On Sunday, April 19, 2019, Kaiser Wilhelm II returned from his long exile to reclaim his throne. By which I mean to say that Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg, the extremely popular mod for Paradox Interactive’s World War II grand strategy game Hearts of Iron IV, has been updated for the game’s latest patch and is once again playable.

For the unacquainted, Kaiserreich is an alternate history total conversion mod that takes place in a world in which Germany is victorious in the First World War. Originating in Hearts of Iron II, the mod has existed in various incarnations throughout the series in the past decade. With an over 30,000 strong subreddit, and an active discord community, it has an incredibly dedicated fanbase — many of whom eschew the base game and play only Kaiserreich— creating fanart, fiction, AARs, and a flood of in-joke memes.

Recently, the developers have even launched a community store where you can buy merch, and have plans to use that as a launching pad to produce animated original shorts set in the mod’s universe. At this point it has become a veritable institution in the larger, heavily mod-focused Paradox Interactive community, but, whereas many successful total conversion mods are based on some existing IP — Old World Blues, a Hearts of Iron IV mod based on the Fallout universe is a good example of this — Kaiserreich is an original work, and one that has even spawned its own collection of spin-off mods based on the universe the developers have created.

One sure sign of the mod’s success is that its popularity prompted Paradox to include their own “version” in the base game by giving Germany an optional path that allows you to expel the Nazis by force and establish a military junta which, in turn, recalls the deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II from exile. The attempt, while admirably done and fun in its own right, fails to capture the magic of the mod’s universe.

Which begs the question: what is the essence of Kaiserreich’s success? Why has the mod survived multiple incarnations over more than a decade? As someone who has played hundreds of hours of both the base game and the mod, I believe this success, particularly in the Hearts of Iron IV incarnation, can be found in some structural issues with the base game that this mod has been effective at resolving. Particularly, the design choices that guide Hearts of Iron limit the narrative choices available to the player, while Kaiserreich uses its alternate history setting to recraft the inter-war world and add a level of dynamism that simply does not exist in the base game.

Historical Fidelity vs. Player Choice

I try to stay away from World War II games. The period is, by far, the most well-trod ground in wargaming, and in history in general for that matter. More ink, screen time, and simulated blood has been spilled on the topic than most other historical conflicts combined. Despite becoming eyerollingly hackneyed, Hearts of Iron IV does a serviceable job of making the period feel fresh through the use of its National Focus system, which allows you to direct your nation down a series of branching paths through military, economic, and political choices. This system is the Hearts of Iron IV answer to the central design dilemma in most grand strategy games: the delicate balance between a desire for historical realism and a desire for player choice.

In all of Paradox Interactive’s mainline grand strategy titles, this balancing act is present. At longer timescales, this problem is solved by a combination of genericizing certain historic events (for example the Protestant reformation in Europa Universalis IV is an event that can happen after a certain time but will happen semi-randomly within a geographic area; this isn’t the Protestant Reformation, it is a Protestant Reformation). Other times, the technology required to take certain actions will be time-locked, unable to appear until a set year or require enough research points that it will only happen roughly around when it did historically. The least intuitive method is to have set historical events that fire off at a particular date.

The problem with this approach is that it becomes more difficult at smaller timescales. In Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings II there are hundreds of years of game time, so as long as they convey a general sense of the period, most players still feel like they are experiencing a satisfying level of verisimilitude while also believing their choices matter and effect the world around them. In Hearts of Iron IV, the real meat of the game happens over the course of only about a decade, and of that time, only the choices in about the first five years will have any very meaningful impact on the composition of the war as a whole. This severely condenses the possibilities of player choice, as all three of the methods mentioned above that Paradox uses to create opportunities for player choice at a macro-level are largely rolled into the games National Focus system. This system is designed to give the player agency, but to do so in a controlled way that allows the game to maintain its tempo and keep the world on a mostly historical track.

Through the use of this system, the game is choreographed and most effectively balanced to play out historically, with the major powers hitting all the major period landmarks on the road to war. There is an option to leave historic National Focuses on, forcing the AI to go down the path each nation did historically, or the player can turn this off and allow each nation the possibility of going down a weirder path and slightly throwing a wrench into the mix. However, nations taking ahistorical routes can result in some strange hiccups, as players must sacrifice a degree of the tempo. Factions going down different routes interrupt the game’s careful timing, occasionally resulting in handicapping the side that diverged historically. In the aforementioned branch of the Germany tree that allows you to reinstall the Kaiser, for example, the player will find themselves at a disadvantage as they have wasted valuable time and resources fighting a civil war instead of mobilizing the economy for the coming struggle.

Frustratingly, in the end, even if the player diverges a bit historically, the overall makeup of the conflict will most likely be recognizable enough to anyone with a passing knowledge of the Second World War. Unless something really strange happens there will still be Allies. There will be an Axis. France will probably fall. The Soviet Union will probably be invaded. Successive playthroughs will vary, but overall the story will remain the same and on a grand strategic level, the decision environment will only change slightly, something which has always grated on me in a conflict that those in America, Europe, and elsewhere are brought up to know so very much about. This is both a design issue and a narrative one, and one which has no clear answer to resolve. The design of the game pulls the “story,” such as it is, in a particular direction. In a purely operational or tactical game, this would be less of a problem, as those types of games live and die in the micro-level decisions, but in a grand strategy game, a feeling of repetitiveness at the very highest macro-levels can leave a player feeling like they are going through the motions of a conflict they already know inside and out.

Kaiserreich’s Solutions

Kaiserreich attacks this problem at the root by unshackling the world from the historical record in 1917. From that point of divergence, the developers created a rich, well-researched, and lovingly crafted world that retains an air of historical fidelity without requiring the game to be chained to the historical reality of our inter-war world. Clearly, a large part of the success of the mod comes from this fact: it is an interesting scenario interestingly realized. I find it is best to look at the world of Kaiserreich and its lore as a well-researched, historically possible (though hardly plausible) scenario designed for maximum entertainment value. Whereas Hearts of Iron walks a delicate tightrope between fidelity and choice, the Kaiser has his cake and eats it too.  

In the Kaiserreich universe, the Wilsonian Europe of our timeline is replaced with a Wilhelmine one in which the German Empire reigns supreme as the undisputed hegemon of a great central European empire strung together with a collection of eastern client states. The Empire also rules over an enormous and contiguous African colony, Mittelafrika, and is the reigning colonial master of a patchwork domain of southeast and east Asian protectorates, including a vast southern Chinese trading conglomerate. All these states are tied into Germany’s mutual defense alliance: the Reichspakt. Germany is extraordinarily powerful but also spread incredibly thin. It must hold together the status quo, whatever the cost, even if that means overcommitting in far-flung colonies. Austria-Hungary, the other major victorious Central Power, has survived intact and remains outside Germany's military orbit. Rather than looking outward, the Habsburg domains are, at the games outset, about to undergo a major consolidation process led from either the center-left or center-right.   

In the west, Britain and France have fallen to worker’s revolutions and communist governments now sit in London and Paris — their political and military alliance is known as the Third International. Unlike in our own timeline, however, French syndicalism, not Russian bolshevism, is the preeminent ideology of the world’s left-wing revolutionaries. The faction is also allied with the Socialist Republic of Italy, which took control of the north of that country after Victor Emmanuel’s Kingdom fragmented after the war. The former British, French, and Italian governments have fled to Canada,  Algeria, and Sardinia, respectively. From there, the Entente, the third major faction in the mod, stews and broods, opportunistically waiting for a moment of chaos to reclaim their homelands and restore what they believe to be legitimate rule.  

For many, this is the main appeal of Kaiserreich. You inhabit a world which is superficially similar to the one we all know so well — there are three major factions, one is communist, Germany leads another, Britain and France still carry the banner of the Entente from the last war — but at the same time, it reflects a world of radically different possibilities, a strange funhouse mirror of our own historical reality, distorted but still ultimately recognizable. It is also a world that is set up to represent a three-way conflict in which all three of the major factions are competing against each other for control of the same territory. The narrative conflict at the heart of the mod is best summed up by the three taglines of these major factions: Guard the Balance, Break the Chains, Reclaim the Birthright.

The unshackling of the game from the historical record also opens up the possibilities that the writers of the lore need not remain beholden to the limitations of the history when crafting the geopolitical landscape. So long as the world remains possible, and rooted in an overarching historical justification, the factions and the world can be crafted into an environment that makes for the most interesting experience possible. Areas of the world that, in our timeline, remain quiet and peaceful, can be made dynamic and interesting.

Additionally, by making the mod diverge from actual history the developers have been able to mine the historical record for bizarrely interesting characters and place them into positions of power, people like the White Russian officer Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, the Hapsburg “Red Prince” Wilhelm, American demagogue Huey Long, failed fascist leader Oswald Mosley, and Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin. Where all these characters failed historically, Kaiserreich dredges them up into the games gonzo-historical wonderland of wild possibilities and sets them loose against each other.

The Set-pieces

By jettisoning the actual world of 1936, the mod can also have considerably more set-piece secondary struggles that precede the coming World War, similar to the Spanish Civil War in our own timeline. In the Kaiserreich universe, however, virtually every region has some similar kind of struggle — there is a three-way Spanish civil war, a too-many-sides-to-count American civil war that can drag in other factions, an Arabo-Persian coalition to take down the lumbering Ottomans, a Fourth Balkan War, an Argentine Civil War, a contest for control of the Indian sub-continent, the possibility of revolutions in both French and German Africa, as well as in German Indochina. The allure of Kaiserreich is that it takes a game based on a largely bipolar war and makes it maddeningly multi-polar. Some of the above-mentioned events won't happen every game, others will fizzle out or end quickly in a decisive victory, and in that uncertainty, that dynamic and chaotic world, is where the success of Kaiserreich lies. 

These set-pieces fire off at a steady clip, so that even if one part of the world is quiet, you can gawk at the unfolding chaos somewhere else or participate by sending volunteers to aid the side that has a possibility of benefiting your faction. Turning the tide in one of these struggles might just allow you to open up a new flank or prevent one from opening behind you. The sheer number of these set-pieces, combined with the wide range of ideological paths and sub-paths given to most large nations, means that the map hardly ever looks the same way twice.

The Wildcard Powers 

Like in the base game, though, the looming and inevitable World War provides the meat of the games overarching narrative. A revanchist France will inevitably confront an overstretched Germany. What makes the mods version of the Second World War more engaging is that while both are titanic struggles, the Second Weltkrieg is aided by both the above mentioned set-pieces, which leave the world dynamic and uncertain, riddled with geopolitical landmines, and the fact that the late game is improved considerably by a number of large wildcard powers that spend most of the early and middle game consolidating before ultimately entering to help sway the balance in the Second Weltkrieg, namely Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the United States. After each of their respective consolidations, each has options to enter the war and attempt to tip the balance or take advantage of the ensuing chaos. Whereas in the base game once the tide turns and one side gets a clear advantage the rest of the game becomes a long slog of mopping up and intractable foe, in Kaiserreich, a clear-cut war can rubberband back to balance once one of the wildcards tosses their weight into the fray.

Conclusion

All of these factors — the expertly realized alternate timeline, the interesting characters, the introduction of more set-piece struggles and wildcard factions — combine to create a game that is fundamentally more dynamic than the base game on which it was built. This dynamism makes each playthrough much more varied and therefore, most importantly, more replayable than the base game. This is not chaos for chaos’ sake, however. The world of Kaiserreich incorporates this dynamism into the greater narrative of the game, demonstrating how rising instability can undermine a global order, no matter how firmly entrenched it appears from the outside. It is a story of the end of a unipolar moment and the rise of revanchist and opportunist powers. It is a story that resonates far more with our own time than does the actual Second World War.

