TUTORIAL / QUICK START This tutorial provides step-by-step suggestions to familiarize you quickly and easily with the basic menus, options, and units in an actual Panzer General battle scenario. press any key to start. From the Start Game Menu on the right side of the screen, you are given choices to ##Start Campaign##, ##Play Scenario#, ##Load Saved Game##, or ##Quit##. Left-click on ##Play Scenario##. . Setting Preferences The scenario selection screen offers choices of difficulty, player or computer control, and scenario selections. For the tutorial, locate the ##Set Difficulty ## section in the upper-left corner of the screen and left-click on ##Easy##. Next, left-click on ##Poland## as the battle scenario you want to play, then select ##Start Scenario## located in the lower left corner of the screen. The title screen of the scenario appears and states the turn number, the date, the condition of the weather, and the number of turns remaining. Left-click on the title screen of the scenario to start your game. The tactical map, or battlefield, appears in the main view. Your Panzer units are colored gray. Along the top of the screen appear your current prestige points hex descriptions, and weather reports. All menus and buttons appear along the right side of the screen. Menu button descriptions appear in the window along the top of the screen. For now use only the Main Menu and the Options Menu. From the Main Menu, left-click on ##Go to Options Menu##. Set ##Hidden Units On## to see enemy units and their strengths, and select ##Turn Weather Off## so your first game is unaffected by rain and snowstorms. Left-click on ##Go To Main Menu## (or right-click anywhere to toggle menus at any time). You are now ready to enter the first battle of the campaign game. You control a core group of pieces, regardless of what region you enter. These pieces gain experience and can upgrade over time. They start in a friendly city, and the setup is automatic. Battle Plan The following tactics are for the battle of Poland, the first battle of the general campaign. The date is September 1, 1939 and the German army is to cross the border with their famous blitzkrieg. In days they must capture the cities of Lodz and Rutno. . . the gates to Warsaw. As the soon-to-be-great (or greatest!) Panzer General, it is always a good idea to start every battle by viewing the strategic map of the battleground and formulating a battle plan. Select ##View Strategic Map## from the Main Menu. A map appears, displaying your Axis units with black German crosses, Allied forces with gold stars, and your battle objectives in bright green. White marked hexes are player-controlled objectives which have been won and must be held throughout the battle. To view a portion of the map, move your pointer over the section you wish to see and left- or right-click. The map is now in the main screen, showing you the section you wanted. To see the rest of the map in this view, move the pointer to the surrounding screen border according to the direction you wish to move. The screen scrolls in that direction until you move the pointer back onto the main screen. In this battle, the most effective plan is to divide your units into two attack forces with specific goals: a northern attack force to take the cites of Kalisz and Rutno, and a southern attack force to attack Lodz. Cities other than Lodz and Rutno are secondary to your battle objectives and should only be attacked if in the direct path of your units (like Kalisz). On the other hand, you can risk units against other cities to gain more prestige points.The entire battle plans for the northern and southern forces are below. Each turn of the game focuses on one goal of these plans. The northern force should be made of at least one tank unit, several infantry units, and an artillery unit in transport mode. After attacking and defeating the 10th Polish Cavalry, the force is to lay siege to and capture the city of Kalisz. With newly-gained prestige, another tank unit is to be added to the force as it moves on to crush enemy tank units, cross the Warta river and then lay successful siege to the city of Rutno.The southern force should be made of one or more tank units, a purchased artillery unit, and several infantry units with transport capability. The force is to cross the Warta river, bypass the city of Radomsko to the south, and lay siege to the heavily defended city of Lodz. Turn 1 Northern Force. Your orders are to attack the 10th Polish Cavalry unit with a tank unit, then with infantry units. In general, it is best to lead attacks with tanks firstand infantry following after. To move a unit, left-click on it. A black hex marks the unit you wish to move. Movement range is indicated by lighted hexes. A unit can move once and attack once, in either order. Once it has moved, it cannot move again unless you select ##Abort Move##.To attack, move your selected unit to a lighted hex adjacent to the enemy unit. The attack option (a red cross hairs) appears when there is at least one enemy that may be attacked, and your Expected Losses appear at the bottom of the screen. The ##Attack## number is the losses projected for the attacking force (your unit), and the ##Defend## number is the projected losses for the unit you are attacking. Keep in mind that these are **projected** losses, and will probably not be the same in actual battle! Once you have decided that the Expected Losses are in your favor and you wish to attack, left-click when the red cross hairs target is over the enemy unit. Unit losses are indicated on the unit strength flags, and battle details are listed at the top of the screen. Once the 10 Polish Cavalry unit is eliminated, or retreats, move the artillery unit (hex 3, 12) into a transport and up to the northern tip of the forest (hex 4,9). To load the artillery unit into its transport, left-click to select the unit and choose the ##Mount## button from the Unit Menu. Once the unit is mounted, the highlighted movement area is widened. Move any other Northern force units within two hexes of Kalisz to prepare for the siege next turn. If a unit has moved and you wish to take it back, select the button ##Abort Move## from the Unit Menu. Keep in mind that once a unit has moved and another has been selected, you cannot go back to the first, except to look at its statistics. Southern Force. Your orders are to move tank units east toward the Warta River (at hex 10,13), followed by the artillery unit and infantry units in transports. Leave one infantry unit to protect the city of Breslau. If no transport is available for an infantry unit, use it to flank the other transports and provide quick defense. Once again, it is best to lead attacks with tanks first and infantry following after. To load units into their transports, left-click to select the unit and choose the ##Mount## button from the Unit Menu. Once