Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 News

The Order of Battle Update for War in the East 2 is out now. This massive update includes the addition of new OOB's to more accurately model the condition and organization of German divisions during the Second World War.

The full changelog of this update is so massive, it literally cannot be presented here, the list of changes hits the character limit of this page. A full changelog can be viewed here for the OOB update. Access to the full living update manual can also be found here.

The organization of the Grossdeutschland division in May, 1944

The new formations added model both the differing quality of equipment different divisions were supplied with, and the time period they historically were organized.

The changing shape of the Panzer division from 1941-1945

There is also increased variety for other Axis powers OOB's. Italy now has divisions modeled for the Metropole, North Africa, and the Russian Front.

From the halls of Garibaldi to the shores of Tripoli

Finally, security divisions now make use of captured foreign tanks.

Captured French and Czech tanks as part of a security division

While the changes to the Order of Battle are the most noticeable feature with this update, there are several others worth highlighting. Aircraft with anti-armor cannons are more likely to deliberately target AFV's, all scenarios were updated to include the new Division templates, there are a host of bugfixes and scenario updates including the correction of certain formation and location names, and changes to scenario reinforcement and supply pools.

We are very proud of this massive update, and hope you enjoy playing it.

A big update is on the way for War in the East 2.

If you follow the Matrix Forums, you will know there has been a big public Beta out for the last month with a slew of changes to WITE2. The number of bug fixes, tweaks, and scenario patches included in this update is truly massive.

The really substantial part however is the orders of battle. There are now an increased number of divisional templates to represent the variants of organization that were adopted on the Eastern Front during World War 2. These additions are especially noticeable for German infantry and Panzer divisions, modelling the different forms of organization and equipment adopted during the war. Just a short sample of updated features includes.

Data and Scenario Changes
• Major changes to the OB.dat file:
o Reorganization of data list by nation, unit type and size for easier and more logical viewing
o Comprehensive review and update of all Axis units (Italians are divided into Metropolitan, African and Russian variants of organization)
o Hundreds of new OBs to fill in gaps
o German Divisions now have numerous archetypes to reflect the varied nature of their organization and equipment (there used to be one standard infantry and panzer division - now there are numerous variants to use a wider variety of equipment)
o Better transition of Axis units that become equipped with Panzerfausts in late 1943 (all units should now have unit upgrades when the squads get updated to panzerfausts in Oct 43)
o Revised inclusion of German imported equipment into Axis minor OBs (Panzerschreks in Finnish units, German anti-tank guns and panzers in Italian, Rumanian, Finnish and Hungarian units)
o Different OBs with appropriate naming of motorized and non-motorized variants of units (Standard Pioneer unit versus a Motorized Pioneer unit)
o Reviewed/corrected the unit symbols used by OBs using the new editor feature and updated some units' symbols as being marine and light infantry.

These features are all already available on the beta branch of WITE2. This is available for download on the Matrix Forums or by opting into the beta via Steam. We would like to thank everyone that helped beta test this update and the team members that developed it.

The Order of Battle update itself will be going live at the end of November, so you don't have to wait much longer to play with these changes.

We are proud to announce our new Home of Wargamers live event, which will take place on September 12th at 5 pm UK time.

Join us on our Twitch channel to know more about our biggest franchises. You can set a reminder here.

We will talk about a lot of important updates for some of our Matrix Games best sellers and coming soon games, such as:

• Modern Naval Warfare
  
• Nuclear War Simulator
  
• Command Modern Operations
  
• Flashpoint Campaigns
  
• Rule the Waves 3
  
• Strategic Command
  
• Combat Mission
  
• Valor & Victory
  

We have just released a major new official update for Gary Grigsby’s War in the East 2, you can download the detailed Changelog from this link.

These are the main features added by this update:

• Many significant changes and improvements to the air game to further balance ground support and ground attack strikes, air doctrine, interception and air superiority, staging and logistics.
  
• Fixes to certain logistics issues
  
• Fixes and improvements for urban and city fort CVs
  
• Improvements to displayed CV accuracy in the CV pop-ups and displayed combat values
  
• Many data and map improvements and fixes
  
• Added Living Manual v1.22.pdf file in the \Manuals folder. This is up to date with changes through game version 1.02.52.
  

War in the East 2: Steel Inferno - Race for the Caucasus Tournament

Please note, entry into this tournament requires ownership of the Steel Inferno DLC for War in the East 2.

Welcome, Wargamers, to our first War in the East 2 tournament using the PBEM++ system. This is a standard tournament which we are organizing on the War in the East 2 forum at Matrix Games.

