V  FOR  VICTORY
BATTLESET 1:  UTAH BEACH 
NORMANDY, 1944


OPERATIONS MANUAL 


Published by:
ThreeÐSixty Pacific, Inc.
2105 South Bascom Avenue, Suite 380
Campbell, California  95008


For Customer Service, call (409) 776Ð2187 
between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Central Time


Copyright © 1991 Atomic Games, All Rights Reserved


Corporate Office:

ThreeÐSixty Pacific, Inc.
2105 S. Bascom Ave, Suite 380
Campbell, CA  95008
(408) 879Ð9144

Customer Service:

ThreeÐSixty Pacific, Inc.
2402 Broadmoor, Suite BÐ201
Bryan, TX  77802
(409) 776Ð2187


Scenario Selection Screen	1
Units and Movement 	1
The Execution Phase	3
The AfterÐAction Phase	3
The Planning Phase	3
A Word About Stacking	3
Combat	4
Artillery	4
Air and Naval Support	5
The Execution Phase	6
On To Victory!	6
After You've Won	7

INTRODUCTION TO UTAH BEACH


Utah Beach is a detailed and highly realistic strategy game of WWII ground combat, as seen from the standpoint of a divisional or corpsÐlevel commander.  The emphasis of the game is on evaluating information and making decisions, not on the mechanics of operating the computer or entering your moves.  The "staff assistant" and simple mouseÐandÐmenu interface give you the choice of considering every detail in your decisions, or just concentrating on the Big Picture.  Utah Beach is a complex and detailed game that is also easy to learn and play.

The setting of the game is the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy, France in June, 1944, following the DÐDay invasion.  You can command either side against the computer or another player.  You issue movement and combat orders to your units, allocate supply and replacements, construct field fortifications, and request air and naval support.  You have access to substantial amounts of information about your own as well as enemy units, reinforcements, victory conditions, and weather forecasts.  

There are six different scenarios of increasing size and complexity, beginning with "Mopping Up", an introductory scenario for new players.  In addition to the six basic scenarios, there are also numerous historical options and variants.  When selected in various combinations, these options and variants create the equivalent of dozens of different scenarios.  

Utah Beach comes with two manuals and a Quick Reference Card.  The Operations Manual contains all the necessary information about how to play the game, including a special "Quick Start" section for new players.  The Reference Manual contains more detailed information about the game routines, plus extensive historical background information, a glossary and pronunciation guide, designer's notes, and an annotated bibliography.  The Quick Reference Card contains several charts and tables that summarize the different terrain types, their movement and combat effects, unit types and symbols, keyboard equivalents, etc.  

We hope you find Utah Beach to be interesting, informative, and challenging, but most of all Ð enjoyable.


I.  QUICK START

The purpose of this part of the Operations Manual is to provide a short tutorial on the most important features of V for Victory and Battleset 1:  Utah Beach.  New players are strongly encouraged to read and follow along, stepÐbyÐstep, through this section when they sit down to play the game for the first time.   Quick Start  takes you on a "guided tour" of Utah Beach, all the way through the first two turns of "Mopping Up", the introductory scenario.   

After the title and credits sequence, the Scenario Selection Screen appears.     


Scenario SELECTION SCREEN   

This is where you select the scenario you wish to play, the side you wish to play, and the historical options and variants that you want.  The screen always opens with the "default" settings already selected for the American side in the Introductory Scenario "Mopping Up".  New players are strongly encouraged to complete at least one game of "Mopping Up" as the American player before starting any of the more difficult scenarios.  The remainder of Part I of this manual assumes that you are playing "Mopping Up" as the Americans with all of the default settings, so feel free to examine the Scenario Selection Screen, but don't click on anything yet. 

When you are ready to begin play, click on the button next to "Begin New Game" at the upper left corner of the screen.  After a few seconds, the game map appears, along with a "Good Morning" message from your staff assistant.  The purpose of this opening message is to remind you to do several things that, as a beginning player, you shouldn't worry about yet, so click anywhere to remove the message.