If any of this has piqued your interest, I suggest you take a dive into the newly updated version compatible with the games latest Ironclad update. The introduction of fuel mechanics can throw a wrench into several of the faction’s carefully laid plans. As in actual history, the oil fields of Romania and Azerbaijan become almost essential to hold to keep the war machines of the European powers running, further stretching Germany’s political commitments, while more accurately representing the fuel difficulties Britain and France would have if they were severed from their overseas holdings. It adds another layer of realism into a game in which logistics are largely abstracted. Check it out. This is a mod that is well worth your time.

For a break-down of all of Hearts of Iron 4's mods, as well as a quick-start guide to getting started, make sure you check out our Essential Mods Guide.

You can file this under ‘Random Editor of a war games website feels like ranting because there’s nothing better to do’ but I feel like we need to have a chat about military strategy in popular culture. Warning, this post contains spoilers for things like HBO’s Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and even Battle of the Five Armies, in case you haven’t watched any of those yet.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to desire some competency in areas like military strategy. Granted, not everyone’s going to play war games for a living, or even for fun, and so they may not necessarily pick up as much as anyone here would. Deep down though, I'd like to think they recognise stupid when they see it though, if only by judging the consequences.

You can very much create suspense, and drama while at the same time having a sound battle-plan, and so it perplexes me that producers and studios don't even try to at least think things through when trying to create a military engagement. Trying to keep people hooked is one thing, creating an unrealistic scenario for the sake of entertainment is entirely another

Some of the best scenes I’ve every witnessed across games, movies etc… involve a delicate chain of top trumps: One side tries something clever, but then that get’s beaten by a smart counter, which then gets reversed… and so on. The Battle of Scarif from the Star Wars film Rogue One is an excellent example of this. The Rebels are at a disadvantage, but they make the best use of their available military resources and there’s plenty of tension watching them succeed, then fail, then succeed and so on.

To bring us to the root course of today’s talk – let’s talk about Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3 – The Battle for Winterfell. If you don’t want Game of Thrones then this won’t mean anything to you but trust me when I say it was dire.

Even if you don’t watch the show, I highly recommend you read Wired’s Tactical Analysis of how the battle unfolded using real-world terminology. It doesn’t really analyse the merits of the strategy as much as I’d like, but then that’s why we’re here.

I mean, from start to pyrrhic finish there was some incredibly dubious planning on the protagonist side. The forces of the living knew they couldn’t win a pitched battle on the field – the objective was solely to hold out for long enough to bait the Night King – the enemy commander – out into the open so they could kill him (which would wipe out his army because he’s the source of their existence). Let’s break-down some highlights from the battle:

• Putting the catapults in front of the infantry line, unprotected.
• Using said catapults only once.
• Charging the cavalry contingent head-first into the enemy infantry line without knowing their disposition or force numbers.
• Leaving an open field for the enemy to run across without hindrance.
• Not using your strongest defensive troops to cover the whole line.
• Allowing air-support to be baited away from the stronghold.
• Jon just sitting there on the castle wall with his dragon for like ten minutes so he could have a breather while the walls get breached.

To be fair, most of the stupid happens at the on-set of the battle. Once the castle gets breached (which was inevitable), things degrade into some pretty dire close-quarters combat in which all kind of strategy goes out of the window, but it’s pretty tough watching up till that point.

This isn’t the first time Game of Thrones has gotten a bit lax with the military strategy either. In the climatic fight of Season 6, known as the Battle of the Bastards, Jon Snow is also the commander of a rag-tag group of Northmen and Wildlings he’s managed to pull together to try and take back his ancestral home of Winterfell, a few season earlier than the battle we saw this week. I won’t go into as much detail here, but it’s equally as shocking. Jon is only saved by the timely intervention of a third-party, so it was a very hollow victory.

I’ve found myself noticing this stuff more in recent years: the tactical prowess displayed during the third Hobbit movie, Battle of the Five Armies, was especially grim especially in the face of the absolute genius that was Azog. By assuming the high-ground he could see the battlefield laid out before him, and used what appeared to be a pretty effective signalling system to pass orders to his troops. Using combined arms he managed to quickly breach the walls of the old city, and generally was one-step ahead of the forces of ‘good’ at every turn. Their only tactic seemed to be ‘fight as hard as you can’. By all accounts every man, women and child on that day should been slaughtered. They weren’t, because plot reasons.

The other example I like to talk about is The Last Jedi. For once it’s the ‘bad guys’ lacking braincells, and to be fair the commander in charge of the First Order forces pursing the Rebels is set up to be a bit of an idiot. Still, to simply follow your foe at a snails pace when you have plenty of escort ships capable of doing a flanking action beggars belief. Seriously, all it would have taken was to send half the escorts ahead of the fleeing fleet, and herd them back towards the flagship, the movie could have been over in half-an-hour.

I accept, one can care a bit too much about these things. I did enjoy Game of Thrones this week, I generally enjoyed The Last Jedi. It’s not that I’m letting this stand in the way of being entertained, but I also don’t think I’m being unrealistic in wanting these people to just consult a military advisor everyone once in a while. If you’ve been watching the recent Marvel movies – specifically Infinity War– I think you’ll agree that Thanos is a pretty convincing and deep antagonist. He’s not evil ‘just because’, and audiences respond to that kind of attention to detail and thought.

This week’s Game of Thrones, as well as the other sinners I mentioned, would have been just as enjoyable with a more realistic approach to how military forces approach the objective. Hell, just playing some Total War will teach what not to do during a siege when you're out-numbered.

Tl;dr – let’s have some more authentic military engagements in pop culture.

If 2018 tended to play things pretty safe, 2019 is looking to mix things up in a big way for computer war games - even well-known, returning franchises are making major leaps forward, or at least experimenting with big new ideas.

Don't forget to check out what’s coming up in the world of table-top wargaming as well!

We’ve got a lot to look forward to, with titles like Unity of Command 2, Panzer Corps 2, and Steel Division II - all sequels, technically, but each of them is coming to the table with something big and fresh and new. Here are the very best war games expected to release this year:

Fantasy General II: Invasion - 2019

Of all the things we expected to the be announced this year, a sequel to the classic Five-Star General game Fantasy General was not one of them. Officially our 6th favourite 'Generals' game, Fantasy General took the iconic Panzer General formula and applied it to a medieval fantasy setting. Fantasy Generals II looks to carry on that tradition with a new reimagined game. They've partnered up with Slitherine/Matrix Games - those what make the current Panzer General successors - Panzer Corp & Order of Battle.

Fantasy General 2 will feature turn-based tactical battles with over 75 unique unit types, and these units can grow and evolve overtime provided they can survive the tough fights ahead. Terrain and the environment will be the key to victory, and eveything is beautifully rendered in 3D. Definitely one to watch for 2019. It seems to be basing its core design of Fields of Glory II, just with a fantasy setting and enhanced campaign/map features.

Gates of Hell - Early Access TBD 2019

The one franchise I've always wished would be given a second (or third? fourth?) shot was Men of War. 1C tried their best, but they took the series in odd directions and then just kind of gave up after Assault Squad 2. 1C are not the creators of the engine that powers Men of War, or even the concept of Men of War however. That honour belongs to Best Way Soft, and despite being largely silent this past decade they've now decided to make a return.

Gates of Hell represents a spiritual successor to all of Men of War, and a rallying cry for the community. It promises gritty realism, the best of WW2 real-time tactical gameplay, as well as a decent learning curve and approachable interfaces. The graphics look gorgeous, and it's going to have singleplay and multiplayer. In short, they're promising the world to a community that very much wants something like this to exist, and has been largely neglected recently. We're interested in seeing how it pans out. It's due to release into Early Access on steam sometime this year and we're trying not to have our hopes raised too high.

Terminal Conflict - Spring 2019 (Currently in EA)

Fun fact: at least one of the main designers behind Terminal Conflict was also a big part of the ill-fated Cold War spin-off game for Hearts of Iron 3, East vs. West. It was a bonkers project that promised the world, but ultimately didn't deliver. It's fascinating then to see that dream re-imagined in Terminal Conflict. Using very stylised graphics that make it look like you're using an actual Cold War-era computer, Terminal Conflict is a grand-strategy political/war game that sees you trying to navigate the tense realities of the post-WW2 era.

We were supposed to feature this game last time but we forgot, which is why it's still getting an entry now despite being in Early Access already. I've dabbled a little bit in it and while the mechanics seem engaging, there's some issues with presentation and presenting information that left me horribly confused much of the time. Still, as a concept it looks great and we'll be keeping an eye on this as it heads towards a full release in the Spring.

Valor & Victory - Q3 2019

Yobowargames are essentially a one man team like Digitalgameworks, so their projects can be a bit hit and miss at times. They recently released Battle for Korsun & Invaders From Dimension X!, and as far as we know they're working on an adaptation of Barry Doyle's squad-level WW2 tactics game of the same name. It's going to be hitting Early Access first when it releases later this year, and will feature 12 scenarios and AI opponents. And Tanks, we can't forget those. Hit up the Steam page to find out more.

Axis & Allies Online - 2019

While a digital adaptation of the iconic WW2 board/war game isn't a surprise, the fact that it's Beamdog making it is rather unexpected. If you're not sure why, feel free to Google what they've done so far. Don't get me wrong, they've done very good work, but until now it's all been in the tactical RPG space. Now the studio is bringing a new digital version of Axis & Allies to digital later this year. It's using the 1942 Second Edition rules, and will allow 2 - 5 players either Hotseat or over the internet to compete as they attempt to win the second world war. There will also be a competent AI that you can play against solo, and even the option for 'real-time' or 'asynchronous' play. Sounds like they're ticking all the boxes, so we're looking forward to seeing more of this.

We're not sure when it's going to be releasing, but according to Steam it'll be hitting Early Access first.

Lock'n Load Publishing

This more of a quick note, as details are sparse. We've known that Lock'n Load have been working on digital products for a while now, but news has been few and far between. The most recent update involved a couple of gameplay videos for Nations at War and Lock'n Load Tactical Digital, so we'll leave you with those in the meantime.

Field of Glory: Empires - 2019

Announced towards the end of last year, this is AGEOD’s newest game. Set in the ancient world, it’s using the Field of Glory IP but is essentially a WEGO turn-based grand-strategy war game in the same vein the developer is known for. The key difference here is that this is now using Slitherine/Matrix’s new Archon engine, so hopefully this will escape the studio’s typically obfuscated design tropes and horrible interface.

At the time of writing there's currently seven dev diaries, so we're learning more about the game as time goes on. It has a prominent war game flair which is why it’s on this list (although comparisons to Paradox’s Imperator: Rome wouldn’t go amiss, which is why it may also appeal to general strategy fans). One of the more interesting features is the fact that you can take battle data from Empires, and feed it into Field of Glory II, fight the battle out in full, and feed the result back into Empires.

Radio Commander - Q3 2019

This is an interesting project that cropped up on our radar recently. This games puts you in the shoes of an American military commander serving in US Army during the Vietnam War, coordinating military operations taking place between 1965 and 1967. It's an RTS, but instead of being able to see and directly control your units, all you have is a command tent and an operation map. Icons will flash up to denote the presence of troops or other bits of information, and you must use your radio to issue orders. It's technically an RTS, and you can drag and drop icons onto the map to issue new orders.

There's currently a Kickstarter running for the game, if you're interested in supporting development, which comes with a free demo.

Radio General - TBD 2019

Surprisingly enough, there's another game similar to Radio Commander also in the works, only this one covers WW2. Radio General has only recently put its Steam page live, but it sports much the same kind of concepts that Commander does. The single-player campaign follows the 1st Canadian Army, which rarely gets much love from WW2 entertainment. There will also me multiplayer and a map editor.

Klotzen! Panzer Battles - Early 2019

Zoran Stanic is completely forthright about Klotzen! Panzer Battles being his own spin on the Panzer General formula, and he’s walking into a crowded space: We’ve already seen Panzer Corps take up that mantle, and Order of Battle has been steadily churning out modules for a couple years now.

