House of Games 2 (Hi-Tech Products)/House_of_Games_II_Hi-Tech_Products.iso/games/160/mwplay.doc

Text File | 1991-08-09 | 14KB | 272 lines

This is a limited 7 turn demo for Strategic Studies Group's MacArthur's
War. This game contains a recreation of the intense and bloody battles of
the Korean War. MacArthur's War comes with eight scenarios, "Across the
38th", Taejon, Naktong Bulge, Unsan, Chongchon, Chosin Reservoir, Chipyong
and Imjin. This demo lets you play seven turns of the battle of Imjin.

PLAYING THE GAME
In MacArthur's War, you use the arrow keys to move up or down within game
menus, the Return key (RET) to select a menu choice, and the Escape key
(ESC) to move out from a menu to the previous menu.

SCENARIO INSTRUCTIONS
You have just stepped into the shoes of General Milburn, commander of the
United Nations 29th Brigade in Korea.  The date is April 22nd, 1951. You
are deployed on the Imjin River, north of Seoul, with about 6,000 crack
troops.

Facing you across the river is General Peng commanding about 20,000 troops
of the Peoples' Republic of China, beginning the 1st Step of their 5th
Phase offensive. General Ridgway's "meatgrinder" tactics have caused heavy
attrition on the Chinese forces and they have been forced to replace many
of their veterans with green troops. Still, you can expect the Chinese to
attack with their usual reckless courage, and it won't be an easy job to
hold them off. If you fail, it is very likely that Seoul will fall yet
again and that won't do your career any good at all...

START INSTRUCTIONS
Start the program by typing MWPLAY (RET).

SCENARIO INSTRUCTIONS
After the program has started, you will be presented with a menu with two
choices: <EDIT> and <START>. Use an arrow key to locate the <EDIT> line
and type (RET) to go to Menu N (Enhanced Opponent). We must now decide
whether to play an enhanced computer opponent. Since we are just starting
out, this probably isn't a good idea. Locate the <NORMAL> line and type
(RET) to go to Menu F (Handicap Utility). Since this is only a tutorial,
we will give ourselves a break. The handicaps below the <NO EFFECT> line
benefit the Allies/United Nations, those above benefit the Axis/North
Koreans.

Use an arrow key to locate the <MAJOR> Allied line and type (RET) to go to
Menu G (Player Select). Locate the <ALLIED> line and type (RET). The
cursor has been thrown into the briefing screen and you have the
opportunity to change the commanders' names. Do this if you wish,
otherwise type (RET) until you get back to Menu E (Edit Utility).
Have a last look at the briefing screen and you'll see the Allies have a
major handicap advantage, the Axis forces will be run by the computer and
the Allied forces will be run by human hands.

Use an arrow key to locate the <START> line and type (RET) to go to Menu H
(Game Master).

THE FIRST TURN
A current turn briefing appears to the left of the menu window. This
scenario starts on the pm turn and it is turn 3 of 19. Subsequent lines
tell you the time of day and the date, the atmospheric weather and the
expected weather forecast. The weather is light overcast but stable.

The <AXIS> and <RUN 5> lines in the menu have been overprinted with a
solid bar to show that you cannot access them. The solid bar will
disappear from the <RUN 5> line after the <ALLIES> line has been accessed.
This is to guard against accidentally selecting <RUN 5> before issuing
your orders. The <AXIS> line will always be overprinted during the game.
The computer does not want you to see what it is doing!

Locate the <ALLIES> line and type (RET). This brings you Menu 1 (Daylight
Operations). Your choices here are <ORDERS>, <REPORTS> or <RESIGN>
(unthinkable). The screen will be showing part of South Korea, around the
junction of the Imjin and Hanton rivers. Below the map is a summary of
your corps identity and the victory points you have accumulated to date.

REVIEWING YOUR FORCES
Before issuing orders we'll review our forces, examine the battlefield,
the objectives and the enemy forces. Select the <REPORTS> line to go to
Menu 4 (General Reports). This is just a branch menu. Select the <STATUS>
line to go to Menu 5 (Unit Status).

