I’ve been and out of WIF for the better part of the last roughly 30 years. You’re take on the game and the presentation has reminded me, that I should be much more in. Thank you very much! If you should ever be in Germany, I would be delighted to buy you dinner. Once again - thank you.
Abendessen klingt nach Spass! Ich fahre nach Deutschland um zu arbeiten (Frankfurt-Hahn und Ramstein meistens). Thank you for your kind words! I spent much of the early 1990's playing WiF 5th edition (plus all the expansions). When Final Edition was released it felt like two steps forward and one giant step backwards. After about 10 years of frustration trying to fix what we considered were a few major flaws, my gaming group drifted away from WiF. Then WiFCE was released and curiosity got the better of me. While there are a couple of things that have not been fixed from Final Edition, overall I'd say WiFCE is a much better edition. The rule book is probably the best version of the WiF rules I have ever seen. The physical quality of the game is outstanding. It is expensive, though. I still have my old WiF 5th stuff, and will likely do a comparison video between WiF5 and WiFCE in the future. Thanks for watching!
@@thetabletopsedge Many thanks for your kind reply. Have just ordered the WiFCE and look forward to the unboxing. Please feel free to take me up on my dinner offer next time you should happen to be in the Frankfurt area. And do keep up the brilliant videos.
Though the whole series is wonderful, this is a *huge* help as I punch out counters before having played a first game (always the strangest way to sort, not knowing if my counter-punching logic matches game play logic). I feel you've saved me hours here, so thanks once again for this thoughtful series!
So glad they have been of help! That was the goal for the series when I created it. WiF can be extremely daunting to new players, and the best way to learn a game is from a buddy who already knows how to play. But not everyone has an experienced WiF player nearby. So the concept behind these videos was to fill that need for folks interested in playing WiF, but without anyone to show them the ropes. Good luck with your first WiF game!
I've been playing a long time, and though I've seen images online of people using dixie cups for force pools, none of the groups I've played in have used them. we've always used the impossibly difficult to retrieve plano trays or the black counter ones you showed earlier. I might bring my own dixie cups next game I start.
Yes! I was a bit rushed in taking down the last game. That piece is the alternate version of Gneisenau (I think) that I decided to remove from the game when it was due to enter the force pool. Rather than putting it back into the 1940 Axis baggie, I dumped it in the 1939 German baggie and then forgot to remove it when I put away all the counters. I usually find that one or two counters will sneak into the wrong bag whenever I put the game away, but so long as they end up in an earlier bag than their year, I'll catch it when I sort that bag, and put them into their proper bag at that point. So far, I've never put a piece into a later year's bag than where it belongs.
what size dixie cups do you use? look like 5 oz. When I used to play we had massive hardware organizers for force pools....way too much space and trouble!
I do believe they are 5 oz. cups. They are not the smallest cups available, and they are not the largest cups. We have found that this size (and the size one up from this) work quite well for the force pools. They are big enough to allow the contents to get adequately mixed for random selection, while also keeping the stacks a manageable size so they don't tip over. If you haven't tried it, I'd recommend it. It's also a very cheap solution. Of course, you will want to establish a standard stacking order for the cups to keep you from having to constantly look through all the cups to find the one force pool you want to build from. We kept all the land units on top, then the air units, and finally naval units below them. In fact, the order (from top to bottom) we use is: INF, MOT, ARM, MECH, MTN/PARA, MIL, GAR, TER, Div, Guns, HQ, FTR-2, FTR-3, LND-2, LND-3, LND-4, NAV, ATR, CV-2 (first cycle cost), CV-1, SCS-2, SCS-1, TRS, AMPH, CP, SUB. Not every MP will require all of the above cups, and in some cases (where the unit count of various types is low) 2-3 force pools can be consolidated into a single cup. Figure about 25-26 cups for the big MP's (USA, GE, CW, etc.), about 12-15 cups for the small MP's (CH, FR, etc.) plus a few cups for US Entry chits and Minor country setup, which gives you a grand total of about 150 total dixie cups needed for a Deluxe grand campaign game. usually two packs of Dixie cups covers our needs, and you can get those for a couple of bucks. Not only does the system keep all the force pools nice and organize, it also allows for easy randomization by simply clamping your hand over the top of the cup and giving it a good shake. The cups themselves also take up a very small slice of the playing surface, which can be important with a game that's this big already.
