tried it for some time.

Air unit height is shown for planes, you alter altitude for these items on this screen, for on map air units (helicopters) Changing altitude costs MP, so you may not have enough to climb.

Press continue to exit this screen.

Press information to go to the class information screen. This shows the generic information for units of this type, default ammunition loads, weapon data etc. as seen in the relevant encyclopaedia entry.

The Headquarters Screen (HQ Screen)

This screen gives you an overview of your force composition. A button is listed for each formation, pressing this or selecting on the list of units on the right shows basic formation data in the white panel on the left hand side of the screen. A button allows you to put certain formation types under computer AI control, should you so wish, and another allows you to assign waypoints for this formation to follow, if subsequently set to computer AI control.

Ignoring organisation of your forces is a common beginners mistake. New players sometimes wonder why their units run away a lot, and when you examine their forces, they have individual squads off a platoon spread randomly over the map, often kilometres apart!.

Remember that an SP hex is 50 metres, about half a football field. 20 hexes is a kilometre (about 1000 yards for the non-metric folks . Units which have no radio will have to keep within 250 metres(yards) or so of their commander. Radios will work across the entire map, but are not 100% reliable. Remember that for radios to be useful communication aids that each party to the conversation requires a radio set!. (NB as time goes by in a campaign, your more experienced veterans will tend to pick up radios someone left lying about, even if radio chances are low for the unit in the OOB). Formation leaders get a higher chance of receiving a radio, as do artillery observers. In SP, radios can represent field telephones (in fortifications for example).

Keep your formations together, and keep your platoons close to their company HQ so that he can rally them if required. Consider moving the company HQ nearer to an ongoing battle to rally the troops better, or to provide leader skills to subordinates. Consider the same for the battle Group HQ unit as well as he can rally anyone else, or provide skill rating boosts to anyone else. Do not risk higher level HQ more than necessary, however.

The Central Pane

Formation Letter, Formation type | The formation ID letter(s) and its command type are listed at the top of the Central panel. A formation can be a company type (the battle group HQ, a Company or a Second Rate Company) or a platoon type ( A platoon or a section) H is shown in RED on the RHS for the Battle Group Headquarters (BGHQ)

or

C in YELLOW for a Company element.

P is shown in BLUE on the RHS panel alongside a platoon or section command element.

Formation letters are assigned sequentially starting at A, so your BGHQ will always be formation A.

Unit numbers are also assigned sequentially from 0, with the formation commander being assigned as the first unit, hence the 0 unit of a formation is usually the commander. This may change in a scenario, or in a campaign, or in any battle due to casualties. In a campaign, when a unit replaces a destroyed commander, it will become the new command unit, with a new ordinary unit replacing the previous commander. Therefore in campaign core forces the 0 unit will not always be the formation command.

Whether or not this formation is under AI or human control is also noted here

React | The reaction turn is used in scenario design for AI forces. It is ignored otherwise.
Leader Name | Leader's name and rank here. Higher ranks tend to be better at rallying their troops, and have better leadership ratings. Names and rank titles come from the name and leader text files set up for a nation.
CHQ Link | Denotes if a unit is in contact with its higher HQ by radio or voice contact, or is out of contact. Formations in contact with a higher HQ can have rallies made by that higher HQ, those out of contact must rely entirely on their own leaders rally ability. Voice contact is good to 4 or 5 hexes, 200 to 250 metres.

Radio links do not work 100% of the time.

Rally | The rally rating of that leader. Higher numbers are better. As rallies are done in a turn, this number will tend to decrease. Once a rally attempt fails this number will be set to zero for the remainder of the current turn, signifying that this leader cannot rally himself or subordinates any further this move. Leaders who are in retreat or rout states, can only rally themselves as and until they reach a better morale state. Individual units can only rally themselves, only leaders can rally their subordinates. Company HQ leaders can rally any leaders or units in their subordinated platoons. A0 can rally any troops in line of comms including company commanders.
Leadership Ratings | Leaders and units are rated for infantry, armour or artillery skills. These skill ratings can be used on subordinate troops, leaders close to and in contact with their own troops can replace or boost the subordinate unit's skill rating with their own, this tends to work best at 1 to 3 hexes in voice contact, not over the radio. This affects firing for example, or engineers removing mines.