The name of each of your divisions appears beside its I.D. code in the
menu window. You have only one division under your command, the 29th
Brigade. (For the purposes of this scenario, the 29th Brigade is treated
as a Division to simulate the tactical options available to the UN
commander. Regiments are therefore the equivalent of Battalions and
Battalions are approximately equal to Platoons.) Select the <DIV 1> line
to display it. This screen displays the status of an entire division at a
time. There are four brigades all of which are on the board at the start
of the scenario. Of the Divisional Assets (at the top of the screen) only
the 45th Rgt of Royal Artillery is available. The 8th King's Royal Irish
Hussars will arrive on turn 9, the Philippine armoured unit and the Puerto
Rican infantry on turn 8.

The status screen is quite useful and should be consulted about once a day
to get an overview of the condition of your troops.
Type (ESC) until you return to Menu 4. Select the <OBJECTIVE> line to
obtain Menu 6 (Examine Friendly Objective). The cursor will rest on the Ui
Jongbu Road hex at the bottom of the screen.

The text summarizes the turns for which Victory Points are received, the
number of VPs per turn, and any VPs awarded for control at the end of the
game. The  icons show that the objective is on Lowland terrain and is
Allied controlled.

The arrow keys will cycle through all of your objective hexes. Use them
now to look at all of your objectives to gain an idea of your overall
requirements for winning the game. There are nine other objectives. Check
this screen often as the game progresses to make sure you are on track.
Consider the display in the bottom right of the screen. The solid area is
the overall map size. The smaller white box  represents the location of
the hexes currently on the screen. As you move the cursor to different
parts of the map, the small box will move to show the relative location of
the current screen against the overall map.

Type (ESC) to return to Menu 4. The left of the screen lists the current
divisional objectives for each division if any are current. In this case,
with only one division available, we have not assigned any specific
objective to it. We will content ourselves with ordering smaller
formations.

ISSUING ORDERS
Type (ESC) to bring up Menu 2 and select the <ACTIVATE> line. This will
allow access to the <ORDERS> line. Select this to bring up Menu 8. Select
the <DIV 1> line to bring up Menu 9 and then select <REG ORDER> to bring
up Menu 13. We have four regiments to give orders to.

Select <REG 1>. The flashing cursor indicates that the regiment is in the
<CONTACT> state. This fact determines what sort of orders we can give. The
component battalions of the regiment have been highlighted and their
target is indicated by the target marker. Select the <OB> line. The arrow
keys will cycle the cursor through the component battalions of the
regiment. We can see that we have three battalions of veteran infantry,
and two battalions of artillery. All units are fresh and have suffered no
losses. To the right of the unit description you can see what type of
terrain the units are in, which is either clear or hilltop.
The <OB> line is always available from this menu. Use it to keep up with
the location and condition of the battalions in each regiment as we go
through them.

Type (ESC) to return to Menu 14 and select the <CONTACT> line to bring up
Menu 18. This is the menu with the actual orders for a regiment in the
<CONTACT> state.  Our contact options are <RESERVE>, <DEFEND>, <SUPPORT>,
<PROBE>. Select <DEFEND> and you will be returned to Menu 17. Type
(ESC/f1) to go to Menu 13 and select Reg 2.

Reg 2 is in a <READY> state. Hitting RETURN brings us to Menu 16. Select
<OBJ'TIVE> and use the cursor keys to cycle through the objectives to
"West C'sing" and hit RETURN. The Glosters will now attempt to deny the
ford to the enemy.

Now select <REG 3>, also in a <READY>. Hit RETURN again you will find that
the Ulsters are Deploying. Allow them to do so. We will avoid giving them
a specific objective until we see how the battle develops.

Reg 4 is <ENGAGED>, that is, right up with the action. Hit RETURN to go to
Menu 18. Against the large number of Chinese troops flooding south,
<DEFEND> is probably the best option. Select it then type (ESC/f1) twice
to return to Menu 9, Division Orders.

