The Great War Western Front: Comprehensive Campaign and Battle Guide

• Supply
• Trenches (Essential)
• Artillery
• Infantry and Tanks
• Campaign Map

• How to Attack
• How to Defend
• Trenches (Advanced)

This section will go over hints and gameplay aspects that I consider essential to beating the campaign.

Supply is your best friend

For various reasons, having as much supply as possible available in battles is the easiest way to ensure victory.

What does Supply do?
Supply allows you to field all of your infantry, artillery, static defense, and trenches. It’s also used for Air missions and Siege Bombardements.

Why should you care so much about Supply?
While strategies and tactics are very important, sometimes it simply comes down to a numbers game. And since more supply = more companies, having more supply increases your chances of winning battles (and through that winning the war).

How to use Supply
Since supply is the universal currency in battles and (depending on your [amount of] units, there are seemingly unlimited options of distributing the available supply.
You always want at least one Artillery Company on the field, so that should be your first investment.
Next you want to look at your trench setup. In an ideal world, you always want to be at 30/30 Pop Cap, and since calling in companies during the fight is twice as expensive, you should reach 30/30 during the Pre-Battle phase if possible. This means you need enough trenches. I go over how and where to place trenches in other sections.
You should never disregard static defense (in defensive battles anyway). While they may be more expensive than infantry, they are worth their weight in gold, especially when you have excess supply or before the enemy has bombers available.
Observation Balloons are very nice, but they are also very expensive. This makes them a luxury! Only place them if you have a lot of supply to spend.

How to get more Supply?
The easiest way to increase the supply that’s available to you, is to move more units into the region you want to fight in. Every unit increases the supply in a region, whether you actually use them in battles or not. Tank and Aircraft units’ supply can also be increased further through research.
You also have a global supply bank that can be accessed in battles. The amount that can be accessed is limited by the Supply Depot building in the region.

Trench Essentials

Trenches are arguably the most important part of the game (and also one of the defining features of WW1).

What do trenches do?
Trenches offer damage reduction (or immunity, depending on the trench) for infantry stationed inside them.

How to place trenches?
You want trenches to be in range of your victory points to force the enemy to storm them.
You also want trenches to be stacked, meaning multiple rows of trenches behind each other. This makes it so that infantry from the trenches in the back can continue shooting at advancing enemies while infantry in the forward trenches are already engaged in melee.
Communication trenches may initially seem pointless, but they are incredibly helpful for reinforcing. If you don’t connect your firing trenches, your companies are exposed when moving between trenches. And that’s the last thing you want to happen when there is a wave of enemies advancing on your position.

Artillery is OP

This isn’t a balance complaint, it is simply a realistic matter of fact. And you should know about it and (ab)use it as much as possible.

What does Artillery do?
Artillery damages and, more importantly, suppresses Infantry (in and out of trenches) as well as static defense (MG Nests and Mortars).

When to use Artillery?
You want to use Artillery for both attacking, and defending.
When attacking for suppressing the trenches and static defense that you are charging.
When defending for damaging incoming attackers, and suppresing infantry that is close to your trenches and static defense.

Types and amounts of Artillery
The main difference between Heavy and Light Artillery is that Heavy Artillery deals more damage, but costs more.
This means that if your goal is suppression you should only use Light Artillery, and if your goal is damage you should only use Heavy Artillery.
As for the amount of Artillery you want to field:
Never place all of your available Artillery! It is way too expensive, and even if you have excess supply, Infantry/Tanks can always fight as opposed to Artillery which has to wait on cooldowns.
Generally 2-4 Artillery companies are sufficient for both attacking and defending.

Infantry and Tanks

There are 4 main types of Infantry (technically 5, but Conscripts are just worse standard Infantry), and 2 main types of Tanks (technically 3, but AA tanks just do what it says on the tin). This section goes over when to use which types.

Standard Infantry
The basis of every (early war) army. Good units all around for both offense and defense.