However, Maxim Games’ Klotzen! Panzer Battles is making enough changes and additions to the operational turn-based WW2 formula that it’s something we’re very interested in. Klotzen! is adding expanded rules for air and naval combat and has a dynamic campaign that allows for Hearts of Iron-style “what if?” scenarios. You might be able to delay Operation Barbarossa by a year, for instance, or even stage an invasion of US and UK soil. Add to that an aggressive and adaptive AI that Maxim promises scales meaningfully for beginners and seasoned grogs alike, and Klotzen! has the makings of an exciting entry into the Panzer General pantheon.

Unity of Command 2 - You know, it might actually be this year

We’re not into wargaming to win any beauty pageants, and neither are our games - but if we held one, Unity of Command 2 is likely a shoo-in for the top spot on the podium. It’s just flat-out gorgeous in screenshots, and it’s clear from 2x2’s dev diaries that the studio is putting a lot of thought and effort into presentation.

That’s not something we generally run into a lot around these parts, but it’s part of what makes Unity of Command 2 such a potentially exciting title: It’s lovely to look at, and it may be an entry point for a lot of non-wargamers into the hobby thanks to 2x2’s mindful approach to tutorialization and simplification. We still don’t have a release window, but from the looks of things, UoC2’s bright and beautiful take on World War II shouldn’t be too far out. We’re hoping to get our hands on it this year.

Burden of Command - TBD

Green Tree Games announced late last year that their leadership role-playing game, Burden of Command, was going to take a bit longer to finish than they’d initially estimated. They haven’t committed to a new date yet, instead promising that Burden of Command will be done - “When it’s done right.”

While it’s of course disappointing that we won’t be able to see this new vision of military leadership in games for a while yet, a delay was likely the correct move. Burden of Command is doing something genuinely novel: it wants to convey the emotional, physical, and spiritual toll that wartime leadership exacts on the people who take on a captain’s bars and lead soldiers into what Vietnam War veteran Karl Marlantes called “The Temple of Mars” in his memoir, What It Is Like To Go To War.

Close Combat: The Bloody First - TBD 2019 

Matrix Games’ new take on the Close Combat series probably won’t make the dais in our would-be Wargamer beauty pageant, but the US 1st Infantry Division isn’t going to be all that fussed about that. What we’re looking forward to with Close Combat: The Bloody First is a modernized version of the classic, and even if the transition to 3D is still a little rough-looking aesthetically, the amount of information and the level of detail look like more than enough to make up for any visual warts.

I love the look of the high-res maps (I am a bit of a sucker for topo lines), as well as the refocus on soldiers rather than squads. Moving to 3D means there’s space to simulate line of sight dynamically, as well as model individual ammunition types and more kinds of damage. Joe got an early hands-on with an alpha build last year, and he wrote at the time that combat feels very familiar - which is exactly what I imagine fans of the series were hoping to hear. If you're interested in helping out and getting your hands on the game early, Matrix are taking Beta sign-ups.

General Staff Wargaming System - TBD

Dr. Ezra Sidran has been working on this suite of software for the past several years, and he’s bringing to it a lot of academic heft - he’s a computer scientist who has devoted his career to wargaming and artificial intelligence, and his previous work in military simulations has been supported by the likes of DARPA.

Over the course of 2018, he released several pieces and beta builds of his powerful suite of wargame design software, map editing software, and army editor, and we’re looking forward to seeing the finished project, hopefully sometime this year. At the base level, there’s General Staff, the Game of Military Tactics (the “beer and skittles” Kriegsspeil mode), and then there’s the Wargaming System, which allows armchair designers to put together their very own rulesets and scenarios, or even more complex simulations.

Sidran’s work will likely have impact well beyond the usual scope for consumer wargames - we’re looking forward to the research published based on this as well.

Steel Division II - June 20th, 2019

The first Steel Division took some of the Wargame series’ sleekest ideas and turned them into the largest-scale World War II real-time strategy battles we’ve ever seen, so naturally we’re champing at the bit to try the next iteration. Developer Eugen has clearly taken feedback from the original Steel Division into account as they’ve built this Eastern Front sequel, which features a new turn-based strategic campaign - a single-player element that was the major fly in the ointment the first time around.

Steel Division II’s real-time battles will benefit from the context of this strategy layer, which will have players managing supply and manoeuvre over the course of several in-game weeks. This takes place on a fantastic map drawn in classic cartographic style and judging from the leap the Wargame series took from European Escalation to Air Land Battle, Steel Division II is looking like a major step forward.

Of possible concern is Eugen’s rocky past year as a studio - employees went on strike last February over wages and allegations of crunch culture, and several ultimately left the company. We’re certainly eager to play the sequel, even thought it keeps getting delayed. You can check out our coverage of the Beta in the mean time.

Panzer Corps 2 - 2019

Panzer Corps was an early entry into the modern generation of approachable wargames, and after a foray into the world of Warhammer 40K, developer Flashback Games is returning to battlefields of earth for a full sequel, this one built in Unreal Engine 4.

This time around, in addition to a brand-new Wehrmacht campaign, there’s going to be a random map and scenario generator, providing an endless supply of tank battlefields on which to go to war with some 450 different lovingly-modelled 3D units. Panzer Corps 2 also has a shifting day/night cycle and changing seasons, all of which are reflected on the beautiful map.

Flashback’s latest dev diary expressed some disappointment at the fact that they weren’t able to ship Panzer Corps 2 in 2018. And while that’s frustrating for the studio (and for players eager to jump into the commander’s hatch), our takeaway is that it won’t be a long wait.

Rule the Waves II - May 17th, 2019

A new Rule the Waves is currently in the later stages of development, which will delight the under served squadron of squids who haunt these parts. Rule the Waves II is adding a host of features to the original’s business-like approach to early 20th century naval warfare management, which despite its bare-bones looks is both deep and surprisingly approachable.

Rule the Waves II is taking its predecessor’s high-resolution simulation to new heights by adding tonnes of new options and considerations that range from nation-level strategic factors down to the kinds of weapons you can weld onto your hulls. You’ll be able to research new technologies like naval aviation (both fixed-wing and lighter-than-air), anti-aircraft artillery, and missiles. All of this in a strategic and political simulation that can run from 1900-1972.

While there’s no major graphics overhaul planned, the host of new features means Rule the Waves II means you’ll have plenty of new kit to use while designing the perfect carrier battle group. You can follow along as development continues this year at the official forum.

Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) - TBD 2019

The idea behind Grand Tactician is to create a detailed, historic recreation of the American Civil War in a real-time tactics game that allows you to re-fight the major battles of the war, while also giving you the chance to rewrite history in a powerful strategic layer. It’s an impressive project - all the more so when you realize it’s being developed by a three-man production team!

It’s easy to get caught up in the lovely maps and order of battle diagrams, which evince the 19th century brilliantly through design aesthetic and even typeface selection. Instead of a mini-map, for instance, you’ll zoom out to a hand-drawn terrain map. But on the ground, the level of detail is amazing: your men will respond more quickly when they’re in bugle range, for instance, and you can set orders for movements at specific times or signals. Battles can range from small skirmishes to massive engagements, with artillery, infantry, and cavalry all present and correct.

Grand Tactician also promises hundreds of historical officers and generals to lead your armies, footage of historical re-enactments, and the ability to play “what if” with scenarios like major European intervention or Lincoln losing the presidency. Look for it on Steam late in the year.

War of Rights - Currently in Early Access

War of Rights is another U.S. Civil War title, although instead of taking command as a Grant or Lee, here you’re given the perspective of an individual soldier on the ground at Harpers Ferry or Antietam. While it’s technically a first-person shooter rather than a proper wargame, War of Rights takes pains to make the experience more like participating in a re-enactment rather than running around like Rambo in a Battlefield game.

You’ll have to follow orders from sergeants and lieutenants (or take charge of a platoon as one of these leaders). You’ll form firing lines, shoulder to shoulder with other players, and painstakingly reload your Springfield with shot, wadding, and powder. And you’ll get to do all this on stunning recreations of Civil War battlefields rendered with CryEngine tech.

War of Rights is currently in early access on Steam, and Campfire Games says its current plans are to continue developing the game and adding features - there’s no set date for a “full release” just yet. But having played a few rounds since the latest backer build was sent out in December, I’m excited to see where this goes this year. When it works, and players are working together and taking it seriously, it’s one of the most immersive historical experiences I’ve had on my PC.

Other things to watch out for:

Battlefront - Combat Mission Shock Force 2 may have been the main talking point for this company in recent months, but they are supposed to have other things in the works as well. There's still bits of CMSF2 that haven't been finished yet as far as we're aware, and there is also supposed to be a new module for Combat Mission Fortress Italy titled Rome to Victory. Whether we see any of this or the as-yet unnamed Red Thunder module anytime soon, or even this year, is anyone's guess.

Armored Brigade - The excellent Cold War tactical war game is getting its first bit of DLC on May 9th. It adds Italy & Yugoslavia, as well as a new map set around the old Cold War Italian/Yugoslavian border. 

UBOAT - this is a new WW2 Submarine simulator that features crew management and survival elements, whilst also throwing you into the midst of the Atlantic theatre of the naval war. It's currently in Early Access but is not due to leave until 2020, but we wanted to give it a brief mention here anyway.

Order of Battle WW2 - Matrix Games' other long-standing Panzer General-like series is coming to console later this spring. You could describe it as Panzer Corps but with supply, and it will launch as a premium package with the base game bundled with the U.S Pacific expansions. The rest of the DLCs will be made available as separate purchases on launch day as well.

Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail - The studio who brought you Ultimate General has officially revealed their next project. Ultimate Admiral will offer tactical naval & land combat set in the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. It's early days yet, so we don't know much more than that - we'll move it up top when we do.

Waterloo 3D - This cropped up earlier in the year as well. This is a new RTS war game that looks to recreate the Battle of Waterloo in high-end 3D graphics.

Campaign Series: Vietnam - The new game from CS Legion, who previously did Campaign Series: Middle East under Matrix. We were expecting it last year, but it never showed up. We're told that it's definitely coming this year, however.

Strategic Mind: The Pacific - The Pacific-focused sequel to last year's Panzer Strategy. It released into Early Access on April 30th, and is due to be there for six months. We haven't given it a full entry because the first game was a bit... eh. Panzer General-like experience made in Unreal. Hopefully the team have learned from their experience of the previous game.

Digital gameworks - This one-man band indie studio creates some niche, if sometimes limited, war games. We’re not sure what they’re currently working on but keep an eye on them.

Wargame Design Studio - This company is still hard at work remaking all of Tiller’s classic titles, as well as their own stuff. You can expect them to be hard at it in 2019, especially considering they recently released four 'Gold' upgrades all at once.

Wolfpack - This is more sub-sim than war game, but it allows for small groups of people to 'crew' a German U-Boat and pit it against AI-controlled flotillas and fleets. You can even team up with other crews to form the 'wolfpack'. It's currently in Early Access.

Seen any computer war game projects you’re excited about? Let us know in the comments!

It’s funny – I updated our guide to what 2019 still has in store as far as computer war games is concerned, and while there were a few projects to add, I realised we hadn’t really reviewed much that was ‘new’ up till now - I wasn't removing anything.

The odd game, sure, but we’ve also been doing some legacy reviews and other gap-filling in terms of war-game coverage. Have we missed something? Is there a computer war game out we don’t have a review for (Early Access doesn’t count)? If there is, let me know because if not the latter half of 2019 is going to be nuts.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming...

Slitherine / Matrix Games

The UK-based war games company seems to have remembered they are a war games company, and have been very active this week.

Firstly, Strategic Command WW2: War In Europe (so not the more recently released World at War) has just received its third major update. Patch 1.16 fixes and changes a lot of things, but more importantly brings the game in line with the improvements that went into WaW, making the two not technically the same apart from scenario.

This update will break any saves and PBEM games, so it’s advised you hold off on updating until you’re done with these sessions. You can read the full patch notes here.

