Here is a few turns to get an idea of how the game is played.

This is a mock invasion of Poland scenario that I'm using to thrash out the combat and movement system along with play balance, terrain effects, supply and a few other odds and ends.

It is the beginning of 1939 and Germany is ready to swoop into Poland. Here is the view at the beginning of the German turn with fog of war on:

















The show all missions option is enabled so we can see where everyone is going. Yellow arrows indicate an Advance mission. It essentially means the unit will follow its path until it finds an enemy. At that point, it will begin a low level attack consisting of minor probing operations and artillery barrages. This is a sort of attrition attack circa WWI which can bog down into trench warfare if left unchecked. We don't know where the Polish units will be yet, so we've chosen (poorly) to mostly head down the main transportation routes but have been clever enough to route our armored units on paths more likely to be open using their speed to bypass enemy resistance.

This is the situation after the resolution phase. At this point, the entire turn has been calculated by the game engine and is waiting for each player to play it back from their point of view.

















This is part of the way through the playback. The grey arrows indicate the extent of the units movement during this resolution phase. At the end of the playback, all units will be at the beginning of their next mission. At this point, the player can edit the mission in response to new information and events or allow units to continue with their current mission.

There may be turns in which no new orders are given because every unit appears to be doing the correct thing. However, far more likely, players will be re-adjusting missions based on combat results and newly revealed information. Also, units may on their own break down and retreat due to combat losses or otherwise modify their own missions based on unforeseen circumstances.
















Here is the situation at the end of the turn. Some battles have started in Western Poland and in the Danzig corridor up north (these are animated on playback). Both armor units have managed to avoid Polish defenders and have a clear path to the goal, Warsaw. The Polish player, would probably now retreat some of his units to cut off the German armor before it gets to Warsaw. It is possible to stack up to 5 units in a cell so dog piling into Warsaw and entrenching is a viable option but it does allow the city to be completely surrounded and attacked from all 8 sides. A very risky tactic.

















OTOH, many German infantry units are stalled in less important battles. Rerouting them is an option but the path is much slower once the main transportation lines are abandoned. Controlling key cities and river crossings is a good defensive strategy to delay the opponents advance. Since we are only allowing WWI style advances at this stage, it is very difficult for non-armored units to make much progress. Also, armored units that do penetrate deeply ahead of infantry support run the risk of being cut off and taken out of supply.

In my next demo, I'll introduce some new missions, most notably 'Drive' which is a more aggressive, assault type mission. Its purpose is to drive enemy units off of their hex to clear a path for other units. Only armored and mechanized infantry are allowed this option.

Also, I'll be introducing the first air units and show how they affect morale and entrenchment. The combination of tactical air attacks and armored drives work together to form the blitzkrieg tactic.