Summary: You can still find copies of this floating around, and it got a lot of attention back in the late 90s when it came out, so I thought that it warrants another review, though I confess that it has been over three years since I ran it. In a word: nope. Don't buy it. It might be in the $5 bin, but it is your time that I am thinking about.
I like playing those games that I passed over a few years ago for several reasons, including that they are cheaper now and that all of the bugs are now fixed through patch no. 483201. But if you haven't bought this game and you see it in a sale bin, pass it over. It isn't really a game. It is more of an attempt at a professional simulation. That isn't really why I disliked it. I'm a college history professor, and I enjoy military history in fine detail. The reasons for why I didn't enjoy it are as follows:
1. The math of the game, as indicated in another review on this site, is difficult to understand. I could not anticipate if I was making a serious blunder or a no-brainer good choice even after trying to really understand my options. It lacked a degree of clarity. You could not just look at the battlefield maps and have an impression as to if you're winning or losing or if you're in a good position or a bad position. For one of the battles, for example, only about 1 or 2 percent of the hexes on the map changed hands, but I lost. It was as if the battle was really between a dozen units in one area, and the other 60 units were just like extras in a movie.
2. It wasn't that there was too much information; it was that the information was not presented well.
3. I told myself that I don't care about graphics and that I really wanted to learn and study the various battles, but in the end, I did care more about graphics than the designer did. They were really bad, even for a game that flat out admits that its graphics are way past secondary in importance.
4. The AI had more trouble than the designer was willing to admit. Also, the AI seemed to cheat in that it could do things that I couldn't do. It was also an AI with no creativity to it, no spark, no surprises.
5. The scenario designer was powerful but there were some points in which it took way too much time to do small things, like reproducing units. It took me about 15 hours to reproduce the 6th Panzer Division at platoon level. The map builder was good, but again, it was very time consuming. A random generator with some basic options like, "15% water" or "slight elevations" would have been nice.
6. It was a cold game.
The good parts are that you really got a feel for the depth and complexity of some of the WWII battles. And, it had potential that could have been used to create a much richer gaming experience. But, really, this is an encumbersome technical warfare simulation software package and not a game.
Summary: TOAW is a turn-based historical wargame from 1939-1955. So, it basically covers W.W.II battles. Although the graphics are not great, TOAW is not that type of game. It appeals to about 1% of wargamers who want a complex historical strategy game. Being a military history type guy, this game appeals to me immensely. It is complex, historically accurate, and most importantly, a STRATEGY game. Graphics will not make the game, there is no "eye-candy" here. The only flaw is that I would have like to see certain scenarios which weren't put in the game. TOAW lacked the bulge, Stalingrad, midway, market garden, torch, Dien Bien Phu, a pacific island scenario would have been nice, and maybe the breakout from normandy and Patton' charge into Lorraine.
Summary: after blitzkrieging through Europe with panzer general 2 I looked into norm Rogers TOAW it promised to have every thing an inspiring arm chair general could possibly hope for historic battles from 1939 to 1955 and what if scenarios TOAW has just about every detail covered in what it takes to deploy armies and reach their objectives. little squares on the battlefield represent your army with attack and defense strengths and general health of the unit. terrain and weather play a part in the units condition. the air and navy units have a smaller roll in TOAW but they compliment your land units quite well this is mostly a land war game with territorial objectives.TOAW is turned based, a smooth interface gives this game an easy feel to playing. after an hour or two of trying to capture Tobruk I just didn't get it, the basic math doesn't add up when combining groups together, I couldn't collectively plan any thing the graphics are sub par even in 3d mode. I guess I was expecting PG 2. rather than give up though I thoroughly read the manual and explored various internet sites that have plenty to say about this game I figured out where I went wrong. The manual a 160 pages worth crams every bit of detail in the game. I could safely say this manual is about 100 pages short in explaining itself there is great stuff on the internet though. TOAW is just a huge battle oriented giant. supply morale, combat experienced troops, units belonging to formations and there abilities to fight alongside dislike formations, a unit can be broken down to individual squads like mortar teams and rifle man all this is important to understand the weaknesses and strengths. there are locale reserves, tactical reserves, unit readiness. troops can retreat or be routed. if enough losses or health is reduced your unit may go into reorganization and may not be controlled. what is really neat about TOAW that will keep the strategist deeply contemplating moves for his forces on his turn is that the length of the turn is defined by what actions you take. a long scaled battle will reduce the movement capability of all your other units in the field but if you were to move every one to there full potential you loose the break through ability. how long your turn will last is a calculated guess you can run several small battles or loose 50 percent of your turn because the AI put his tactical reserves in and fought with ignore losses option throwing your whole plan of attack on hold and like PG 2 you only have so many turns to reach your objectives. oh yea and if you take to many casualties you will loose victory points. stacking units together in a Juggernaughts of destruction will just give your opponents more to shoot at and although you might of smashed that defense you still lost in the percentage battle that strategy will deplete your units of veterans and combat efficiency.if you decide to nuke north Korea thinking this is a sound and easy strategy be prepared for the Russians to get involved that will spin this scenario in a different direction with a different amount of turns to reach objectives this is all well explained in the scenario briefings and keep you posted on the current events. Sacrificing sound and graphics TOAW has got it all I think our military think tanks have TOAW on their desktops. Details are to numerous to mention in a one page review here is an example in the manual: bicycle units have enhanced movement capability along roads: whoa that's heavy keep in mind this is a war game that covers all the angels and once I siphoned all this data and capabilities I was able to achieve victory I've only played a few scenarios there are about 15 of them and each one will take many hours the Korean campaign is some 50 turns. battle scales range from 2.5 km per hex to 50 km per hex, turns can be 1/2 a day to a week. TOAW can be played via e-mail some people complain they cant play over the internet I dont know why in some operations like normandy you can spend an hour going through a turn. the AI is extremely aggressive and can crunch numbers better than you can and will do every thing to thwart your efforts your best course is maneuvering around the AI and cutting his supply it doesn't act to well on these threats. you'll get plenty hours out of TOAW though hacking through the scenarios. and if you want more scenarios you can create you own from the ground up selecting what squads go into a division or regiment what the objectives are. there are already scenarios on the internet that amateurs have put together to be downloaded. not every one will understand this game but for you serious war time gamers out there you cant pass up this one and for people like me that want more than what panzer,east front, and steel panthers have to offer you wont be disappointed, norm delivers
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