Conducting Amphibious Landings in NWOL


NWOL offers players the ability to load land units into transport groups, sail them across water, and land them. Doing so requires players to coordinate their actions in both GITM and PATE. This page explains how to conduct an amphibious landing in both modules.

The first step is to procure sufficient transports. Transport groups are rated by capacity, from 1,000 to 20,000. The amount of capacity required depends on the number and strength of the land units to be transported. Infantry units take up one capacity space per man of strength; cavalry takes up 3 spaces per man; artillery takes up 2 spaces per man. An infantry or cavalry unit with an attached battery counts 100 men as artillerists. For example, an infantry brigade of 3500 men and no batteries takes up 3500 capacity, but a brigade of 3500 men and 1 battery takes up 3600 capacity; 100 artillerists take 200 capacity, and 3400 infantry take 3400. Similarly, a cavalry brigade of 1500 men and no battery takes up 4500 capacity, but one of 1500 men and a battery takes up 1400*3 + 100*2 = 4400 capacity. An artillery brigade of 300 men and 3 batteries takes up 600 capacity. Army HQs take up 250 space, corps HQs take up 500 capacity plus 20 for each supply carried. Example: A landing force of 4 brigades of infantry with 3000 men each, 1 brigade of cavalry with 1250 men, 1 brigade of artillery with 400 men and 4 batteries, and a CQ carrying 8 supplies requires 4*3000 + 3*1250 + 2*400 + 500 + 8*20 = 12,000 + 3750 + 800 + 500 + 160 = 17,210 transport capacity to carry it. This can be provided by a single transport group with 17,210 or greater capacity, or by multiple groups whose total capacity is 17,210 or greater. If multiple groups are used, each transport group must have enough capacity to carry the units assigned to it. In the example, to load two infantry brigades and the cavalry brigade on one transport would require 9,750 capacity, and to load the other two infantry brigades, the artillery, and the CQ on another would require 7,460 capacity. If two transports groups are in the same location and tactical location, you can transfer capacity between them freely. If you had one transport group of 11,000 capacity and another of 7,000 capacity, you could move them together, then transfer 500 capacity from the first group to the second in order to load the units.

The second step is to move the transports to the right place to load the units. If the units are in the strategic square of a city which is also a port on the GITM map, then if no enemy unit is present in the strategic square, the transport may be in either the harbor of the port or the coastal waters of the port. If there is an enemy unit present, then if the units are in the city tactical square, the transport must be in the harbor, and if the units are not in the city tactical square, the transport must be in the coastal waters. If the units are not in the port, but in a strategic square on the coast (meaning a strat square with an edge adjacent to an ocean strat square) of the same sea area that the port is on, then the transports must be in the coastal waters of the port on the GITM map. Units in strategic squares with hill or mountain terrain may not load. There is an Excel map available showing where transports must be to load troops from any particular GITM square, and a text list of all coastal squares in GITM and the matching sea areas, which you should consult any time you load troops. Example. To load troops from B6-U6 (the port city of Brest) the transport must be in the coastal waters or the harbor of Brest on the PATE map (depending on where the units are and whether any enemy units are in B6-U6). To load troops from B7-U5 or C0-U5, the transport must be in the coastal waters of Ajaccio, since these squares are nearer Brest than any other port on the English Channel coast. To load troops from C1-U5, the transports must be in the coastal waters of Cherbourg (which is at C5-U1) because C1-U5 is closer to Cherbourg (four squares away)  than it is to Brest (five squares away). To load from B8-U8, the transports must be in the coastal waters of Nantes (which is at C5-V1), even through Brest is closer, because B8-U8 is on the Bay of Biscay coast, and Brest is not (and Nantes is).

