I’ve rediscovered my love for Men of War: Assault Squad 2 this week. It featured in our recent take on the best WW2 strategy and war games, and I’ve yet to be convinced it’s not the Best Game of All Time(TM).

Seriously though – while not without its flaws, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a tense, immersive and visceral WW2 tactical experience in any other game. There are better simulations, and some of the slower hex turn-based WW2 games are also worthy tactical experiences, but Men of War manages to hit that sweet spot between Company of Heroes mainstream appeal, and the traditional 'wargame' concerns such as supply and combined arms.

One moment that I’ll never forget – It may not have been in Assault Squad 2, but an earlier Men of War game… I was trying to hold a hill in a multiplayer match. There could only have been half a dozen so guys, all holed up in foxholes that had been dug by prior explosions. No matter how much artillery was thrown at them, not matter how many men and tanks they sent up that hill, that rag-tag squad held out against all odds. And then they died, but it was the best moment I’ve had in any tactical WW2 game to date.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

ARMA III Tanks Roll Out

Bohemia Interactive has released a new major content pack for ArmA III. Called ‘Tanks’, this is the last piece of DLC from the existing content roadmap. The DLC comes with new armoured vehicles to rock around with, and there’s also a free platform update which adds things like 3D interiors and new fire control systems.

We’ve got Ian ‘Tank Guy’ Boudreau on the case, so we should have a full review for you soon. ArmA III: Tanks can be purchased direct or via Steam.

Matrix Games & Slitherine

It’s been another relatively quiet week for the artist formerly known as ‘formerly known as Matrix Games’, now known as Matrix Games.

Shenandoah released their new ‘lite’ Napoleonic turn-based strategy/war game March to Glory on Thursday. Ian was ready and waiting with our review– it’s neat, but fairly abstract so make sure you manage your expectations.

Speaking of Shenandoah, their critically acclaimed Drive on Moscow will be making the jump to consoles soon (Playstation 4 & Xbox One), so that should be exciting.

Finally, we’ve been treated to a bevy of new screenshots for upcoming Order of Battle expansion, Sandstorm.

Military Operations

This is a cool thing – Military Operations (formerly known as Chain of Command) is an upcoming operational-level WW2 experience that aims to be more ‘sim’ than game, and it seems to have some really powerful tech powering it.

There’s an entry for their bench-marking tool on Steam which is due out later this Spring. This is meant to test your machine to see If you can actually run the full program or not. We highly recommend checking out the dev blogs to get a better sense as to what this is about.

Fun fact: I’ve seen this in action already. They were under consideration for a certain wargames publisher have since been dropped. The effect from looking at the global few, to zooming right down to see the units advancing along a road was certainly cool to look at. How the project evolves into a meaningful experience though remains to be seen. It’s all well and good aiming to be a ‘simulation’ over a ‘game’, but it still has to be something people want to interact with.

ZuluDawn! Released

Zulu Dawn is the second-best film ever made, second only to Zulu. It stands to reason that Digitalgameworks’ latest release, ZuluDawn! Must be the second-best wargame every made.

Whatever the truth of the matter, this is a turn-based, company level game on a hex-grid that puts you in charge of either the British 24th Regiment of Foot, or the Zulu Impis, as you fight out what is commonly held as one of the greatest military disasters in British history - The Battle of Islandwana.

The game also comes with randomised Zulu force levels, and gameplay variations such as the British being fortified with Laagers, and/or possessing more troops (to reflect Chelmsford not splitting the column, as he did historically like an idiot).

That’s all for this week’s new round-up. If you’ve seen anything else we’ve missed, let us know. Otherwise, have a great weekend!

Eugen and Paradox have released their second piece of premium DLC for Steel Division: Normandy ‘44. This time rather alarmingly titled: Back to Hell. We’ve been a tad tardy with our coverage on this one, but in this humble writer’s opinion, if you’re in the market for buying just one Steel Division add-on (out of the two available), this is the one you want.

Perhaps the most significant addition in Back to Hell is the arrival of a variety of co-op missions. For those like myself who often find multiplayer more than a little bit frustrating after the rigours of real life, co-op missions against the AI are very welcome indeed. Eight missions are included: Two are single player versus single player actions, five allow for two people to team up together and for those blessed with numerous friends or clanmates there is a single three versus three scenario as well. Nor are these missions a copy and paste of the game’s multiplayer mode either (which the previous game mode added post release felt like). Instead, there are a variety of objectives, depending upon the scenario. The most memorable one for example is based upon the famous fighting around Pegasus Bridge on the very first day of Operation Overlord, where your paratroopers must hold until relieved against ever increasing German counter-attacks. At the same time the relieving troops must take a variety of objectives around the map itself as well as supporting the paratroopers inland. For a casual player such as myself, these missions are very challenging indeed!

The flexibility of these missions is not to be under estimated either. They can be played against the AI from both sides, so in the aforementioned Pegasus Bridge scenario you can play the Germans as well, and furthermore they can be played as full on multiplayer matches with a player commanding each of the divisions involved in the fighting. An ideal place for a group or clan or to relax or train up new players. In keeping with the general character of the fighting in Normandy, it is the Allies who are usually on the offensive in these scenarios, with the Germans holding on by their fingernails with quite inferior troops often being supplemented by heavy armour. Starting with the Germans in these scenarios, if you are new to Steel Division, is recommended, although the hordes of tanks the AI will send at you is not for the faint-hearted.

With all that said, we will admit that it would’ve been nice to see a larger pool of missions available in the scenarios. Whilst the Pegasus Bridge map shows the way with varied objectives and fighting taking place all over the map, the attack/defend nature of other maps means that without a large pool of friends to play head to head with, things can get stale rather quickly. This is even more problematic when you and your playmate aren’t terribly good at the game in the first place! Being absolutely smashed by AI Jagdpanthers that your puny Churchills cannot hope to penetrate can get old after a while.

Eugen continues its marvellous track record of finding the most arcane and ridiculous units to include in new divisions. One wonders when their research team will run out of options for its Frankenstein force pools. We have four divisions (as is traditional by now with Steel Division) included in this DLC. Two are relatively conventional. The famous 7th Armoured (aka the Desert Rats) are here and are perhaps one of the most experienced allied divisions you can use. Their experience in North Africa certainly warrants it, although their performance in Normandy was perhaps less than stellar. Those with a fascination for Fireflies and Mosquitoes will certainly enjoy this deck. Opposite them are the 2. Panzer Division, one of the oldest Panzer divisions in the Wehrmacht, it broadly mirrors the 7th Armoured with plenty of veteran armour. At the same time though there are some quite unique units in its line up as well, most notably the Borgward IV. Anyone who has played Company of Heroes will remember the much-loved Goliath. The Borgward is similar but is roughly the size of a car. We’re very glad to have avoiding being on the receiving end of such an infernal device so far.

The silliness however only really gets started with the two other divisions. These being the Festung Gross-Paris, the formation tasked with garrisoning and defending Paris (and blowing it up if it looked like it would fall to the Allies). Happily, it failed on both counts, but it does not fail to impress when it comes to the ORBAT. As is traditional with German infantry decks it has a ridiculous tank line up of every 1940 Blitzkrieg era French tank under the sun, although this time heavy support comes in the shape of some extremely dangerous big cats. Its air power is supplemented by captured French Dewoitine D.520 and it has on call a 600mm howitzer. Eugen is pretty good when it comes to research and I have absolutely no reason to doubt that this is all accurate for the period.

The hilarity doesn’t end here however. The allies, unwilling to be outdone by the silliness going on around Paris, bring the Demi-Brigade SAS to the party, complete with French Resistance fighters, a captured Jagdpanzer (the nemesis of many an Axis opening game) and the greatest hits of allied airpower. It is perhaps not the best deck for multiplayer, but my goodness is it fun. Those looking for a quite thematic experience (like myself, who likes a game to have a good story as it develops) will appreciate how the division transitions from homegrown partisans to SAS (complete with the iconic SAS jeeps) to the arrival of relieving US armour with all the Shermans, Wolverines and Armoured Rifles one could dream of.

Eugen Systems of late has been going through a bit of a rough patch. The company was currently caught up in an industrial action which has only just ended where they lost perhaps half of the work-force. It seems probable that we won’t be seeing another DLC from Eugen for a while. Nonetheless, Back to Hell provides a good, if not great, number of scenarios and the arrival of much needed co-op missions is a blessing indeed. The new divisions it brings to the table are interesting and continue to show off just how varied the fighting at Normandy was. Perhaps Back to Hell could’ve gone further but suffice to say that it is a worthy addition to the Steel Division line up and the best of its DLCs to date.

Strategic Command Classic: WWII is the latest of the Battlefront-era Strategic Command games to be re-released under the Matrix brand. Previously known as ‘Strategic Command: Blitzkrieg’ this new SKU is the Gold version of the base game (with the Weapons & Warfare update), as well as the Patton Drives East and the Pacific expansions.

Fury Software's latest game, Strategic Command WW2: War in Europe, is on our list of the best WW2 wargames.

It was due to release on April 5th, but technical difficulties delayed its deployment – we’ve just received word that it’s apparently all fixed, and you can now spend your hard-earned money on a 12-year-old game.

Like the other two re-releases, Strategic Command Classic: WW1 and Strategic Command Classic: Global Conflict, this is not strictly speaking a ‘new’ game; Matrix are taking over as publisher, so they have just re-branded it and converted the code for use with their own game launcher and Steam itself. No updates or development work – beyond the minimum needed – has been undertaken.

If you own the Battlefront version of the game you don’t actually need to buy this – Matrix should set you up with code for their version of the game, so this new release is only for people who’ve never played it before.

Our review will be going up tomorrow, so keep an eye on the website.

Strategic Command Classic: WW2 costs £11.99 / $14.99 and is available via Steam, or direct from the Matrix store (which gets you a Steam code anyway).

If you are wondering what exactly is on offer with this package, then you’re not alone. The latest Battlefront re-release by Matrix Games is called Strategic Command Classic: WWII. The game was originally called Strategic Command: Blitzkrieg, and it received three different add-ons in its day. One of these is Weapons and Warfare, which was just the enhanced version of the base game. On top of this, the re-release also includes the Patton Drives East and the Pacific expansion packs. So, a lot of nomenclature there, but what are you really buying?

Mostly, it seems, you are buying sets of scenarios. Unlike other Strategic Command titles (past and present) which present more of a ‘grand-strategy’ experience, this title seems to break the war down to a set of focused ‘highlight’ moments. There’s still a top layer of strategic mechanics, but you’re no longer playing a long-game and trying to fight the entire war. There’s not much information available on the internet these days as to how the original release performed or what the differences between the various versions might be.

This is not very surprising as the last patches for these games were made some ten years ago. Interestingly enough, I did find a thread about a map bug that still hasn’t been fixed after all these years.

What’s on the table then?

The base game offers a scenario per year, allowing you to fight and re-fight the war in Europe. In addition, there are a lot of smaller scale battle scenarios such as Zitadelle. I remember playing similar scenarios a decade or more ago in Civilization 2, where they worked better. The engine simply doesn’t convert to this scale. Case in point: I managed to cut off the salient at Kursk but due to game mechanics the units that were encircled remained in supply since they were still connected to the city of Kursk.