Units and Movement 

As stated in your situation briefing on the Scenario Selection Screen, your task in "Mopping Up" is to eliminate all of the German units and occupy the tip of the peninsula.  Your units  are green (white on B&W monitors), and the German units are gray (half black and half white on B&W monitors).  Each unit has an icon on it that indicates the kind of unit it is, as well as an identification number.  Note that many of the German units begin the scenario in fortified positions, indicated by a "times 2" marker covering the unit.

To obtain information about a particular unit or to assign orders to it, move the cursor to the unit and click on it.  This draws a green border around the unit and opens the Unit Window at the bottom of the screen.  

Let's start with the American unit that has the tank icon and the number "4" on it (near the lower left corner of the playing area).   When you click on this unit, it also appears in the Unit Window at the bottom of the screen, along with some information about it.  On the left side of the Unit Window you see the unit's name, current headquarters, and type.  You can see that it is a mechanized recon unit, specifically the 4th Recon Battalion of the VII Corps, and that it is currently attached to the 9th Infantry Division.  On the right side of the window you see its current attack, defense, armor, and antitank strengths, as well as its current morale, fatigue, and disruption levels.  The number after the word "Max" tells you its normal maximum (or full) attack and defense strength. 

Three hexes to the right of the 4th Recon Battalion on the map is a unit with an infantry icon, the number "60", and one dot in its lower left corner.  If you click on this unit, the Unit Window confirms that it is in fact infantry, specifically the 1st Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.  

Other types of units that you have under your command in this scenario are armor (also represented by a tank icon), artillery (represented by a cannon icon), engineers (represented by an infantry icon and the letter "E"), and headquarters (represented by a flag). 

There are two ways to assign orders to an individual unit.  For now we'll use the simplest method (another method that gives you more control is described in Part II).  Click again on the 4th Recon Battalion that we looked at earlier (at the lower left of the playing area), and hold the mouse button down.  This causes the green "current unit" border to appear around its hex.  Now drag the cursor two hexagons to the northwest (adjacent to the German unit in the field fortification), and release.  Your "staff assistant" calculates a movement path to the destination, which is shown by red arrows.  

Next click on the 1st Battalion of the 60th Infantry Regiment, which we also examined earlier.  Hold the mouse button down, drag the cursor three hexes to the northwest (adjacent to another German fortified position), and release.  As before, your staff assistant calculates a path, which is shown by red arrows.

Note:  except for artillery, a unit must start the turn adjacent to an enemy unit in order to attack it.  Due to the time and distance scale of the game (one kilometer per hexagon and four hours per turn), it would not be historically correct for units to be able to both move and attack during the same turn.  Therefore, you should plan your movement with the intention of setting up attacks for the next turn.  

With this in mind, move the rest of your units (except for the artillery and headquarters) using the technique described above.  We'll cover artillery separately in a few minutes, and there's no need to move your headquarters right away.  Remember to click on a unit, hold the mouse button down to grab it, then drag the cursor to the destination and release.  

Note that if you click on a unit that has already been given orders, its planned movement path is reÐdrawn on the map.  If you change your mind and want that unit to move somewhere else, grab it again and drag the cursor to the new destination.  The new orders automatically replace the old ones.


The Execution Phase

When you're satisfied with all of your movement orders (remember not to do anything with the artillery units yet), click on Phase (at the top of the screen), drag the cursor down to Execution, and release.  This action triggers a sound cue, and advances the game from the Planning Phase to the Execution Phase of the current turn.  The units of both sides carry out their orders simultaneously .  


The AfterÐAction Phase

If the "After Action Battle Reports" option from the Options Menu is "on", the game is now in the AfterÐAction Phase.  Otherwise, it has already proceeded to the Planning Phase of the second turn.  During the AfterÐAction Phase, each hexagon on the map where combat took place during the Execution Phase is marked in some way.  By clicking on each of these hexes, you can obtain a report (shown at the bottom of the screen) on what happened there.  Probably the only combat during the first Execution Phase was a German artillery attack, which is indicated by a purple border around the target hex (a thickened, dashed border on black and white monitors).  Clicking on one of these outlined battle hexes opens the Battle Report Window at the bottom of the screen.