We have 16 slots available for players to compete using the new scenario “AG A – Part I – Race for the Caucasus”, a 17-turn scenario which focuses on the historical Operation Edelweiss and the drive by 1st Panzer and 17th Armies, supported by Rumanian forces, to breakthrough to the oil rich regions of the Caucasus. The Soviet forces are initially disrupted and scattered but are quickly reorganized and reinforced. The remaining terms and rules for this tournament are detailed below.

1. Please only sign up if you are able to commit to playing through all rounds should you advance and completing all of your assigned games with your assigned opponents. We expect this tournament to go for a total of 4-5 months.
2. For all major communications and tournament announcements, there will be a Tournament sub-forum in the Gary Grigsby’s War in the East 2 main forum. Forum link
   
3. When you sign up, in addition to your forum name, please let us know your PBEM++ login handle as well as an e-mail where we can reach you when necessary and a confirmation that you own the DLC. Only complete applications will be accepted.
   
4. Please check back on the forum regularly for tournament updates. These will include your assigned opponent, your assigned side to play, and any other updates relevant to the tournament.
   
5. Players will be randomly assigned a side to play for each round.
   
6. You will have roughly one month to play each round, or about 30 days for 17 turns. The exact start and end date will be announced on the forum.
   
7. We will start with 16 players, paired up to play 8 initial games.
   
8. The second round will consist of 8 players, paired up to play 4 games.
   
9. The third round will consist of 4 players, paired up to play 2 games in the Semi-Final.
   
10. The final Championship round will consist of 2 games: one for 1st and 2nd place, played by the 2 winners of the Semi-Finals, the other for 3rd and 4th place, played by the two eliminated players from the Semi-Finals.
    
11. It is the responsibility of players to reach out to their assigned opponent to begin matches. Please use the Tournament sub-forum to organize and confirm opponent pairings and communication.
    
12. Players will have one week to organize their games. Players who do not respond within the time limit will be disqualified and replaced from chosen back-ups. If you are unable to connect with your assigned opponent within the allotted time, please let MaximKI and Joel Billings know as soon as possible.
    
13. Tournament recruitment is based on a first-come first-serve basis with the first 16 players to sign up given priority to participate.
    
14. We will keep the applications after the first 16 and if there are drops in the first or before the Top 16 round, those who are next in line on will be offered a spot in the tournament.
    
15. A win in the scenario will advance you to the next round. A loss will eliminate you from the tournament. A draw will advance whichever player had the edge in the draw result, however small, in terms of the VP ratio. If a winner cannot be determined by VP ratio, a judgement will be made by the tournament judge, Joel Billings. Please post a screenshot of the VP ratio screen in the Tournament sub-forum.
    
16. After the first round, if there are drops before the start of a round, those who were eliminated in the earlier rounds but were closest to victory will be offered to substitute dropped players.
    
17. If a game is not completed and the inability to complete the game is primarily due to delay on the part of one player, the player who delayed the game will forfeit and be eliminated. We will judge player turn delay by looking at the PBEM++ server logs. If both players actively played the game but there were significant delays on both sides, the projected victory will be used to determine who advances to the next round.
    
18. No Temporary Motorization of units is allowed.
19. For any questions or disputes regarding game outcomes, Joel Billings has final say.
    

Sign-ups open November 18th, 2022 at 3 PM GMT. Sign-ups will now be active until Monday, December 5th at 3 PM GMT. Top 16 rounds begin on December 6th, 2022 at 3 PM GMT and end on January 10th, 2023 at 3 PM GMT.

Tournament Prizes

Prizes will be awarded as follows:

First Place: A $100 voucher to spend on games, DLCs, and expansions from the Matrix Games / Slitherine game library, along with a custom “WITE2: Steel Inferno Champion” forum avatar
Second Place: A $50 voucher to spend on games, DLCs, and expansions from the Matrix Games / Slitherine game library, along with a custom “WITE2: Steel Inferno 2nd Place” forum avatar

Third Place: A $30 voucher to spend on games, DLCs, and expansions from the Matrix Games / Slitherine game library, along with a custom “WITE2: Steel Inferno 3rd Place” forum avatar

Fourth Place: A $25 voucher to spend on games, DLCs, and expansions from the Matrix Games / Slitherine game library, along with a custom “WITE2: Steel Inferno 4th Place” forum avatar

AAR Award: In addition to these prizes, players who write up a detailed After Action Report of their tournament games on the Matrix Games forum or any of our official social media channels, or record a detailed video AAR and share it, will be awarded a $25 voucher to spend on games, DLCs, and expansions from the Matrix Games / Slitherine game library. Please note, each player is eligible for a total of one voucher this way, not one voucher per AAR. For example, if you were to place Fourth and write up a nice AAR about at least one of your tournament games, that would earn you a total of two vouchers as a prize.

If you have further questions, please reach out to either MaximKI and/or Joel Billings.

- The Matrix Team