The third step is to load the units onto the transports. Both the units and the transports must send orders to do this. The transports must send an order to load units, and must list each unit that is loading on the transports. If the transport is loading more than one unit, then separate the unit IDs with spaces (not commas). The units must send an order with the ship ID of the transport group (eg, FR1TR) as the first and only square of strategic movement. Both the unit and the transport must send orders; this is to ensure that the loading does not take place unless both the unit command and the transport commander want it done. This is necessary because neutral and even hostile units may be loaded onto transports. If only one of the two sends the order, the loading will not take place. If the transport group is in an ally-controlled harbor, the loading is completed in the initial amphibious phase and the transport group can move normally. If the transport group is anywhere else, the loading is not completed until the final amphibious phase, and neither the unit nor the transport group can do anything else on the turn of loading.

The fourth step is to sail the transports to the right place to unload the units. The rules for location are exactly the same as they are for loading locations. To unload in a port city tac square on the GITM map, the transport must be in the port harbor, or if no enemy units are in the port city strategic square, the transport can be in the coastal waters. To unload into a port city strategic square but not its tac square, the transport must be in the coastal waters, of if no enemy unit is in the port city strategic square, the transport can be in the harbor. To unload into a strategic square other than the port city the transport must be in the coastal waters of the nearest port that is on the same sea area as the unloading square. Units may not unload into strategic squares with hill or mountain terrain. The Excel map and text list show the relevant sea area for each GITM square.

The fifth step is to unload the units from the transports. Both the units and the transports must send orders. The transports must send orders to unload units, listing each unit being unloaded, separated by spaces if there are more than one. The unit must send an order with the GITM strategic square, or name of the off-map port, into which it wants to unload as its only strategic move, in the first box of strategic movement. If landing from harbor onto the GITM map, it lands in the city tactical square. If landing from coastal waters onto the GITM map, it must move into a strategic square which has an edge adjacent to an ocean strat square, on the same sea area as the coastal waters, and must enter along an edge of the tactical map which is adjacent to an ocean square on the strategic map. Example: A unit landing at B9-T9 enters on the south map edge, because the adjacent ocean square B9-U0 is south of B9-T9. A unit landing at C0-T9 can enter on either the south edge or the east edge, since there are ocean squares adjacent on both those sides of C0-T9 (at C1-T9 and C0-U0 respectively). A unit landing at B7-U1 can enter on the south, east, or west edge, since that square has oceans on those three sides (all but north). If a unit lands at a square which does not touch an ocean square on edge or corner, which happens only at ports up river estuaries, e.g. Matamoros, then it lands from the "proper" direction, which at Matamoros means it lands on the east edge. (Matamoros is thought to be the only such port. Contact the GA if you plan to land at another.) If the transport group is in an ally-controlled harbor, the unloading is completed in the initial amphibious phase and the units and transports can move normally. Otherwise, the unloading is not completed until the final amphibious phase; the transport cannot do anything else on the turn of unloading, and the landing unit may only move in tactical phase 5. If the unit instead lands at an off-map port (Malta, Corfu, or Caribbean ports) then the unit will move into garrison at that port, which may result in either combat or capture of the port under the appropriate circumstances. No other order is needed, or effective.

It is also possible to load and unload supplies from transports. A transport that is in the harbor of a port may unload supplies directly into the port city in GITM, up to the number of supplies that it can carry. It may move on the same turn that it does so. To unload supplies into a port, a transport in a harbor need only order to unload the desired number of supplies; they will be automatically deposited into the city.
A transport that is in a port (harbor or coastal waters) can also unload supplies to a CQ; this type of unloading is limited to 1 supply per 500 capacity of the transport group (example: a transport with 4000 capacity can unload 8 supplies per turn into a CQ). The transport must not have move orders, and the CQ must not have strategic movement orders; if one or both do, then the supply load/unload is cancelled and the movement orders are used. To unload supplies, the CQ must be in a position from which it could board the transport. To unload supplies into a CQ, the transport issues an order to unload the number of supplies it wishes to unload, and the CQ lists the transport as its supply source in its orders. For example, if BR1TR with 5000 capacity was in the coastal waters of Cherbourg, and BR2CQ was at C4-U2, then BR1TR would issue an order to unload 10 supplies, and BR1CQ would issue an order to draw 10 supplies with BR1TR as its supply source.
Maintained by Stephen Schmidt. Last updated 9-15-22.