Units with high artillery skill are better spotters, observed fire by these will tend to drift less, and the time delay will be less. Delays are modified by the skill at each end of the chain, a skilled artillery observer controlling a skilled artillery firing unit will have a much quicker response than a skilled artillery observer controlling a conscript artillery unit with poor artillery skill.

Unit List | The list of units in that platoon. Company level leaders can have command of an HQ platoon of units directly under their command as well as commanding subordinated platoons. These units treat the CHQ as their platoon leader for rally etc.
Platoon Listing | The platoons assigned under this company commander's command. Truncated list if too many are present to fully display, see the Show Company Details Button
Show Company Details Button | Shows details of the platoon level formations under this company level commander's control. All platoons left under no particular company control will be brigaded under the battle group commander (A0) to form a headquarters company (A Company). See the section below for more details.
Show/Hide Formation ID's | in Winspww2v3.5 for CD owners only Allows players to view all the units under a formations command. Click HERE for more information
Exit | gets you out of the HQ Menu. [Escape key is a hot key for this]
Force Value | The value of your force, may vary from the buy points used as individual units will vary in stats on purchase (some high, some low) or in a campaign as experience is gained, or lost by destruction or severe damage requiring extensive repairs to a core unit, or if the unit changed type or class when new kit was issued.

LHS Info Panel

Unit Name Button | Pressing this button shows the formation data for it on the LHS pane. It also makes this formation's leader the currently selected unit on the map, which is handy for finding or reviewing your forces as the game map will centre on the unit last selected on exiting the HQ Screen.
Waypoints Button | Use to assign waypoints to this formation. Note that we have increased the waypoint count from 10 to 125. See the Waypoints section below.
Toggle Control | Use to change a formation between AI control or human control. Some artillery type units will not toggle control, but AI formations will assign these to fire missions if you leave them idle, and do not plot them yourself.

Right Hand Pane

This shows the details of the formations whose buttons are currently on the page. Shows a letter beside the leader unit showing his command level. Shows damage status for all units in formation. Use the next or previous buttons to scroll the listing. Click on a listed formation to make it the currently selected formation (show details in the LHS pane).

Waypoints

We have increased waypoint count from 10 to 125 per formation.

Waypoints are normally of more use to a scenario designer than a human player, as only formations under AI control follow the waypoint list.

However, a human player can sometimes find limited usage of AI control, and waypoints, useful.

Waypoints are useful for plotting long approach marches, for example in a winter assault when your leg units have a long march ahead of them before contact can be expected. Use of waypoints to march your units across a tedious approach and into a forming up area where you will take over control. This can be useful to save a lot of tedious unit shuffling.

They also can be useful to move a reserve formation across the back of your area sometimes in defence or attack. Or to set up a unit to "patrol" an area.

Waypoint usage

Toggle to computer control then set your waypoints for that formation

There are a few very important things to remember when setting waypoints

1] The AI will GENERALLY try to move your units over TWO waypoints and stop just before the third waypoint IF it has enough Movement points to cover that entire distance.

2] if you space the waypoints too far apart so that the AI is unable to fulfill all the requirements of 1] the AI will start the next turn by removing the next Waypoint from the route you have created then try to catch up to where it "should" be.

3] Do not spread the formation you are setting waypoints for all over the map !

4] ANY change to the formation structure of either side of a scenario WILL CANCEL ALL waypoints for both sides so waypoints must be the very last thing that is done. A change to even one unit of either side cancels ALL waypoints

5] When you initially set you waypoints the "first" waypoint to the game is the one right in front of your formation leader. When it moves, that first hex that will count as 1 waypoint crossed. However, tests have shown that the first turn does not always follow the "rules" so experiment on your own.

6] You can place more than one waypoint in a hex. The AI will "generally" count three waypoints per turn as "movement" so if you want a unit to stay in one place for a few turns before moving, a useful "rule of thumb" would be 3 waypoints per turn in one hex.

