5. Sequence of Play
Focus: This section sets out the sequence of play in WiTE2.
Key Points:
- How the two player phases interact
- Key Differences between the Soviet and Axis player phases
- Differences in games played against the AI and against a human opponent
- A very short outline of the actions that occur in the logistics and air execution phases
5.1 Basic Sequence of Play
Gary Grigsby’s War in the East 2 is a turn based game, with each game turn composed of separate Axis and Soviets Player turns. In combination these amount to one week of real world time.
The term “phasing player” is used for the player who is currently conducting their player turn. For example, during the Axis player turn, the Axis player is the phasing player and the Soviets player is the non-phasing player.
5.1.1 General Rules
Each player turn consists of a player specific logistics phase and a general logistics phase, which are comprised of a number of segments and sub-segments and are both conducted automatically by the computer.
At the start of each turn, the player has the option to review any events that have occurred (36.9 and 36.15). These may include new options, information about the progress of the war in the off map Theatre Boxes or simply reporting important historical events.
An air directive planning phase is followed by the execution of the majority of air missions as well as air maintenance and any air training missions.
In the action (movement) phase, unit movement and ground combat and other player manual actions, including air transport of units or supplies, are conducted.
The computer may conduct actions with the non- phasing player’s forces during the ground phase, such as the commitment of support units and reserve combat units to battles and air missions such as interception and defensive ground support.
Amphibious assaults and airborne landings in support of amphibious invasions, ordered in the Soviet player’s ground phase (24.7), occur after the logistics phase of the next Axis player’s turn.
The current phase (Logistics, Air Planning, Air Execution, Move (Action)) is listed in the space to the right of the menu tabs. In addition, during the Action (Move) phase, the current status of air ground support (GS) is noted as either on or off (Hotkey- x) as the player may wish to not use up their available ground support missions too early in a turn.
5.1.2 Differences When Using the Server or PBEM
The sequence of play is subtly different if you are playing the computer or against another human opponent.
Against the computer, at the end of your turn, you press F12 (or the end of turn tab) and the game proceeds to run the logistics phase and its own turn. At the end of this it will have generated two save files, one for its turn and one for the player to use when starting their next turn.
If you are playing a human opponent, either PBEM or using the Matrix server (2.8.2), the basics are the same. Complete your turn, press end turn and either a save will be automatically placed on the Matrix Server or you will need to send it to your opponent. They generate their turn and so on. The process for doing this is covered in section 2.8 of this manual.
One key difference is how amphibious invasions are handled. As above, the Soviet player must order these in their own ground phase but they are not actually executed until after the logistics phase of the German player’s turn.
What actually happens in a multiplayer game is that this phase is resolved as the Soviet player saves the game but the map will be blacked out so the Soviet player is not able to see what is happening – otherwise you could gain information normally obscured in the fog of war.
5.2 Game Turn Overview
Axis Player Turn
- Axis Logistics Phase
- General Logistics Phase (for Axis units only)
- Soviet Amphibious Phase (as above, in a multiplayer turn this has already been resolved but it is shown to the Axis player at this point)
- Axis Air Planning Phase
- Axis Air Execution Phase
- Axis Ground Phase (ground movement and combat)
Soviet Player Turn
- Soviet Logistics Phase
- General Logistics Phase (for Soviet units only)
- Soviet Air Planning Phase
- Soviet Air Execution Phase
- Soviet Ground Phase (ground movement and combat)
Note that there are no logistics phases for the first player on the first turn of any scenario. If the Axis player is the first player, the scenario will start with the Axis Air Planning phase, if the Soviets player is the first player, the scenario will start with the Soviet Air Planning phase.
On turn two and following turns the game will follow the normal sequence of play.
This means that in scenarios with the Soviets as the first player, the first nine phases of the Game turn are skipped on the first turn, so that the Axis player has no first turn and the Soviet player has no logistics phases.
5.3 Summary of Logistics and Air Execution Phases
The logistics phase and air execution phase consist of numerous actions that are conducted by the computer. Below is a summary of the major activities that occur during these phases.
5.3.1 The Logistics Phase
Each player turn normally includes a player specific logistics phase with distinct segments followed by a general logistics phase that has the same segments and sub-segments for each player. The game switches to normal (F1) mode at the start of the logistics phase. The map pop-ups, top menu buttons, and shortcuts are disabled during the logistics phase.
The administrative points and vehicle pool values are also cleared from the screen during the logistics phase.
The major actions that occur during this phase include attrition, building of fortifications, all facets of production, upgrade and swapping of equipment and aircraft, recovery of disabled manpower, morale and fatigue adjustments, unit reinforcement and withdrawals, administrative point adjustment, hex change of control, removal of temporary motorization, repair of rail, factories, and depots, expansion of air base units, determination of partisan attacks and damage, leader adjustments, freight movement, provision of unit supply and replacements, to include aircraft and pilots, movement of support units and support elements, setting of unit movement point allowances, resetting of rail usage, rally of routed units and unit surrender check, adjustment of unit detection levels due to ground recon, and adjustment of scenario victory points.
In addition weather determination only occurs during the Soviets logistics phase and is then set until the next Soviet logistics phase – so the Axis player phase will have the same weather as the Soviet player in the previous turn.
5.3.2 The Air Execution Phase
During the air execution phase the computer conducts air missions, including any pilot training missions, over the seven days of the turn with a day and a night segment for each day of the turn. In addition, each day of the turn has a maintenance segment where replacement pilots and aircrew can be added to Air Groups, aircraft are repaired and air base units can be repaired and resupplied with fuel and ammunition.
5.4 Summary of Air Planning and Ground Phases
These two turns are where the bulk of the player interaction with WiTE2 will take place.
The broad outlines of both air planning and ground movement have been covered in chapter four.
The detailed rules covering the conduct of the air war can be found in chapters 16-19 and those around ground movement and combat are in chapters 22-24.
Note that in both these phases, there is no rigid sub- order. You can construct air directives in any order that you like (and change them as you revise your ideas).
Equally in the ground phase, you can start by moving any counter that you wish, and your first action can be a combat, to send a unit by rail, a normal move or to order an amphibious invasion.
However, it is worth noting that your air directives are executed in the order they appear for that air command so you may wish to take this into account when setting them up or amending them.