BATTLEGROUND: ARDENNES readme GENERAL The program requires you to have the Battleground: Ardennes CD in your computer's CD drive in order to be able to play the game. INSTALLATION SIZES: The following provides a guide to how many MB each type of installation will place on your hard drive. Compact Install: about 15MB Typical Install: about 32MB Custom Install: from 5MB (no options selected) to 172MB (all options selected) VIDEO SEQUENCES: If you experience any problems displaying the video sequences, you are advised to re-install Video For Windows. The SETUP program for this can be found on the CD in the \BGA\VFW sub-directory. Simply run \BGA\VFW\SETUP in the normal way, and follow the on-screen instructions. After installing Video For Windows, you will need to restart Windows before the changes can take effect. QUICK-START INSTRUCTIONS: The Battleground: Ardennes Quick Start sheet provides brief instructions for installing the game onto your computer. It also has guidelines for playing the "Training Scenario" (scenario 00.), a quick and simple action designed to teach you the basic combat and movement procedures of the game with little complication. Use these "follow-along" instructions while playing the first turns of the "Training Scenario" to get you "up and running" quickly. More in-depth information can, of course, be found in the Players Guide. THE SCENARIO EDITOR: On-line instructions for using the Battleground: Ardennes Scenario Editor are provided by double-clicking on the "Scenario Editor Instructions" icon in the Battleground: Ardennes program group. CAUTION: Opening and resaving a scenario provided with the game will alter important data. Therefore it is strongly suggested that you *not* use the Scenario Editor to open any scenario originating from TalonSoft. If you do, you may have to re-install (from the game's CD) all or some of the program for them to function properly. NOTE: When playing the "On to Bastogne" scenario, A/I processing requires more time due to the size of the scenario. VERSION 1.1 "Deluxe Version" NEW MAP: A new Battleview map has been added. In the Display menu it is called the "3D Zoom-Out Map", and shows the map at 50% of its normal size. NEW TOOLBOX BUTTONS: Two new Toolbox buttons have been added. The button showing a cross with an arrow at each of its tips hides (or displays) the Unit List and Terrain Info Box. When these are hidden, more of the map appears in their place. To Select a unit in the current Hot Spot hex when the Unit List is hidden, *right-click* on that hex to reveal the Pop-Up Selection Dialog, then left-click on the name of the desired unit in the dialog (holding down the Shift or Ctrl key while doing so will let you Select more than one unit). The button with a bulls-eye and a "prohibited" symbol toggles (on or off) a display of which hexes can be in the LOS of the current Hot Spot hex. An "X" in a hex indicates *no* LOS. Note that this display does *not* reflect scenario-specific effects, such as visibility (weather), the presence of smoke/wrecks, etc. NULL MODEM: Null Modem capability has been added to Modem Play. Null-modem play requires a direct cable connection between the two computers. Users should obtain a suitable serial communication cable and a null-modem connector (available at computer supply stores). Note that under null modem, the *exact* baud rate for both machines must be Selected. Note also that some older machines may not have serial ports that can handle speeds at or above 9600 baud, so a lower rate may have to be used. To start a scenario using null modem, launch the game by double- clicking on the " Battleground: Ardennes" program item. Follow the same onscreen procedure for starting a normal modem game (see p.39 of the Players Guide), but answer "Yes" when the question "Are you using a null-modem cable?" appears. To start a null-modem scenario via the "Kampfgruppe Peiper", "Roadblock at Clervaux" or "Battle for Bastogne" program item, decide who will be the Host and who will be the Caller (see the first paragraph of 6.1 on p.39 of the Players Guide). Each player then launches the game by double-clicking on the program item appropriate for the agreed-upon scenario. Once the map appears on his screen, the Host Selects "Modem Host", and the Caller Selects "Modem Caller", in the Modem Menu. Both players then configure their modem port and baud rate. Upon successful connection, the Host selects "New" from the File Menu (if starting a new scenario) or "Open" (if resuming a saved battle), and opens the scenario. Play then begins. The modem-play Dial Dialog now "remembers" the previous number dialed. The modem-play "phantom unit" bug in the Movement Phase and several other small bugs have been fixed. STRENGTH POINTS: Each unit now has a Strength Point (SP) size which has an impact on combat, stacking, wreck effects, and the passenger capacity of transport vehicles. The unit's SP size appears within a circle in the lower left-hand corner of its illustration in the Unit List. Only when a unit has been entirely eliminated is it counted as a loss for VP purposes (and listed as a loss in the Strength Dialog). COMBAT: In combat, a unit attacks a number of times equal to its SP size, and SP-loss results reduce the defender's SP size accordingly. (See "NEW CRT" below.) STACKING: Maximum stacking per hex is now 24 SP or six units, whichever is reached first. Passengers do not count, but wrecks do (see next paragraph). If more units than the Unit List can display at one time occupy a hex, two small arrows will appear in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Left-clicking on these arrows will scroll the Unit List display. WRECKS: Each time a hard target loses a SP, it leaves a one-SP wreck. Only when the number of wreck SPs in a hex reaches six does the wreck affect LOS like smoke. The maximum number of wreck SPs that can exist in a hex is 18. A wreck icon with no smoke depiction indicates that less than 6 wreck SPs exist in the hex, while an icon with a smoke depiction indicates 6-18 wreck SPs. To find the exact number, put the Hot Spot in the wreck hex and check the wreck's SP size in the Unit List. PASSENGERS: Each "carrier" vehicle unit (i.e., truck, wagon, basic halftrack) can carry *one* unit whose SP size is less than or equal to the carrier unit's SP size. Each other vehicle type able to transport an infantry-type unit can carry *one* such unit whose SP size is less than or equal to *twice* that vehicular unit's SP size. NEW CRT: The Combat Results Table has been changed to incorporate SP losses. A positive number indicates a SP loss of that amount, and a "D" indicates a Disruption result. However, Disruption results do not automatically cause Disruption of the target unit. Instead, the program counts the number of Disruption and SP results caused by the attack, then divides that number by the SP size of the target to find a percentage chance of actual Disruption. Note that the combat results given onscreen are the *net* results of the attack. If an attack causes a SP loss *and* Disruption, that target also suffers a morale loss of one. FOG OF WAR: When FOW is in effect for a side, its hidden units will *not* automatically be revealed when they are in enemy LOS. The program makes a calculation for each hidden unit at the start of the turn, and again at the end of the Movement Phase, to find which will remain hidden and which are revealed. Generally, infantry and antitank guns are the hardest to reveal. In addition, for any two units of the same kind, the one with a bigger SP size will be revealed more easily than the other. ARTILLERY AVAILABILITY: At the beginning of each friendly Player Turn, the program makes a die roll for each of the friendly side's Indirect-Fire units that fired in the previous turn to see which ones are still "available" to fire again. The "Next Phase Report" lists how many are "out of ammo" (i.e., not available for the present turn). The artillery- availability numbers appear in the Terrain Info Box when you right-click in it. They are labeled "Ammo", and are given in the form "#/#", with the Allied # on the left and the Axis # on the right. Each number represents the percentage chance of being able to fire again. UPDATING SCENARIOS: If you have created your own scenarios, you must open and save them in the Scenario Editor before they will be compatible with Version 1.1 of the game. After launching the editor, Select "Edit existing scenario", open the scenario, then save it (answer "No" to all dialog boxes that appear after you save it). VERSION 1.0 September 19, 1995 The following features of Battleground: Ardennes are not covered in the Players Guide: 3.2 THE MENU BAR: The "Skip to End" command in the "Phase" pop-down menu allows you to end a scenario early, taking you to the Victory Dialog. (NOTE: You can possibly win a medal only if you have completed at least half of the scenario's Game Turns.) 3.2 THE MENU BAR: The "Unit Handbook (F2)" command in the "Help" pop-down menu opens the Battleground: Ardennes Unit Handbook (which can also be accessed during play by pressing the "F2" key). This handy on-line reference manual has an illustration and brief historical description of each unit in the game. Within the handbook, units are organized by nationality, then by type.