The Planning Phase

When you're through reviewing the situation in the AfterÐAction Phase, click on Phase (at the top of the screen), drag the pointer down to Planning, and release.  This action advances the game from the AfterÐAction Phase to the Planning Phase of the second turn.  


A Word About Stacking

By now you probably have observed that it is possible for more than one unit to be in the same hex at the same time.  Technically, the "stacking limit", or the maximum number of units that may be in the same hex at the same time, depends on the size of the units and the type of terrain. For most units and most types of terrain, a maximum of three units may be in the same hex at the same time.  Each "stack" may contain units from only one side; American and German units can never be in the same hex at the same time.

When you click on a stack of units, all of the units in that hex are shown in the Unit Window at the bottom of the screen.  Clicking repeatedly on the stack reÐarranges which unit is shown on the top of the stack, so that each unit can be assigned orders individually.  If you wish to assign exactly the same orders to every unit in a stack, you can press the "shift" key, click on the stack while holding the "shift" key down, keep the mouse button down while dragging the cursor to where you want the stack to go, and release.  This enters those orders for every unit in the stack all at once, thus saving you from assigning the same orders several times for units that are already stacked together.   


Combat

As stated above, nonÐartillery units must be adjacent to enemy units in order to attack.  (Artillery is discussed in the next section.)  As a result of your movement on the first turn, several of your units should be adjacent to enemy units and therefore ready to attack.  
 
Assigning orders to attack an adjacent enemy unit is easy; in fact, it's exactly like movement. When you grabÐandÐdrag one of your units onto an adjacent enemy unit, the game assumes that you mean to attack the enemy unit. (The other, more complicated way of entering orders described in Part II gives you many more options, and allows you to differentiate between an attack and movement into an adjacent, enemyÐoccupied hex.) So, to attack an enemy unit, click on one of your units that is adjacent to the enemy, hold the mouse button down, drag the cursor onto the adjacent enemy unit, and release. A red arrow appears just as if you had assigned movement into that hex. 

When attacking an enemy unit, it is usually a good tactic to attack it with several of your units at once, from two or more directions. This increases the "odds" of your attack, which in turn increases your chance of success.  


Artillery

Artillery units have a maximum range of 4 or more hexes, so they do not need to be adjacent to an enemy unit in order to attack it.  In fact, it is much better for them if they are not adjacent to the enemy. To assign an artillery attack (also known as a "fire mission"), first click on the artillery unit to get the green border around its hex, then press the "command" key and hold it down (note the cursor changes to a red bullsÐeye), move the cursor to the target hex, and click on it.  Now release the command key.  Blue and red target markers appear on the target hex, and blue and green target markers appear on any of your units that are adjacent to the target hex.  The red target marker (a bulls-eye with the letter "A" on it) indicates the target hex for an offensive fire mission.  The green target markers (small shields) indicate defensive fire missions, which will benefit your units.  The blue target markers show all the target hexes of the currentlyÐselected artillery unit.  For more information, see "Artillery" in Part II and in the Reference Manual.  

To change your mind and designate a different target hex, commandÐclick on the new target. To cancel the fire mission altogether, commandÐclick a second time on the same target hex.  If you hear the sound of a horn when you commandÐclick on a target hex, it means that hex is not a permissible target.  To see a help message that explains why it is not permissable, commandÐclick on the hex again and hold the mouse button down.  To assign orders to a different unit, click normally on the new unit. 

Artillery fire missions may be assigned against the same enemy units that are being attacked by your "frontÐline" infantry and armor units. It is usually a good idea to include plenty of artillery in your attacks, because this adds the barrage strength of the artillery units to the attack strength of your frontÐline units.  In general, any number of artillery units may be assigned to attack the same target hex, although if the "One Division Per Attack" Realism Option is in effect, all of the attacks made against a given hex must be from units attached to the same division.

