How do I play this game?
Vanguard: Operation Market Garden is a game that takes a different approach than the average flash defense game you’ll find elsewhere. The campaign tells the story of Dan who is the commander of a paratrooper division in the second world war that has the objective to capture and defend the bridge of Arnhem which is located in the Netherlands. You are put in Dan’s shoes and will be the one commanding the squad after the bridge has been captured. The tutorial presented here is a very lengthy and advanced tutorial that will explore all you need to know about this game. Read what you want to know and for the remainder of it, it is important to know that you can open the help menu anywhere in the game at any time you want. The help menu is an advanced collection of help on any subject within the game. The main help menu gives an overview of the subjects that you can read about grouped by the phases and screens you will find in the game. You will need the help menu if you want to fully understand how this game works.
Start the game by choosing play in the main menu that is presented to you after the intro. You can choose to select one out of 3 game modes. Challenge is sort of a sniper training mode. At first leave it be, you’ll get to this function later. Compete is a very challenging version where you have to hold out as long as you can in order to get a high-score for the competition. Yet, first we will focus on the Campaign mode for this mode allows you to get used to the game while finishing a 20 level campaign that tells you the story of Dan and his paratrooper division.
When you select the Campaign mode you will be asked to create a profile. The profile you create is stored on your pc and it will allow you to save the progress of your game so that you can continue with it later on. After you’ve created a profile you are presented with the mission selection screen. Select mission 1, all the other missions are still locked but each be unlocked once you complete the mission before it. Basically this is your save-state overview. If you restart the game after having completed a few missions you will be able to continue the campaign from the state you were in at any of the missions you completed. So don’t worry if you mess up one of them, you can always retry a mission.
Now after selecting mission 1 you were presented with a storybook, the story in the book will grow as you advance in the campaign. After you close the book the first screen presented to you looks as follows.
In the Mission Setup screen you are presented with a map that gives you an overview of the playfield. The actual playfield will appear once you start the game, but before we get to that point there are a few things you need to do. The area located near the red 1 in the picture represents the map. This map is not a static map but it will allow you to manage the placement of your solders and it will allow you to build bunkers that will provide defense to your soldiers. To get to know more about what all things you see on the map indicate you can click the ? button presented at the red 2. This will popup a legend for the map. Number 3 is placed at a list that shows you the soldiers you currently have under your command. During your playtime this list will grow, once you exceed the amount of soldiers that fits on the list you can use the arrow buttons shown on the left and right side of the list to scroll it. A list like that can have multiple tabs. This list has the tabs Soldiers and Bunkers which allows you to switch between soldier and bunker management. Finally in the bottom right side of the hud, near the red 4 your current resources are displayed. Resources allow you to build, repair or upgrade a bunker. The white 1 displayed in the round image with the blue sky and sun shows you the number of the current mission.
Now, before we start placing the soldiers or building bunkers we’ll examine the soldier details menu which appears when you click the DETAILS button on the bottom left side. After that you are transferred to the following screen.
At the red 1 you yet again see a list with your current soldiers. This time the tabs indicate if a soldier is idle, placed on the map or if the soldier has died in combat. A soldier with the name Timon has automatically been selected, to select an other soldier you can simply click that soldier’s icon in the list. You can see the soldier’s name, class and statistics at the red 2 and at the right side you can read his background story. This story tells you something about the soldier’s character and his behavior in combat. At the red 3 you can see his weapons and ammunition equipment. Every soldier can carry a primary and a secondary weapon along with primary and secondary ammo. When a soldier gets hit in combat his health drops. In order to restore it the soldier will have to use a medkit. The amount of medkits left is shown right above the weapons. Timon has 2 of them. To change the soldier’s equipment you can click the area indicated by the red 3 which will popup the inventory as presented in the next screenshot.
The inventory is to be read and used as follows. Your inventory consists of two sections, namely Weapons and Equipment. Currently the weapons inventory is selected but you can switch between both inventories by clicking the buttons at the red 1. The weapons inventory has two views. The view currently selected is the Detailed view. It shows you the weapons of a certain class (in this case the Rifles class) as large images. To switch to a non detailed full overview of all weapon classes you can click the rightmost button at the red 2 and switch back to the detailed view using the button next to it with the magnifying glass. Now, in the detailed view you can see the weapons you have in stock at the red 3. You currently have 1 rifle on stock of an allied type (indicated by the flag to the left of the weapon). Moving your mouse cursor over the weapon will show you that it is a Garand along with a weapon description and information about the weapon’s accuracy and the damage it deals. In total there are five primary weapon classes and one secondary weapon class. A soldier can use only one specific primary weapon class but all soldiers can use a pistol as a secondary weapon. Every weapon class has both an allied and an axis version of the respective weapon. To see your stock on weapons of a different class click either one of the arrows on the left or right side of the inventory screen. Some weapons consume more ammunition than others.