Secondly, Matrix have released some documentation that looks at the initial iteration of Armored Brigade’s Campaign Generator It’s not very long but goes through the basics of setting up a campaign, and what you need to pay attention to during and after an engagement. Since this is something they’re looking to expand on, all of this is subject to change - you can download it directly here.

Thirdly, there’s a second video-blog out for Fantasy General II, this time looking at the Barbarian faction, one of the main player factions.

There’s also a second challenge running for Field of Glory: Empires, but we’re probably not going to be taking part in this one. It involves Carthage, and making lots of money quickly, though.

Star Wars Day

We don’t talk about Star Wars here often, but for those of you who are a fan of the IP will know it’s Star Wars Day tomorrow. Lots of Star Wars-y stuff going on about the internet, and our sister website Strategy Gamer has re-posted an article on pretty much the only Star Wars game that could be considered a ‘war game’ – Star Wars: Rebellion.

It was ahead of its time (predating Hearts of Iron 1 by nearly half a decade), but also behind the times as it was pretty low-fi compared to what the strategy genre was doing in the late 90’s. Still, it was great fun and one of the only games at the time to present a unique vision of a Star Wars galaxy in a state of total war.

UBOAT Enters Early Access

A new game hit Steam’s Early Access program this week – UBOAT is a WW2 Submarine simulator, with survival and management aspects, where you crew a German UBoat at the height of the Atlantic campaign. It’s Early Access period is due to run into 2020, there’s a fair while yet for this game to develop, and I’ve got Jack on the case to give us some early impressions.

ArmA 3

Bohemia mentioned a while ago they’re going to be working with the community to bring some officially licensed DLCs to ArmA 3, and the first project from that initiative launched this week.

Global Mobilization – Cold War Germany is a ‘Creator DLC’ that takes the game back to 1980’s and the North German Plain. It adds a new custom map based on Weferlingen, as well as vehicles, weapons and gear for both East and West Germany. It’s a bit pricey - £16.99 full price, although Bohemia have also said they’re dropping the base price of the main game and all the other DLCS.

It’s good to see the community getting official recognition and reward for their hard work, at the very least, although we don’t know how good this mod is yet.

That's all we've got time for this week - enjoy your weekends and we'll see you next week!

One of the difficult things about approaching a possibility space as large as the one presented by ArmA 3 is deciding what you actually want to do with it. Beyond the campaign, there’s the game’s powerful editor which allows players to create remarkably complex combined arms combat scenarios across vast land masses. But if you’re like me, sometimes that’s a bit… much. Sometimes I’d rather just fire up a quick game and lead a fire team over a hill to shoot some bad guys.

Thankfully, some truly amazing mods have emerged over the past year, so we’ve put together this guide to cover some of the new content out there - whether it’s total conversions, new models, or AI environments, you should be able to find something for you in this list.

Note: Mods are often custom-built for a single map, but even if you’re not interested in that environment, chances are pretty good that there’s another version of the mod available for your preferred landmass. Just do a little searching in the Steam Workshop, and you’re likely to find what you’re after.

Reader Suggestions

• HUNTER SIX - Special Operations Unit (Solo Campaign)

Quality of Life

• Enhanced Movement
• AI Accuracy Fix
• Personal Arsenal
• Faces of War
• CBA_A3

The Enhanced Movement mod, created by Steam user badbenson, allows players to hop, climb, and vault over fences and walls. The mod adds animations for each of these movements, and it’s a matter of moments to bind a single key (it’s context sensitive) to the “mantle” command. This corrects a rather strange omission from the base game, but I’m glad to have it either way. Recent updates have broken this mod, so you’ll also need to use the ACEX fix mod, a temporary solution, in order for it to work with up-to-date versions of ArmA 3.

Another good mod for solo players to pick up is the AI Accuracy Fix by Steam user Twisted. Enemy NPCs in ArmA 3 tend to be crack shots, even on lower difficulties. As the description says, this drops them back into the more human range of rifle skill. The other option of course is to just “get good” at in-game marksmanship, but who has time for that nonsense?

There’s a lot of gear to play with in ArmA 3, especially if you’ve added any of the massive list of equipment mods. Personal Arsenal gives you access to the game’s virtual armory at a keystroke, so you can outfit yourself with whatever weapons and armor you like, as well as plunk down to-spec vehicles.

Faces of War is a mod that adds in a bunch of thematic faces for you World War II junkies out there. It not only adds more expressive and historically appropriate faces for ArmA 3’s soldiers, it also includes a growing list of World War II uniforms and equipment. The team responsible for this mod does very high-quality work, so you’ll want to subscribe to this one - plus, it’s required for several of the more ambitious WWII mods.

CBA_A3 is an under-the-hood mod that basically makes modders’ lives easier, and you’ll most likely find it in the dependency list of mods you’re looking to download. Steam makes this pretty convenient by flagging up mods you’ll need to install. CBA_A3 lets modders create events and macros, monkey with the UI, and allow for custom keybinds for new actions they add to the game.

Dynamic Operations & Missions

• ALiVE
• Dynamic Recon Ops [Altis ] [Stratis]
• Dynamic Universal War System

Now for the meaty stuff. One of the most important mods I’ve come across over the past year is the ALiVE system, which goes a long way toward bridging whatever gap remains between ArmA 3 and traditional wargames. It’s a full-on strategy simulation environment, allowing you to populate ArmA’s maps with OPFOR and BLUFOR units, each with their own goals and objectives, which they’ll pursue intelligently. Missions can be easily created on the fly, and they can be persistent, with actions in one carrying over to the next operation in a campaign.

While the interface takes a few minutes to learn, once you have the basics down it’s an incredibly simple system to use, and the results are spectacular. Once you have ALiVE installed, head to the mission editor and add some new elements: they’re modules called ALiVE (Required), ALiVE Data, ALiVE Player Options, and ALiVE Virtual AI System. These entities don’t physically occupy any space, but they handle the raft of features and systems that ALiVE adds to ArmA, such as intelligent commanders who spawn in and command appropriate units. Syncing these AI commanders with logistics modules and areas of operation is a bit touchy at first, but after a practice map or two you’ll have the hang of it, and it’s astonishingly powerful.

I feel like I’ve personally only scratched the surface of what ALiVE is capable of doing, but already I can’t imagine playing ArmA without it. There are tons of add-on mods for ALiVE, too, so if you don’t want to bother with the mission design side of things you’re still in good shape as long as you don’t mind browsing the Steam Workshop for a bit. Plus, you can use ALiVE’s elements along with most other ArmA content you have installed, but you may want to check the ALiVE wiki to make sure any particular map is supported.

Modder mbrdmn has created a system called Dynamic Recon Ops, which builds randomized recon missions to spec. These can be simple, involving a single objective, or surprisingly complex. You can specify parameters like time of day, weather conditions, and factions involved, or you can let the mod decide for you. The one-objective ops make for great bite-sized portions of ArmA action, and you can download the mod for countless maps, both official and user-created. While the base Malden map has tons of places to explore and operate in, I’ve enjoyed checking out the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone map. It’s unfinished and rough-looking in places, but the area has always fascinated me and it’s still creepy wandering around the ghost town of Pripyat even when you aren’t playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R..

DRO missions are fun and lightweight. It’s easy to dive straight in and start scouting, but as the “recon” name suggests, there’s usually a lot of walking (which, come to think of it, accounts for most of my time in ArmA). Generally, you and your squad will get dropped off by helicopter around 2 kilometers from your objective, which might be retrieving a prisoner or observing an enemy area. By default you’ll also have a resupply point, and the mod is fairly smart about putting a few patrols of enemy soldiers between you and where you’re trying to go.

For a more robust experience, you can try the Dynamic Universal War System, or DUWS. Like DRO (and its sibling, Dynamic Combat Ops), DUWS creates missions on the fly based on a set of parameters you choose to set or leave random. The big difference here is that instead of one-off missions, you’ll be generating an entire persistent campaign. And unlike the single-player campaign that shipped with the ArmA III base game, this one actually responds and changes based on your actions.

You begin by selecting either a random or hand-placed base of operations on the island. From there, you’ll launch missions to recapture zones held by enemy forces, or pick up side ops that become available from time to time. These tend to be pretty simple affairs, such as rescuing downed pilots, but they’ll earn you command points that you can spend on additional troops, vehicles, and weapons. Over the campaign you’ll also amass Army Points that can be used to unlock higher tiers of equipment.

It's an ambitious mod and it’s a bit tricky to figure out how everything works, but it opens the game up to some serious tactics and strategic planning. Figuring out where you need to build FOBs, and planning your next strikes on enemy territory become nail-biting experiences once you’re on the ground leading a couple fire teams into hostile fire. I have yet to finish a campaign in DUWS, but one lesson I’ve learned the hard way is to save often. Autosave doesn’t quite work as well as you might like, yet.

Overhauls

• Operation: TREBUCHET
• Iron Front in Arma 3 AIO Lite

Right off the bat, Article 2 Studios’ Operation: TREBUCHET (OPTRE) is a standout in the new assets packages you can get for ArmA 3. It’s a full suite of soldiers, equipment, vehicles, and maps pulled from the Halo universe. The mod focuses primarily on UNSC infantry forces rather than the lethally-outfitted Spartans like Master Chief from the Halo series of games, but fear not: several Spartan variants are included as well.

What’s more interesting, though, are the new weapons and vehicles - take to the skies over the original game’s Blood Gulch in a Hornet or Falcon, or cover ground the more old-fashioned way in a Warthog ATV or Scorpion tank. Sure, some of the models look a little low-poly for modern eyes, but it’s impossible not to be impressed at the sheer amount of Halo bits Article 2 has recreated in ArmA 3. OPTRE focuses on the more grounded aspects of Halo’s sci-fi fantasy, so you’re going to see more helicopters and traditional ballistic weapons than plasma rifles and alien tech. 

At the moment, OPTRE is just a massive toybox full of Halo kit, but the growing community around the mod is busily creating missions with the shiny new assets. You shouldn’t have too much trouble finding both single-player and multiplayer modes in the Workshop, and keep an eye out on your server browser for large-scale UNSC battles to join.

Iron Front in ArmA 3 (AIO Lite) is the mod version of what once was a full game - Iron Front: Liberation 1944 (It wasn't a very good game-ED). It’s an Eastern Front-focused equipment makeover for ArmA players who aren’t as keen on the game’s baseline present day/near future setting. The full, paid version of Iron Front featured eight-mission single player campaigns for the German and Russian sides, plus all the World War II equipment you could shake an M91/30 at.

Unfortunately, the full version has been discontinued and is no longer supported, and those single player missions aren’t included in the free “Lite” version available on the Steam Workshop, but there’s still plenty to like about the mod - there are five sizeable maps, tons of historic units and equipment, and plenty of clanky tanks to drive around in. The only other mod you’ll need to try out the free “Lite” version is CUP Terrains - Core, which you’ll quickly learn is a pretty commonly-used mod for projects like this one.

Hopefully, the team behind Iron Front in ArmA 3 will be able to continue supporting the mod - there’s still a healthy player base for it and the ArmA system works very well in the World War II setting. There are also mods you can find that allow you to use elements of ALiVE in Iron Front in Arma 3, giving you that whole suite of command and mission tools in that Eastern Front setting.

Official Support

• Creator DLC
• Malden 2035
• Apex
• ADR-97 Weapon Pack

Modders aren’t the only people who have been adding to ArmA 3. Bohemia has been regularly pushing out new content for the game, including the free Malden 2035 DLC, which includes a remaster of one of the two islands featured in Operation Flashpoint way back in 2001. There are DLCs for jets, helicopters, and even go-karts available as well, plus the large Apex expansion that released in 2016, which offers a slate of new equipment and a new campaign that can be played solo or co-op.

