Invasion, para drop woes.

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West 1943-45 is the most ambitious and detailed computer wargame on the Western Front of World War II ever made. Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasions of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

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cato12
Posts: 246
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:04 am

Invasion, para drop woes.

Post by cato12 »

So ive finally made it for the first time to june 44 as allies in a thoroughly enjoyable game.

Ive just launched the invasion of Europe and have suffered massive casualties so have a couple of questions.

1 - When my paras drop into hexes that don't contain enemy units sometimes a battle occurs due to the enemy having reserve activations. I cant find anything on the manual about this so can someone explain why i am seeing this?

2 - The unit recon missions i flew on my air turn showed there weren't any enemy units within 3 hexes of the invasion beaches. My thinking was that as my invasion happens in my movement turn which is the AI's air turn it wouldn't be able to move units to counter my invasion until after my following air turn which is when i would fly my land interdiction missions.

This didn't pan out very well as after i ran my movement turn and the invasions happened the AI immediately attacked with several divisions which are now lined up against me.

How is the AI able to move units on its air turn?

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LiquidSky
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Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:28 am

RE: Invasion, para drop woes.

Post by LiquidSky »



Reserve activations can happen if a unit is set on Reserve, and are close enough (in movement) to any hex being attacked.

Best way to deal with it would have been to lay a large swath of interdiction with high numbers. It would make it more expensive in movement for the reserve units (maybe preventing the activation) and if they do, it would disrupt/damage them.

Invasions (and their combats) happen at the beginning of the enemy turn. He then gets his air phase/ground phase. The enemy always gets to react to the invasion.

As above...have a swath of interdiction so that when the enemy moves up to your beachhead he gets damaged/disrupted and is severely weakened. He wont be able to attack. And on your turn, you may be able to break out....Normandy took 4-5turns to breakout of historically...and will probably be the same for you.

Invasions are something to be taken seriously. You will need to throw everything into them. You need control of the sea (naval patrol). You need interdiction. You need a lot of land units hitting the beach. They need to be beside each other (concentrated). There needs to be a followup to land. You will need room to advance so you can land HQ's.

With some practice, you will be able to land and stick...then move inland pretty much everytime. But you have to use everything for the big one.
“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great
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jacktimes2
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Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:22 am
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RE: Invasion, para drop woes.

Post by jacktimes2 »

Indeed, upon following some of LiquidSky and other's advice around the forum (okay almost all all of it), I made myself feel bad with what I had the 8th Air Force do to France. You can put together one mean kitchen sink to throw at them if you do it right.
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