Timon is currently equipped with a Garand and a Colt along with 100 primary ammo, 50 secondary ammo and 2 medkits. You can un-equip his current equipment by clicking on it. If you click his current primary weapon it will disappear and be added to the general inventory. From that point on you’d have 2 Garands on stock instead of 1. Clicking the Garand in the inventory again will re-equip Timon with it. It works the same for ammunition and medkits, yet these items can be equipped by swapping to the Equipment tab.
Not only can a soldier be equipped with a weapon, he can also be equipped with something that will make him gather sandbags or wood faster. For that purpose there are axes and spades, presented at the red 1. A soldier only gathers resources when he’s placed in an idle state during battle or when he’s ordered to do so after battle. If you equip a soldier with an axe or a spade during battle while placing the soldier on the battlefield he can only use his secondary weapon. The red 2 shows the amount of medkits and ammunition you have on stock. Clicking either the medkits or the ammunition will increase the amount of the respective item the soldier has equipped.
Apart from combat classes there’s one other special soldier class called the Engineer. Oscar is one of those. An engineer is not capable of equipping a primary weapon, yet they are way better at gathering resources than any other soldier. Equip them with an axe or a spade when they are instructed to gather and they’ll deliver you with a lot of resources. (On a side note, equipping a soldier with an axe will increase the amount of wood gathered while equipping him with a spade will increase the amount of sandbags gathered.)
Now lets proceed to the third and final screen you’ll get to see before going into combat. Clicking the SETUP button in the bottom right corner will redirect you back to the Mission Setup screen. From that point, again click the button located in the bottom right corner, this time labeled SNIPER. It will redirect you to the Sniper Details screen showing you your battle statistics and skills as a sniper commander.
You will have two roles in combat. The first will be to command your soldiers, the second will be to support them with backup fire using a sniper rifle. As the battle continues you will gain more battle experience and at a certain point you will reach a new skill level indicated at the red 1. This grants you one Skill Point which you can use to increase either one of the skills presented at the red 2. Moving your mouse over the + button will show you what the effect will be of increasing the respective skill.
As a sniper you are also a soldier that has to be equipped with a weapon. Currently you’re equipped with an allied Enfield sniper but it is possible that during the levels you will find an axis sniper. If you wish to, you can use this rifle instead by popping up the inventory the same way you did at the soldier details screen. Yet, there’s a difference in that you, as a sniper, must carry a primary weapon and are not allowed to carry a secondary weapon or medkits.
Click the SETUP button to get back to the Mission Setup screen where we will place your soldiers on the battlefield. You can do so by dragging a soldier from the selection list to the map. There are currently 3 positions where you can place a soldier.
Drag the soldier (using the left mouse button) to the 3 red circles as shown in the screenshot. You will get to see a large red circle around the collection of defense positions where you will be able to place your soldier. The green area shows you the area on the map that can be covered when you place a soldier behind this wall. Every spot has its own area that it can defend. To know more about that you can move your mouse over the little red circles when you’re not dragging a soldier. After dragging a soldier to this position release the left mouse button and you will have to choose on which of the three positions you wish to place the soldier, or you can cancel placement by choosing the idle option instead. Every defense position, be it a bunker or a wall, can provide cover for 3 soldiers. Once you placed a soldier on a spot the spot is taken. Trying to place a different soldier on the same spot will replace the soldier already stationed there. To place a placed soldier on a different spot simply click the placed soldier on the map and chose the other position or drag him to a different bunker from the soldier list. Yet before you start placing soldiers it will be nice to know where the enemy will come from. In order to know that you can click the button with the exclamation mark near the red 1.
(Important note: At some stage your squad will be expanded with soldiers that can carry a bazooka. These soldier will be able to destroy half-tracks. Bazookas can only be used for that purpose so always equip such a soldier with a secondary weapon. There are 5 spots where you can place your bazooka soldier in order to let it fire upon attacking half-tracks. To know more about this check page 6 of the ingame Mission Setup section in the Help menu.)
On to the next step.
In this screenshot we have placed Christian on the rightmost defense position of the wall at defense area 1. Moving your mouse cursor over him on the map will highlight Christian in the soldier list and will show the area that this soldier will defend. The yellow icon in his picture shows you that this soldier has been placed. The red arrows that have appeared on the map after we clicked the scout-report button (the one that had the exclamation mark) show you where the enemy will be coming from.
Now when you’ve got enough resources you will be able to build a bunker at one of the remaining positions. As an example we’ll try and build a bunker on position 3. To do so you can click the respective area on the map labeled with a 3, or you can switch to the Bunkers tab in the list at the top of the screen and click the icon that is labeled Bunker 3. This will popup the Bunkerbuilder screen.