Elite Infantry
Ideally the basis of every (mid-late war) army. They’re like Standard Infantry, but better. This is especially relevant for melee fighting.
For defense you should to use them in trenches you really want to hold.
For offense you should use them as much as possible (as they will secure you the enemy trenches), but be careful to not lose too many to static defense and artillery.

Raiders/Grenadiers
They have much shorter range than Standard and Elite Infantry, but also deal a lot more damage. They are especially powerful against Tanks. One of these companies in a trench can kill an endless stream of tanks that drive too close.
They can also destroy any other Infantry company (if they get close enough). So as long as you keep the enemy suppressed, they can be invaluable on offense.

Flamethrower/Stormtrooper
These companies have the shortest range out of any Infantry. This makes them very hard to use. They are strong melee combatants, but don’t have many other significant advantages.

Tanks
Tanks buff nearby allies’ morale, and debuffs nearby enemies’ morale.
All tanks have MGs which are very effective against Infantry. Tanks with a [C] also have a cannon. The cannon is very effective against other tanks and static defenses.
Tanks can be used both offensively and defensively and, in both cases, have the potential to easily win you the battle.

Campaign Map

(Full Disclosure: I haven’t yet tried every Intelligence and Logistics research.)
On the campaign map you can move around units. Since defense is severely favoured (in most cases), don’t be afraid to leave only 1 or 2 units in provinces, unless the enemy seems very likely to attack it.
I recommend building buildings only in regions that you (or the enemy) intend to fight over a lot. This will save you a ton of money, which is helpful especially early in the war.
Building up the Field Hospital and Supply Depot (and Canteen if needed) will make your battles a lot easier and a lot less costly, which is ideal for grinding down the enemies National Will.

This section will go over concepts that I consider to be relevant, but not necessarily required to beat the campaign (especially on lower difficulties).

Simply put: With superior numbers, and ideally multiple tanks and constant artillery fire.
In more detail, there are quite a few things to consider, though the most important part is having an excess of supply. You’ll need it.

Artillery
Place your artillery (amount and type is personal preference, but I would recommend 2-4 light artillery) in a way that it can hit as many enemy control points as possible. This may be just in front of no mans land, but that’s fine.
If you have Heavy Artillery:
Use it to quickly destroy static defense and to decimate strong enemy Infantry.
If you have Light Artillery:
Use it to suppress all defenders (including static defense) of whatever trenches you are charging. Rolling Barage and Smoke Shells can be used alternatively or additionally, but are quite a bit harder to coordinate with your Infantry.

Tanks
If you have them, run tanks in front of and/or beside your Infantry into the enemy lines. You don’t have to micro them a lot (though manually targeting static defense with cannon tanks is a good idea).
Once your Infantry has reached the enemy trenches, place at least one (ideally ~3) Tank(s) in front of the enemy reinforcement point. This will stop almost all reinforcing Infantry from actually supporting the enemy defense.

Aircraft
If you have them, you can use multiple bombers to clear out static defense before charging the enemy trenches. You can use fighters to defend them if the enemy is using fighers to try and shoot them down.

Infantry
If you have them available, you want to use Elite Infantry for all your attacks, The simple reason is that they will win the melee in the enemy trenches and subsequently defend them better than other Infantry could.
Raiders/Grenadiers can also be very strong at instantly clearing out a trench, but at the time of writing they are quite inconsistent and sometimes simply go into melee instead of lobbing grenades.
Always make sure to keep all enemies suppressed while your Infantry isn’t inside trenches. Smoke/Rolling Barage are valid alternatives to this, but harder to execute.

