1. Getting Started

The Getting Started section aims to provide you with the basic background information and instructions you will need to load the game and take your first turns as a player.

The section describes the game, game support, the main menu, available scenarios, and an explanation of victory conditions.

## 1.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

On 22 June 1941 Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The ensuing conflict was the most savage, brutal, and costly clash of arms in modern history. By the time that Berlin fell, and the Germans surrendered, in May 1945 the struggle between the two regimes had caused the deaths of an estimated twenty million people.

## 1.2. THE GAME

Gary Grigsby’s War in the East 2 is a turn-based simulation of the Eastern Front in World War Two from June 1941 to August 1945. As the Soviet or Axis player, you take the role of the military High Command to use the forces available to you to execute the conflict at the strategic and operational levels of war.

The game is an “Alternate History Creator” that focuses on simulating the logistic and command and control problems that the historical commanders on the Eastern Front had to deal with. It will allow players to explore many of the strategic and operational “What ifs” that have been discussed by historians and armchair strategists for many years.

Due to the game’s focus, there is little or no ability to alter factors such as economic production or research of the Two sides.

The game measures time using weekly turns. Each map hex is ten miles across from face to face. Abstract “Theater Boxes” allow the player to manage regions outside of the main play area.

Tokens displayed on the map represent ground units ranging in size from regiments up to corps. Players can break certain units down still further to battalion level support units. Players manage air units at the squadron and group level via a table-driven system. Air HQs are the only air units represented on the map using tokens.

Units are all controlled through a series of headquarters units, each with individual leaders, which represent the chain of command up to the High Command (OKH and Stavka) level.

The game manages combat using an automated tactical system that models combat down to individual airplanes, armored fighting vehicles, and infantry squads.

## 1.3. THE MANUAL

This manual presents a detailed description of the game’s rules, functions, and user interface.

The manual consists of nine main sections, each starting with an explanation of the purpose of the section and an overview of the section’s layout. A summary of these sections follows below.

### 1.3.1. Setting Up The Game (Chapters 2–4)

This section supplies basic background information and instructions to get you ready to start playing the game.

In addition, the chapter on Basic Gameplay (see Chapter 4) provides instructions on how to start playing the game with the minimum of fuss and bother. This section is in three parts:

* A very brief overview of the main game concepts and how the game works (4.3).
* Sufficient information on these aspects to allow you to start playing the game.
* A walk through of the introductory Velikie Luki scenario (4.19–4.23).

Chapter 4 also includes, where relevant, full-page guides which show in cartoon strip format step by step guides to support basic game play. A separate printable pack of these guides is in the Manuals folder if you wish to print separate copies.

If you have previously played War in the East 1, we strongly suggest you also read the first part of the Players Notes (especially 30.1.1) as this provides a quick overview of the major changes between the two games. Equally if you have previously played War in the West, then we suggest you read over section 30.1.2 as that indicates some changes between the two games.

In general, Appendix A should be helpful to both new and returning players as it places the detailed rules into the context of how they affect game play.

### 1.3.2. The Playing Environment (Chapters 5–7)

This section details information on both the game’s graphic user interface and the map on which combat is conducted.

### 1.3.3. Game Concepts (Chapters 8–15)

This section provides information on the weather system in WiTE2 and how weather influences ground and air combat as well as supply operations. It also gathers information on either the specifically in-game conventions or the special rules for certain turns or unit types.

### 1.3.4. The Air War (Chapters 16–19)

This section provides detailed information on how to handle air forces and the associated rules.

### 1.3.5. The Ground War (Chapters 20–23)

This section provides detailed information on how to handle ground forces and the associated rules.

### 1.3.6. The Naval War (Chapter 24)

This section provides detailed information on how to handle naval forces and the associated rules.

### 1.3.7. Logistics and Production (Chapters 25–28)

This section covers both the detailed rules for logistics (supply and replacements), reinforcements and production of material essential to conducting the war.

### 1.3.8. Winning and Losing (Chapter 29)

This section covers the victory conditions for the various campaign games and for the shorter scenarios.

### 1.3.9. Appendices (Chapters 30–41)

This section groups together reference material and information not included in the other sections to help readability.

### 1.3.10. Accuracy and Future Changes

Clearly the manual aims to be as accurate as possible, but the game will develop through patches after release. For practical reasons, the text and images in this version were prepared using a later version of the beta test releases. As such, some things may differ between this and the released version.

For that reason, a variant of this manual (called the Living Manual) will be prepared and kept up to date with patch changes. That version will not contain any images and will clearly identify where subsequent patches have altered the rules.

### 1.3.11. Conventions used in this Manual

Cross references to applicable sections are notes as follows: e.g., (14.1.2) refers to section 14.1.2 in the manual.

Chapter 4 is a stand-alone guide intended for inexperienced players (including those with experience playing other Gary Grigsby’s “War in the …” games.) The rest of the manual presents information at deeper levels of detail.

The goal is to present all the information a player might need when playing the game. This includes explaining how to undertake actions (such as air missions or ground combat) and how to interpret the results of those decisions.

Where appropriate, we provide the formulas underlying game functions. In some cases, knowledge of specific formulas was determined to promote overly “gamey” behavior, or is too complex to detail, so we chose to keep these formulas “under the hood.”