Patton Drives East adds several scenarios concentrating on the possible conflict between Western Allies and the USSR. There are also scenarios for Seelöwe and for the possible liberation of Europe from complete Nazi occupation. Most of these scenarios are quite fun to play, though personally I felt like a few of them were a bit limited with the number of turns.

The Pacific Theater adds more battle scenarios and one larger scenario to slug it out on that side of the planet. Again, the battle scenarios quickly become boring, and you start feeling quite useless as you don’t get to control research or production. Strategic Command Classic: Global Conflict comes with the same engine and did a better job at representing Japan in the global war.

Strategic game mechanics

Military Productions Points are gathered from ports, cities, and different resources. These are then used to invest in replenishing units, buying new ones, investing in research or in diplomacy. The latter is mostly unused, with nations already set to swing one way or another for most scenarios. At least for me, the diplomatic moves only came timely when I had a surplus of MPPs, and when you have a surplus you’ve already won the game.

Research is important as it affects the unit qualities, as well as their cost. Don’t invest enough and your units start taking more losses and inflicting less, which means you need to pay more to replenish them. Invest too much and you don’t have enough MPPs to buy new units or replenish your losses. Finding the balance is the key to victory.

The turns differ in length, with the usual fighting seasons representing one or two weeks of action, and the quiet winter turns lasting a full month. This means that unit movement and actions need to be well thought out or you will run out of turns to achieve your objective.

The war itself is quite simple, just move and attack or attack and move. Airforce bombards from afar, as well as artillery. Tanks get to move further, and they also get to attack twice. A sophisticated game of rock, paper, and scissors. Under the hood, things are a bit more complex, though you only need to know these mechanics if you are up for competitive multiplayer games with veterans of the trade.

Naval warfare is all about the control of the seas and seems to be mostly about who can throw in the most resources to win the day. The map comes with convoy lanes that can be disrupted, which means fewer resources for your enemy. When playing as the Allies I found the navy to be more effective at wiping out Axis tanks and armies that came too close to the shore than chasing down German submarines.

I must play one more turn

Once you launch the invasion of Poland or prepare the defenses of France the game tends to keep you in its grasp. Despite its age, it has retained that all-important characteristic of “one more turn”. I must conquer Warsaw, and then it’s just a wait of a few turns until France is mine, and then prepare for Barbarossa, and so on. The fact that you must plan your production and research a dozen turns in advance adds to the immersion.

What truly still shines is the AI. It doesn’t make too many mistakes and tends to punish severely when the player blunders. In my playthroughs, the AI occasionally chose the wrong target, such as when I sacrificed the French fighters to hold Paris for an additional turn, but for the most part, it managed to stay away from errors big or small. Of course, if you look at the events you will notice that it also gets some help. For example, the invasion of Norway, which players tend to struggle with, is done via simple events when it comes to Axis AI. Likewise, the Soviet Union tends to receive some extra reinforcements to make sure it doesn’t lose the fight outright.

It will take a few playthroughs before you get to enjoy the game completely, and after a few more you will probably tire of it. The major downside of the title, (and most SC games of this era) is that you have to play near-perfect moves to keep the machine rolling. This is especially true with the Axis who certainly need to keep on schedule. For those who haven’t played the series before, Patton Drives East expansion offers the best set of scenarios, with a completely new balance of play to figure out. The game is essentially a big puzzle, and once you figure it out it's time to move on.

A few unsquashed bugs

At the time of writing, the game still has note-worthy bugs. In my testing, the research and diplomacy screens would only allow one investment at a time. I had to close them and open them up again to invest again. Reinforcing inexperienced units showed them losing something along the lines of a couple million percentages of experience.

Matrix have been quite upfront that very little dev work has gone into these re-releases – they’re simply taking Battlefront’s existing versions and repackaging them to work with Steam and the Matrix launcher. Still, it’s not unreasonable to think that a ten-year-old game wouldn’t have any major concerns at this point, but here we are. They don’t really break the game, yet one does wonder if there are any others lurking.

Is the game worth buying? Probably. As with Strategic Command Classic: Global Conflict, this game must compete with the latest iteration of the series, which is also set in World War 2 and does an all round better job than the older titles. You also might want to consider Global Conflict over this one unless you’re looking for more battle-focused scenarios. It all really depends on the price. You can easily get enough entertainment out of this game to fill a few weekends, add in a few beers and you might have a surprisingly relaxing time. Probably best bought when on sale and always, existing owners of the Battlefront version need not buy at all.

This is just a quick news bulletin to let you guys know that the first Alpha for Armoured Commander II is ready for testing. The low-poly WW2 tank commander rogue-like puts players in charge of a tank. Their job is to make it through the scenarios whilst also completing objectives.

Developer Rev sent the word out yesterday, following two Release Candidate versions that were put over the past week that fixed the following:

• Improved movement display in contextual console
• Changed pin test mechanics; now possible on every FP resolution roll
• Increased base chance of battle encounter when entering enemy-held zone
• Fixed a crash when resolving an MG hit on armoured target, fixed procedure for AP MG hits 
• Enabling sounds will now init the sound mixer and load samples if required
• Fixed: To-hit indicator being displayed on wrong side of hit/miss band
• Fixed: Player Line of Sight being displayed at wrong times
• Fixed: Mousewheel up not cycling units in a hex stack properly
• Added allied tanks to player’s squadron, generated at start of campaign day
• If an allied tank is destroyed in a battle, its slot won’t be available for remainder of day
• Improved mouseover info on units
• Nation definitions are now stored in the session object
• Player-allied units in their unit group now move automatically with the player unit
• Removed personnel stats and unit morale levels, will use personnel traits in the future
• Changed FP resolution to a hidden roll, modified result chance calculations
• Added Broken result to FP resolution: unit cannot act at all until it recovers
• Removed invisible player luck points
• Slightly increased the effect of armour level on penetration chance
• Updated version number tracking and check of saved game version
• Changed a number of minor game settings
• Added a progress bar to the campaign day screen indicating how much of the combat day remains
• Added reverse move: no chance of bonus move afterward
• Fixed a rare display bug when an enemy unit is spotted right at the start of a battle encounter
• Added an end-of-day summary and records kept throughout the day
• Minor fixes and improvements

You can download the build here.

There hasn’t really been enough news this week to do a full Wargamer Weekly, so we’re just going to write up any choice stories that we haven’t covered yet.

Matrix Games released some new information at the start of the week looking at some of the scenarios that will be available in the upcoming Order of Battle expansion, Sandstorm. Sandstorm throws the player into the North African campaign in 1940, shortly after Rommel turns up with German forces to stop the British advance.

Want to check out some other great WW2 war games? You might find this list to your liking!

These aren’t all of the scenarios, and we haven’t copied over the historical background for the scenario, only how it is represented in the game. We recommend checking out the full dev-diary for some wider background.

Scenario: Tobruk

This is the first scenario of the campaign, and it'll allow the player to fill their corps with German and Italian units.

The map itself provides several routes of advance once the first line is breached and all require the use of motorized transportation for Infantry. Your Supply dwindles with time and it is imperative to acquire your opponent’s supply bases in order to keep the offensive going.

Many historical events could repeat themselves, like the blowing of supply bases during the British retreat, capturing General O’Connor, or even Australian units moving towards Tobruk while the rear-guard is protecting their retreat. Other things could go differently than what happened in history, like the capture of Tobruk itself.

Since capturing Tobruk is a secondary objective and a very challenging one to achieve, the player is allowed to fulfil their primary objectives first before proceeding to secondary ones.

Scenario: Crusader

Given this was historically a German defeat, Matrix have set it so you can't be utterly crushed in this scenario. You can either crush the Allied forces and change history or, if the pressure becomes to strong, you can authorize a strategic withdrawal and fight another day at the Gazala line. This means that this is the spot where the campaign branches before it rejoins again at the semi-historical invasion of Malta (Herkules, below).

This scenario also has two variant setups depending on whether Tobruk was captured in the previous scenario. If Tobruk is already held by the Axis, then the Allies will not try to relieve it, but they will be trying to take it back. This brings different starting positions and a few tricky changes in strategy by the British.

The Scenario itself is intense and demanding, with many areas to cover. Will you form a defence line in front of the Allies or will you rush into their rear to destroy supply and hamper their army? If the Allies re-establish a link/control of Tobruk, don’t worry, you will get a second chance to nullify their gains but in a tight time limit.

Scenario: Gazala

The Allied unit dispositions, including minefields, were made based on historical sources. Rommel’s greatest victory will ask nothing less of you. As long as you avoid heavy defenses in the north momentum can be maintained. The Southern part of the map, as well as the rear, provides more approaches.

The Secondary objectives are lined up in a way to facilitate your path to victory and maintain focus, as well as being historically inspired. Transport cargo trucks will give you actual supply output to help fight against dwindling supply over time.

Also, besides controlling territory you are tasked to destroy the British Army. But do not worry, if they are cut from their rear this will cause units to abandon heavily dug in positions and make them easier to destroy.

Scenario: Herkules (semi-historical)

This Scenario is based on the planned (but eventually cancelled) invasion of Malta. It features airborne and amphibious landings followed by land combat, while the Regia Marina holds the Royal Navy at bay. On top of this there is also a need to control the skies.

But, before the scenario escalates into a full scale battle involving all military branches, its elements are introduced gradually and in subsequent phases.

The first phase is the airborne invasion with the task of establishing an operational airfield. The player can select the difficulty of this task. They can aim for more airfields at the same time at the expense of a dispersed and more vulnerable force or they can concentrate on fewer objectives but with stronger force concentration. Higher the risk, higher the reward!

The Second phase includes seaborne landings but, in order for it to start, certain coastal batteries need to be neutralized first. There are several landing places to choose from and it is wise to destroy the coastal batteries covering those approaches.

In the third phase of attack you are to proceed to your objectives whilst at the same time protecting the supply routes of the land forces on the island. The Royal Navy will be alerted by this time and only thing between them and your invasion force is the Regia Marina.

Scenario: Kasserine Pass

The objectives in this scenario depict this strategic dilemma. The Victory objectives are contradictory to one another, meaning you can achieve only one and never both.

Whatever choice you make, it will make a difference in the subsequent scenarios. Will you wait for an Allied attack on the Tunisian bridgehead or bring battle to the enemy?

We'll update this article as more scenario information is released. In the mean time, enjoy your weekends, and happy gaming!

One of the things that keeps me coming back to ArmA 3 is its stern-faced commitment to realism in an unchangeably goofy video game world. There’s something David Lynchian about the whole affair - you’re never quite sure whether the developers are completely earnest or if you’ve just gotten a wry wink at the absurdity of it all.

Take the latest Tanks DLC package. I’ll run through the vital statistics later, but there’s such a funny juxtaposition of an obsessively intense focus on simulating real-world military operations with the realization that a lot of what happens in the military isn’t any fun. While I was gleefully thundering around in my Rhino MGS, a tank destroyer introduced in this new pack, some incoming mortar fire blew out my front two passenger-side tires.

The damage model is detailed enough so that this has a pretty severe impact on handling. But then I got out of the Rhino, clicked a prompt, and had the tires back in action in about 25 seconds total.

I realize it’s weird to complain that a game doesn’t make you wait two hours while you replace a couple flat tires. But ArmA’s realism focus naturally creates these funny moments where you can’t help but realize it’s still a video game. But that’s always been the case with ArmA - let’s get into what’s new with the Tanks DLC.