Other considerations

• Be aware of counter attacks! The AI won’t hesitate to shove their entire supply’s worth of Infantry down one of the flanks, so make sure to always have ~2 Basic Infantry companies inside trenches on all of your Control Points.
• If you have Siege Artillery available, use as much as is reasonable with your available supply. Also make extensive use of the in-battle siege bombardement! If well placed, it can 1-shot up to 4 Infantry divisions, but you should always kill at least 2.
• Keep at least one (more if the enemy still has a decent amount of supply left) company at every captured Control Point. The AI will try to retake points!
• Always go for Sweep victories! Unless you’re trying to keep a static frontline and win by out-trading the enemy, not capturing all Control Points is pointless (heh). On that note, try to focus on 2-Star regions. If you have a large enough army to split it into two and win every battle, you can take 1 region every 2 turns.
• Order your companies to capture enemy trenches in reverse order! This means your first line of Infantry should be set to jump in the first line (from your perspective) of the enemy trenches, the second in the second and so on. It may be more intuitive to have the Infantry in the front run the furthest, but this will simply cause them to be (potentially) shot at for longer.

How to Defend

Possibly even more important, especially early in the war. Trenches and static defense are the saving grace here.

Artillery
The choice of Heavy or Light Artillery is personal preference, both can be really good on defense, so it mostly depends on how much supply you have available.
Place the Artillery as far back as possible, ideally in a way that you can cover all attack paths. Use them whenever the enemy sends a wave at you (how early/late depending on how much supply you have left).
It’s very important to suppress infantry when it comes close to your trenches, so make sure you have at least one shelling available for that. If the enemy is not suppressed they will take out any nearby static defense, and Raiders/Grenadiers or Flamethrowers/Stormtroopers will be able to use their ability to clear out your trenches almost immediately.

Tanks
If you have them, simply place them near your trenches. Move them infront of your trenches during attacks to soften up or rout the enemies before they reach your Infantry. Tanks (as the name suggests) are very tanky, so you can use them to soak up most of the enemy fire. The only real danger are Raiders/Grenadiers, but artillery suppression can deal with that.

Air
If you have it, use Fighters to shoot down enemy bombers asap. Bombers are the biggest threat to static defenses, so the faster you can shoot them down the better.

Infantry
Elite Infantry > Basic Infantry every time. Though do be aware of Heavy Artillery fire! (More on that in the Advanced Trenches part.)
Raiders/Grenadiers can be very strong in the defense, but keep in mind in that they have significantly shorter range than Basic/Elite Infantry. (More on that in the Assorted Advanced Tricks section.)
Flamethrower/Stormtrooper companies can be used similar to Raiders/Grenadiers, but seem to be just worse in every way.

Other considerations

• Keep an eye on your supply! If you run out, all you’ll have left to rely on is your movement micro.
• Never give up, never surrender! The AI seemingly plays without knowledge of the top bar which shows remaining supply. Even if they technically would be able to rush you down with overwhelming numbers, they might stop after just one control point and offer a cease fire. Take it, since you’ll have traded favourably.
• The AI tends to almost exclusively attack one control point. As soon as you see artillery shells landing on your trenches infront of one point, you can move most of your Infantry to that point. In my experience the AI eventually also starts attacking other points, but with less force, so your remaining companies should be able to hold the line until you’ve moved a small amount of Infantry back over.

Advanced Trenches

It’s very easy to be inefficient with your trenches, which may lead to inefficient trades or losing battles.
The most important aspects of Trench placement are already mentioned in the Trench Essentials part, but there are still a couple of efficiency tricks to consider.

Trench Connections
Having connected trenches is essential for reinforcing forward trenches from the back without exposing your companies. Make extensive use of Communication Trenches for this purpose. You should also have multiple entries and exits from each trench. This helps the soldiers to not get stuck on each other when moving back and forth.
If you have enough supply available, you should aim for complete connection of your Control Point trenches. This makes it so you can move units from one side to the other without them being exposed to attack waves.