The red 1 shows the bunker you’ve currently build at this position. Since we haven’t build one yet it’s just empty space. Below it you will see the % of health left of every layer of this bunker. A bunker can have up to 2 sandbag and 2 roof layers. As you can see, building a wall will cost you 20 sandbags, yet we currently have only 18 sandbags. So at the moment we cannot build a bunker wall. Without a wall it’s not possible to build a roof, for that reason that button is labeled "N/A" which stands for Not Applicable. You can scroll through the different bunker positions using the arrow buttons on the left and right side of the Bunkerbuilder. Close it by clicking the red X in the top right corner.
Caution: In the latest version of the game the bunkerbuilder has been extended with the ability to build supply boxes. You will need to build supply boxes to make sure that your soldiers, especially your machinegunners don't go out of ammo during a long battle.
Now place the remaining two soldiers on the remaining positions and click START to proceed to the actual defense stage. The game will ask you to confirm your decision reminding you of the things you might have forgotten to take care of. Confirm to start the game.
Once you enter the game your soldiers will spawn on the left side and walk towards the designated defense spots. After a few seconds the first enemies will appear and your soldiers will start shooting at them. In the screenshot there’s an enemy located at the red 1. The red 2 shows you the Minimap. On that map your soldiers are indicated with blue dots. The red dots are enemies that are currently being targeted by your soldiers. Once an enemy has died the red dot will become a cross for a few seconds after which it will finally disappear. The white rectangle indicates the position of your camera view, as you can see there’s a lot more of the map that you can view by moving the camera to the right. You can move the cam using the arrow keys on your keyboard. The red 3 shows you three important things. The 100% in the green bar on the left indicates the status of your bridge defense. This lowers when you let an enemy pass your defenses. Once it reaches 0% you’re game over. The orange bar on the right with the 7% indicates the status of the current mission. It increases when you kill enemies, once it reaches 100% you’ve completed the current mission. The icon in the center with the Vanguard logo is the menu button. Pressing it will pause the game and will popup the options menu.
The red 4 shows you a shortcut list of both your bunkers and your soldiers. If you click a soldier (or a bunker) on this list the respective soldier will be selected and shown at the red 6. The green bar at the red 6 indicates the soldier’s health once this bar disappears the soldier has died. The yellow bar shows you his primary ammo and the orange bar his secondary ammo. As you can see I’ve selected Timon which you can also see on the playfield at the red 7 because of the yellow circle that’s drawn around Timon’s feet. Clicking a soldier will directly zoom in on that soldier. To zoom out again you can press the Down Arrow on your keyboard or the S key if you chose to control the game with WASD.
Finally the red 5 shows you your own ammunition on its left side, your health in the green bar on its right side and your current experience status in the bar that will become white, below the green bar. Once your health reaches 0 you’re game over, but don’t worry, you recover health after every mission.
Now I’ve told you that it was possible to command your soldiers. Even though they can do certain things for themselves such as taking cover when taking heavy fire, shooting at enemies, using a medkit at low health, changing a weapon when out of ammo and changing position when attacked from an angle they cannot defend from their current position, you can instruct them to do more specific things.
If you click a soldier on the field a command menu will pop up for that soldier. The command menu allows you to command the soldier to do something. The three classes of orders you can give are GUN: change between primary and secondary weapon. ACT: from top to bottom: never automatically relocate; cancel special orders (freelance); use a medkit; take cover. MOVE: relocate either to a different bunker or to a different attack position in the current bunker. More information about this command menu can be found in the ingame Help menu in the Soldier Command section. To close the command menu click anywhere else on the field.
An other thing you are able to do when you’re on the battlefield is sniping. To do so you can press the CTRL (Control) key on your keyboard which will change your view to the screen you see below.
In this view you’re looking through a scope which will allow you to snipe down your enemies. To do so you can zoom in and out by scrolling your Mouse Wheel or by pressing the Up or Down Arrow on your keyboard. You fire your weapon by clicking the Left Mouse Button. If you hit an enemy they will die immediately. Yet you will notice that the scope is moving around all the time making it harder to aim. Upgrading your Breathcontrol skill will decrease the scope movement. Even if you believe to have hit your enemy it is possible that because of a lack of Handling skill you still missed. Increasing the Handling skill will ensure that you will truly hit your target when you aimed well. You can move around on the map in this view by moving the scope to the side of the screen.