Heavy Metal

This being the Tanks DLC, obviously the first thing we want to look at is the tanks. And unfortunately, there’s only one: The T-140 Angara, which is visually reminiscent of the IDF’s Merkava 4. The Angara has a bigger, 125mm long-range main cannon, with the usual coaxial-mounted 7.62mm gun and a heavy 12.7mm machine gun mounted above on its own independent swivel turret. It’s cool-looking, and a commander variant replaces the turret gun with a high tech 30mm autocannon.

This is all very nice, but practically speaking it’s a central casting version of an MBT. As the only main battle tank in the game, there’s never an opportunity to use the Angara’s particular strengths against enemy armor of its ilk. Disappointing, sure, but that’s not to say the Angara is alone - there’s also the Rhino MGS I mentioned above. This is an agile, eight-wheeled tank destroyer with a hefty 120mm main gun. It’s clearly a spin on a variant of the US Army’s Stryker, the M1128 MGS. Nowadays, the M1128 sports a more modest 105mm cannon, but an early prototype was scrapped when field testers discovered that a larger gun would cause enough recoil to tip the vehicle over if the transverse on the turret was 90 degrees. Fortunately, the Rhino doesn’t have to worry about transverse angles and recoil; it does, however, have video game physics to contend with. More on that later.

The third and final new vehicle in Tanks is the diminutive Nyx Armored Weapons Carrier (AWC), a single-occupant armor platform with four loadouts: anti-tank, anti-air, recon, and autocannon. It’s the Fiat 500 of the bunch, a tiny but feisty little tracked beast that’s enjoyable to drive primarily due to the absence of additional crew.

Test Drive

The Tanks DLC also comes with an armor showcase and a 'mini campaign', which itself is more a showcase for the new kit than anything to write home from Altis about. The armor showcase is a way to jump straight into a big operation, while the campaign gives you several stringed scenarios to get your feet wet with the new hardware. Both suffer from ArmA’s still-terrible NPC AI, which is even more frustrating when you must rely on NPC drivers and gunners. As a tank commander, I’d like to just be able to give my driver a grid coordinate and have him handle, you know, the driving. ArmA gives you that option, and you’re theoretically able to look at your map and plan moves while your computerized subordinates handle the usual tank crew stuff.

The trouble is, ArmA’s AI drivers are useless off-road. They’ll stop trying to get to the point you’ve designated as soon as they bump into an obstacle that doesn’t crumble before the might of a modern tank, and you’ll have to give them manual commands like “okay, so back up and turn a little bit.”

This is frustrating, certainly, but I can’t help but laugh to myself a little when it happens. I was a squishy public affairs soldier during my own time in the Army, but I worked with tankers and former tankers quite a bit, particularly while I was stationed at Fort Knox, formerly the Army’s 'Armor Center.' One sergeant I worked with had been a tanker before switching career fields, and he told me about how when he was a lowly driver, his tank commander had him paint a target on the back of his crewman’s helmet so the commander - sitting above and behind him - knew where to aim kicks when he screwed up. Armor crewmen were often referred to as DATs - “dumb ass tankers.”

What’s less forgivable about the single-player content is that the command AI is easily as bad. It’s following a script that, while interesting from a narrative perspective, isn’t filled in to anything resembling completion. You’re given incredibly vague orders that often conflict with each other, and then yelled at when you fail to realize you were supposed to be two miles away from what you thought you were supposed to be doing. ArmA says it wants you to play tactically and realistically, but the campaigns constantly berate you for failing to act suicidal.

Two tankers walk into a bar…

I’ve liked this new content, and it’s been a nice chance to drop back into ArmA 3. But as a product you can spend money on, I’m less bullish. Tank physics are bizarre, and I once sent the T-140 I was commanding into a gravity-defying aerial spin by nudging up against a small rock. I hate that my drivers refuse to accept commands if they’ve hit any obstacle, and if we’re off-road, they’ll tend to interpret my orders as “I dunno, head back to the starting point.”

As a piece of purchasable content, I have to recommend against ArmA 3’s Tanks DLC. There’s not enough new material, and if you’re playing ArmA 3 for the single-player, you’d be better off in the Steam Workshop.

The good news, though, is that the DLC as always comes with a gigantic platform update that benefits everyone who owns the game. You’ll notice now that the interiors of armored vehicles are fully rendered in 3D - although this is nice precisely once, and you promptly realize that peering through prismatic periscopes on a 27” monitor isn’t actually very “realistic.” There are new anti-tank weapons and crew uniforms as well.

But one thing that’s really bugged me this time around is the utter insufficiency of ArmA 3’s map. The lack of any topographic information is bad enough while planning infantry operations, and it’s only worse when you’re trying to plot courses for heavy vehicles whose ranges are around a kilometer. Topographics aren’t new technology - why can’t we see elevations on the damn map? Not having that makes deciphering orders during the campaign missions frustrating at best, and planning operations in the game’s sandbox downright impossible. The DLC’s new guided missiles only highlight this is more striking relief.

ArmA either is your game or it isn’t, and if it’s something you casually dabble in periodically, then the Tanks DLC probably isn’t worth your time. But if ArmA 3 is your jam, if linking up with friends and executing massive combined arms operations with your crew is how you spend weekends, then this is new hardware that will definitely make the usually infantry-focused action more interesting.

The iconic table-top franchise BattleTech hot-drops into the modern day with a new turn-based tactics title from Harebrained Schemes. Original creator Jordan Weissman and grand-strategy giants Paradox Interactive will be releasing the fruits of their labour to the public at 5pm BST / 9am Pacific.

BattleTech puts you in charge of a mercenary company, where you must fight and survive through a campaign steeped in BattleTech lore. With each mission, you must outfit and deploy a lance of four Mechs to get the job done. Beware – the books always need balancing.

Our very own Ian Boudreau has been playing the game for review for our sister website, Strategy Gamer. With a final score of 4 Stars (out of 5), Ian felt this was a very faithful recreation of the table-top experience, but hang-ups include being a bit sterile in the turn-based combat, and there’s also a risk that players unfamiliar with the BattleTech universe may find it difficult to engage in the universe.

From his review:

BattleTech doesn’t do anything to engender that love. It’s a game that invests heavily in a well-established universe and fails to be an entry point in that universe.

That’s a shame because, between every mission, you can see how much thought has gone into shaping a narrative and world that’s so consistently and richly BattleTech. But the takeaway is ultimately what you bring to the story rather than anything original. This is a fairly by-the-numbers tactics game that becomes ethereal if you have the right set of memories. Being that I do, this is a game that I’ll cherish, for all its stompy clumsiness.

Read the full article to find out more. If you were a Kickstarter Backer or pre-purchased the game, pre-loading has already begun on Steam. The game will unlock in approximately 5 hours form the time of publication.

BattleTech costs £34.99 / $39.99 and can be purchased via Steam, or you can purchase a steam-free version direct from Paradox’s own store.

BattleTech is a turn-based tactics game based on the original table-top wargame created by Jordan Weisman. It puts the players in charge of a mercenary company fighting in a harsh universe full of political intrigue and brutal survivalism. The player's are tasked with completing missions using a team of four mechs, called a 'Lance'. These mechs are fully customisable and the pilots - MechWarriors - can gain experience and new skills over time.

Above the tactical combat layer is a no-nonsense RPG/Business Management system that will force you to make tough choices to your outfit in the black - if you go bankrupt, it's game over. You can read Ian's full thoughts on the game on our sister website - Strategy Gamer.

BattleTech can be purchased via the store options below, and the base version costs £34.99 / $39.99. 

Editor's Note:This is an experimental feature we will be trialling for certain high-profile game releases that would be covered across multiple sites. Due to technical reasons, we will no longer be re-posting the content of articles wholesale across multiple websites. Apparently, Google doesn't like it. This is one way we can fill in the 'review' entry for the game. Let us know your thoughts on this if you have any. 

Naval warfare has a rich history dating back to ancient times, spanning countless conflicts that have relied on access to the world’s oceans. Fleets and flotillas have been crucial for the logistical transportation of materials, goods, treasures and troops. In combat, naval vessels have the capability to strike a decisive battle against the opponent or interdict against their supply lines. Undoubtedly, this is an important branch of a nation’s military, but how does this element of warfare translate to videogames?

Feeling a bit sea sick? We've got another great (mainly land-based) list looking at the best WW2 war games you might like.

Those who are looking for naval warfare can find games that are worth an investment, whether more arcade-style combat, or developing the strategy for an entire battlefleet. The following titles are absolute plays for the admiral-minded types looking to expand their naval-themed experiences.

Primarily, the games presented are of two sorts: the wargame-likes – where it is more about an arcade or pure battle experience, and the simulations – where understanding of mechanics and planning accordingly can take a whole afternoon if need be.

Atlantic Fleet (Review)

Developer/Publisher: KillerFish Games
Tags: Naval, Turn Based, Atlantic Theatre, Strategy, WW2, Arcade
Purchase: Steam, iOS

Initially released on iOS as a sequel to Pacific Fleet in 2015, Atlantic Fleet excels as an arcade-style turn-based naval strategy game. Slug it out in single battles, scenarios or an Atlantic campaign as the Kriegsmarine or the Royal Navy. Both factions offer a wide variety of naval vessels, from famous ships such as the Hood and Bismarck, all the way to “paper” battleships such as the Lion-class and H-44! The use of land based or carrier aircraft for strikes against ships is also present and can give an edge over the enemy.

The turn-based combat is perfect for the surface ship engagements, but submarine and aircraft carriers are a bit sub-par. The price of admission is just right for the amount of content in the game.

Victory at Sea

Developer/Publisher: KillerFish Games
Tags: Naval, Real-Time, Various Theatres, Strategy, Arcade, Moddable, WW2
Purchase:Steam

Victory at Sea is an excellent game for those who want a fast-paced experience of WW2 naval warfare across multiple theatres of operation. Simplified combat controls and real time management allows for the action to be quick and engaging. Nation variety spans the traditional naval powers of British, American, Japanese and German fleets to the lesser represented Dutch, Italian and French forces for custom battles.

There is a lot of content for Victory at Sea due to free updates from the developers, coupled with a cheap purchase price. Along with modding tools that expand unit rosters (such as can be found here) and ship variety this is a great title for people looking to expand their naval libraries. What’s even better is the developers are taking experiences learned from this release and developing Victory at Sea 2.

Jutland – Pro Edition (Review)

Developer/Publisher: Storm Eagle Studios
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Atlantic Theatre, Tactical, Simulation, WW1
Purchase: StormPowered

Storm Eagle Studios, now known as StormPowered, delivers an breathtakingly detailed surface fleet experience. Focused around the Battle of Jutland and its iconic dreadnought verse dreadnought fleet engagements, Jutland manages to take a unique focus and run with it. Manage your fleet of either the Royal Navy or Imperial German Navy. See the fantastic detail of each ship up close, or plan using an overhead map of the North Sea.

This is a difficult game and requires the user to be patient and tactful with their planning. Even if you have naval supremacy in terms of numbers, the outcome of the battle can be very one sided if you are unable to manage your fleet. Still, this is one of the best naval battle simulations around. While compatible with older operating systems up to Windows 7, some might have difficulty on newer OS’s. The steep price means this is definitely ‘buyer beware’.