Bohemia Interactive developers have also worked on mods in their “spare time” (or so they claim), and one no-brainer addition to your mods list ought to be the ADR-97 weapon pack. It’s an “official mod” meaning Bohemia has granted its imprimatur to the effort, and it adds several variants of a toploading bullpup submachine gun based on the FN P90 into ArmA 3.

Finally, Bohemia are releasing community content as add-ons under the label 'Creator DLC'. The first one is called Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany, and there's expected to be others as well.

What are your favourite ArmA 3 mods? Let us know in the comments!

Slitherine & Matrix Games have started running monthly streams covering everything from new announcements to behind-the-scenes looks at upcoming games. Last month they dropped bombshells like Fantasy General II, so these are streams that are definitely worth paying attention to.

This month they took a step back from blowing our minds to taking stock of what’s currently in the works. The main star of the show was Panzer Corps 2 and viewers were treated to a first ever look at some real-time gameplay, which was a very welcome sight. Panzer Corps 2 is feature complete at this point, and we’re treated to two different gameplay snippets show-casing the game in action and different tactical scenarios that you can try and overcome using the various mechanics available.

We’ve embedded the full stream below – the Panzer Corps 2 action starts at around the 15 minute mark and carries on through to 58:00:00, so lots to take in!

There's also a revamped product page on Matrix's webiste, as well as brand new Steam page with fresh assets etc... You also might want to watch the first 15 minutes or so for the news announcements Marco goes through – including a brand-new Close Combat trailer (which they’re confident is releasing this year).

There is an old saying about the British army, that it will lose every battle in a war, except for the last one. GMTs Gallipoli 1915, Churchill’s Greatest Gamble is a hyper detailed tactical treatment of the first four days of fighting from one of those battles which was absolutely not the last one. ANZAC Day remembers this debacle and has only recently passed, so this is a good time to put the game thru its paces.

From the history side, this thing is unbelievably well researched with accurate game play that delivers the battlefield frustration the contest was known for. As for playability, well...

Bottom Line. This thing is for Grognards only, and veteran Grogs at that. Here’s why.

Components

Seriously? This is GMT for Pete’s sake, so you know the game is going to have lots of paper and cardboard and all of it will be drop dead gorgeous, and all yours if you have $105.00 US or thereabouts. There are six countersheets each with 280 playing pieces for a total of 1680 cardboard markers. Of these two sheets are devoted to game or terrain markers such Rifle Pits, Gun Pits, Entrenchments, Hiding markers, Searchlights, and everything you need to scale steep terrain off a narrow beach. The other four sheets represent the combat forces involved, with not only the Ottoman and Commonwealth ground forces available for play, but also Royal Navy units and the French army as well. I was particularly pleased to see the latter because too often we forget that, like the Crimea, the French were on the scene regardless of what Mel Gibson might imply. The counters include a lot of HQ units and mission markers, but for the fighting formations themselves we are talking about infantry half battalions or companies, artillery batteries or sections, all supported by a host of smaller fare such as machine gun platoons or squads. All combat counters are very info intensive.

These forces fight it out on two, beautifully drawn 34 x 22 inch map sheets that fit together diagonally to form the boot like shape of the real estate being contested. Each hex on the map represents 400 meters, regulating movement and combat across game turns that each represent two hours per during the day, or four hours at night. Again, the historical detail is superb.

Managing how said counters operate on said maps is a very heavy lump of paper which includes an indexed 40 page rule booklet for the Fire & Spade series this game falls under, and an indexed 36 page game book which includes not only three intro scenarios and their more complex cousins, but also historical notes, bibliography and related material. Supporting the actual playing of the game is a 16 page Setup and Reinforcement book, six Counter Sled sheets, two Amphibious Landing Sled sheets, two Army Holding Box sheets, four Army Status sheets, a Counter and Terrain Effects sheet, an Extended Sequence of Play (adds Amphibious Assault) sheet, a Turn Record sheet, a Free Landing Charts booklet, five 10 sided die in different colors and finally, two 8 page Charts and Tables booklets. The rules booklet did mention planning maps (hold that thought, because I know what you’re gonna ask), but these did not seem to be included. Sad because the most important of these charts are the Charts and Tables Booklet along with the Army Status sheets, and planning maps would have been helpful. Regardless, a lot of trees were killed making this game.

Like everything that GMT does, all of the above is full color glossy with lots of examples supported by lots of pictures. The text is presented in a hierarchical outline style and prose is very direct and business like, though not without a bit of humor here and there. The author, for example, notes that an empty coffee cup is preferable for pulling chits vice one full of java, while in describing the sound of one letter from the Turkish alphabet he notes, “Too complicated to describe. Pretend you didn’t see it.” Nevertheless, I thought the proofing and editing could have been a bit better, not necessarily for spelling or grammar, but for clarity of content. Why mention planning maps as if they were included when they are not? Likewise, and even though it is defined in the rules book, all charts should have an accompanying legend. For example, on the Army Status sheets there is a Change Orders Matrix where one result is “P.” This means Prohibited, but there is no legend with the chart to confirm this.

Game Play

Like most hex and counter games, Gallipoli has a lot of rules and supporting gameplay that are pretty standard and need not be discussed. These include movement rates, terrain effects, line of sight, stacking and so on. The big emphasis is Command and Control.

In general the sequence of play goes like this: Step one has both sides receiving reinforcements in parallel, followed by the Supply Phase check to see if their Brigaments (a game term meaning either a brigade or regiment) are within logistics radius. Step three is called the Command Phase where both sides in parallel add or remove Isolated markers on units, form units into Flying Columns, check Officer Points status, Change Orders or determine if current unit orders will continue, and finally complete the Load the Cup segment (seriously, that’s what its called). Next is the Activation Phase where players, Brigament by Brigament, roll a modified 1D10 (high die wins) for Initiative to determine who gets to select a Brigament chit from his side’s coffee cup, with an additional modified die roll determining whether the winner gets to select the chit he wants or must select randomly. For the Brigament selected, subordinate units may perform one action per turn choosing from Engineering, Commanded Fire, Movement or Assault. Once all Brigaments from the opposing armies have been selected and all unit task completed, the turn ends. Yes, it is possible for one side to win several die roll offs in a row and thus activate multiple organizations before his opponent gets to use a single friendly counter.

I like the concept here, because its pure chaos theory, and despite those “I did everything right so I should win” gamers, that’s pretty much the way war is. So bravo for this, but on the other hand... well let’s just say using your Brigaments when it’s your turn is just a bit different than what you’ve likely played before. The big reason for this is that Gallipoli requires you to issue orders. These orders are Initial Attack, Attack, Stalled Attack, Defense, Cordon Defense, Disorganized Defense, Regroup or Withdrawal, General Reserve – March and March-Rapid March. The rules describe in painstaking detail what each order specifically means, what its Objectives are, what constitutes Progress, Continuation of the order, what constitutes Failure and issues surrounding Changing an Order. The latter includes both voluntary and involuntary procedures as well as specifying what orders a unit might Change to. On top of all this is a requirement to set a geographic objective by delineating a specific row of hexes to secure and a path of march detailing how your units will get there. Remember those planning maps? Well this is the reason they could come in real handy.

The game supports this concept with something called Officer Points (OPs), which represents command presence and the friction caused when officers and NCOs get shot. Each historical division begins with a specific number of OPs for its Brigaments to use, and subordinate companies, half battalions and so on expend them to perform certain functions. For example, 1 OP is expended for each stack of units moving to Assault an enemy position, another 1 OP per stack when attempting to Rally adjacent to an enemy formation. OPs can be lost thru combat or regained at night, and this is important because the number of OPs remaining to a Brigament will modify a die roll that determines whether the current Orders will Continue or Change. If Change is allowed, another die roll controlled chart determines success, here using two 10 sided die with lower numbers good, higher numbers bad. The “low numbers are better” paradigm is also used on the Fire Results Table where a single 10 sided die is used to determine the number of strength steps the enemy loses. The results are often a fraction such as 2.69, indicating two strength steps lost automatically with a 69% chance of another killed as determined on a second 2D10 die roll. Here die roll modifiers are not arithmetic, but refer to column and row shifts.

And thru all of this, details abound, so a few examples. This is a game that specifies three different Entrenchment statuses for units like rifle companies. You can be Inside, Hiding or On Top, the latter meaning you have entered or departed the field work that turn and thus can trigger Opportunity Fire. Likewise Gallipoli specifies a Messaging Range of either two hexes if you are in close terrain or a connecting trench, one hex if not (pesky snipers) or forever if you have a field phone when calling anyone else on a telephone. In some cases certain units automatically have phones, but in other cases the phones are actually printed on the map (like Serafim Farm) where they were historically. Finally there is the Us-Them Counter. This is placed on a hex where the terrain is so bat-shit-crazy that units from both sides may occupy the same location. This means bush and shrubs so dense you can barely see each other though the lads trying to kill you are only a few meters away. Relevant combat counters are placed in a holding box and if any single rule epitomizes the mantra of this game, this is it.

All in all, Gallipoli is a wargame with emphasis on the “war” and not “game,” almost a legitimate military simulation. This means you’ll have to leave the game set up for a long time even with shorter scenarios, so beware the prying hands of kids, or in my case, Max, the household Flerken Kitty.

Ruminations

This is a solid game that works well for its intended purpose, so if you like low level tactics with an uber amount of detail, you will enjoy GMTs Gallipoli. It’s a game that’s tough to play and even tougher to win, often making a session an advanced lesson in frustration. However, this degree of realism is perhaps its greatest strength. The game does convey the difficulty of fighting such a campaign in such difficult terrain, and it hammers home the how difficult management of military assets actually was in 1915. All of sudden those idiot commanders don’t seem so stupid after all. I strongly you play one of the intro scenarios first and play without the amphibious landing rules if possible, because you are talking about a very big learning curve. But if you really want a challenge and some idea as to what it was really like, here you are.

Otherwise Gallipoli is going to be a very niche product in what is already a niche hobby. For the rest of us - personal preference begins here, BTW - this game is probably overkill especially if playing solitaire. There is simply too much to do, far more than a real commander would be responsible for and this makes the game tedious. As a rule of thumb, in my gaming I tend to go by the generic US/NATO military standard that says a commander should have management responsibility for two levels of command below his own. That means corps commanders worry about brigades and no lower. In this game the player is deciding on the type of ammo and elevation technique of two gun artillery sections. Just not my cup of Earl Grey.

Exacerbating the issue are game processes that lack a common methodology. By this I mean some functions require a single die with a 1 – 10 spread, others two die for a percentage. In some cases higher die roll numbers are good, and in others low die roll numbers are better. In some cases DRMs directly add or subtract from the roll, in others they indicate table column or row shifts. There are also lots of fractions, not just ½ but fractions like 1.88. I’ve designed successful wargames, and this just seems contrary to accepted norms. Its not that the game doesn’t work, it does. I just think it could work a lot easier.

Then there is the $105.00 price tag. Well there is little else out there, but this subject does seem like a John Tiller game just waiting to happen. At less than $40.00 including an AI to keep records and do the math, that’s going to be a pretty attractive alternative.

Yet there is one overlooked gaming pool that might be very interested in the game, and this is the miniature gamer. GMT’s Gallipoli is definitely a labor of love by an author who really knows his history. I mean, really, who reads the Turkish General Staff Study in Turkish to design a game? And when you consider the cost of reference material and the investment in time for research, Gallipoli could be manna from Heaven, so please take a look.

Addendum: You can download the aforementioned Planning Maps as a PDF from GMT's website.

Matrix Games have a new game announcement for us: WarPlan is an “incredibly accurate” World War 2 simulation that aims to incorporate 50 years of learned experience through playing WW2-era board war games, although they don't mention which ones.

Developed by newcomer Kraken Studios It looks like we’re getting another grand-strategy WW2 wargame that sites somewhere around Strategic Command and Hearts of Iron. They also claim to possess a flexible engine and huge database, so we could also be talking about a CMANO-but-WW2 experience (and with more user-friendly visuals).

