The Greatest Day - Special Features




Manipulating Counters

All Counters have a context-sensitive menu accessed by right-clicking on the counter. Some commands are grouped into sub-menus. Keyboard shortcuts are displayed for each command and can be used instead of using the menus.




General Commands

Movement Submenu

Delay Submenu (Allied paratroops only in movement submenu)

Combat Submenu

Engineering Submenu




Popup Information Display

Holding the mouse steady over a stack of units activates a popup window showing a zoomed in view of the counters in the hex:-



The units are displayed with from the bottom unit at the left, in order to the top-most unit at the right. Above the unit display is a line of text showing:- Holding the mouse steady over an empty hex will display the Hex reference, the weather, the terrain (and the time if night).


Out Of Command Status and Rating Modifiers

Whenever a counter is selected by clicking on it, or by dragging a box around it, the outline of the counter is highlighted in a thicker black border to show that it is current selected. The counter on the right has been selected:



If the counter is Out of Command when selected, then the counter is instead highlighted in a thick red border with a thin red diagonal:



The "-1" label to the right of the Troop Quality is a reminder that Troop Quality is reduced by -1 whenever a unit is out of command. A negative modifier is displayed in red, a positive modifier in blue and a green zero is displayed if multiple modifiers cancel each other out. The Troop Quality Modifier status takes into account the following modifiers:-
Modifiers to the Fire, Assault and Defence ratings are displayed down the left side of the counter, roughly in line with the ratings printed on the counter. These modifiers take into account all modifiers specified in the Series, Exclusive and Scenario Special rules.






Additional Map Markers

Marker
Description
V
Marks a hex referenced in the Victory Conditions
 
Various coloured stars marking hexes mentioned in the Scenario notes or on the Scenario cards.



Range Display

Leader counters have a 'Command Range' command that displays a shading on the map out to their command range.

Combat units with a range greater than 1 have a 'Show Range' command that displays a shading on the map out to the limit of their maximum range. PLEASE NOTE that this is a guide only and does not take Line of Sight or Fire Zone suppression into account. You may not be able to shoot at all of the shaded hexes.


Charts



The various charts required for play for The Greatest Day are accessible by clicking on the Charts toolbar button. Charts included are:


Notes



Click on the Notes button to open the Notes display. There are four different kinds of notes.
  1. The Scenario notes section is pre-loaded with the complete instructions for the scenario from the Exclusive Rule Book
  2. The Public notes section is empty at the start of the scenario. Players can type notes into this section and they are shared between all players, and saved when the game is saved..
  3. The Private notes section is similar to the Public Notes, except that each player has their own personal copy. The notes are saved with the game, but no other player gets to see your Private Notes.
  4. The Delayed notes section is drop-box for secret information that must be recorded at the start of the game, and then revealed to your opponent at a later time. usage will depend on the requirements of the scenario. A typical usage would be recording the secret selection of Victory Conditions from a lvariable ist. Click on the New button to create a new Delayed note and give it a name. Click Ok, then Save. The note will be saved along with game and your opponent will be able to see the name of the note, and the time it was created, but cannot see the text of the note until you click on the Reveal button. Once created, a Delayed Note cannot be edited, changed or deleted by either player.


Turn Track



Move the Date, Time and Weather markers around the turn track as required. The position of the Weather and Time counters affect the rating modifiers displayed on the counter highlighters and the Counter Info panel.


Activation Chits and Activating Units  



The Activation window is the core of the Grand Tactical Series rule syste,. Activation Chits for the various Armies, Divisions and Formations in the scenario are made available for use in the scenario setup, or as reinforcements as the associated troops enter the game. Selected chits are randomized in the Coffee Mug and drawn out one by one to dictate the order of play. The Activation board contains a number of different parts: At the end of a turn, one of the players can click the Refill Mug button to distribute the Used Activation Markers ready for the next turn: As well as manipulating the chits manually, you can use the right-click menu available on each chit
When activated, units belonging to the same formation or division as the chit are clearly marked with a Yellow Highlight:

This allows you to easily see where the currently active units are on the board. The Green highlight indicates an activated unit that has used its Action. Moving a unit, or issuing it commands that represent actions (Such as building an Impoved Position or entering Column Mode) cause the highlight to automatically change from Yellow to Green. If you need to manually may a unit as having done its action, use the 'Mark Action Done' command on the individual counter.

At the end of the Activation, use the Deactivate All button to remove all activation highlights.


Command and Dispatch Point Tracks



Use the Command and Dispatch markers to track the current level of Command and Dispatch Points for each Division. The Location of each marker on the track represents the number of points currently available. The rate at which the Division gains extra points is indicated on the lower right-hand corner of each marker.


Victory Point Display



Each The Greatest Day Scenario has specific Victory Tasks allocated to the Divisions involved in the scenario. Each division may have 3, 2, 1 or possibly no Victory Tasks. The 3 tasks are ranked into Primary, Secondary and Teritiary tasks and earn 15, 10 or 6 Victory Points (VP's) respectively. The current state of each Victory task, the points allocated and the points difference between the two sides is recorded on the VP display.

When a new scenario is started, the VP display will be preset with the appropriate divisional tasks. Right-Click on a task marker and select Achieved or Pending to change the state of the marker, The VP totals will automatically update to reflect the change.