7] If enemy units are encountered along the route you have planned the AI WILL engage in combat rather than follow the waypoints. When the threat is over the formation will attempt to catch up.( See 2] above ). A long delay coupled with waypoints that are far apart may mean that your formation does not end up following the route you originally planned.

We are still finding out new things about the way waypoints are handled by the game so please experiment. We recently had a report that using waypoints spread three or four hexes apart using units with similar speeds worked very well when moving AI forces forward in a Scenario.

One thing to remember is that this system ensures that no two games will be exactly alike and this is a good thing as it keeps scenarios "fresh" longer when the same thing is not happening over and over.

For a much more detailed discussion about waypoints and their use click HERE

Show Company Details Screen

This screen shows the company organisation in more detail.

The company HQ platoon troops are shown at the top of the screen, with a button underneath for all platoons under the company's command.

Use the platoon buttons to show the details of that platoon on the RHS of the screen.

Platoon HQ leader units are highlighted in white. Unit current status is shown in coloured highlighting, red for bad states!.

Use the Exit button, or escape key to exit this screen.

The cross attachment button appears for any currently selected platoon which can be cross attached to another company commander if you so desire, but only in game turn zero (deployment), hence, not in scenario games which are fought in the organisation as set up by the designer.

Cross Attachment Screen

A list of available company HQ to which this platoon can be transferred to is displayed (if any). Press the desired CHQ button to select as a target, then press the Assign to this CHQ button to transfer the currently selected platoon under command of the selected CHQ and automatically return to the company details screen.

Press the Exit button, or hit the escape key to exit without cross attaching the currently selected platoon.

Platoons that are part of your campaign core cannot be assigned under command of support troops CHQ, but support platoons can be attached to your core companies (for this battle only).

You cannot assign away the HQ platoon of a company.

Some Company designated formations (especially artillery) will be actually platoons for game purposes, but you may find some formations titled platoons that use a company structure, for example large recce platoons which need to operate widely spread in sub-units. These 'platoons' cannot be assigned under another company HQ as they are themselves companies in game terms, though their subordinate sections can be.

There is a limit of about 60 units in a formation in the OOB data, however this relates to the game build formation code (purchasing a company). You can cross attach any number of units under a company commander using this facility once actually inside the game.

Individual units can be also cross attached to other formations on the deployment turn zero as well, see the deployment screen for details. There is a limit of 10 items in a purchased platoon, but again, once inside the game you can attach individual units to a platoon beyond the 10 unit buy limitation, however it is highly not recommended as the platoon commander may have problems rallying that number of subunits if disaster happens!.

Unit Roster

This screen is available from game turn 1 onwards. It is used to show current details of all units. Press the unit button to jump directly to it on the game map. Only weapon 1's data is shown here. Red is generally bad news or off map, yellow for warning and white for OK with green for passengers. Destroyed units show their full points value, which will be credited to your opponent as part of the Victory Point Calculation at end game.

Maps and Terrain Types

Steel Panthers Maps
Please remember...WinSPWW2 is an entirely different game. No other SP series game's data will be usable here, you cannot move maps from SP2 over to the new 15 level, 200x160 hexes format.

HOWEVER...........

All WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT maps are interchangeable. Any WinSPWW2 map can be brought over to WinSPMBT and WinSPMBT maps can be used in WinSPWW2

Terrain Types

Impassable | Is impassable to vehicles, is very difficult for infantry types, less so for commandos, rangers. Represents either extremely rough terrain, or extremely steep and/or scree-covered slopes or cliffs (truly impassable terrain is not implementable, as it gives the AI path finding routines severe fits).
Sand Dunes | Difficult going for vehicles and infantry, there is a high breakdown (sticking) possibility for vehicles, especially 2WD trucks. The code is set up to penalize for speed. If you charge into a soft sand hex at the end of your movement allowance (and therefore at top speed) you will have a MUCH higher chance of bogging down than if you only move one or two hexes at the start of your turn.