You may also assign artillery to attack enemy units that are not being attacked by any of your "frontÐline" units, as well as hexes that are completely unÐoccupied during the Planning Phase.  If the target hex is not on the front line or is unoccupied, your artillery has an "interdiction" effect.  This tends to inhibit the activities of enemy units in the target hex, or which attempt to move through or leave the target hex.  

If you have not already done so, assign fire missions to your artillery units using the procedure described above.


Air and Naval Support

Air and naval support are somewhat like artillery. The biggest differences are that players have less control over aircraft and ships than they have over their other units, and the air and naval units are not represented by a picture of the actual unit on the map.  Air and naval support are "requested" by clicking on the aircraft and ship buttons, respectively, that are located at the top of the Operations Sidebar.

The amount of air support that is available to each side depends upon which of the "Air Superiority" options is selected within the Scenario Selection Screen at the beginning of each game. When "Total Allied Air Superiority" is in effect (which is the historical, default setting in all of the scenarios), the American player has a lot of air support available, and the German player has none.  

In all of the scenarios except "Mopping Up", the American player has at least some naval support available. The German player never has any naval support.  

Let's request some air support (the actual WWII term was "ground support") to see how it works.   First, go to the Operations Sidebar by clicking on the lower right corner of the General Sidebar.  Then click on the aircraft button at the top of the Operations Sidebar.  This opens the Ground Support Window at the bottom of the screen.  

There are two types of ground support missions available:  fighterÐbombers and light/medium bombers. Clicking on the large aircraft button on the left side of the Ground Support Window alternates between these two options.  
To assign either type of ground support mission, click on the desired target hex on the map when the option you want is showing on the large aircraft button.  To cancel an air support request, click on the same target hex a second time.  To close the Ground Support Window, click again on the aircraft button at the top of the Operations Sidebar.

Note:  requested ground support missions may or may not arrive.  The more ground support missions which you request for that turn and the worse the current weather conditions, the greater the chance that a particular ground support mission will not be carried out.

Naval support works in a similar fashion except that it always arrives when requested.  However, because the American player has no naval support available in "Mopping Up", it is not described any further here.  Naval support is explained in Part II of this manual.  


The Execution Phase

When you're satisfied with all of your attack and movement orders, click on Phase (at the top of the screen), drag the cursor down to Execution, and release.  This action advances the game from the Planning Phase to the Execution Phase of the current turn.  The units of both sides carry out their orders simultaneously .

When combat occurs during the Execution Phase, the movement arrows of those units which are attacking adjacent enemy units are shown briefly along with several other types of visual and sound cues.  Air attacks are indicated by a small aircraft symbol.  Each hex where a fullÐscale battle takes place is outlined in red, and each hex where interdiction has been assigned is outlined in purple.  On black and white monitors, these hexes are shown with thickerÐthanÐnormal solid and dashed borders, respectively.  The winner of each fullÐscale battle is indicated by a small national flag that appears in the hex where the combat took place.  Message windows containing brief Battle Reports also appear, stating the results of each battle as it is resolved.  

During the AfterÐAction Phase, you can obtain more detailed information about the results of each battle and interdiction attack.  To do so, click on one of the flags or outlined hexes. This opens the Battle Report Window at the bottom of the screen.


ON TO VICTORY!

You have completed your first two turns of V for Victory:  Utah Beach, and now you know everything necessary in order to play and enjoy the game.  You have 21 turns left to eliminate all the German units and occupy the tip of the peninsula.  The scenario will end after the 10:00 PM gameÐturn of July 2nd, or when you eliminate the last German unit, whichever comes first.  The more rapidly you can eliminate the last German unit, the greater will be your victory.  There are also six specific hexes (geographic objectives) that you should capture as quickly as possible, because each one is worth victory points for each turn you occupy it.  To see which hexes these are, click on the "V for Victory" button at the bottom of the General Sidebar.  This opens the Victory Window at the bottom of the screen.  