Some Victory Tasks cannot be undone by the other side once they have been completed. These are displayed with a thick Green Border. Use the Lock/Unlock Task to Lock or Unlock a Victory Task. Note, this is just to remind players that the Victory Task status can no longer be changed - The Task must be Unlocked before it can be changed again.


To see the text of a Victory Task, hold the cursor over a task marker and the text of the task will appear in a pop-up box.




Air Power Display



Clicking on the green button in the bottom right corner will create the correct number of Fighter Bombers for the Allies for the day depending on the weather. These can then be moved to 'On Interdiction' box in the top left corner, or allocated to Divisions and moved to the holdig boxes on the Divisional Displays.


Beach Overlay Control

  Use the Show/Hide Overlay menu options to show or hide individual Beach Overlays. Overlays will normally start visible in a scenario and must be manually hidden once the Beach has been Cleared.
Use the Cut/Open Phone Lines menu options to record the state of the 716 Division phone lines on each individual Beach Overlay and on 716 units outside of the Beach Overlay areas. The Telephone marker is a small red box with a P symbo in the center left of the counter:


When cut, the phone symbol is marked with a cross and the telephones will not be used by the 'In Command' checker to establish whether or not the unit is In Command:




Men at Work and Rallying Counters 


The Men at Work and Rallying counters are special markers that record how long a unit has been trying unsuccessfully to complete a task. Use the Increase and Decrease commands to change the value of the counter.


Scenario Cards - Variable Setup, Holding Boxes, Reinforcements, Variable Troop Quality, Brigade Compositions



The Scenario Card toolbar button opens a window containing the scenario cards. There is one card for each of the 9 Divisions represented in the game. The scenario cards are specific to the particular scenario.

For Divisions that are not deployed in the current scenario, the scenario card is blank and is hidden after the first time you click on any scenario card.

For Divisions that are deployed, the card contains all the counters needed to complete the scenario. Cards have seperate sections for :-


Artillery Park Management


To create an Artillery Park, move the Artillery Park counter from the Divisional holding box and place it on the map in the same hex as an Artillery Counter of the same division, Right-click on the Artillery counter and select Enter Artillery Park. The Artillery unit will be moved to the correct holding box on the Divisional card.


To leave an Artillery Park, right-click on an Artillery unit in an Artillery Park holding box and select the Leave Artillery park command. The unit will be moved to the current location of the matching Artillery park marker.


To disband an Artillery Park, right-click on an Artillery Park marker on the map and select the Disband Artillery Park command. The Artillery Park marker will be returned to the matching Artillery Park Holding Box on the Divisional Card and any Artillery units in the holding box will be returned to the map where the marker was located.


Straggler Points



Straggler Points are maintained using the markers on the 6th AB Divisional card. Right-click on a marker and select the options to track the current straggler count for each battalion.


Leaders and Independent Units

  

When a leader unit is activated, a box will appear in the lower right corner containing the unit's activation limit. Use the Activate Independents command to list any non-activated Independent units from the same division within the leaders command range


Attack Wizard



The Attack Wizard is a comprehensive Fire Attack calculator that can be used to resolve any combat situation within The Greatest Day. See the separate Help item on the Attack Wizard for more information.


Graveyard



Units in TDC cannot be Deleted directly from the main map board. Use the Movement -> Graveyard (Ctrl-G) command to move destroyed units to the Graveyard map. Once in the Graveyard, units can be deleted if necessary.


Unit Inventory



Display a unit summary inventory. Units are broken down by map, then side, Division, then Formation. Clicking on a unit will scroll the map to show the unit if the map is open. You can right-click on a unit on the inventory screen and issue commands to the unit.


Save Image of Game

Click on the Camera toolbar button and select a file name to save an png image of the current map with all of the counters on it.


Map Overview

The Map Overview button displays a small-scale image of the entire map and draws a rectangle indicating size of the current view screen. Click on the small screen image to move the view screen around. Click on the Map Overview a second time to hide the overview map.


Zoom Map

Click on the Zoom buttons to zoom the current map in and out. The main map has 7 zoom levels defined, and starts at zoom level 3.


Hide Counters

Use the Hide Counters button to temporarily hide all of the counters on map to enable you to examine the map terrain. Click again to make the counters reappear. This has no effect on what your opponent sees.


Deactivate All

The Deactivate button deactivates all units on the map, removing any remaining Yellow (Activated) or Green (Action done) highlights.


Clear Barrage and Artillery Parks

The Clear Barrage button can be used at the end of a players turn to remove all Barrage markers currently on the board and to flip all Fired Artillery Park counters back to their unfired side.


Line of Sight



Clicking on the Line of Sight button causes all counters on the map to become transparent, revealing the terrain beneath. Click and drag from one hex to another to draw a Line of Sight thread from the center of the start hex to the center of hexes that you move the cursor over. The range is displayed near the target hex. The Line of Sight thread will stay visible until you click on the map. Refer to the Line of Sight rules to determine if Line of Sight is blocked between the two hexes.

Any blocking terrain crossed by the Line of Sight is highlighted:


Moved Marker and Movement Trails



When a unit is moved, it is marked with a small yellow marker() in the middle right of the counter. To clear all moved markers on all units, click the button on the toolbar.



Use the Movement -> Movement Trail (Ctrl-T) command to display a trail showing where the unit has moved since the last time the was clicked.