The Operational Art of War
Introduction
This game was written primarily by Norm Koger, and as a result his name is often referred to in the title. The aim of TOAW was to produce a game engine which can effectively model any land battle in the last hundred years or so. TOAW's strengths lie primarily in this wide scope, but also it is an excellent engine for modelling land warfare. Unlike many wargames, TOAW is based on individual vehicles and squads of infantry, which contribute to each units abilities, rather than having a set of arbritrary numbers which give little clue to the units' true nature.
TOAW's weaknesses lie also with its wide scope; previous games modelled one campaign or just one battle, and were able to focus on producing accurate results with the given situation. Of course, there's not a lot anyone could do about this, and TOAW copes fairly well anyway. The problems that cause most upset are more easily fixed.
Problems with TOAW
Naval and air modelling: When TOAW was designed it was clearly done with the focus on modelling land warfare. As a result, naval and air combat have unrealistic consequences, particularly in the case of the sea.
Supply: Supply is always a difficult issuing in wargames. The reality is that thousands of different items all have to brought to the front at the right rate, or else the units fighting there won't do so at their maximum effeciency. Even with today's fastest computers, it would be impracticable to model every single comodity present on the battlefield, so the question is what level of abstraction is necassary. TOAW abstracts supply to a single percentage which falls when units move or fight, and rises in turns when the units have access to a supply source. Many would prefer supply to at least be measured by mass, since at present any number of troops can be supplied to the same effect in any location- this would have been a dream for the Afrika Korps or the Allies in Normandy, but is simply not realistic. With modelling by mass twice as many units means each has half as much supply. Others would change the supply system further to divide into fuel and ammunition at least, but there is more controversy over this change.
Weak PO: TOAW is such a complex game that the Programmed Opponent is not capable of providing a difficult match in a balanced scenario. Many people find this annoying, but there is always PBEM play.
Different types of game
There are three ways to play TOAW. The one we all begin with is against the PO. While the game's complexity confuses us, the PO may seem difficult to match, but once you have masterred the game, the PO betrays its true weakness.... witness the stunning German advance through the Ukraine... in 1944.... for example. For those who desire a challenge after this, human opponents must be found.
Most people would rather play such stimulating games as Team Fortress and Red Alert 2 than take on a scenario in TOAW. However if you're lucky enough to know someone personally who has an interest in wargaming, then the hotseat option is for you. You can play out a small scenario in an evening or two. For the rest of us we must find an opponent from far away... many from the United States, but many from other corners of the world; Thailand, Greece, Finland, Germany.... and engage them in a Play By E-mail game. Here you are limited to one turn per day, normally. Many players only manage one turn every two or three days, although sometimes you may get several turns in one day. In shorter scenarios this isn't a problem- they can be played out in no more than a month. If you intend however to play one of the giants... War in Russia, Spanish Civil War... then you may be comitted for a year, or even longer.
The Fundamentals
Assuming you know the very basics of wargaming, and understand how to control TOAW, there are a number of things that are important to getting to grips with the game.
Know your objectives: It is important not to get lost trying to capture some isolated town when the way to the enemy capital is open. This may sound obvious but it is easy to get diverted from the main objective. If there are several important objectives, make sure you weigh which ones are most important, and how many of them you can acheive. Also, if you're supposed to be on the defensive, don't waste your forces in futile attacks.
Timing is everything: TOAW turns are divided into 10 rounds. Every unit is considered to have used up a certain number of these rounds, depending on how much of their movement allowance they have used up. If a unit attacks, then ALL your units are limited to how many rounds that unit had left after the combat, reducing their movement allowance accordingly. In addition, every time you resolve combats, there is a chance based on how many rounds you have used up as well as your Force Proficiency that your turn will end there and then. There are therefore a number of things to watch in order to keep your turns long: Attack only with units which have the most movement left, unless it is important. Make sure that any assaults you make last as short as possible. Assault length is likely to be long if the units involved have high proficiency and high loss tolerance.
Your chief weapon is suprise: Against a human opponent, if he's suprised, he may well make mistakes. Also, he may well simply not be ready for it. Everyone likes to make a plan and have everything work to perfection, so if you suddenly assault the other end of the map to where he was getting ready to attack, it'll throw him off. But be careful that it is a suprise. Nothing is more rewarding than a trap well sprung.
An army marches on its stomach: Make sure that any troops that you expect to be moving and fighting are getting the supplies they need. If possible, prevent any troops that your opponent expects to be moving and fighting from having the supplies they need.
Managing an assault (this and the following section for scenarios fought in line)
Assaults against a strong enemy need to be made with a concentrated force, advancing along the best communications possible, but attacking at the weakest point in the enemy line. Armoured units should generally lead the assault, but once cracks begin to appear the infantry should do the heavy work whilst your fast units do what they do best- go places quickly. You should attempt to disrupt the enemies rear areas while at the same time preventing them from regrouping into a new line.