Communication Trenches
Communication Trenches are used by Infantry as entries to Trenches! This means you can have extended lines of Communication Trenches behind your actual defensive Trench line to let Infantry come to the aid of frontlines without the risk of them being caught out and shot at by advancing enemies.
In an ideal world you would have communication trenches from your reinforcement points connected to all of your other trenches, so that your Infantry never has to leave the safety of the trenches.

This section is a collection of neat little things that may or may not be helpful for you.

• Infantry only moves trench-to-trench or ground-to-ground. This means that if you select two Infantry companies that are in trenches, right clicking on another trench will make them attempt to enter that trench. If you select two Infantry companies that are not both in a trench, right clicking on another trench will only make them stand on top of it. Side note: I hope this gets changed, but for now it is what it is.
• Recycle your companies! Clicking the withdraw button on a company will not lose you any points or have other negative effects. All it does is free up a pop cap. As long as you have supply available, there is absolutely no reason to not continuously replace your wounded Infantry! When you have 1000 Supply, you can get away with classifying 80% unit strength as heavily wounded!
• Always try to move in a closed formation. Infantry moves faster this way, and travel time is very important, especially for attacking. Once a company gets shot at they will automatically spread out and there’s not much you can do about it, but after every move order you should set them to the column formation. This also helps a lot with executing Rolling Barage attacks.
• You can “snipe” Observation Ballons by targeting Heavy Artillery just to the right of the little carriage that you can see underneath it through the fog of war. It takes 2-3 Barrages for Heavy Artillery to take out the Wench Truck. This is more reliable than Air Balloon Sniping missions, as lowering the Balloon doesn’t stop the Artillery Shells from landing.
• Never auto-resolve (unless you’re doing a speedrun I guess?). The only times you could consider auto-resolving are when you do not care about your National Will or Gold and, on attack, the only relevant part is Battle Fatigue.
• Don’t build trenches too far forward. You can not remove trenches once they are built and this includes pre-built trenches! If you have trenches too close to No Mans Land, you won’t be able to place barbed wire there once you unlock it.
• While you should only attack with excess supply anyway, you can still make good use of the cheap pre-battle deployment! Choose which Control Point you want to attack first and build lines of basic trenches as close as possible. Then fill them with your attacking Infantry. Since the goal is to overrun the Region, you shouldn’t ever have to defend that battlefield in the future, so an ideal trench setup isn’t necessary.
• When a battle seems close to finishing, see if you can take out anything “for free”. Sending an Infantry company to kill Artillery, or using Infantry or Artillery to take out Observation Balloons are just free points! They might bring you over the edge for a better level of victory (or defeat) which helps a lot with National Will.
• Hotswitching in Trenches. This is especially useful if you want to use Specialized Infantry. Having one Flamethrower/Stormtrooper or Raider/Grenadier in a trench together with a basic Infantry is a very powerful combination. Since only one company can fire at a time, have the basic Infantry on the firing step until enemies are almost in firing range for your special Infantry. Then click the orange-ish arrows to swap them around. This allows you to have maximum damage efficiency. Don’t forget to switch them back when there are no enemies closeby anymore.

I don’t want to claim to be all-knowing about the game, or the campaign. There are plenty of things I haven’t seen or tried/tested myself. I’m simply very interested in WW1 and have thousands of hours in various RTS games (and just under 40 in this game at the time of writing).
That being said, going by the global achievement rate and what I’ve read in the Discussions section, I do believe that I’m far from bad at the game.

There will also (hopefully) be a bunch of changes and patches to the game, which may shift the balance of things and/or create or remove advanced tricks. I hope that at least the essential section of the guide will stay relevant regardless though.
If I remember I’ll update the guide according to relevant gameplay changes.

Related to the above, at the time of writing, aircraft is very inconsistent, so there isn’t a lot about those. Just go with the in game descriptions, there’s not much more to it.

This isn’t a “you must play this way” guide. Not experimenting with different research or playing around, and just stomping every playthrough will get boring! Play however you want to, this guide should help you if you are struggling to win under any circumstances though.