a unit is mounted, the highlighted movement area is widened. Left-click on a highlighted hex to move there. Transport moves can be taken back by pressing the ##Abort Move## button.Units in transports do not have high defensive capabilities. If at all possible, first ##Dismount## units before attacking. To ensure success, the southern attack force should acquire an artillery unit with transport capability. To get another artillery unit you use your prestige with the High Command, or ##Prestige Points##, to buy a unit. Select the ##$## button from the Main Menu and the Purchase Unit Menu appears. The left side of the screen displays unit classes available (with a green light) and not-available (with a black light). Left-click on ##Artillery## to see the available artillery class units. When you left-click on the 7.5 leFk 16nA artillery unit, the unit's statistics appear along the right side of the screen, underneath your ##Prestige Points## ##Units Available##, and ##Total Cost## sections. The single unit (more become available in the future) costs 84 prestige points.Next, select a transport for the unit from the bottom section of the screen. Select either the Opel land transport or the SPW. The new total cost for both the unit and the transport is displayed. Select ##Purchase## from the lower-left corner to confirm the purchase. Be aware that units you purchase appear in cities where there is no immediate hex occupied by an enemy, so your artillery unit should appear around the city of Breslau. Place the new unit in the highlighted hex (3,12). Next turn you will load it onto a transport and move it along with the Southern attack force. Be sure to leave a unit in conquered or friendly citiesotherwise the enemy can make a flanking move, take the city, and possibly end the war in one move! From the Main Menu, select the ##End Turn## button. Turn 2. Northern Force. You are ordered to attack and capture the city of Kalisz and purchase a new tank with your newly-gained prestige.Left-click on the artillery transport in hex (4, 9) and select ##Dismount## from the unit menu. You may now attack Kalisz, and afterwards can choose to move the unit closer to the city or ##Mount## to move it to another location.After the successful bombardment from the artillery unit, use your strongest infantry units to lay siege to Kalisz, then capture the city with any remaining ground attack unit (artillery and air-defense classes won't be as effective in holding newly-won cities). Watch out for artillery-defended cities, as artillery units have a range of 1 to 4 hexes. It is not advisable to attack cities with tank units! Use tank units to attack enemy artillery, tank, and cavalry units. When you have captured the city of Kalisz, you may purchase a new tank to strengthen the northern force. Select a tank from the Purchase Unit screen (a Pz III or Pz38(t)A is recommended) and place it in a hex near Kalisz.If you have not captured Kalisz, repeat this section next turn. Southern Force. Your goal is to cross the Warta river, attack enemy units which have approached, and keep formation on the way to lay siege to Lodz. Be sure to ##Mount## the artillery unit you purchased at Breslau and move it west as far as possible. Turn 3. If you find that you are forgetting which units have moved and which have not, choose the ##Next Unit## button from the Main Menu. A display shows which units have moved (with a red light) and which are available to move (with a green light). Northern Force. Continue to move tank units northwest to Rutno. Attack enemy artillery and armored vehicles. Beware of the urge to attack the city outright with your infantry units. Cities like Rutno which have artillery units close by can easily turn an attack into a retreat or even worse - a surrender.It's a good idea to ##Replace## units who remain in newly-won cities - they may get attacked while the rest of the force is away. Southern Force. Attack enemy cavalry units and artillery with tank units. Unload artillery and, if within 2 hex range, fire on Lodz to soften it up, then attack with infantry units. Turn 4. Northern Force. Continue to attack enemy armored units and cavalry as you lay siege to Lodz. Southern Force Do not attempt to attack the cities of Ozorkow or Brzeziny. Keep your units on guard so that your hard-won objectives stay under your control. Send transport units to help with the siege of Rutno. If attacked, unload the transport next turn and return the attack. Turn 5. Be aware of enemy units attacking from the city of Posen. Turns 6-10. You should continue attacking enemy units and replacing those units which have losses. Note: Don't worry if your first experience ended without gaining the mission objectives, or with an Allied victory. The game is designed to include variable battle results, so there is never a single method of success. Now that you are familiar with the game, you can either choose to start the campaign or to play the Poland or Warsaw scenarios as separate, stand alone games. Listed below are a few helpful tactics to remember during play. Tactics Checklist. Remember the following in any scenario you play: When a unit attacks it uses one unit of ammo. When it's out of ammo, it can't attack another unit. Cities secondary to your battle objectives should only be attacked if in the direct path of your units. On the other hand, in later scenarios, risking units to capture other cities gains you more prestige points. All units have movement points which are expended as the unit moves. Each hex costs a number of movement points, based on the type of terrain entered. When you move a unit the legal hexes that unit may move to are highlighted. As the cursor moves over a new hex, the amount of movement appears at the bottom of the screen. When moving units across rivers without using available roads or crossings, all movement points for those units are used. Check your units' ammo frequently, and if low, replenish. Replace units when low, even if close to enemy positions. It's better to suffer loss than annihilation. Mount units which have transports whenever possible, but be sure there is armored protection close by. Surface units can only embark on air transports at an airfield. Embarking a unit can only be done at the beginning of the unit's turn. Air transport can only disembark at airports, while paratroopers can disembark anywhere. Disembarking ends the unit's turn. Be sure to leave a unit in conquered or friendly cities; otherwise the enemy can make a flanking move, take the city, and possibly end the war in one move. Replacements, disband, upgrade, and elite replacements can only be done at the beginning of the units turn. If any of these options are chosen, then the unit's turn ends. Keep in mind that in the second battle of the campaign, the battle of Warsaw, aircraft units are available and are neccessary for an Axis success.