Some units, in particular lighter infantry both slow and fast, should be kept behind until needed.
In the air as many units as necessary to just exceed the enemy's air strength should be placed on air superiority missions, with the rest on combat support missions.
Managing a defence
Defence should be made with a basic line of units in a good position, for example just behind the line of a river on the map, and with good communications running perpendicular to the defence. Stronger forces should be placed on obvious weak points. Armoured and anti-armour units should be placed in the hexes behind the line, in tactical reserve.
Some strong units should be grouped further behind the line to fill any gaps broken by the attackers. Engineers should be at work at the next likely line of defence so that if you can't throw the attackers back to the line of defence you have a new position to withdraw to.
Try and get as much air superiority as possible. Bombers should be placed on interdiction missions, particularly if you have a strong air force. If your air force is weaker, it may be better just to leave them on combat support missions.
How to handle a scenario without lines
Some scenarios, particularly those fought in isolated locations or in a short war, have few units and large spaces. In this situations, following the two paragraphs above can lead to disaster as enemy units approaching across rough ground swing suddenly behind your lines and block your supply route. In these scenarios, the line between attacker and defender is more blurred. If you are on the offense, you have to be wary that you occupy all the areas of enemy territory, not just those that contain objectives and rail lines, to make sure there are no enemy units lurking behind your lines- even a weak unit, without supply and cut off from the main force, can have an enormous effect if unnoticed.
It is best to keep some units behind to tie down any sudden approach by the enemy. If there are particularly few units, you may well need to break units down to cover all approaches. So long as your small units remain above 2 or 3 on defence, don't be afraid to break units down. Don't let yourself believe that because a vital objective has no enemy units near it that it's safe- any area of enemy controlled territory should be treated as a front and pushed back if possible.
This said, don't get too carried away with operations into the rough- units in these areas will very quickly lose their strength as they can't get many supplies over the hard terrain. Movement over hard terrain should be limited to small operations to cut supply or encircle your enemy. Your main force should still be kept on good communications so it can stay in supply.
Scenario Design
Many of the people who play scenarios, myself included, like to design their own scenarios. This is a difficult task, due to the complexity of the game. For any scenario, you need at least:
While there are some websites available for the above purposes, to find all the information you need you may well need to look in the relavent books at your local library. Of course, if you wish to create your own hypothetical or even fictional scenario, then much of this information can and indeed may have to be fabricated for the purposes of the scenario.
Despite the amount of time and effort that goes into the design of a good scenario, it is a very rewarding experience, particularly when other people play your scenario and feedback to you what they thought were its strengths and weaknesses. Even the most simple scenarios can by this method evolve to become more complete representations of the battle being played out.
Other ways of playing
Despite its scope TOAW fails when it is required to model long wars in a single scenario. This drives some scenario designers and players to try and link battles with some calculations being made outside of the game engine. This is quite a difficult process, but can yield very interesting results, allowing the players to control not just the movements of armies, but also their composition and which theatres they are deployed in. This is effectively using this Operational game as a tool in a larger, Strategic game- see my Grand Strategic Game using TOAW: A Century of Warfare
I have already referred to the older board wargames which older players hark back to. One of the features they miss most was co-operation between several generals on one side. Some players of TOAW therefore get together and each take command of a part of one of the forces. This way there is a supreme commander and his subordinates, like in a real battle. The saved game file is then passed to each of the players in turn. This method of play is however quite impractical, as for it to be worthwhile the forces involved must be quite large, and turns of this type of game can take weeks to play out as multiple rounds are played. In the unlikely event that a large number of wargamers are in the same physical place at the same time, this can be done more easily.
My Scenarios
I have a number of scenarios in development or completed. I will post updates on them here.
Tobruk '42, Burma '44 and Poland '39 have ALL been removed from this site. They are going to be involved in The Operational Art of War Design Group sooner or later. You can visit their website here.
Alternative Second World War (b): This is the most work so far, simply because it's both big and has been finished. Currenty the scenario is in three forms, Version 1.07 for Volume 1, Version 2.01 for aCoW and Version 3.1 for aCoW. There is not going to be any further development with Volume 1, but Version 1.07 is fully playable. Version 2.01 is regarded as a 'final' scenario in it's own right, but Version 3.1 is on a larger scale map (20km/hex instead of 50). There are issues of balance, and there is also the possiblity (albeit a small one) that I will put in PO objectives into the scenario.
Europe at War 2001 series: This is a series of one complete but poorly made scenario, one complete but untested scenario, one incomplete scenario, and one scenario yet to be made. The final series will feature the main EU nations attacking their less comitted neighbours, the four scenarios being UK2001, Denmark2001, Bornholm2001 and Austria2001. Any information on modern armed forces of the nations concerned will be welcome.