## 1.4. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

### 1.4.1. Minimum Specs

* OS: Windows 7/8/10
* CPU: 1.5 GHz+
* RAM: 4GB
* Video Card: 256MB DirectX 9+ Compatible
* Sound Card: 16-bit DirectX 9+ Compatible
* Hard Drive Space: 4 GB Free
* DirectX 9.0c or higher

### 1.4.2. Recommended Specs

* OS: Windows 10
* CPU: 2.0GHz+ (or multi-core equivalent)
* RAM: 8GB
* Video Card: 1GB DirectX 9+ Compatible
* Sound Card: 16-bit DirectX 9+ Compatible
* Hard Drive Space: 4 GB Free
* DirectX 9.0c or higher

## 1.5. INSTALLATION

Please ensure your system meets the minimum requirements listed above. To install the game, either double click on the installation file you downloaded or insert the DVD into your DVD-ROM drive. If you have disabled the autorun function on your DVD-ROM or if you are installing from a digital download, double-click on the installation archive file, then double click on the file inside the archive. Follow all on-screen prompts to complete installation.

## 1.6. UNINSTALLING THE GAME

Please use the Add/Remove Programs option from the Windows Control Panel or the Uninstall shortcut in the games Windows START menu folder to uninstall the game. Uninstalling through any other method will not properly uninstall the game.

## 1.7. PRODUCT UPDATES

To maintain our product excellence, Matrix Games releases updates containing new features, enhancements, and corrections to any known issues. All game updates are available for free from our website. You can quickly and easily download updates by clicking on the Check for Update link in your Game Menu or by using the Update Game shortcut in your Windows START menu folder for the game.

We also periodically make beta (preview) updates and other content available to registered owners. You may easily keep up with these special updates by signing up for a Matrix Games Members Club account. When you sign up, you can then register your Matrix Games products to receive access to these game-related materials. Doing so is a simple two-step process:

Sign Up for a Matrix Games Members Club account—THIS IS A ONE TIME PROCEDURE; once you have signed up for a Matrix account, you are in the system and will not need to sign up again. Go to www.matrixgames.com and click the Members hyperlink at the top. In the new window, select Register NOW and follow the on-screen instructions. When finished, click the Please Create My New Account button, we will send a confirmation e-mail to your specified e-mail account.

Register a New Game Purchase—Once you have signed up for a Matrix Games Member account, you can then register any Matrix Games title you own in your new account. To do so, log in to your account on the Matrix Games website (www.matrixgames.com). Click Register Game near the top to register your new Matrix Games purchase.

We strongly recommend registering your game as it will give you a backup location for your serial number should you lose it in the future. Once you have registered your game, when you log in to the Members section you can view your list of registered titles by clicking My Games. Each game title is a hyperlink that will take you to an information page on the game (including all the latest news on that title). Also, you will find a link to the downloads page that takes you to a page where you will find all the latest public and registered downloads, including patches.

You can also access patches and updates via our Games Section http://www.matrixgames.com/games/ Once on the page select the game you wish to update, then click the Downloads link at the top of the game page. We restrict certain value content and additional downloads to Members Club members, but it is easy to sign up there.

Remember, once you have signed up for a Matrix Games Members Club account, you do not have to sign up again and at that point you are free to register for any Matrix Games product you purchase.

Thank you and enjoy your game!

## 1.8. GAME FORUMS

Our forums are one of the best things about Matrix Games. Every game has its own forum with our designers, developers and the gamers playing the game sharing information and their experiences. If you are experiencing a problem, have a question, want to share your game experiences or just an idea on how to make the game better, post a message there. Go to http://www.matrixgames.com and click on the Forums hyperlink.

## 1.9. NEED HELP?

The best way to contact us if you are having a problem with one of our games is through our Help Desk. Our Help Desk has a FAQ and a dedicated support staff that will answer questions within 24 hours, Monday through Friday. Support questions sent in on Saturday and Sunday may wait 48 hours for a reply.

You can get to our Help Desk by going to: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk.

## 1.10. TUTORIALS

We have included several video tutorials to help get you started. You can access these from the game launcher menu, or you can find them in the manuals folder.

We recommend players start by watching the video tutorials, followed by playing the introductory Velikie Luki scenario (from the Soviet side). After this, we suggest that you play the Road to Minsk scenario (as the Axis player) and then some of the smaller scenarios.

Players should focus at first on just moving and attacking with their on-map units before exploring other parts of the game. There is much to learn in terms of both the interface and the rules and it can be overwhelming, but you do not need most of that detail to play the game out of the box.

Instead, you will absorb much of that detail in stages as you become more experienced. The bottom line is that you should not feel the need to learn everything before you start playing the game.

At its most basic, if you have read the “Getting Started” portion of the game manual and the Players Notes (Appendix A) and review the various “one-page guides”, you should be able to play the game and enjoy yourself.

## 1.11. EDITOR

War in the East 2 includes a comprehensive editor (see section 41.) All the included scenarios were created using this editor. You can use the editor to change various game parameters such as movement costs, weather effects, and OOBs for the various scenarios and campaigns.

## 1.12. SYSTEM SCALING

Errata Patch 01.01.03 and 01.01.07

This allows players some control over scaling their display in-game. Note that the first time loading this version will automatically reset all preferences to their default values and attempt to set the best scaling percentage for your windows display settings.

Players can change the scaling percentage by hovering over the value in the preference screen and selecting from the dropdown list.

The game will only allow the player to select scaling percentages that fit their current display. When you change the scaling percentage, it is necessary to exit the program and restart for the new setting to take effect.

Added in-game scaling for all right-side panels (factory navigation, turn summary, air directive creation, right unit bar) and for supply details window.

At this point, the display scaling percentage impacts all parts of the game except for the top bar.

Note, you will see issues with these right-side changes in the editor if you are running at over 100% (best to use the editor at 100%).