At the red 1 you can see your current ammo. The amount of ammo you start a mission with depends on your Ammo capacity skill. The red 2 shows you a hud block with several important things. On the left side of that block there’s an exclamation mark. The mark will start to glow when you, as a sniper, have been spotted by the enemy. Once that happens they will be shooting at you. Swapping back to the command view (using the CTRL key again) will put you in a covered position and after some time when you switch back to the sniper view the enemy will no longer be targeting you. Right next to the exclamation mark you’ll find your Heartbeat Monitor. The faster your heartbeat, the faster you’ll breathe and the less control you’ll have over the movement of your sniper rifle. The icon next to that is the reload icon. Currently it shows a glowing bullet, meaning that a round has been loaded enabling you to fire your weapon. Once you’ve fired your weapon you will automatically reload, once the reload has been completed the bullet will glow again enabling you to fire your next round. Upgrading your Reload skill will increase the reload speed. Finally the two bars on the bottom right indicate your health and your current experience.
After the mission is completed you will get an overview of the results of the mission. Continue by clicking the button at the bottom left corner of the screen labeled TASKS. This will show you the screen shown below.
In the Soldier Tasks screen you can instruct your soldiers to undertake a specific task during the time left between this defense mission and the next. Soldiers placed in the recovering list will only recover their health. It is advised to instruct your soldiers to undertake other tasks than that by clicking the picture of a soldier. This will popup a task command menu as shown at the red 1. You can give the following commands. HEAL: puts a soldier in the recover list. SEARCH: provides you with two options, the top one lets this soldier search for weapons, ammunition and medkits, the bottom one lets this soldier search for other soldiers that might be in the area. GATHER: you can let a soldier gather wood or sandbags. In the screen shown I’ve instructed Christian to search for soldiers and Oscar to gather sandbags.
When at this screen you can choose to view the details of your soldiers by clicking the DETAILS button at the bottom left of the screen. This will provide you with a screen that’s a lot like the one you saw before you started your first mission. This will allow you to equip a soldier with a spade or an axe in order to gather more resources while the same soldier used a primary weapon during combat.
What you instruct your soldiers to do highly depends on what you need at that time. If you need more resources instruct soldiers to gather them, if you need more ammunition, medkits or weapons, order soldiers to search for those and finally, if you have some soldiers left uninstructed you can let those search for new soldiers. You will not always find new soldiers when you search for them this depends on how many men you instruct to search for soldiers and on how many soldiers you have already found. Yet if you did not find a soldier at one time, the chance increases that you will find one the next time.
Once you’re satisfied with your task setup you can advance to the next mission by clicking the ADVANCE button at the bottom center of the screen. After that you will be at the Mission Setup screen again, this time for the next mission. You will also be presented with a status report that shows you how much equipment you have found, how many soldiers and how many resources.
That’s it, keep in mind that you can request help any time in the game by pressing the Help button or by selecting Help in the Options menu.
What are the controls?
In the menu and while you’re not on the battlefield all you need is your Mouse. During that time you can control the menus as follows:
Mission Setup Screen
Place a soldier on the map by dragging him to a position from the list using the Left Mouse Button.
Left Mouse Double Click on a soldier to view his details.
Soldier Details Screen
Select a soldier by clicking on his icon with the Left Mouse Button.
Soldier Tasks Screen
Popup the tasks menu for a soldier by clicking on that soldier once with the Left Mouse Button.
Left Mouse Double Click on a soldier to view his details.
On the battlefield you will need both the Keyboard and your Mouse.
Command View
Left Mouse Click on a soldier in the shortcut list or on the field to select the respective soldier.
Left Mouse Click on a soldier in the field to open the command menu for that soldier
Control the command menu with the Left Mouse Button.
Left Mouse Click anywhere to close an open command menu.
Press the keys 0 to 9 above the alphabet keys on your keyboard to quickly select a soldier or a bunker in the shortcut list.
Press Shift to swap function of the keys 0 to 9 as shortcuts for bunker selection or soldier selection.
Press the Up Arrow Key to zoom in on a selected soldier or bunker.
Press the Down Arrow Key to zoom out from a selected soldier or bunker.
Press the Left Arrow Key or Right Arrow Key to move the camera to the left or right when zoomed out or to cycle between the soldiers or bunkers on the shortcut list when zoomed in on either.
Hold Ins (0) on your Numpad while moving the camera with the Arrow Keys to have full control over camera movement.
Press Ctrl (Control) to switch to the Sniper View.
Sniper View
Click the Left Mouse Button to fire your weapon.
Move the scope to the left/right/bottom/top of the screen to move the camera in the respective direction.
Zoom your scope by either scrolling the Scroll Button on your Mouse or by pressing the Up Arrow Key to zoom in and the Down Arrow Key to zoom out.
Press Ctrl (Control) to switch back to the Command View.
What’s the story behind this game?
Read more about the story in this thread.