It also comes with an editor and mods are available to enhance the experience with new content on SubSim.com.

Silent Hunter 3

Developer/Publisher: Ubisoft
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Various Theatres, Strategy, Simulation, Submarine, WW2, Moddable
Purchase: Steam, Direct

As a U-boat captain of the Kriegsmarine, you will find yourself prowling for unsuspecting targets, ambushing convoys, or fighting against aircraft as you’re surfaced. Interacting with the ships interior is also a major component of managing your submarine. Of the Silent Hunter series, Silent Hunter 3 easily remains the undisputed champion.

What pushes Silent Hunter 3 beyond it’s sequels is the incorporation of the GWX3 GOLD mod. This mod gives the game an even more immersive experience, with quality of life changes, environment improvements and added variety still unmatched by the later titles. If you can sacrifice the visual fidelity that the later versions have, you’ll find afternoons and evenings lost as you develop into a successful U-boat Commander. Alarm! Fluten!

Ironclads 2 Collection (Review)

Developer/Publisher: Totem Games
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Turn base, Various Theatres, Strategy, Simulation, 19th Century
Purchase:Steam

Where previous Totem Games releases can be considered misfires, the Ironclads 2 series of games bundled as a collection on Steam are a great addition for any Armchajr-Admiral out there. This collection of games has you fighting forgotten engagements in the late 19th century. While the strategic element is turn based, engagements are in real time. But don’t be fooled; managing ships can get complicated when you split columns or try and envelope an opponent’s fleet.

Opponent AI, ship models and unique settings allow these naval engagements to really come alive and provide wonderfully varied experiences. However impatient players or newcomers might be frustrated by the lack of tutorials (other than just a manual) and hardcore sim fans might be disappointed by the basic mechanics for tactical engagements. However, for the price of four games, and the unique setting each brings, these titles definitely deserve the attention they get.

Cold Waters (Review)

Developer/Publisher: Killerfish Games
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Various Theatres, Strategy, Simulation, Submarine
Purchase: Steam

Killerfish Games manages to hold two titles on this list, and with good reason. Cold Waters manages to walk a perfect line between arcade and simulation with this submarine-based naval game. Establishing itself in a modern setting, the player sets out in nuclear submarine and strike against surface targets and warships while evading modern ASW countermeasures. Great mission and unit variety, outstanding visuals and intuitive UI enables Cold Waters to stand tall among the greatest naval wargames out there.

Content for Cold Waters is still being released, with the latest addition being a South China Sea campaign. Those looking for a more immersive sub sim, please note that this isn’t Silent Hunter – you may be disappointed if that’s what you’re looking for here.

Dangerous Waters

Developer/Publisher: Sonalysts Combat Simulations / Strategy First
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Various Theatres, Strategy, Simulation, Submarine, Moddable
Purchase: Steam

Dangerous Waters, or by its alternative title, S.C.S. Dangerous Waters, is a naval sim classic. Controlling either the US Navy, Russian Federation Navy or the People's Liberation Army Navy of China, you have the option to use surface ships, submarines or some aircraft to engage in a variety of mission types. Tactical thinking, monitoring of ship components and capabilities are an important factor for this sim. While the graphics are dated, the variety of systems available in Dangerous Waters keeps it an immersive naval sim and still as intuitive as it was on release.

Because of the age of the game, there may be some compatibility issues with modern operating systems, but there are work arounds for this. Another interesting element is that Dangerous Waters allows for importation of event scripting (or scenarios) from old Jane’s series of games (688(I) Hunter/Killer and Sub/Fleet Command). In addition, there is a large amount of extra content and mods to further extend what can be done in Dangerous Waters. A great library for mods, patches and tools can be found here.

Command: Modern Air / Naval Operations WOTY (Review)

Developer/Publisher: WarfareSims / Matrix Games
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Various Theatres, Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Purchase: Steam, Direct

You would be hard pressed to find something as intricate and detailed as Command: Modern Air/ Naval Operations is, apart from maybe the Harpoon series. Aspects to manage are satellites, aircraft wings, and navy fleets while the database includes WW2 era ships all the way into modern future weapons. This gives an excellent overview of what you are going to be working with through what spans almost a century of air and naval warfare. The base game has over 40 scenarios, and further DLC and expansions have been released in the years since.

While older titles rely on a flat image, or map, CMANO is globe based, delivering even greater immersion for the armchair commander. The amount of management and systems available is staggering. Realism is a cornerstone of CMANO and while other naval sims and wargames are more approachable due to their low price or lesser complex systems, CMANO revels in its ability to be a serious simulation. For those who are willing the opportunities are near limitless.

Fleet Command

Developer/Publisher: Sonalysts Combat Simulations / Strategy First
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Various Theatres, Strategy, Simulation,
Purchase: Steam, StormPowered

The Jane’s Command (now just known as Command) series are classic naval simulations that are still playable and enjoyable by today’s standards. While the titles of each game give away what is to be expected, Fleet Command’s use of modern units and a variety of scenarios makes it slightly above its Sub Command sequel, which focuses primarily on modern submarine combat.

Although Fleet Command is graphically dated and may struggle to run on modern operating systems (there are work arounds out there), it is still a classic and must have for its niche genre. Released in 1999, it could be many veteran player’s first, and it has yet to be topped in some respects by modern releases. Manage air assets, naval battlegroups and engage in naval scenarios, with an intuitive editor that allows users to create new content.

Battlestations: Pacific

Developer/Publisher: Eidos Hungary, Eidos Interactive
Tags: Naval, Real Time, Pacific Theatre, Strategy, Arcade, WW2
Purchase: Steam

The Battlestations‘series’ was short lived and spanned two games. They utilized combined operations of aircraft, surface ships and submarines set in the Pacific in WW2. Where Battlestations: Midway tried its best to tell a unique story that was a bit flat, Pacific focused just on the combat experience. Fantastic level, unit and faction variety enabled plenty of action packed moments to be had. Features two campaigns with bonus missions.

What made Battlestations: Pacific great was its easy controls and management of fleet assets in battle, so the player could jump from battleship to aircraft, to carrier to commander in the click of a few buttons to make sure all elements were cooperating. Then once you were satisfied with your orders, jump back into a torpedo bomber to start lining up for a strike against a transport ship.

For those on modern operating systems, GFWL is no longer around, so work arounds are necessary to get it run without issues. One option can be found here.

What would your list of top naval war games look like? Let us know in the comments!

For the casual gamer, the Great War at Sea connotes primarily Jutland and the U-boat offensive; more astute players would add Spee’s Far Eastern squadron’s adventures in the Pacific and German attempts to weaken the British distance blockade through small raids.

Other small but interesting skirmishes occurred, but the truly interesting aspects of the period revolves around the fact that the war represented the first test of naval developments that began in the late nineteenth century. Several computer games have attempted to portray how these innovations panned out.

WW1 not enough for you? We've got a general guide to the best naval war games you might want to check out.

Dreadnought

Develooer: Turcan Research Systems Limited
Purchase: Free

Peter Turcan tackled the subject in 1992 with this game for the Amiga, Atari and Windows DOS. Players were admirals on the bridge of a flagship and communicated with his other ship’s through text messages. Battles included Jutland, Dogger Bank and Coronel. Although the graphics now seem crude, the interface represented the command and control problems that plagued the period. The game is now abandonware and still can be played with DOS Box.

Jutland

Developer: John Tiller Studios
Purchase: Direct

In 2002, John Tiller developed the first truly modern World War I naval game. The interface and graphics are typical Tiller, with orders to groups or single ships being issued by toolbar buttons or drop-down menus. The game should be played at a group level from the flagship. The game recognizes group movements as “turn in succession” and “turn abreast”, with the Germans able to “battle turn in place”. Gun fire is automatic.

The main map shows ships almost as small dots, but clicking on one or more shows the ships in profile with parameters appearing with a right-click. The twenty-two scenarios include the different phases of Jutland and smaller battles like Helgoland and action with the Dover Patrol. Each scenario has an Order of Battle listing the capability of each craft. Submarines, smoke screens, torpedoes and aircraft are included as is the seaplane tender HMS Engadine. A scenario editor allows players’ flexibility.

Jutland - Pro Edition (Review)

Developer: StormPowered
Purchase: Direct

Storm Eagle Studios jumped everybody’s game with their 2006 Jutland. The 3D, multiple view graphics are unsurpassed, and the animation borders on incredible -- including the ability to “ride” a shell to its destination. Handling camera angles takes some patience, but becomes second nature with time. Orders to groups or individual ships are given via an onscreen “fly-out” panel, offering historically accurate maneuvers and speed changes. Ship parameters such as guns and armor are comparatively accurate.

The add-ons, two ship packs and a map pack, provides over thirty scenarios, including the US Navy. The greatest feature is ten campaigns covering the North Sea in 1915-1918. These campaigns are strategic in nature allowing players to time raids, plan sorties and sow minefields. When enemy groups make contact, play drops to tactical level. A scenario editor and battle generator allow almost infinite replay.

Steam and Iron

Developer: Naval Warfare Simulations
Purchase:Direct

Naval Warfare Simulations (NWS) made its expected move into the World War One arena in 2012 with Steam and Iron. With over thirty scenarios, this game covers battles from the First Balkan War in 1913 to intervention in the Russian revolution in 1919. Battles occur in the Mediterranean and Black Sea as well as the North Sea and Pacific. The graphics may appear simple with ships as dots with flags when zoomed out and bird’s-eye 2D detailed outlines when zoomed in.

This system is actually advantageous because it allows large numbers of ships to be incorporated in a battle. In fact, this game is the only one showing Jutland in its entirety in a scenario instead of its separate phases. Right clicking a ship brings up a colored detailed silhouette of the ship. Players can choose between three modes with differing levels of micro-management. Simple speed and course commands for divisions and individual ships are given through clicks but force commands allow fleets to be controlled easily. The usual scenario editor is present. An expansion pack allows strategic play by using fleets and divisions in the North Sea and Baltic.

Rule the Waves (Review)

Developer: Naval Warfare Simulations
Purchase: Direct

NWS’ 2015 Rule the Waves ratchets up players’ responsibility several notches. Taking on the role of a very hands-on naval minister beginning in 1900, players are given an annual budget to maintain active and reserve ships, build and maintain docks, build and design ships while financing intelligence operations, research and training. Of these, the fascinating design detail will attract most gamers who, with technology and resources, can be the first kid on the block to have a Dreadnought-class battleship.

However, the other seven major powers are doing the same thing. Activity and scripted events can cause tensions to slowly rise to war level as the years pass. At that point, strategic moves are made around the globe. When contending fleets meet, the action is the same as in Steam and Iron. Players can be dismissed by overspending or losing too many battles. As the naval race and international crises are considered some of the causes of World War I, this game may give us the best historical insight and options of the games described.

World of Warships

Developer: Wargaming.net
Purchase: Direct (Free-to-Play)

Wargaming.net’s naval MMPORG may seem an unlikely candidate for inclusion in this article because none of the battles are even close to realistic. However, the ship graphics and features are quite accurate. When playing a World War I era vessel, one’s teammates and opponents tend to have the same era vessels. Hence, it counts.

