by Bob Cross[/center]
Let’s take a trip back in time to about 2002. TOAW exists, but as “ACOW”. You’re a newbie just starting out with the game. If you perused the manual you might have seen these few items:
Individual battles are resolved in a series of tactical rounds. Each player turn is divided into ten tactical rounds, and individual battles begin on the round that most closely corresponds to the proportion of the attacking units’ movement allowance expended before the combat. …
Battles continue until all units of one side have broken off, but not beyond tactical round 10. …
After combat, all of your units will have their remaining movement allowances adjusted to reflect the highest tactical round needed to resolve all attacks. …
Your turn will end if either of the following conditions apply:
• You have launched no attacks.
• The mean remaining movement allowance of your entire force is too small to allow for successful exploitation of your attacks.
• Your force fails a proficiency check.
But, in a huge manual, those scattered tidbits can be missed, or their importance overlooked. You want to get started.
You fire up the CFNA scenario and start setting up Axis attacks. One attack involves a foot unit that has moved quite a distance:
Note that the unit has expended 23 of its 28 MPs. The 5 remaining MPs amount to only 18% of its original movement allowance. So this unit has a Time Stamp of 9 out of 10. This attack is going to cause your turn to end. But, as a newbie, you’re unaware of this. Perhaps you go on to setup several more attacks. Then you execute your attacks. After they are all resolved, you get this screen:
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