I have a question about how to sort CVPs. I'm setting up the Guadalcanal Scenario and the Setup guide does not specify which carrier planes you start with. It just says 5 total for the Commonwealth. Does the player just get to pick which ones? I had my CVPs sorted by all the ones with the same first year of availability, but maybe that's unnecessary? One more question. The Setup guide also says to do 3 Ps. I have no idea what P stands for and I can't find it anywhere in the rule book! My best guess is that means Pilots? Thanks in advance
The first thing to do when setting up a WiF game (after laying out the maps) is to sort each MP's units into their force pools. Units are separated by unit type (ie - INF, MIL, ARM, etc.) as well as by cost (1st cycle cost only for ships). So for your CVP's you will need to separate them by cost. After you have everything sorted, you may scrap any eligible units you desire (and when it comes to CW CVP's there are several you want to scrap...) Any unit with a date 4 years before the current year may be scrapped. Active MP's may scrap anything with a year date 3 years earlier. So for the Guadalcanal scenario, which begins in 1942, that means any active MP can scrap any unit with a year date of 1939 or earlier. Once scrapped, the unit is permanently removed from the game, so you may want to consider whether or not to scrap each eligible unit. Personally, I only scrap air units, some SUB's (depending on MP), and some TRS (again, depending on MP). Land units are always useful, even if they aren't ver good. Aircraft on the other hand are almost always rendered obsolete by newer models. Check out 13.6.5 on page 53 of the rule book. Once you have separated your units into force pools and scrapped anything you wanted to, for setup you will then randomly draw the number of units for that location as specified in the setup charts. For the 1939 scenario, I instead simply choose the units in chronological order, based on the date on the back of the counter. If I only need 1 more unit and there are multiple remaining units with the same year, I draw randomly. This is a house rule, though, (but I think at one point it was an "official" optional rule) so you won't find it in the setup section of the rules. In your example, you would randomly select 5 CW CVP's from all available CVP's (meaning for this purpose you don't need to split them up by cost yet, randomly choose the 5, then when you put the rest back into the force pool you separate them by cost). For scenarios that begin mid-war (post-1939) I simply randomly draw from all available and do not use the chronological method. "P" does indeed mean Pilot. If you aren't playing with the Pilot optional rule (but I strongly suggest you do), then you can ignore these. It also means that you will only get to place 3 (of your choice) of the 5 CVP's you just randomly drew on map. The other 2 go back in the force pools. If you are playing with the Pilot optional, then you choose which 3 of the 5 you want on map, and the other 2 go into the Reserve Pool, instead of the force pools. During the Reinforcement Stage each turn, for every Pilot you pull off of the track, you may place one air unit from the Reserve Pool onto the maps. Hope this helps, if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask, and thanks for watching!
I’ve been and out of WIF for the better part of the last roughly 30 years. You’re take on the game and the presentation has reminded me, that I should be much more in. Thank you very much! If you should ever be in Germany, I would be delighted to buy you dinner. Once again - thank you.
Abendessen klingt nach Spass! Ich fahre nach Deutschland um zu arbeiten (Frankfurt-Hahn und Ramstein meistens). Thank you for your kind words! I spent much of the early 1990's playing WiF 5th edition (plus all the expansions). When Final Edition was released it felt like two steps forward and one giant step backwards. After about 10 years of frustration trying to fix what we considered were a few major flaws, my gaming group drifted away from WiF. Then WiFCE was released and curiosity got the better of me. While there are a couple of things that have not been fixed from Final Edition, overall I'd say WiFCE is a much better edition. The rule book is probably the best version of the WiF rules I have ever seen. The physical quality of the game is outstanding. It is expensive, though. I still have my old WiF 5th stuff, and will likely do a comparison video between WiF5 and WiFCE in the future. Thanks for watching!
@@thetabletopsedge Many thanks for your kind reply. Have just ordered the WiFCE and look forward to the unboxing. Please feel free to take me up on my dinner offer next time you should happen to be in the Frankfurt area. And do keep up the brilliant videos.
Though the whole series is wonderful, this is a *huge* help as I punch out counters before having played a first game (always the strangest way to sort, not knowing if my counter-punching logic matches game play logic). I feel you've saved me hours here, so thanks once again for this thoughtful series!
So glad they have been of help! That was the goal for the series when I created it. WiF can be extremely daunting to new players, and the best way to learn a game is from a buddy who already knows how to play. But not everyone has an experienced WiF player nearby. So the concept behind these videos was to fill that need for folks interested in playing WiF, but without anyone to show them the ropes. Good luck with your first WiF game!
@@thetabletopsedge You pull those goals off -- even the "buddy" part, since there is a friendly feel to these videos. In any case, thanks again!
I've been playing a long time, and though I've seen images online of people using dixie cups for force pools, none of the groups I've played in have used them. we've always used the impossibly difficult to retrieve plano trays or the black counter ones you showed earlier. I might bring my own dixie cups next game I start.
Good luck with them. I hope you find them as useful as we have.
Couldn't help but notice @00:45 the German '39 bag has a '40 naval unit!?
Yes! I was a bit rushed in taking down the last game. That piece is the alternate version of Gneisenau (I think) that I decided to remove from the game when it was due to enter the force pool. Rather than putting it back into the 1940 Axis baggie, I dumped it in the 1939 German baggie and then forgot to remove it when I put away all the counters. I usually find that one or two counters will sneak into the wrong bag whenever I put the game away, but so long as they end up in an earlier bag than their year, I'll catch it when I sort that bag, and put them into their proper bag at that point. So far, I've never put a piece into a later year's bag than where it belongs.
what size dixie cups do you use? look like 5 oz. When I used to play we had massive hardware organizers for force pools....way too much space and trouble!