1914 Shells of Fury

Developer: StrategyFirst
Purchase: N/A

Given the many World War II sub sims, discussing the granddaddy of them all, the 1916 Type UC II U-boat, gives balance. In 2007, h2f created the only World War I sub game. This sim is the equal of the best World War II sub games. The interface is about the same as the Silent Hunter series, with equally good graphics. The differences accurately reflect the performance of the older boat: range and submerged endurance is shorter, speed is slower, maximum depth is less and, because of carrying only eight torpedoes, most attacks are made with the deck gun. Sophisticated detection equipment is not available but destroyers don’t have depth charges so everything evens out. The game comes with several single missions and campaigns, a mission generator and a fine encyclopedia.

The games above should whet the appetite of any naval game enthusiast. For beginners, Andrew Gordon’s The Rules of the Game and Robert Massie’s Castles of Steel are wonderful resources. Delve into this fascinating topic!

2017 was a quite a year for wargaming, I for one am still trying to catch up on all the releases I missed. But sadly wargaming, like time or a London bus, waits for no man. We here at Wargamer have comprised a list of what we have to look forward to in the coming year.

Close Combat: The Bloody First

Developer: Matrix Games
Release Date: 2018

Before you say anything, yes we're am aware this was on 2017s guide as well, but given our recent hands-on experience with the game and the fact there's even a store page now, we're reasonably confident this will be out this year. For those of you who’ve forgotten or are simply unaware, Close Combat: The Bloody First promises to be a much needed step forwards for Matrix’s venerable series. 

The series’ ancient 2D Close Combat engine has been thrown out and was originally replaced by Unity 3D. However, at some point the devs then opted to start the game anew (hence the delays) on Slitherine’s in-house, 3D Archon engine (an evolution on Battle Academy’s Engine) due to its comparative flexibility.

You should read our coverage for more in-depth details, however the action will take place in Tunisia, Sicily and finally Normandy. You can read a full break-down of the scenario list here.

Klotzen! Panzer Battles

Developer:Maxim Games
Release Date: Summer 2018

Another game taking on the storied legacy of Panzer General, Klotzen! Panzer Battles is an ambitious project on the way from Maxim Games, who bringing their own approach to the turn-based operational wargame to PC.

EIC Joe spoke with studio director Zoran Stanic earlier this year, and it sounds as though Maxim are planning on a large, challenging campaign that will have branching points that will change the outcome of the war based on which tracks you wind up heading down. Scenarios themselves will also feature a degree of randomness, with weather conditions and other variables changing with each playthrough. Klotzen! Panzer Battles is due out this summer.

Panzer Corps 2

Developer: Matrix Games
Release Date: 2018

Another classic making the jump over to 3D, Panzer Corps 2 will be utilising the now very popular Unreal 4 engine. Brought to us by Flashback Games (PG Forever, Panzer Corps, Warhammer 40k Armageddon) it’s suffice to say that even with engine change Panzer Corps 2 will likely remain faithful to its predecessor.

No date in 2018 has been specified but Flashback Games have already stated in Q&A a blog post that they’re confident Panzer Corps 2 will be released this year. In the meantime, you might want to check this article out which contains everything we know about the game so far.

Burden of Command

Developer: Green Tree Games
Release Date: 2018

Wargaming as a whole can often be a clinical affair, with the men and units under your command feeling more chess pieces than people. Green Tree Games are looking to address that with their debut title Burden of Command.

Whilst tactics and positioning are still important, your relationships with the men under your command are pushed to the forefront of Burden of Command. Events, or “crucibles”, will often force you to choose between your men and the mission. Green Tree Games have painstakingly researched the psychology of soldiers to ensure that your units and the men how lead them act accordingly.

There’s no confirmation yet last official word was that GTG are aiming for a 2018 release.

Campaign Series: Vietnam

Developer: CS Legion
Release Date: Summer 2018

Campaign Series Legion are returning to the 20th century with Campaign Series: Vietnam. It promises to cover conflicts in the region from 1948 all the way up to 1985. So far all we know is the nations included in the game’s order of battle which include heavy hitters such as the US, North & South Vietnam and the PRC.

There’s no details on a release date yet, but apparently it’s been in the works for a while and Campaign Series Legion’s site states and estimated release of summer 2018.

UBOOT

Developer: Deep Water Studio
Release Date: 2018

I know we included this one last year, but after all, nothing is certain in game development. UBoot (U-boat) is billed as a sandbox survival simulator aboard a Second World War German U-boat, reminiscent of FTL or a more grimey version of Bomber Crew. Recently delayed, Uboot is set to release in 2018, no more details are available.

303 Squadron: Battle of Britain

Developer: Atomic Jelly
Release Date: 8th May, 2018 (Early Access)

This one isn’t really a “wargame” per se, but I we still have a proud tradition of covering war-themed simulation games, from ArmA to IL-2. In the wake of Poland’s capitulation in 1939 many of its pilots fled to France and then eventually England. There they were integrated in the RAF, helping England fight off hordes of German bombers during the Battle of Britain.

Atomic Jelly are promising to bring the story of the 303rd Squadron (the most famous and successful of the 16 Polish RAF squadrons) to life with their upcoming title. Outside of realistic air combat, 303 Squadron: Battle of Britain is promising a detailed reconstruction of RAF Northolt that players can explore, not to mention being able to carry out repairs and maintenance on your fighter planes.

Armored Brigade

Developer: Matrix Games
Release Date: 2018

Matrix Games picked up this freeware title last year and have thrown some money at it to make it more acceptable as commercial product, It sports several improvements over the original project, and you can check out our hands-on impressions of the game here.

Changes include dynamic campaigns, reworked graphics and UI and improved AI. Matrix and Veitikka have kept tight lips on the release date, as always, but we're confident it'll be out this year - sooner rather than later as well. If you're wondering about its freeware origins, the late Mr. Cobb did a write-up for us just after the announcement.

Unity of Command 2

Developer: 2x2 Games
Release Date: 2018

Back in 2012, 2x2 games proved that hex wargames don’t always have to be oblique affairs that require inordinate amounts of patience and time. Unity of Command was an accessible title loved by both newcomers and experienced wargamers alike.

Unity of Command 2 looks like it’ll be trying to take quite a few strides forwards rather than living in its predecessor's shadow. Instead of the cold fields of Russia, Unity of Command 2 will be covering the western front and has switched over from 2D to 3D.

Other promised changes include units carrying over from previous battles (so no more killing most of your army and still winning since you still hold the objective) and more offensive AI. Unity of Command 2 still has no solid release date, but the devs stated their confidence in a 2018 release.  

Rule the Waves II

Developer: Naval Warfare Simulations
Release Date: 2018

The original Rules the Waves is a wonderful Great War-era war game (and one of the best WW1 Naval Games of all time) that combined both Fleet construction/management, and combat as you managed a nation's navy from 1900 - 1920, with the main goal of not getting sacked and furthering our country's ambitions.

The sequel was announced earlier this year and will span from 1900 all the way to 1950, opening the game up to WW2 naval concerns, as well as some early modern stuff as well. We don't know anything else about the project at this point other than owners of the first game will be able to buy the sequel at a discount upon its release.

Seen any other cool wargame projects you want us to do a shout out for? Let us know in the comments and we'll update the list ASAP!

Since we're nearing the end of the centennial of World War I, a look at videogames for the 1914-1918 period is definitely in order. And given many meaningful concepts of the war were strategic in nature (vice operational or tactical), that area will be the focus of this compendium.

Want to check out some great naval WW1 games instead? This list is for you. Want to look ahead to World War II? We've rounded-up the best of the best right here.

You'll note a few entries normally deemed operational rather than strategic. The difference? Operational art involves campaigns to bring friendly forces into battle under the best conditions possible. Strategy involves the management and deployment of national level resources to achieve objectives. Indeed strategic games are more logistics and production than fighting, but with World War I there was a unique fusion of the two echelons into a hybrid that creates a grey area in some cases.

Guns of August 1914-1918 (Matrix Games)

Frank Hunter of ADANAC Studios jumped the guns by releasing this game in 2007. The graphics represent the basic approach of the period and the mechanics are clunky but capture the crucial problem of the combatants: a war in which the resources and military thinking of the coalitions were outstripped by industrial warfare. In the four scenarios marking each year of the war, players must choose which HQs to activate given the limited number of activations. Points are used to research tanks, gas and trenches as well as to influence or declare war on neutrals. Ships are assigned orders and areas while subs starve Britain. Air units are assigned to fronts.

Play uses two-month composed of impulses with orders resolved simultaneously. The map covers most of Europe, the Middle East and some of North Africa. The units are corps and individual ships. Each nation of a coalition must be handled separately. National morale and exhaustion determine victory. If players can master the interface and turn sequence, this game replicates the attrition aspect of the war well by having actions paid by gaining abstract currency. All of these games do the same but with different names; production points, recruit points, etc...

Strategic Command Classic: World War 1 (Matrix Games) (Review)

Hubert Cater of Fury Software and Battlefront first entered the fray in 2010, although this was recently re-published by Matrix Games. The base game is derived from the popular Strategic Command series with its hallmarks: terrain is bland but functional while the 3D units are entertaining. The normal IGO/UGO turn system is here with clicks ordering movement and combat. A row of buttons gives entree to research, diplomacy and the like. Events, different weapons and even more emphasis on national morale set this game apart from its World War II stablemates.

The British blockade eats away at Central Power morale while research allows simple growth in air, tank, infantry and gas tactics. Creating havoc to British supplies is made easier by clear convoy routes and silent sub modes. Domestic policy is handled abstractly. How players react to events can change the complexion of the game. The first campaign covers the entire war while adding two shorter campaigns, seven operations and even a World War II campaign. The 2012 expansion Breakthrough adds spice to the game by providing an alternative 1914 campaign twist, a look at the First Balkan War 1912-1913 and the Franco-Prussian War, nineteen more operations and battles covering all theatres of the conflict.

Commander: The Great War (Slitherine/Matrix Games) (Review)

Slitherine’s 2012 game shows how the Commander engine could handle World War I. The terrain and unit graphics are very good, combining simplicity with enough detail to make them interesting as well as informative. Mechanics are simple with tabs bringing up panels for research, diplomacy, production, and selection to show unit stats.

A management panel shows countries’ overall status. Submarines are always submerged and can be attacked only when an enemy stumbles into their hex. Air, artillery and infantry capabilities grow through research. Commanders are attached directly to units instead of separate HQ units. A unique swapping function allows units to easily exchange places. The five campaigns cover each year of the war. Research focus on broad topics instead of individual concepts and a simple supply system makes this game accessible to new gamers and still captures the essence of the topic. Also available on iOS.

Making History: The Great War (Factus Games)

Factus Games continues Muzzy Lane Software’s tradition of academic games with this 2014 title. Unlike the other games in this article, the scale is grand strategic where players deal with the intricacies of building specific factories and institutions in cities in their countries given present resources. Choices to play are the eight major powers or any other country in the world. An in-depth economic and trade system will take up most of player’s attention with many panels and screens providing a flood of data.

The graphics are very simple and mechanics are the usual clicks. The three scenarios are 1912, 1914 and 1918, the later concentrating on making peace rather than war. The military depends heavily on the economy and research with battle being handled automatically when opponents inter the same province. Many events requiring player decisions appear in the week-long turns. This product elevates play from the war itself to the conditions that started the conflict and allows an alternative line of events.