HINT: Ignore the movement radius shown in Sand Dunes (aka Soft Sand). That tells you the Maximum number of hexes you can move IF YOU'RE LUCKY! You can move them all if you want to but if you do, chances are your luck will not hold out for long. Avoid Soft sand with 2WD trucks unless you're desperate and keep the speed of tracked and 4WD vehicles to under 1/2 of the movement radius shown and most times you will get through OK. This is a trap for the unwary and the hasty player. We could simple lower the sticking chance and the number of hexes allowed but this way we give the gamblers the chance to gamble and win....or lose. Soft Sand will also reduce artillery effects slightly .

Snowdrifts | Ski troop types less affected by snowdrifts, but snowmobiles can get stuck in this type though at a lower chance than regular vehicles. Vehicle Immobilisations are much more likely, especially for wheeled vehicles. These are deep drifts that are true obstacles, not the stuff of that has blown over your driveway. (See HINT above regarding vehicles in Sand Dunes ) Deep Snow will also reduce artillery effects slightly
Trenches | Fire Trenches provide cover (even if you moved) as for being dug in. Major obstacle to vehicles, which can be ditched trying to cross these, they are meant to represent wide fire trenches, not foxholes. Due to the ditching possibilities these can also be seem as a form of AT ditch.

Ordinary foxholes protect only infantry, who will be counted as dug in if they start the move in such. The vehicle revetments and gun positions issued at the start of a battle can NOW be reoccupied.

NB, Some forts and bunkers may have a carry capacity, and hence provide shelter for 'passengers'.

Hedgerows | Represent major hedge obstacles with a substantial base, as in the Normandy Bocage, though also found elsewhere. A major obstacle to vehicles, which can be bogged down (stuck) crossing these. Good protection to stationary infantry, dug in infantry in these can be very difficult to shift!. Hedgerows can be made taller in the Map Editor by laying them again and again along the same track. Each application will raise the height of the hedgerow.

Paddy Fields | Are treated similar to marshes. Flooded paddy fields are less bad going to amphibious vehicles, which are less likely to stick in them as well, but still not good vehicle terrain at all for these. Paddies are a serious obstacle for all ground units, and are best avoided as they are prime ambush terrain. You do not want to get caught out in the middle of a paddy. Paddies that are not flooded can be represented by Mud, Tall Grass or Dry Tall Grass terrain's, depending on the season and condition of the paddy. Paddy fields will also reduce artillery effects slightly .
Mud | Mud is a serious obstacle to all, and has a high chance of being bogged down if crossed by a vehicle. This is not your minor mud puddle by the side of the road. This is a thoroughly water-soaked ground due to flooding, heavy snow melt, torrential rains, monsoons and etc.. This is the stuff that stopped the Germans in the Soviet Union in WW2. Mud will also reduce artillery effects slightly
Volcanic sand | Effects are similar to soft sand. Wheeled and track vehicles have an increased immobilisation chance. Although provided mainly for Iwo Jima in WW2, this terrain type has possibilities for usage as light scree elsewhere (collection of rocks, small stones and grit that accumulates at the foot of a cliff).
Railway Track | Rail Track is not very good going for vehicles, but affects foot less so. Rail Track does negate the underlying terrain (mud, rough or marshland, say), so viewing a rail line as a poor quality road. As with roads, if damaged by shell holes, it is less good going than if undamaged.
Tram Lines | Treated as paved roads, mainly cosmetic therefore to be used in city maps for flavour.