Select <SUPPORT> and you will see that you have 25 support points. Regs 1
and 4 are in contact with the enemy and should receive all the help. Press
the return key until the flashing cursor at the bottom right of the screen
is next to <REG 1>. Type in the number 12. Press return again so that the
cursor is beside <REG 4>. Type in the number 13 - unlucky for the Chinese,
we hope. Hit (ESC/f1) to return Menu 9. We have now assigned 12 air
support points to REG 1 and 13 to REG 4.

Now to assign divisional assets. Selecting <XX ASSETS> will give us Menu
11. Only the 45th Royal Artillery is currently on the board and it is
assigned to REG 1. Hit RETURN, select <REGIMENT> and we may now select the
regiment to which the asset will be attacked. Currently it is supporting
REG 1 and it is best to leave it that way for the moment. You should check
your assets for each division every turn, and assign them, especially
artillery, to the brigade that requires them.

THE FIRST TURN REVIEWED
We have issued defend orders to Reg's 1 and 4 of Division 1,  directed REG
2 towards an objective and deployed REG 3. We have allocated air support
to our assaulting formations, assigned a divisional asset to REG 1 and
examined all the troops under our command. Now it is time to fight.
Type (ESC) until you return to Menu H, the Master Game Menu. If you think
all is ready select <RUN 5>. Combat and movement will then occur. The
Chinese may not attack you attack on the first turn, but you will get a
combat report if any combats do occur. Hit the space bar to continue after
reading each report.
After the first turn is finished you will be returned to Menu H.

THE GAME PLAN
The fortunes of war being what they are, it is not exactly possible to say
how things will run. The Chinese troops are going to flood on in huge
numbers and although you have some very good soldiers on your side theirs
will not be an easy task. You cannot stop them completely but you must
force them to take heavy casualties for their territorial gains and slow
them as much as possible.

TACTICS
Some brief points to help you win the day. Your veteran troops, with their
heavy air support, are man for man, easily a match for the opposition. But
they have more men per man. You must therefore deploy your troops
carefully to defend key points, moving you small reserve around as
necessary. On occasion, a well-supported attack will be effective but you
must watch fatigue and supply levels.

More than anything this small feature illustrates the amazing flexibility
of the Battlefront  Game System. There are no hard and fast rules as how
to play each game. You must tailor your tactics to suit your objectives,
the forces you have in hand and the opposition you face. What works in one
situation must be re-evaluated to see if it will work when circumstances
change.

SSG has a large and growing range of games for the IBM. Titles include:

Warlords - an epic, eight player, fantasy/strategy game, with armies,
heroes, monsters, battles and conquest. Currently Computer Gaming World's
Number 1 wargame.

Reach For The Stars - a four player game of galactic
colonisation and conquest.

Halls of Montezuma - battles of the USMC, including Iwo Jima,
Okinawa and Hue.

Rommel - match wits with the Desert Fox in North Africa,
scenarios include Kasserine, Cauldron, Alem El Halfa.

Panzer Battles - armoured warfare on the Russian Front, battles of
Minsk, Moscow, Kharkov, Kanev, Prokhorovka, Korsun.

American Civil War Vol II - battles include Gettysburg, Chickamauga,
Chattanooga.

American Civil War Vol III - Atlanta, Nashville, Franklin and
others.

American Civil War Vol I - Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam,
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville.

Gold of the Americas - exciting game of the exloration and
colonisation of the New World. Build your empire and defend it
against all comers.

WARPLAN AND WARPAINT
All of SSG's historical wargames come with our unique WARPLAN  and
WARPAINT utilities. WarPlan lets you alter any scenario or create
entire new battles from scratch. WarPaint lets you alter the color
and appearance of any screen icons, so you can truly customise your
game.

RUN 5 MAGAZINE
Run 5 is SSG's own magazine, published four times per year. It
contains extra scenarios for our games, game replays and hints,
reviews and other useful info.

For more info on Run 5 and SSG games please contact:

In North America:
Strategic Studies Group
8348 Monticello Drive
Pensacola, FL 32514
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]

Elsewhere:
Strategic Studies Group
P.O. Box 261
Drummoyne 2047
Australia
[phone]

We can also be contacted on Compuserve: 72040, 34
AppleLink AUST0161, MCI Mail 384-8467.

This demo is copyright 1990 SSG and may be distributed freely.