To End All Wars (Matrix Games)

AGEOD took another swing at the cat with this 2014 entry using a better engine. Using two-week turns, the main map covers Europe with off-map boxes for the rest of the world. Units begin as single armies but can be broken down by increments to regimental level. Leaders can be attached, promoted and demoted under certain circumstances. Lists and map filters lay out the many factors of play. Movement is the AGE click-and-drag engine with a battle mode for selecting tactics.

Weather affects movement and supply. Success on the field and triggered events yield diplomatic points and decreases or increases the all-important national morale. Players can use regional decisions to accomplish operational goals where diplomacy is a matter of alignment. Submarine warfare is more abstract than in other games. This entry is a nice compendium to the many factors of the war.

Supreme Ruler - the Great War (Battlegoat Studios) (Review)

This game is probably the newest entry into the fray, yet traces its roots back 35 years to a Canadian in high school. Typically, the software is concerned more with logistics and resource management as opposed to putting rounds down range, but there are several areas which make play unique. There is a full-fledged weather system, while movement is a simple process of drawing a line from start to destination, then allowing the AI to figure out the best way to get there. And believe it or not, all of this is done in semi-real time.

The detail in the game is fantastic, and doesn’t simply allow for the production of things like heavy artillery. No, the player must choose the type of gun – 130 mm vs 152 mm for example – for his rubles based on what was historically available. But the really BIG draw of the game is the scope. While most games define World War I as East Front, West Front, Italian Front and Lawrence of Arabia, this game takes the term “World” literal. The game covers the entire globe, so if Japan invades China, you actually move to that real estate and fight/produce it out. And you don’t stop in 1918, but can continue the game on well into the 21^st Century.

Hearts of Iron – Darkest Hour (Paradox Interactive) (Review)

The Hearts of Iron franchise needs little introduction as one of the most famous strategic World War II games ever. Darkest Hour is actually a variant of HOI Armageddon created by a group of dedicated modders in love with the series. It is a stand-alone game with two scenarios, one beginning in 1936, but the other in 1914 covering WW1.

It's a typical strategic logistics and production fare, but using the HOI engine and overall design as the selling point. Often called the best of all HOI add-ons, the game has outrageously high reviews on Steam. Trust me, if you like Hearts of Iron, you will like this.

The Operational Art of War IV (Matrix Games) (Review)

Although an operational level game, what this really means is that the software takes one step away from logistics and production and one step towards combat and manoeuvre in its emphasis. This is probably a better approach for 1914 and the Russian Front where smaller armies and YUGE parcels of land did not mandate a stalemate and factory management to see who could produce the most machine gun bullets.

TOAW4 has 20 scenarios from or related to this conflict, and some are so large that they could never be considered operational in decision making scope at the very least. One, for example, covers the entire Eastern Front in 1915 while another covers the entire war, all fronts, down to the Mosen-Nagant level, from 1 August 1914 to whenever. If you like more military oriented decision making vice logistics, this game is a good choice

France 1914 and East Prussia 1914 (John Tiller Software) (Review)

These two games are sisters, and this is a good thing. Based on the firm’s Panzer Campaigns model, the two simulations are similar to TOAW4 except one step further removed from logistics and one step closer to combat detail and manoeuvre, as befitting products only concerned about the first year of the war. Yet given the large amount of physical turf covered, even at this early stage of the conflict, decision making morphs into something more strategic than operational. Pressing home the point, the two games can be played concurrently.

As our own review of the game noted, “The World War I Campaign Series system comes together with the Grand Campaign Scenario Progression Tree. Here, East Prussia '14 is played with France '14 and guided by a progression tree. Depending on the type of victory, the tree directs players to specific scenarios after starting with the first French scenario. Different levels of victory yields Campaign Victory points on a sliding scale; the first to get enough wins.”

Summary

World War I was extremely complicated, arguably more so than World War II. No single game can do equal justice to all aspects of the conflict. However, the games mentioned above contain all the critical aspects when taken as a group. Every level of play, from beginner to hard-nosed veteran, is represented by them. Players should begin with the level they’re comfortable with and then try more complex games.

There’s plenty of wargaming news to catch up on this week, so I won’t take up too much time with my ramblings. To pierce the veil for a moment and talk about something topical – apparently North and South Korea have announced they will sign a peace treaty later in the year that will formally end the Korean War.

As Ian pointed out in his exploration of table-top and videogames on the conflict, the Korean War never formally ended, although hostilities ceased 65 years ago after a cease-fire agreement was reached. Will be interesting to see whether things go from here – could we see a unified Korea in our lifetime?

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

Matrix Games/Slitherine

Matrix Games interrupted their regular programming of silence to actually put out some news this week – two small snippets to pay attention to:

For some reason, Sengoku Jidai is running at a 50% discount via the Matrix Store. You can get the main game, Collector’s Edition and the DLCs all for half price, and this discount will expire on May 3rd.

In other news, we must be getting close and closer to the release of Order of Battle: Sandstorm– the development diaries keep on coming! This latest post takes an in-dept look at the new Italian Army units.

Everything from Tanks and planes, to naval and special units are listed out in detail, and you should check out the full diary for more info.

Free Weekend – ArmA III

Two games are having free-play sessions via Steam during this coming weekend. ArmA III is celebrating the fact that, since its launch in 2013, it has sold 4 million units. Considering this is a niche, hardcore military sim that’s NOT on any other platform this is quite an achievement. Bohemia should be proud, and they’re celebrating by making the base game free-to-try until 6pm BST, Monday 30th April.

That’s not all – the base game and all of its DLC are on sale, with discounts ranging between 20% and 66% off. If you’re not already an owner and like what you see (or want to top up your DLC collection), you also have until 6pm Monday to take advantage of the deal.

Free Weekend – Day of Infamy

World War II shooter Day of Infamy, from the guys who made Insurgency, is also free from now until April 30th. They don’t appear to be celebrating quite as note-worthy as sales, but according to the press release we got, they’ve achieved “2.7 Billion rounds fired, in 4.8 million matches and over 236 million kills.”

Martynas reviewed the game for us when it left Early Access last over a year ago in March 2017, stating:

Day of Infamy is a solid game with a developer that is showing a lot of love for their work. They haven't wasted their time in Early Access, and while it's sticking to more traditional FPS design I think this is probably the best overall WWII game around. Heroes and Generals doesn't feel that polished and usually involves quite a bit of cycling before you get shot by unseen enemies, while Red Orchestra 2 is both showing its age and can be a bit too realistic for the masses. Day of Infamy is both good by itself and a great way to scratch that WW2 while you wait for something with more of a budget behind it.

The game is also running a 70% discount if you want to purchase it.

Republican Bayonets on the Rhine

JTS have released the twelfth instalment of their Napoleonic Battles series – Republican Bayonets on the Rhine:

Command the French "Armée du Nord" and "Armee de Centre" at Valmy or as the Allies the Prussian and Austrian forces of the Duke of Brunswick. At Fleurus, lead your Allied legions to victory and retake Charleroi or as Jourdan, commander of the French forces, deal the Allies a defeat at the hands of your French legions. Twenty-seven historical battles await your pleasure including Fleurus, the battle which saw the first use of a balloon for military service or Würzburg, where the Archduke Charles defeated Jourdan's French army during the 1796 Rhine Campaign, Kaiserlautern, where the Duke of Brunswick would defeat a French army near Mannheim, Germany, to Second Zürich, where Masséna would defeat the Russians under the command of Rimsky-Korsakov and put an end to the 1799 Rhine Campaign. Republican Bayonets on the Rhine has this and so much more!

It is available to buy form the JTS store for $39.95, and is a 227 MB download.

HexWar Fanatical Sale

We haven’t heard from HexWar in a while. Come to think of it, we might not have sent them our new email address. Oops.

Still, word has reached us that they too are trying out Fanatical – the re branded version of Bundle Stars. Unlike other key reseller websites, these guys are meant to be legitimate, so you can feel slightly better about where you’re spending your money.

HexWar have created a bundle of all their Civil War titles, featuring Civil War: 1861 through to Civil War 1865, as well as Civil War: Bull Run 1861 and Civil War: Gettysburg. At full price all these games are worth £43.03, but you can pick them up for the princely sum of £0.89, or $0.99 if you’re in the states.

Say what you want about HexWar’s template wargames (and we have), $1 is a pretty good price for a bunch of games that aren’t that bad.

General Staff heads to IndieGoGo

Last but not least, a quick note to let you know that Dr. Sidran’s ambitious wargame system General Staff has gone to IndieGoGo for a second round of crowd-funding, as apparently they got a lot of interest in the project after their Kickstarter ended. If you’re interested in backing it, you can find the project here. There is a $25 and a $50 tier.

That's all for this week's round-up. Enjoy your weekends, and happy gaming!

In case you didn't notice, an embargo lifted on Thrones of Britannia review coverage. Our sister website - Strategy Gamer - has their article up in all its glory if you want to give it a ready, but we're going to take a moment to talk more about tactical battles in this newest Total War entry.

The thing is, battles in Total War: Warhammer kind of suck to a veteran like myself. I get the impression they're a fun spectacle when you get to high-end fantasy units, but I've tried getting into the game and the traditional TW tactics just don't work. With survivability nearly non-existent, it's harder to take on unfavourable odds or make the enemy pay for the ground they're trying to take.

Thankfully, being based on the Total War: Attila engine, Thrones of Britannia reverses this, but not the whole way. There are many tiers of units, from your standard levies, to your professional soldiers. Researching the right techs will unlock higher tiered variants of both types of units, but the levies can still die pretty easily if you don't manage them carefully. Click on a unit and look at the enemy force, and you'll see a triangle with an exclamation mark in the corer of the unit banner. Depending on the colour, it will give you a rough guide as to how threatening this unit is. If you've got a cavalry unit selected, for example, all enemy spearmen will have an angry looking red mark. Axe-based infantry also don't like spearmen.

Still, survivability is improved enough that you can start employing tactics like pinning and working cavalry around the flanks. Evenly matched forces, with no management WILL still grind each other into dust, but it happens a lot quicker than usual so quick thinking is encouraged still.

The AI can be ruthless as well, I can't count the number of times my ranged infantry have been slaughtered by cavalry, because I didn't give them any screening forces. The AI will just out flank your formation and cut up your back lines if you let it. Sieges are also enjoyable again - pathfinding for siege equipment isn't as wonky as it could be and for the most part defending/assaulting the walls is as tense as it should be. Can still get a little difficult to manoeuvre troops around on the walls, especially when battle is joined, but it all works for the most part. The towns are interestingly laid out as well, and you can throw barricades across key routes, forcing the enemy to go the long way around.

All in all, if you're going to get Thrones of Britannia for any reason, get it for the tactical battles. It's not the most interesting age for unit diversity, but the tactics are there and they matter.

Let’s be clear here - Steel Division is a hard game. Many games are difficult to master, many games are difficult to learn… but Steel Division: Normandy ‘44 is both. For one thing, the meat of your experience of the game is likely to be in multiplayer, where veterans of Eugen’s real-time tactical offering will pounce upon you like hawks if you don’t go armed (and, where possible, with friends).