Plain Terrain | Green Grassy Plain, Bare Earth,Grass type 2,Red Earth, Grass Type 3, Leaves, Yellow Sand Desert,Dry Grassy Plain, Red Sand Desert, Beach sand or Grey Sand Desert (all also known as "Clear") are not obstacles to Movement, per se, though the off-road movement cost is decidedly higher for some Classes of movement, such as the "Wheeled Class" (two-wheel drive vehicles). Relatively flat these terrains may be, but they are not considered flat as a billiard table either. There are plenty of minor ground fluctuations, tufts of grass, short ground cover, nooks or crannies for a determined trooper to hide behind and in.
Snow | Plain white snow costs extra MP to cross, snow terrain maps add to all terrain, including road movement cost.
Roads | Roads are metalled (grey) or Secondary (brown). In dust conditions (Visibility about 80, summer or desert terrain), travel over dirt roads produces dust more quickly than on metalled roads. Dirt roads need less vehicle movement through a hex to produce dust trails, the amount of vehicle movement through hexes for dust production is cumulative.
Swamp | Swamp, Frozen Swamp and Marsh Wetland hexes not good going for any type, but especially for vehicles which can become stuck. Defending units cannot dig in here.
Tall Grass | Tall Grass and Dry Tall Grass provide some LOS blocking at a low level, some protection for infantry within such hexes. In jungle maps this can be rather tall, representing bamboo, elephant grass and the like. Can also be low-lying scrub of any kind.
Shell Holes | Shell holes provide some cover, but increase movement costs in damaged hexes.
Buildings | Buildings provide cover, especially if of stone construction. Vehicles can drive through building hexes, but may become broken down as they collapse. Collapsing buildings may cause casualties to infantry etc, but a collapsed building (rubble) hex is quite good cover, again stone rubble is better.
Trees | Summer Trees , Autumn Tress and Winter Trees -- all Wooded hexes block LOS to varying degrees, provide good cover but cost more MP to traverse, especially for vehicles.
Orchards | Orchards are lower height, lower density wooded areas, and block LOS less than regular woods. Orchards can represent tea plantations, vineyards and so forth. Can also be used for urban treed areas which are mostly cleared.
Frozen Ground | Represents light snow over frozen ground. It is treated like clear terrain for movement purposes
Water | Full hexes of water can represent canals, lakes, wide rivers or the ocean. Where the height is shown as -1, troops may wade through such at increased move cost, though non amphibious vehicles may become ditched trying this. Barges (landing craft) may offload in shallow water, though then the passengers will then have to wade ashore. Vehicles (and infantry types) with swim ability traverse water at 1 hex per swim point.
Bridges | Bridges negate the terrain below them, usually water obstacles. Stone bridges are tougher than wooden ones, needing hits from larger calibre artillery or bombs etc. Dropping a bridge segment kills any elements currently stacked on it (enemy or friendly). Rail bridges cost a bit more than road in terms of move cost. In some lesser developed areas dirt roads may cross water by fords rather than wooden bridges. Occasionally the wooden bridge or ford may have been washed out, with areas of swamp etc around the ford.
Fields | All farm fields provide some low level LOS cover for infantry & etc, especially if standing wheat crops. Fields cost a few more move points to cross for vehicles. The types of fields are: Yellow Crops, Green Crops, Winter Field, Ploughed Field, Snow-Covered Field and Crop Stubble in Early/Late Winter.
Rough | Rough terrain costs more MP to traverse, but provides excellent cover, especially for infantry. Represents broken or rock strewn terrain. You may find generated maps with dried up river beds, chiefly of rough but sometimes with marshy spots. Desert maps can have Wadis, wide areas or gullies filled with rough terrain. There are rough terrain tiles for each of the different soil types represented in the game.
Paved | Pavement, Stone cobblestones and Brick Cobblestones are found around buildings, also in city grids. Acts like road terrain. These three terrain types are ONLY available on ground level. They CANNOT be placed on hills
Streams | These represent drainage ditches or small linear water obstacles. Streams cost a lot of MP to cross, and are a ditching risk for vehicles. Streams may have muddy or marshy banks, such banks tend to be worse sticking risks. Streams may have more fordable parts, if you hover the mouse over a ford (-1 height river) it will tell you. Fords are deliberately not given a special terrain hex marker as they are generally difficult to find with exactitude on the ground. Movement cost is less through a ford, as is bogging down chance. Still, not a good idea to blast through at full speed!.
Slopes | Slope hexes cost 1 MP to traverse over the base terrain type when moving to a higher level. No cost is incured when moving to a lower level
Fire | Fires may start in some terrain types, this causes suppression especially to soft troops, and can cause casualties to infantry, guns etc. Large fires (e.g. caused by napalm or flame throwers) is worse than small fires.
Wrecks | Vehicle wrecks provide some LOS block, but they count like normal units to stacking costs, each unit or wreck in a traversed hex deducts 1 MP.