We highly suggest you go to the product page, because there’s a lot of detail there already about what this game aims to deliver, as an example, here are the unit scales:

• 70 different potential countries
• Map scale 30 miles / 50km per hex using a Peter's map scaling which better represents real distances
• Land scale 15k - 60k men
• Air scale 300-400 air craft
• Naval scale 2 capital ships + support ships

And here are some details about the map:

• Hex based map and movement.
• 15 different types of terrains subdivided in to sizes with each different features including motorized and non-motorized movement, airfield capacity, and defensive bonuses.
• 12 different resource types
• 5 different strategic resources
• Fog of War – detection levels determine information of units.
• 5 different weather conditions

And there’s lots more: Solo vs. AI, Hotseat + PBEM multiplayer, an Editor… WarPlan must have been in development for quite some time as well, as it’s already ready for beta testing: you can sign up here.

I’d say that means we could be looking at a 2019 release, but smaller war game studios tend to struggle more at keeping to development deadlines, so ultimately we’ll have to wait and see.

More information as we get it!

Matrix/Slithrine have pretty much dominated the news beat this week: first they had their latest monthly stream, then they announced a new game, followed up by more announcements… by comparison, everyone else appears to be dead.

I’ve been pretty absent from the wargames front recently – Imperator: Rome is still taking up much of my time. I actually want to finish the Rome game I started for review before I update and lose the save. I’ve also been continuing in my quest to become the new World of Warships expert for the site, although did fire up Armored Brigade the other day. I need to give that game more attention.

We’ve got some great content planned for the rest of the month, so keep your eyes peeled to the frontpage!

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

New Field of Glory 2 expansion

I was starting to worry about Field of Glory 2– amidst all of the other stuff Matrix has been up to I wondered if they’d forgotten about it.  Worry no longer however, as the premier turn-based tactical war game is getting another DLC pack – Wolves at the Gate.

Featuring new factions, units army lists and more, it’s a pack roughly themed around the Dark Ages and the transitionary period between the end of Roman rule in the west and the emerging feudal Kingdoms in Europe. New factions include Vikings, Saxons Franks and the Abbasid’s showcase the growing power of the 8^th century.

Full details can be found on the product page, and there’s also mention of an accompanying free patch that will include a new ‘Allies’ feature.

Other Matrix Games / Slitherine News

To recap the rest of the week, there was the Close Combat footage that came out of the third Home of Wargamers stream, Matrix announced a new game called WarPlan (best name ever) and of course the Italy-Yugoslavia Nation Pack for Armored Brigade released. I’ve got John on the case, so hopefully we’ll have our review ready soon.

Last, but certainly not least, there’s a new dev log for Fantasy General II covering the Empire:

Unity of Command 2

A new dev diary for the war game that will never be released this week, along with a fancy new trailer. The diary update looks at a scenario based around the Battle of Metz in September 1944, and then goes on to look at some of the smaller updates they’ve been doing.

Of specific focus is the next stage of their AI development – switching to a system that can read by people who aren’t programmers (to assist in adding to the AI’s playbook).

Japan ’45 Released

We forgot to cover this when it actually happened, but we thought we’d let you know that Wargame Design Studio has completed a new game – Japan ’45. This JTS-style scenario covers the first part of the ultimately cancelled invasion of Japan (has the nuclear bomb thing not worked out).

We’ve got the other Joe digging into it as we speak, so again keep an eye out for our review within the next couple of weeks.

That's all for this week's update - let us know if you've spotted anything else, otherwise have a great weekend!

Playing the early access release of Strategic Mind: The Pacific has definitely made me think. Probably not in the way the game had hoped, but nevertheless it’s prompted some soul searching. I’ve thought about the utility of early access, the place of visuals in wargames, the endurance of Panzer General and, most importantly, what I really want out of historical naval war games. I’m not sure I’ve nailed it down yet, but it’s probably not what Strategic Mind is offering either.

This is a spiritual sequel to last years’ Panzer Strategy which tackled the European Theatre of WWII from the perspective of the Wehrmacht. I reviewed it back then (my second ever article here, in fact) and concluded that some unfortunate design choices, bugs, and questionable history meant it wasn’t for me. Nevertheless, I went into Strategic Mind open to seeing what developer Starni Games had learned from their first release and eager as always to see another game set in the Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO).

Massing my Fleet to oppose the unknown enemy fleet feels like the soundest tactic in Strategic Mind.

The early access build is stable and playable. It is much more visually appealing than most of its competition. The lighting on the water is nice, the ships are detailed, and the weather effects are appropriately daunting. The early access contains three scenarios from the US Navy campaign: Coral Sea, Midway (plus the Aleutians) and Guadalcanal. The gameplay is your standard Panzer General formula with some additions and changes to reflect the PTO. As a fan and a student of this theatre in particular, this all sounded good on paper. It took me finishing the second of the three included scenarios to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that I just wasn’t having fun.

The game itself works as advertised to a degree, but I think my qualms lie with the concept of applying the Panzer General formula to fleet actions across large, open bodies of water. The scale, tactics, and complications of naval and air warfare don’t mesh well with some of the most engaging aspects of Panzer General. When I think back to the sessions I enjoyed with those games, certain scenarios tend to stick out in my mind: barely defending chosen choke points against overwhelming odds, racing to encircle overextended foes or pushing to secure the flanks of my own extended spear tips, or seeing a favourite unit survive with one strength point after a turn of inordinate assaults. Only one of those examples is possible in a game that removes almost all aspects of terrain and positioning. Instead of ensuring my artillery is properly placed, for example, I find myself grouping up my fleets and accompanying airwings and slowly shuffling from point to point, unloading fire until the enemy blows up.

The Weather Effects are spot on, but make distinguishing the combatants difficult.

And yet, I remember recently enjoying the Kriegsmarine DLC for Order of Battle, and even the original Pacific General back in the day. It made me wonder what made OOB different? OOB has its naval faults as well, but it employed certain gamey aspects to force greater strategic positioning and use of forces. These are the generally ahistorical optimal range damage modifiers, that reward you for keeping certain guns at certain ranges, and the forced choice between which armaments to fire within a given unit’s activation. In Strategic Mind, there are no such restrictions; instead, every ship gets in range and unloads everything it has. This leaves the player watching lengthy animations and little rising numbers, which is made more frustrating because often those little numbers are hidden behind the game’s overzealous fog of war. Panzer Strategy suffered from a similar issue. I appreciate that Strategic Mind was attempting to provide a less ‘gamey’ solution, but it instead had the effect of reducing player input and simplifying how engagements play out.

Even though Strategic Mind’s system tries to reflect the complexity of naval warfare through its upgrade system and by having a health bar for each ship’s individual systems, in practice this does little to alleviate the game’s clunkiness. It never seems worthwhile to do anything but move things forward, unload ordinance, and hope for high numbers. There seems to be a general rock-paper-scissor model to the ships: capital ships destroy screening ships, screening ships destroy aircraft, aircraft destroy capital ships. Often this runs counter to what I’ve read about actual naval engagements, especially the ability of aircraft to sink smaller shipping.

This is the kind of thing that is a non-issue when the game itself approaches naval combat outside of the Panzer General mould. Grand Strategy games like Hearts of Iron take the tactical layer out of player hands entirely, whereas games like Victory at Sea: Pacific, while admittedly problematic themselves, dodge the issue by conducting tactical engagements in pausable real-time across a true 3D space. I understand the prestige and familiarity attached to the Panzer General name, but when the closest thing to a workable solution (brought forth by OOB) is to force unrealistic restrictions on players to increase engagement, we may be missing the point slightly.

Pick your poison: Order of Battle comes with its own take on Panzer General Style Naval Combat with its own issues.

On a more technical side, I was disheartened to see some recurring bugs carry over from Panzer Strategy. Immediately noticeable, and incredibly distracting for a naval game, is that the camera will not zoom to show a target taking damage if it is far away from the shooter. Multiple times an enemy capital ship would slowly (and this game is painfully slow in its animations) unload a full compliment off screen, refusing to tell me which vessel was being targeted until my turn rolled around and I did a fleet wide inspection.

Secondly, I still disagree with the design decision in Panzer Strategy that allowed opposing artillery a pre-emptive reactionary fire against incoming artillery. Too often I would see artillery damaged beyond utility before it fired a shot because the opposing team used their ESP to target and return fire beforehand. This is still present in Strategic Mind, but now it just means selecting whichever ship could weather the damage of the pre-emptive return fire, drawing the reaction damage before important targets began the real attack (Sorry DD #3).

There are also odd choices that I can only assume are glitches. If a DD attacks another within torpedo range, for example, the pre-emptive fire will be a torpedo, not the far more useful surface guns. Aircraft carrier surface guns can target airplanes. The AI still blatantly cheats when using DD sonar to find your hidden submarines, always perfectly squatting over your subs before pinging and dumping its depths charges. Lucky guess for the 5^th time in a row, Captain? I think not.

The final game promises cutscenes like those Panzer Strategy. I hope not: Panzer Strategy's Hitler still periodically invades my nightmares.

The scenario design is also a little off: The early access offers three to begin with, but these scenarios should have been spun out to at least four, maybe five. The second mission includes both the Battle of Midway and the Japanese Invasion of the Aleutian Islands. I understand conceptually why they would try this: The Aleutian Islands campaign happened concurrently and was meant in part to distract the Allies from Midway. The strategic question the scenario wants you to answer is how to divide your forces. In practice though, it only highlights the problem with trying to achieve this in the Panzer General style. The physical dimensions of the Pacific are wildly distorted and the mission written in such a way that I could easily steam Northwards after protecting Midway to deal with the invasion force. Both this scenario and the Guadalcanal one could have been broken into two separate scenarios quite easily. 

Despite the above, Strategic Mind: The Pacific shows promise but Starni Games need to make several important changes: faster animations would be a good start. Fixing the bugs that have been around since Panzer Strategy should also be a priority, as is hiding the AI cheating a little better. We know AI will have to cheat in some instances, but a lot of video game design is smoke and mirrors. More smoke please.

I can sense the passion: The team legitimately seems to love their work and are excited about the project. I want to be as well, even though I think I’m done with Panzer General style naval games. Still, I’m here and invested in Strategic Mind. You’ve got 6 months Starni, I believe in you.

The war of the 'greatest generation', WW2's allure and appeal has been hyped beyond all reason. Aside from perhaps the ancient world, it is the single most fertile ground for strategy and war games. With so many takes on this globe-spanning conflict, it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

If you'd prefer less hardware in your wars, we've got some great ancients & medieval war games you can check out!

We’ve tried to get a range of different types of games, from close-up tactical experiences to sweeping strategic overviews. So, without further ado, here's our guide to the best World War 2 strategy & war games. We're a computer wargames website, we can't be wrong!

Wargamer is affiliated with the Paradox Store.

Recent Releases & Hall of Fame

Not every game releases gets to take a spot in our 'Best of' lists, and some games that do earn themselves a place get rotated out for newer titles, to keep things fresh. Neither category deserves to be forgotten, so here's a quick summary of recent releases and past 'best' games:

• Battle for Korsun
• Battles of North Africa 1941
• Strategic Command WW2: War in Europe
• IL-2 Sturmovik
• France '40 Gold
• Barbarroja
• Order of Battle WW2
• Graviteam Tactics

Hearts of Iron IV

Publisher/Developer: Paradox Interactive / Paradox Development Studio
Tags: Grand-Strategy, Strategic, Global, Real-Time, Divisions, Sandbox
Purchase:Paradox Store, Steam

Hearts of Iron 4 makes it's debut on this list thanks to the recent release of the Man the Guns expansion. This WW2 sandbox game has been going from strength to strength, and while its still got some ways to go Paradox's flagship war game can now finally attempt to stand amongst its contemporaries. Take command of any nation in existence in 1936, and try to guide them through turbulent period leading up to the second world war. With an open-ended nature and three competing ideologies, what form the second world war takes could be different through multiple playthroughs.