For another, Steel Division’s formula is so very different to more traditional forms of RTS. Resource gathering and base building are out the window. Economics are for the guys back in their bunkers located under the Foreign Office and the Reich Chancellery playing their own private Hearts of Iron. For you, as a combat commander in charge of several battalion’s worth of assets, it’s down to you to use them well.

This guide assumes that the reader knows the broad basics of how to work a strategy game. Left click selects units, right clicking moves units, they take damage, etc. This guide instead focuses upon the aspects of Steel Division that mark it out as different to its other real time strategy brethren. Some of the topics to be covered may appear a little bit arcane. Nonetheless, they’ve been included because of their supreme importance to the way this game plays.

The Phases

The phase system in Steel Division is perhaps unique in this genre. Over the course of forty minutes the game escalates from what are meant to be early meeting engagements to all-out battle. Generally, the phases are the following: Phase A consists of lightly armoured vehicles and infantry, who will take and hopefully hold ground. Heavy armour is almost non-existent, and tanks are generally in short supply. Phase B ratchets things up a notch. Large quantities of medium tanks and artillery will begin appearing, as well as many specialist infantry units. Finally, Phase C is where the fighting reaches its height, with plentiful quantities of all units, as well the heaviest and hardest hitting units any division has available.

Exceptions of course apply. Most glaring are the captured units available to a small number of divisions, where vehicles traditionally found in phase C are in phase A (and often give light vehicle players an exceptionally bad day). Other divisions may bring small but potent armoured forces to the game from the beginning, often these are backed up by excellent recce vehicles (more on those later) and other mobile units.

In keeping with the phase system, divisions vary wildly in their strength and type of units they can bring to the table in any given phase. Some elite infantry divisions (particularly paratrooper divisions), thrive in the early game. Others (particularly German armoured divisions) start slow and build up to become almost overwhelming in power. The characteristics of each specific division is a subject worthy of a guide of its own. For this guide it can only be stated that the match ups of each division are often asymmetrical, and the player should try to recognise whom they are facing (ideally at the outset) and plan accordingly.

Morale

Morale is another significant factor that might take a moment for the player to get their head around. All units when under fire by any unit take some amount of morale damage. How much depends on how deadly the weapon is. Unloading a machine gun into an enemy tank is unlikely to do much to worry them. On the other hand, a large calibre anti-tank gun is guaranteed to put the fear of god into any vehicle upon the battlefield. As a unit’s morale becomes worse, its effectiveness in just about every aspect diminishes as well. Once the morale loss bar is filled (so to speak), the unit panics. Infantry units go to ground and may be ordered to fall back (almost always the correct decision), but otherwise do not return fire and are liable to be captured by the enemy. Vehicles meanwhile begin to fall back slowly (and always in a direction you don’t want them to). They will not return fire and are also in danger of capture (and yes, those two-man reconnaissance teams are extremely effective at capturing King Tigers who’ve bitten off more than they can chew!). One notable saving grace is that units may not be captured so long as there is one unit nearby that have not themselves been panicked.

The Frontline

For most games, the frontline of any action is something not so much announced by the game but a psychological place, where the area where your units may move freely morphs into a land of darkness filled with hidden enemy units itching to ruin yours. Steel Division makes it a game mechanic. It is, put simply, the big line down the middle of the map at the start of the game. Where it goes from there is up to you and your opponent. Obviously, the closer it is to the enemy’s side of the map, the better you are likely to be doing.

Since the frontline is affected by almost every unit in the game, it can provide critical information both as the game begins and as the action continues. All units exert a certain pressure upon the frontline. It is possible to use the frontline to divine how well the enemy is covering a section of front. The closer the front is to your units, the closer the enemy is. This magic allows us to compare this situation:

With this:

Units that end up behind the frontline take increased damage to their morale. Creating pockets, where enemy territory is not connected to their side of the map, serves the same effect.

Fog of War

Traditional RTSs make fog of war self-explanatory. Where your units can see, the world is lit up, where they cannot is in shadow. As you will find from the moment you launch your first battle in Steel Division, this isn’t the case here. It would seem that the entire map is visible, lit by that lovely summer sun.

As is so often the case, looks are deceiving...

Fog of War and line of sight are somewhat opaquer in Steel Division. The lack of any visual fog of war means that you can never be truly certain of what you can and can’t see. Not all units are created equal in this way. Park a tank in a hedge and you can be pretty certain it’ll be spotted from quite a distance. Put a two-man reconnaissance team, or your choice of hand-held anti-tank weapons teams, and the enemy may need to be right on top of them before they are spotted. It is quite possible for such units to be left behind by the tide of battle, sitting hidden far behind the lines providing their owners exceptional intelligence with their enemy none the wiser. The implications could be catastrophic in the case of an anti-tank team. Imagine parking your shiny new panzer beside an innocent looking tree line, only for it to be annihilated by hidden enemies without it firing a shot in anger. It is important therefore to realise that nowhere is truly safe in Steel Division. Forests, tree lines and hedgerows can conceal all manner of horrors to ruin your day.

Recon

So how do you deal with all this uncertainty? Recon. Recon is everything in Steel Division. From the tiny scout teams mentioned previously, to heavy armour to aircraft of all shapes and sizes, recon can come in almost any flavour you like. It would be easy to overlook these units in one’s rush to Steel Division’s array of heavy armour, heavy artillery and other nasties. Yet none of these units work very well without being able to see what they are up against. As a rule of thumb, I prefer reconnaissance to be as far forward as possible. You want to be confident that every possible part of your frontline is visible to at least some sort of reconnaissance. Even if that unit can do precisely zero to stop the enemy coming through that sector, knowing that they are coming is half the battle.

Furthermore, bring replacements – and lots of them. Being placed as far forward as possible, recce units die like flies. Generally, infantry recce, that is, guys who dismount from trucks, halftracks, etc are best when you are starting out. It is true that recce vehicles can be extremely effective. Light weapons, particularly the autocannons that are carried by German scout vehicles, make up for lack of punch with sheer rate of fire. At close range these units, spotting for themselves and perhaps with heavy anti-tank support, are to be feared. Their light armour however means that when things go wrong for these units, they go very wrong. For beginners, stick to infantry, but do not be afraid to experiment when the time comes.

Conclusion

This guide is by no means an exhaustive accounting of what makes Steel Division the tricky game that it is. This writer does however sincerely hope that it gives those just starting out with the game the pointers they need to begin delving into it themselves. It is easy to harp on about Steel Division’s learning curve, but, ultimately, the results are worth it. Best of luck.

One of the very first strategy and war games I ever played was the Defend the Alamo demo. This was back in the 1990s when the internet wasn’t even such a big thing yet. I downloaded the demo and got hooked on American history in the process of playing around with the game. Back then the company was called Incredible Simulations, today it is called Digital Gameworks, a one-man band faithfully trekking its own path in the world of computer wargaming.

ZULU DAWN! The Battle of Isandlwana is the newest production from DG, though at times the game feels more like a single scenario demo. It pits the indomitable Zulus against the overconfident Brits and their allies, in what is the single biggest defeat the British military has had at the hands of a native force.

Rifles and Spears

The combat system is quite easy to understand. The mission for the British is to inflict casualties at long range, picking out units one by one, while the Zulu aim to get into close contact and overwhelm the enemy with numbers. The British begin the battle encamped at their secure base, whilst the Zulus come out from the woods in waves.

The British are armed with Martini-Henry Rifles for the regulars, with some levies toting muzzle-loading muskets. They also have one cannon and a rocket battery. The muskets have less range and do less damage than rifles. The Zulus get their assegai spears and a few muskets for long-range combat, with bayonets and spears fighting up close.

There are a few additions to make this a bit more interesting. Units can run out of ammo and need to be resupplied, the Zulus can be forced to the ground and the British can get disorganised. The regulars can choose to make a last stand to protect the camps, and the Zulus may charge to break the enemy.

Units have a strength value, which is a simple percentage. Once this goes down to zero only a puddle of blood remains where your or your enemy’s troops once stood. For the British, each unit lost is a step towards defeat, while the Zulus enjoy the advantage of considerable reserves.

Turn-based tactics with a twist

Command is activated randomly, which means that the computer moves in between your moves. Shoot at the wrong unit and the one next to it might activate and jump you or watch in frustration as your charge peters out when the British pick out your units one by one. Though the system is nothing complicated it makes for some nerve-wracking moments, where you hope the computer concentrates on something completely irrational instead of tackling your obvious game-saving move.

The Zulu play concentrates on engaging the enemy units, while the British simply aim to keep them as far away as possible. Killing enemy units score points, yet most of the time your aim is to simply rout them, so you can pile on the remaining units. Once the Zulus manage to break or disarray the British line the game is pretty much over, as is what happened in history. The way the game engine runs makes it possible to fight separate battles in different parts of the map.

Modern-day interface issues

Though the engine used in ZULU DAWN! is light years ahead of the previous games from the company it still suffers from some issues. The buttons and scrolling seem to be mobile-friendly, at the cost of some frustrating moments for a PC player. The scrolling is done via arrow buttons, though you can zoom in with the mouse wheel. Why you can’t simply roll the map one way or another with the mouse is beyond me and seems entirely countering the point of having a 3D-map in the first place.

The game is also missing an exit button or any kind of menu. All you can do is close the game via the big red X we are all familiar with. The game controls themselves are quite easy to use: click to choose, click to move, click to select the target and double click to shoot. Most actions can be done via buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The most frustrating part of the interface is the different unit types. Cannons and infantry are easy to tell apart but in order to find out where your mounted police are, or which units are native levies, and which are regular companies. You need to either zoom in or click the unit, in either case going through your whole line unit by unit. The same issue arises with units that have already moved or fired, units that are on the ground or being routed. The point of an intuitive interface is lost when you need to drill down into the details to see the details.

One scenario and one scenario only

The one obvious shortcoming of the title is the fact that there just isn’t too much to play here. The game is a one scenario stand-alone, with a couple of choices to complicate the matter. When playing as the British this means that you need a few playthroughs to learn how to beat the game, and as the Zulu once is usually enough.

This is a bit of a shame since the engine itself is quite good. What the game, or the next game, needs is a few more scenarios to keep it interesting. This is indeed the case with the other titles from the same producer, so perhaps we can expect a bit more replayability next time around. Luckily, the price of the game is not considerable. If you are looking for a Zulu-themed game, there’s pretty much nothing else on the market to tickle your interest. ZULU DAWN! The Battle of Isandlwana is fun for a few afternoon sessions, and perhaps to entice the odd stray gamer into the wonderful world of history and wargames.

A few Wargamer Weekly’s ago, you may remember we highlighted to you a cool looking project called Military Operations (or MilOps). Less of a game and more of a simulation of operational-level WW2 warfare, MilOps looks to use it’s ‘Metis Engine’ to fully digitise the globe, and the units fighting on it. 

In advance of the full game, the developers are going to be released a ‘Benchmark’ program that will allow players to try out a reduced facsmile of the full game, with the main intent of testing your rig to see if you can handle their fully armed and operational military operation.

From the press release:

A never before seen combination of scale, detail and realism with battlefields of up to 30000 Km2 (12000 mi2) on a life-sized planet-earth featuring 50000 troops and 10000 units, all individually simulated in great detail.