The right side of the Victory Window contains two buttons labeled "Next" and "Locate", plus a window between them that shows the name of the first geographic objective, a village named "GrevilleÐHague".  The name of the village appears only in the Victory Window, not on the map.  Click on "Locate" to see where the village is located.  Click on "Next" to see the next objective and where it is located, and so on.  There are a total of six of these geographic objectives in "Mopping Up".  The sooner you take them, the greater will be your victory.  The order in which you take them does not matter.


AFTER YOU'VE WON . . .

After you've won your first game of "Mopping Up", sit back and critique your victory.  Could you have done anything differently?  Could you have made more attacks?  Better, stronger attacks?  Did you make maximum use of your artillery and aircraft?  Could you have captured any of the geographic objectives sooner?  Could you have surrounded any of the German units to keep them from retreating, thus eliminating them sooner?  

If your answer to any of these questions is "yes", you should play "Mopping Up" again and apply what you've learned.  You'll probably do much better the second time.

Of course, there's a lot more to the game than what you've seen so far. Your skills will improve rapidly as you read the manuals and get more experience.  Part II of this Operations Manual begins with the Scenario Selection Screen and explains all the game features and options, and briefly tells you how to do additional things like digging in, taking replacements, assigning supply, etc.  The separate Reference Manual includes very detailed explanations of how all the game routines work, and the historical reasons for why they work that way. 

(NOTE: the demonstration copy of V for Victory only contains the first scenario)

The six scenarios are listed on the Scenario Selection Screen in order of increasing size and difficulty.  We recommend that you play the American side in "Mopping Up" at least twice, and that you achieve at least a Substantial American Victory, before going on to "Objective: Carentan" or "SS Counterattack".  You should then play both of those scenarios to completion before going on to "Final Assault".  "Race For Carteret" and the "Campaign Game" are both very large scenarios, with many situations sure to test the abilities of even the most advanced players. 

¥ Additional keyboard equivalents

	Many of you asked for some keyboard shortcuts that would allow you to issue orders without going to the unit command box.  Below is a list of new keyboard commands as well as the old ones.  In general, they each function identically to their point-and-click counterparts:

	Key		Function
	1-9			Scrolls the map.

	0 (zero)		Toggles between Close View and Far View.

	A a			Cycles through the attack modes for the active unit.

	S s			Cycles through the movement modes for the active unit.  This excludes automatic movement unless the command box is showing.

	D d		Cycles through the defend modes for the active unit.

	F f			For engineers, cycles between digging fox holes and building field 				fortifications.  For everyone else, it toggles between digging fox holes and not digging fox holes.
	
	delete		Cancels the last order given to a unit.  For instance, it will cancel an artillery plot, or the last movement order in a sequence of orders given to the active unit.

	clear		Cancels all orders given to the active unit and places it in a defend mode.

	shift		Allows a stack of units to be issued movement or attack orders at the same time.

	command		In conjunction with the mouse and mouse button:
				- allows artillery units to plot fire missions by clicking on the target
				- allows units to be moved by clicking on the next hex in the desired path.  If the active unit is not in a movement mode, it will move tactically.

¥ Floating point unit support

	Try as we might, we were not able to get away from using floating point math for some of the Computer Opponent  programming.  Floating point math is very slow, but some machines have a special chip called an FPU (floating point unit) which dramatically speeds up floating point calculations.  In addition, when the V for Victory is program is created, we can tell it to use the FPU or not to. Version 1.1 comes in 2 flavors: V for Victory (FPU) and V for Victory (no FPU).  If your machine has an FPU, we recommend you use the (FPU) flavor, otherwise you must use the (no FPU) flavor.  Below are some guidelines for determining whether your machine has an FPU.  If all else fails, try running the (FPU) flavor.  If your machine doesnÕt have one, the program will tell you.

¥ Plus, SE, Classic			No
¥ Mac II, IIx, IIcx, SE30		Yes
¥ Mac LC, IIsi, Classic II		Optional
¥ Mac IIci, IIfx,Quadra		Yes
¥ PowerBook 100, 140		No
¥ PowerBook 170			Yes