You can create your own Divisions, specialising them for specific tasks. A Battle Planner allows you to draw detailed strategies for your armies that the AI will execute for you, and there's plenty of DLC worth checking out that help elevate the base package into something special.

There is actually an important caveat to add to this entry. While Hearts of Iron 4 is becoming a great WW2-era game, it's not necessarily a great 'WW2 game' in the sense that getting a historical outcome is now only one of many possibilities, and we're not sure if it's the most common one at this point. While plenty of historical events and key decisions are modelled, the course of the war can vary, so if you're an enthusiast who wants a more 'on rails' experience, this may not actually be the game for you.

John Tiller's Campaign Series (West Front Review)

Publisher/Developer: Matrix Games / Talonsoft
Tags: Bundle, Western Front, Eastern Front, Pacific Theatre, Operational, Hex, IGOUGO, Company scale
Purchase: Direct

Sometimes, the oldies are still the best. Through the nineties John Tiller Studios released a short series of games each looking at a specific theatre of WW2, namely: West Front, East Front& Rising Sun. Today, all three are available via Matrix Games under the 'Campaign Series' label, but despite getting modern adaptations from the fine folks over at Wargame Design Studio, we've found that the 2007 version still holds up just fine, over a decade later.

While our review only looked at West Front specifically, all three games still possess a great breadth of content, tried-and-true 'IGOUGO' mechanics, and some excellent 3D graphics (for the time at least, although they still hold up now). West Front even covers the 1940 campaigns in france, so you really do get a complete package at a really decent price. The only caveat is, unlike WDS'France '40 'Gold' remaster, these still possess all of the warts and aches they did back when they were originally released.

Strategic Command WW2: World at War (Review)

Publisher/Developer: Matrix Games / Fury Software
Tags: European Theatre, Pacific Theatre, Global, Grand-Strategy, Turn Based, Hex
Purchase: Direct, Steam

World at War easily supplants it's younger sibling, War in Europe, for the simple fact that while this is in some ways 'more the same', it's 'more the same' on a global level. Our initial concerns that this one might fall prey to the same problems the SC Classic entry Global Conflict suffered turned out to be ill-founded. Fury have learned the lessons of the past and managed to create a compelling grand-strategy sandbox, at scale, that leaves plenty of meaningful gameplay options whether you're in Europe, or the Korean peninsular.

As fun as tactical or even operational level warfare is, there’s something empowering about taking control of a nation’s entire strategic resources; from industry and production to the military assets. Fury Software’s Strategic Command series has been around since at least the early 2000’s and is a great example of grand-strategy wargaming. You command either the Axis or the allied powers (and you can have the AI take over individual nations if you want) and must decide where to invest your nation's production capacity across research, mobilisation, diplomacy and maintaining your armed forces. Units represent Corps, Army Groups, Fleets & Air Groups.

Command Ops 2 (Review)

Publisher/Developer: Lock'n Load Publishing
Tags: Simulation, Operational, Planning, DLC
Purchase: Steam, Direct

Lock'n Load's flagship computer wargame makes its debut on our list of best games. This more recent iteration of the series approaches a very detailed and complex subject with a system of play that is both easy to learn and smooth as silk to play. Mastering play is not easy, but that’s the hallmark of an exceptional product. Other games of this subgenre should take note.

The base version of this game is free, and the download comes with three scenarios that include Return to St Vith, Manhay Crossroads and Greyhound Dash. In this respect LnL has taken the same approach as the World War I flight simulator Rise of Flight, where they charge for additional expansion modules.

Combat Mission: Final Blitzkrieg

Publisher/Developer: Battlefront
Tags: Tactical, Simulation, Battle of the Bulge, WEGO, 3D
Purchase: Direct

It seems you can't have one of these lists without at least one Combat Mission game. To be fair, they remain at the fore-front of tactical combat simulations and are must-plays for anyone who enjoys the hardcore-end of WW2 games. Combat Mission offers an immersive military experience, with a fully 3D engine and a turn-based/WEGO strategy layer that then plays out in real-time. Units are represented down to individual squads and tanks, however players can play anything from a Company-sized force, to a reinforced Battalion.

You could have a passionate debate about which CM game is the best CM game, but the latest iteration - 2016's Final Blitzkrieg - mightily impressed the late Mr. Cobb with its attention to detail and the general improvements to the legacy of Combat Mission as a whole: "The series remains the epitome of World War II tactical simulations. Is it too early for a Game of the Year nomination?". Final Blitzkrieg is set in Europe, 1944-45 and mainly centres around the Battle of the Bulge.

Men of War: Assault Squad 2

Publisher/Developer: 1C Company / Digitalmindsoftau
Tags: Real-Time, Tactics, Simulation, All Theatres
Purchase:Steam

The Men of War series is one with humble (and slightly confusing) origins, but also one that’s grown to become a must-have staple of real-time WW2 tactical combat. For fans of Company of Heroes (see below) wanting a little more bite, this is one of the most immersive experiences you’ll ever have the pleasure of playing. There’s a depth and granularity to combat that you rarely see outside of hardcore turn-based counter wargames, and yet it remains easy(ish) to learn and interact with. It can be brutal and punishing (I don’t think they’ve ever gotten the balance quite right between tanks and infantry), but it is also thrilling.

Assault Squad 2, despite being four years old at this point, represents the pinnacle of the series’ development. The series in general has seen many different iterations and experiments, but all of that learning finally comes to together here. As official support has waned, a dedicated mod-community has arisen to provide scenarios ranging from WW1 to the Cold War. If we ever see a new Men of War game, it will be world-class.

Gary Grigsby's War in the East

Publisher/Developer: Matrix Games / 2by3Games
Tags: Turn-Based, Operational, Eastern Front, Hex-Based
Purchase: Direct, Steam

No conversion on digital wargaming can exist without starting, ending or at the very least, co-existing with, a nod towards the beast set in the east. Gary Grigsby’s 2010 opus represents what happens when you take traditional hex-and-counter wargaming and use computer software to bring out its maximum potential. No-one ever said it would be accessible or easy to get to grips with– but it is the ultimate military simulation of war in the eastern front of World War 2. To paraphrase the game's official blurb:

Gamers can engage in massive, dramatic campaigns, including intense battles involving thousands of units with realistic and historical terrain, weather, orders of battle, logistics and combat results. Factors such as supply, fatigue, experience, morale and the skill of your divisional, corps and army leaders all play an important part in determining the results at the front line. The game comes with 4 massive campaigns as well as many smaller scenarios all with different strategic and operational challenges. This is not for the feint-hearted.

Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault

Publisher/Developer: SEGA / Relic Entertainment
Tags: Real-Time, Tactics, Strategy, Western Front 1944, Single-Player
Purchase: Steam

One of the most mainstream games on this list, the advent of the Western Front Armies, overhaul of its War Spoils system and years of balance refinement cemented Company of Heroes 2's place as a respectable and enjoyable competitive RTS. With the creation of the Ardennes Assault campaign, Company of Heroes 2 now boasts one of the best replayable single player experiences in modern WW2 strategy games. It's even available as a stand-alone expansion, if you really don't want to get the core game.

Ardennes Assault provides players with a strategic territory-capture meta-game layered over the single-player missions; including semi-random events and time-based objectives that change with each playthrough. You have four Companies to command (of which you can utilize 3 in each campaign run) and hard choices in an Iron Man setting that forces the player to think through each move and live with sub-optimal strategies. If you're looking for something less hardcore, or something with a larger player base, then this is a perfect choice.

Steel Division: Normandy '44 (Review)

Publisher/Developer: Paradox Interactive / Eugen Systems
Tags: Division-level, France 1944 Theatre, Real-Time, Team play,
Purchase: Paradox Store, Steam

Eugen Systems made their name creating intense, real-time operational experiences with their Cold War -era Wargame franchise, but the studio's take on World War II is equally as note-worthy. Steel Division experiments with new tools such as dynamic line of site, and area control visualisation to try and give that visceral tactical experience while still ultimately being a Division-level experience. Battles can comprise of up to 20 opponents (10 v 10) fighting across huge swathes of the French countryside. It has a pretty decent solo campaign, and you can also skirmish battle against the AI or other people.

You have to build your ‘army deck’ by choosing what units you want to roll out in each of three combat phases, with each historically inspired Division possessing a unique flavour and speciality for you to focus on. Different forces excel at different times in a battle, and you must also take into account air assets and off-map abilities. The game's been well supported with free patches since launch and currently has two pieces of premium DLC content. The latest one, Back to Hell, is definitely the best of the bunch so far, so make sure you pick that one up at least! We can't wait to see what the sequel will be like.

The Operational Art of War IV (Review)

Publisher/Developer: Matrix Games / Talonsoft
Tags: Operational, Turn Based, Scenarios, Various Theatres, Hex-and-Counter
Purchase: Direct

The world’s secret best wargame of all time, it’s surprising The Operational Art of War hasn’t made all other hex-based wargames obsolete by now. Infinitely flexible, this game has the potential to contain all other wargames inside… a bit like Google and the internet, I guess? The fourth iteration of the series may have only offered a modest amount of improvements, but it keeps the series in place as one of the best titles for deep, operational level warfare. While the 300+ scenarios span everything from WW1 to the Korean War, there are plenty of meaty WW2 scenarios for players to enjoy, and the easy-to-use (ish) editor means that you can add plenty more. From Bill's review:

Trust me it’s worth it. Whether you have all the previous editions as I do, or you are a newcomer just starting out, this game is a must buy. Now toss in over 300 included scenarios, online play not to mention a Jim-dandy scenario editor, and plunking down a few shekels is an even easier decision to make. Yes, I know, most film sequels are never as good as the original, so what are the odds here? They’re pretty good actually. This latest TOAW edition has indeed made an almost perfect classic even better, well deserving a five star rating if not an entire constellation. Two thumbs up for a job very well done.

All it needs now is a WEGO option, and then it’d be damn-near perfect.

Panzer Corps

Publisher/Developer: Matrix Games / Flashback Games
Tags: Turn-Based, 
Purchase: Direct, Steam

Many have tried to claim the throne left by Panzer General, but few have succeeded. The current successor to that classic’s legacy has to be Panzer Corps. Developed by Flashback Games and published by Matrix Games, it provides abstracted, operational-level warfare with a focus on big armoured formations sweeping across maps representing large swathes of Europe. At it’s worst, it could be described as something more akin to a ‘puzzle wargame’, but Panzer Corps has yet to fail to offer a compelling experience to all who’ve taken on its challenge.

Countless DLCs put in you in charge of various nation's armies, from scenarios of the historical to the fantastical. Neat campaign dynamics also add a sense of persistence and drama to every campaign. Official support for the game is pretty much at an end now as work ramps up on Panzer Corps 2, but the original title still stands strong as a turn-based wargame. 

Unity of Command (Review)

Publisher/Developer: 2x2 Games
Tags: Turn-Based, Eastern Front, Operational, Logistics
Purchase: Steam

A truly ‘modern’ wargame, Unity of Command strikes the perfect balance between deep, operational level gameplay, and modern sensibilities like accessible interfaces, easy-on-the-eye visuals and recognising that NATO counters aren’t the be-all and end-all of everything. Specialising in supply and logistics, Unity of Command’s turn-based warfare featured a challenging AI, and really made you stop and think about what you were doing. The only downside to Unity of Command is that it’s not Unity of Command 2, which is looking amazing.

This game is easy to get into, yet one of those wargames that challenges you in a way to not make you walk away, but to make you sit up straight and huff some steam out of your nose and say, "Alright, lets try that again!" The AI in some of the harder scenarios can definitely put some of the more experienced wargamers through some heated moments, but not in a cheating fashion.