Visibility | If scenario visibility is high, then LOS can penetrate deeper into forests, grasslands, standing crops, light smoke and so forth. When visibility is high (about 60 plus) in high summer months, or in desert or snow terrain, then vehicle movement can raise dust or disturbed snow trails. Low visibility under 10 or so hexes especially, affects air strike accuracy unless fitted with night vision, and causes more glider and paratroop landing accidents.

With all bad terrain, the faster the vehicle has traveled before hitting this, or the more MP expended whilst in such terrain, the greater the sticking chance.

Aircraft ignore underlying terrain, except when helicopters try to offload passengers in some hexes, woods and buildings.

Helicopters expend MP to climb or descend.

Paratroops landing in terrain other than flat or easy going types tend to suffer more landing accident casualties than normal. Trained paratroopers (proper Para Unit Classes) suffer less accidental casualties on landing in any terrain than ordinary non para trained troops. Troops air landing in deep water tend to drown, as do gliders landing in deep water. Gliders landing in obstacle type terrain tend to get smashed up, destroying themselves and passengers, try not to land gliders in woods, buildings and so on. Para and glider landing zones therefore should be plotted in large flat areas of open ground.

Saving a Game and loading a Save game

If you partially play out a game you'll want to save it for later . Click on the save game button and you will be brought to this screen

Pick a slot and click on it. You will see a red rectangle appear ( as above-- SaveGame-1 (empty) ) you can backspace to remove some or all of the text that appears and enter in your own name for your save.

Below is the central game screen. The first button you see on the left side of the screen is the Saved Games button. This is where you load the games you have saved. In WinSPWW2 this one button now servers three save game screens, each with a different purpose.

The first time you click on the Saved Games button from the Central screen you will see this:

This is where you load the saved games of regular generated Battles, scenarios, campaigns or NON-Secure PBEM games .

PLEASE NOTE Regular games are autosaved the the end of each turn in the 000 slot. PLEASE, do NOT deliberately save your games in that slot or they WILL be lost!

If you click on the "PBEM GAMES" button you will see this screen with the regular game

There are five secure PBEM slots in the Regular game

This is where you load Secure PBEM games. All .Dat files saved here are encrypted to keep people from reading the contents of the .Dat file and thereby revealing the troops you have. Once you choose a save slot for secure PBEM, games are automatically saved to that slot after every turn

Click HERE to see the added features for this screen available in the CD version

If you have the extended version of the game available on CD from Shrapnel Games you will see the button now reads "Tournaments".

Click HERE to see more information on the Tournaments screen

Game Ending

The game ends at about the number of turns given for a game or scenario. Consider the number of game turns an indicator only, except for PBEM games and scenarios. The game will end early if one side is thoroughly routed, or completely destroyed, and the other side has gained all the victory hexes. The game (apart from PBEM games and scenarios) will end if the number of turns has been met, check the objectives held and grant victory, but it first makes an 'engagement check' to see if healthy forces of the enemy are reasonably close to any disputed hexes. If it decides the objective is in dispute, it can add extra turns onto the notional game length. This is an added feature, please do not write in reporting this as a bug, it is not, it is a design feature.

End Game Map Review

We have added an additional button to allow you to view the map as it stands at the end game, viewing both players' units.

"REVIEW' is shown at the top of the map, your opponent's units and minefields are all now displayed (note the mass of red symbols on the right of the mini map). You can select enemy units and view their stats, the next and previous keys will cycle you through the side you have chosen, so if the Germani player here selects an American unit, it will cycle through the Americans as and until he re-selects another Germani unit.

If you open up a 'finished' save game you will be able to see the end game display, however if this is a PBEM game, please remember to zip up the game files and send to your opponent before re-opening the save game to gloat over it <G!>, as otherwise the game can 'forget' who was playing who for the purposes of the end game messages.

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