I do believe they are 5 oz. cups. They are not the smallest cups available, and they are not the largest cups. We have found that this size (and the size one up from this) work quite well for the force pools. They are big enough to allow the contents to get adequately mixed for random selection, while also keeping the stacks a manageable size so they don't tip over. If you haven't tried it, I'd recommend it. It's also a very cheap solution. Of course, you will want to establish a standard stacking order for the cups to keep you from having to constantly look through all the cups to find the one force pool you want to build from. We kept all the land units on top, then the air units, and finally naval units below them. In fact, the order (from top to bottom) we use is: INF, MOT, ARM, MECH, MTN/PARA, MIL, GAR, TER, Div, Guns, HQ, FTR-2, FTR-3, LND-2, LND-3, LND-4, NAV, ATR, CV-2 (first cycle cost), CV-1, SCS-2, SCS-1, TRS, AMPH, CP, SUB. Not every MP will require all of the above cups, and in some cases (where the unit count of various types is low) 2-3 force pools can be consolidated into a single cup. Figure about 25-26 cups for the big MP's (USA, GE, CW, etc.), about 12-15 cups for the small MP's (CH, FR, etc.) plus a few cups for US Entry chits and Minor country setup, which gives you a grand total of about 150 total dixie cups needed for a Deluxe grand campaign game. usually two packs of Dixie cups covers our needs, and you can get those for a couple of bucks.
Not only does the system keep all the force pools nice and organize, it also allows for easy randomization by simply clamping your hand over the top of the cup and giving it a good shake. The cups themselves also take up a very small slice of the playing surface, which can be important with a game that's this big already.
I have a question about how to sort CVPs. I'm setting up the Guadalcanal Scenario and the Setup guide does not specify which carrier planes you start with. It just says 5 total for the Commonwealth. Does the player just get to pick which ones? I had my CVPs sorted by all the ones with the same first year of availability, but maybe that's unnecessary?
One more question. The Setup guide also says to do 3 Ps. I have no idea what P stands for and I can't find it anywhere in the rule book! My best guess is that means Pilots? Thanks in advance
The first thing to do when setting up a WiF game (after laying out the maps) is to sort each MP's units into their force pools. Units are separated by unit type (ie - INF, MIL, ARM, etc.) as well as by cost (1st cycle cost only for ships). So for your CVP's you will need to separate them by cost. After you have everything sorted, you may scrap any eligible units you desire (and when it comes to CW CVP's there are several you want to scrap...) Any unit with a date 4 years before the current year may be scrapped. Active MP's may scrap anything with a year date 3 years earlier. So for the Guadalcanal scenario, which begins in 1942, that means any active MP can scrap any unit with a year date of 1939 or earlier. Once scrapped, the unit is permanently removed from the game, so you may want to consider whether or not to scrap each eligible unit. Personally, I only scrap air units, some SUB's (depending on MP), and some TRS (again, depending on MP). Land units are always useful, even if they aren't ver good. Aircraft on the other hand are almost always rendered obsolete by newer models. Check out 13.6.5 on page 53 of the rule book.
Once you have separated your units into force pools and scrapped anything you wanted to, for setup you will then randomly draw the number of units for that location as specified in the setup charts. For the 1939 scenario, I instead simply choose the units in chronological order, based on the date on the back of the counter. If I only need 1 more unit and there are multiple remaining units with the same year, I draw randomly. This is a house rule, though, (but I think at one point it was an "official" optional rule) so you won't find it in the setup section of the rules. In your example, you would randomly select 5 CW CVP's from all available CVP's (meaning for this purpose you don't need to split them up by cost yet, randomly choose the 5, then when you put the rest back into the force pool you separate them by cost). For scenarios that begin mid-war (post-1939) I simply randomly draw from all available and do not use the chronological method.
"P" does indeed mean Pilot. If you aren't playing with the Pilot optional rule (but I strongly suggest you do), then you can ignore these. It also means that you will only get to place 3 (of your choice) of the 5 CVP's you just randomly drew on map. The other 2 go back in the force pools. If you are playing with the Pilot optional, then you choose which 3 of the 5 you want on map, and the other 2 go into the Reserve Pool, instead of the force pools. During the Reinforcement Stage each turn, for every Pilot you pull off of the track, you may place one air unit from the Reserve Pool onto the maps.
Hope this helps, if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask, and thanks for watching!
@@thetabletopsedge Perfect! Thanks for the detailed reply
I must say that a good tip for beginners to get the force pools right is to look in the VASSAL module for how it's done.
Excellent tip! The WiFCE VASSAL module is very well done and can be an excellent resource, even if you are playing the physical version of the game.