The MilOps Benchmark is a fully interactive application that allows the user to roam anywhere on the planet. Inspect the battlefield from orbit, interact with units and troops or watch them in battle close-up.

The benchmark option performs a profile run to establish the system's capability to run the upcoming Military Operations wargame.

We’re very intrigued by this project – I’ve always had a soft spot for technology-driven ‘big ideas’, and this is one of the biggest I’ve seen so far. We highly recommend you check out their dev diaries. The most recent one talks about the visualisation of the unit hierarchy, and there’s a cool video showing in-game footage of the user zooming closer and closer to ground-level, and how the game’s UI changes to reflect the chain of command.

All that remains to be seen is how the developers expand the project - even hardcore 'sim' type games like CMANO still have a game-element to them, something to keep the player's engaged and make them WANT to interact with the simulation. Hopefully, my rig will actually be able to pass the benchmark's test.

Military Operations: Benchmark, which has its own Steam page, will release on June 14th, 2018.

Today is Star Wars Day, although that won’t mean much as far as Wargamer Weekly is concerned, since there aren’t any decent Star Wars wargames out at the moment. You can pick up Empire at War and Star Wars: Rebellion quite cheap though, which are some of the better examples, not including mods.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

Grand Tactician: The Civil War

You may remember Charles interviewed developers behind Grand Tactician, an ambitious real-time wargaming project that looked to model all levels of operational warfare in way that mixes the visual impact of games like Total War, but the realism and depth of Scourge of War.

Well, they’ve finally revealed what the first title in their series will be:

Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) is a real time strategy game, where you will run your nation, muster, manage and support great armies, and manoeuvre them to defeat the enemy. Once the opposing armies meet, command your troops to victory in battles fought on historical battlefields.

There’s a lot more information on the game’s shiny new official website, but Grand Tacitian will span the whole war, including many variables and what-if scenarios. We need another ACW game like we need an actual civil war to break-out, but the screenshots make it look very cool indeed. It actually reminds me of the Hegemony series, especially with its attention to logistics. As much as we would have wished for a different theme, we can’t wait for it to hit Steam later this year.

Matrix Games & Slitherine

After a couple of weeks of not much, Matrix now have three announcements for us this week. At the very tail end of last week (too late to be caught by last Friday’s WW), they announced a new Command LIVE scenario.

Commonwealth Collision showcases a ‘what if’ scenario that features a conflict between India and Pakistan, which ends up drawing in Ol’ Man Britain and China in on opposing sides. It’s good to know they’re still making these, although I imagine a lot of their time was spent working on the Silent Service expansion.

There’s no release date for it, but we do have a date for Order of Battle: Sandstorm. You can fight the North African campaign all over again come Wednesday, May 16th. Matrix have also teased another OOB announcement that will drop sometime before then.

Finally, Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reachis getting another expansion!Horrors of the Warp adds in the Chaos Demons as a new faction, along with a 16-scenario single player campaign. The campaign will be from the POV of the Space Wolves again, but you can pick the Demons as a playable faction in skirmish, with units coming from all four main Chaos Gods.

We don’t know much else at this point (it doesn’t seem like any Traitor Legions will be included), but you can watch an hour’s worth of gameplay here.

Battle Fleet Ground Assault Released

Mythical City has released a new entry in its Battle Fleet series. Battle Fleet: Ground Assault takes the game’s traditionally naval-focused gameplay to the European theatre and the Normandy invasions.

You’ll be commanding squadrons of tanks through various scenarios and battlefields, fighting out a version of WW2 that pretends infantry aren’t a thing. I haven’t played the previous games myself, but it’ll be interesting to see how the mechanics have adapted to ground combat.

Steel Division Anniversary Teaser

Eugen have teased some new content coming for Steel Division’s first anniversary. All we have is a semi-cryptic tweet and the name ‘First Blood’. It seems this update will involve the ‘Bloody First’ 1st Infantry Division, as well as the First SS-Panzerdivision. It will be a free update and will drop on May 17th.

Armoured Commander II

Another week, another weekly build for WW2 Tank/Rogue-like Armoured Commander 2. It’s recently just released the first official alpha build for the game, and this is the first patch since that milestone. You can check the full change-log on the official website.

That’s all for this week’s round-up, have a good weekend and happy gaming!

ArmA 3 came out in 2014, and people have steadily trickled into the game since then. Frankly, it’s a scary thing to get involved in, because it’s such a free-form sandbox with so many possibilities. If you just took the chance and played during the recent free weekend, you might be a tad overwhelmed.

Fear not, though. While there are many ways to own Arma, and myriad additional bits to bolt onto the game once you do, we're here to help you out. We'll run through the DLC available, then we’ll look at bundles.

One thing to note is that with each piece of major DLC Bohemia Interactive has launched, there’s been a concurrent platform update that benefits all players, whether they buy the new stuff or not. I’m a big fan of that.

Apex - $34.99, or $59.99 as the “Apex Edition” (Review)

Highlights:

• Completely new landmass, Tanoa, with a gorgeous jungle biome
• The best Arma single-player campaign bar none, plus tons of new weapons, vehicles, and gear
• The basis for all the best mods 

Is it worth it?

I’ll be upfront: You absolutely need Apex if you’re going to play Arma in any serious way. It’s a big ask - an expensive piece of DLC on top of an already expensive game, but Apex is now considered the “baseline” Arma 3 experience and you’ll need it if you want to participate in many of the best mods available for the game. But add to that the glut of new content that it comes with, including a really interesting and intense - and fun! - single-player campaign, and the price tag actually starts to make sense. If you’re new to Arma 3, you’re going to want to buy the Apex edition, period. Apex is gigantic and transformative, and if you’re going to play Arma for any serious length of time you’re going to need it. If you buy no other DLC, buy this. You can think of it as the 2017 version of the 2014 military sim.

Arma 3 Jets - $11.99

Highlights:

• Three new jets
• A fighter showcase
• Better drones

Is it worth it?

For a game that’s so hyper-focused on infantry, it’s a bit weird to have jet fighter pack available at all. Arma’s Jets DLC is actually kind of good, but it’s of questionable value if you’re into either infantry operations, which the game is good at, or air superiority, which it isn’t. This DLC won’t satisfy grogs wanting the BRRRAAAPPP of the A-10 Warthog, and for flyboys it’s going to come off as incredibly shallow. But the DLC did come with a platform-wide update that provides a better flight model, so you automatically get some of the benefits for free.

Arma 3 Helicopters - $11.99

Highlights:

• Provides a needed level of realism to Arma’s infantry ops by modeling utility chopper chores
• Actually fun to fly non-combat missions

Is it worth it?

Air assault soldiers don’t just zipline out of Blackhawks, they’re also trained on sling-load operations. These are crucial infantry operations in unfriendly terrain, and helicopters like the CH-47 “Chinook” are the warhorses of modern warfare. I haven’t had a great time with Arma’s rotary-wing options, but the addition of Huron and Tau are quite exciting.

I’ll point out here that I’ve had a fairly awful time trying to get my HOTAS setup working in Arma, either with the fixed- or rotary-wing vehicles. If you’re into that level of nerdery, as I am, be prepared for a fight. You’ll have to spend a lot of time tuning your setup to work with both jets and helicopters, and Arma really doesn’t make it any easier.

Karts - $1.99

Highlights:

• Go-Karts

Is it worth it?

It’s two dollars and lets you race around in go-karts. Is it good? No. Is it fun? Yes. Absolutely worth it.

Arma 3 Marksmen - $11.99

Highlights:

• Five medium-range sniper rifles that actually require you to use rifle marksmanship
• Two new light machine guns

Is it worth it?

Arma’s commitment to realism makes its sniper pack pretty appealing, even if it’s a tad expensive. It doesn’t just add shooting; you also can act as a laser designator for guided munitions. This one’s definitely not essential, but if you’re into long-range engagements it’s worth your time.

Arma 3 Laws of War - $11.99

Highlights:

• A new campaign that actually wrestles with the idea of being a soldier in a human rights environment
• A suddenly much more real environment to operate in

Is it worth it?

Laws of War doesn’t always work, but it’s a gut-punch for those of use who have been playing Arma for decades. Think of it as a Telltale-esque diversion and a chance to hear an interesting side of the story that’s not often told. Definitely worthwhile if you’re into the single-player Arma 3 experience.

Arma 3 Tac-Ops Mission Pack - $5.99 (Review)

Highlights:

• Three mini-campaigns for single-player aficionados
• The AI is still awful

This is purely a handful of single-player missions, and my experience with them was severely limited by Arma’s godawful AI. Don’t feel bad about skipping this one - the new missions aren’t anything to write home about and are more than compensated for by the game’s modding community.

Arma 3 Tanks - $11.99 (Review)

Highlights:

• Three new armored vehicles
• A fun series of single-player missions

Is it worth it?

The new campaign is nothing to write home about, and it’s riddled with contradictory orders, but blasting around in the new T-140 Angara is an undeniable hoot. The Tanks campaign is designed to create spectacle moments, but it’s equally frustrating in its execution. This pack is a tough sell because it doesn’t add anything essential, but the new hardware is admittedly fun.

Editions & Bundles

So, all this said: Which Arma should you buy, if you’re interested? You can buy the $39.99 base version, which is frequently on sale. But if you haven’t ever touched Arma 3 before, what you really need to buy is the Apex Edition, which retails for an eye-watering $69.99. This includes the base game, the Apex expansion, as well as all the DLCs included in the 'DLC Bundle 1' package, discussed below.

As I said above, though, Apex is the “modern” version of Arma 3, and buying it after the fact will run you $34.99. Buying it all together is a savings of five dollars in the end, but since you will absolutely need Apex, going the piecemeal route means spending money that’s simply not worth spending. If you already own the base version, you really need the Apex add-on. Yes, it sucks to have what many consider essential components to a game locked behind another premium purchase, but if you’re an Arma player, it’s more than worth it. Think of Arma as a model train diorama you’ve been keeping in your basement for fourteen years. Apex is the engine upgrade you need to keep things running around the track.

The DLC Bundle 1 includes the Helicopters, Karts, and Marksmen DLCs, and on its own costs $19.99. The inclusion of the helicopters pack makes this DLC worthwhile if you don't already have all those DLCs, in my book. But keep in mind DLC Bundle 2 retails at $29, far beyond your initial Arma 3 price point.

DLC Bundle 2 is currently the better option in terms of value for money, though. It includes Jets, Tanks, the Laws of War and Tac Ops packs all for $24.99. All of this is meatier content than what’s included in Bundle 1, but it comes at a premium price point. As opposed to its cheaper brother, however, the majority of the content included is worth your time, my own gripes aside.

For newcomers, Arma 3’s base edition will absolutely give you a good idea of whether it’s a game you want to spend a lot of time with, and that’s going to determine how much of this DLC is worth your money.

But without spending a penny, you’re automatically getting Malden and Zeus. Malden is a massive map that re-engineers everything from Operation Flashpoint and drops it into the game, while Zeus provides new weird ways to play Arma 3 in multiplayer.

The Breakdown

Finally, here's our list of top individual Arma 3 DLCs, ordered from most essential to least:

1. Apex
2. Karts
3. Tanks
4. Laws of War
5. Marksmen

What are your thoughts on ArmA 3 and its DLC? Would you want to see more or would you rather have ArmA 4 at this point?