Close Combat Series

Publisher/Developer: Matrix Games / Various
Tags: 2D, Tactics, Real-Time, Series, Various Theatres
Purchase: GOG.com, Steam

No WW2 list would be complete without the father of modern WW2 tactical strategy games. Close Combat struck the perfect balance between ‘grog’-like wargaming tradition and mainstream strategy design. Depending on which title you played, it manged to straddle the line between hardcore and mainstream with remarkable grace. The one I played the most was Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far - it what made me fall in love with the idea of persistence forces and armies, and I don't think I ever completed it.

There are mixed opinions regarding the ‘Matrix-era’ of Close Combat games, but the series in general remains a shining example of WW2 videogame heritage. Thanks to GOG, you can now legally purchase the original classics once more, and the series is striking out in a bold new 3D direction with the new upcoming entry, Close Combat: The Bloody First.

What would your list of favourite WW2 wargames look like? Answers on a post card, let the battle commence!

Hearts of Iron 4 can be unapologetic ally brutal to new wargamers with the sheer amount of systems involved, and especially after several DLCs and patches. Whether it’s figuring out how to structure your forces or what plan of action to take as an Allied state facing imminent doom in 1936, it can be quite a challenge.

Luckily for you, that's where we come in! Now you have a handy guide to aid you in navigating the choppy waters of the second war to end all wars. Make sure you're up to speed with all the latest changes as of the Man the Guns DLC.

PART ONE: THE DIVISION DESIGNER, YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND

Before we talk about the grand strategies that will fuel your world dominating/liberating campaign, it’s important to talk about the cogs in your war-machine. The level of control you have over the makeup of individual divisions and ships can be daunting, but as long as you follow the rules laid out to you, you will be conquering away in no time.

The Army

Arguably the most important part of an HOI4 military, most of the game’s combat mechanics revolve around divisions slugging it out with their evil counterparts on the opposing side. The most distinguishing feature between any two divisions is their makeup in the Division Designer. Here, you can add and subtract different types of battalions from a division, altering its combat stats and overall performance.

One of the most important considerations to take into account when designing a division is combat width. Each division will take up an amount of space on the battlefield, and having more divisions on a side in a fight will lead to reduced effectiveness, or will block reinforcements from joining the fight altogether. Most battlefields will have “combat width” of 80, meaning that optimal division sizes should be either 20 or 40, if you’re looking to min-max as much as possible (Note: if a province is attacked from multiple directions simultaneously, each new province will add 40 to the total allowed combat width, which means more units will be able to fight at once). Generally, frontline battalions will have a width of 2, the most common exceptions being dedicated anti-air and anti-tank battalions. These both cost 1 width as they’re not considered 'frontline' fighters. Artillery is the other main outlier, costing a heavy 3 width. If you’re approaching your comfortable limit, consider adding a support artillery company rather than an artillery battalion. These 'support' companies don’t bring as much firepower as their larger counterparts, but they add nothing to the total combat width of a division.

On the subject of support companies, two that are almost necessary to include are the engineer company and the recon company. The engineer company increases the amount a division can entrench itself, meaning that given enough time, a single division with an engineering team can become a major problem for an attacking force. Through research, the engineering team will also increase the general attack and defense of the division, particularly in rough terrain, i.e. urban environments, across rivers, forts, etc. The recon company provides simpler benefits: speed and reconnaissance. A division with a recon team will move 10% faster across every terrain type, meaning they can reach the fight faster. This is incredibly important for any division that can expect to fight, but particularly so for divisions that use vehicles. When your division does get into a fight, reconnaissance determines which tactic a side will pick in battle. The higher the reconnaissance value one side has in the fight, the higher the chance their general will pick a favorable or countering pick to the opposing force’s choice.

There are other considerations to take into account when forming a division, such as what your enemies’ divisions look like, and where you will be fighting them. For example, a division meant to fight tanks in European plains is going to suffer heavily if fighting infantry in African jungles. As such, here are some general tips to keep in mind when building divisions:

• The more battalions a division has, the more supplies it will need, so “heavier” divisions will frequently suffer attrition in bad terrain. Try using smaller divisions, or adding logistics companies to reduce the negative effects of the environment.
• All divisions that use trucks, half-tracks, or tanks should invest in a maintenance company. These companies will increase the reliability of the vehicles, meaning less are lost to attrition, and they will also capture a percentage of enemy equipment for you to use.
• Anti-air companies/ battalions increase your air superiority in a province, but they will only target close air support aircraft, not aircraft with strategic bombing missions (presumably, they fly too high for the anti-air guns to shoot them down).
• Standard “leg infantry” divisions are the most reliable and cost effective divisions you could hope for. You can build an infantry division to 20 width, add the necessary support companies, and then copy the template so you can alter it to fit your specific needs. Most of your divisions should be infantry divisions.
• Motorized divisions are faster than mechanized divisions until the third halftrack becomes available, keep this in mind when looking for speed.
• A division only travels as fast as its slowest part, so it may be wise to pair up a single super heavy tank battalion with an infantry division, as they move at the same speed.
• A single anti-tank company with the most up-to-date guns can allow most divisions to pierce enemy armor.
• Infantry has naturally higher organization than tank battalions and support gun battalions. As such, for campaigns that see units being in repeated battles, divisions with a higher ratio of infantry will be able to stay in the front lines longer.

For more information on divisions, I recommend checking out the Hearts of Iron 4 wiki page on the Division Designer & land combat stats.

Editor's Note:Grand (Strategy) Master T.J. Hafer also wrote a Division build guide for us that you can check out, although it's a tad outdated at the moment - part of the reason we decided to launch a new, more comprehensive tips guide for the game.

The Navy

The naval mechanics just had a major overhaul recently, so don’t feel alone if you’re confused about what’s new. Ships used to have a similar improvement structure to armored land vehicles and aircraft (which we’ll cover after this section) where a specific ship would be researched, then could be improved by spending experience points. Now hull types rather than whole ships can be researched, as well as the individual modules for ships. Every ship has an amount of slots that can be filled by these modules, but the catch is that ships will take longer to be built with advanced modules and higher amounts of modules overall. There are also restrictions on what ship types can equip certain modules. It doesn’t make much sense to put an aircraft hangar on a submarine, even though you really want to!

There are 5 main types of ship hulls: destroyer, cruiser, heavy, carrier, and submarine. There is a 6^th hull type, the super heavy hull, but that only exists as an alteration of the 1936 heavy ship. These ships can vary widely in their roles based on what modules are placed on them, so we’ll go into a breakdown of the general capabilities of specific hull types.

Destroyers are light and fast ships that are some of the quickest to produce. They can be outfitted with some modest main guns, but the 2 main uses of destroyers are as torpedo boats and submarine hunters. Due to their speed, a large amount of destroyers can swarm enemy heavy ships and deal heavy damage with torpedoes. These fleets are relatively easy to build due to the short build time of destroyers, and everything but torpedoes can be stripped off the ship to make the build time even quicker, though this will render them ineffective in any other situation. Destroyers can also be outfitted with sonar and depth charges, which is the one way surface vessels can attack submarines. Curiously, due to naval battle AI, submarines will flee almost any battle with depth charge-equipped destroyers, being that the destroyers can actually hurt them. This means that as of the current patch (1.6.2), destroyers may actually function better as convoy raiders than submarines, because destroyers will not automatically flee the second a small enemy force appears (Note: thanks to Rimmy for pointing this out in his HOI4 video!). This will hopefully not be true forever, but keep this in mind for the near future.

Cruisers are the most versatile of the hull types, with the ability to fill almost any role needed. Cruisers can be outfitted with heavy guns and armor, classifying them as heavy cruisers that can perform reasonably well as capital ships. Alternatively, they can have lighter guns mounted with a stronger engine, and they can pursue marauding destroyer packs, or they can have several anti-air batteries bolted to the deck as a means of creating a floating “no-fly zone.” But even though cruisers can cover many different bases, they don’t excel as much as the ship types that are meant to perform in those roles. Cruisers take longer to build than destroyers and aren’t quite as fast, and the heaviest cruiser will most likely lose a prolonged engagement with an enemy battleship. Even so, they can be a multi-tool for any situation, and can be refitted to change their role in the seas.

Heavy ships are the undisputed kings of the sea in the first several years of the game. They have access to the thickest armor and the largest guns out of all ship types, but they are generally slower than other ships, and take longer to build as well. The big guns on battleships are excellent at killing cruisers and other capital ships, but they are less accurate against destroyers. Battleships can trade some of their extra module space for smaller guns specifically meant to target lesser ships, but this lessens the effectiveness of the battleship in its primary role, which is to fight the enemy’s capital ships. Battleships also take a very long time to build compared to smaller ships, meaning that ships you begin construction on will likely be equipped with subpar tech by the time they launch. However, an old battleship is still a battleship, and can be very useful when working with a capable fleet.

Carriers are very straightforward as far as ships go: their sole purpose is to launch aircraft that will assist in combat. Aircraft are very effective against enemy fleets in large numbers, but a fleet with solid anti-air cover can severely inhibit a carrier’s ability to do its job. Outside of fighting specific anti-carrier fleets, carriers are arguably the strongest ship type in the game for the ability to project air power not only in battle, but in the sea region the carrier is operating in, or even the neighboring land province. Much like battleships, carriers do take a long time to build, but this battleships and some cruisers can make up for this time by performing carrier conversions that slap a flight deck onto these ships after removing the guns. They do not have the same aircraft capacity full carriers do, but they can be sufficient as support carriers. Carriers are vitally important to fleets in HOI4: if you don’t want to build any of your own, you should still plan to specifically target and kill enemy carriers.

Speaking of killing enemy carriers, Submarines excel at hunting down enemy capital ships and shipping. They are also very, very cheap compared to other ships, so a fleet of submarines can quickly be assembled to threaten unprotected enemy ships. However, due to the strange AI behavior mentioned in the destroyer section, submarines are currently cowards, and will flee from battle the second a destroyer appears.  As such, the usefulness of submarines is limited, but a large amount of submarines spread out on shipping lanes will still have an impact on enemy resources and troops.

General tips on building up a navy:

• Submarines, destroyers, light cruisers, and eventually bombers can lay mines in naval regions if they have minelaying modules. It may be beneficial to build cheap ships that just have minelaying / minesweeping capabilities so you can quickly build up defenses or clear them out as the need arises.
• Don’t be afraid to launch a ship then immediately send it to be refit with newer technology, the benefit of the newer tech can be worth the wait.
• Air superiority will impact the effectiveness of naval missions, so provide air cover for your fleets when possible.
• Build your fleet to counter the enemy fleet. If the enemy is focusing on building mainly capital ships, invest in torpedo technology. If the enemy likes swarms of smaller ships, build ships with many light guns that are more effective against those ships.
• Research engines early, being faster than the enemy fleet will give your ships a huge advantage.
• The bigger the ship, the more fuel it consumes. Ships with more advanced engines will use more fuel, so keep that in mind when your fuel is running dry.

The Air Force

The air power part of the combat trifecta is undoubtedly the most abstract, and has less moving parts than either of the other two dimensions. However, it is airpower that can be the determining factor in land or sea battles, so it is important to detail. Aircraft are split into 2 main trees, which I’ll refer to as the “light” and “heavy” trees.

The “light” tree has close air supports (CAS), fighters, and naval bombers. These aircraft are generally more agile and faster than the aircraft in the other tree, but have less heavy armaments and have shorter ranges than the heavy aircraft. These aircraft also have carrier variants that are generally slightly slower than their land-based counterparts, along with further reduced range. Light aircraft are meant to be deployed at the tactical level, or attached to an army so they follow them along the front as support.

The “heavy” aircraft consist of the heavy fighter, the tactical bomber, and the strategic bomber. These aircrafts have longer range and stronger armaments than the “light” aircraft, but consume more manpower, and are not as good at targeting specific units. “Heavy” aircraft, due to their range and their intended targets are generally better at the strategic level.

All aircraft can have variants that be upgraded in 4 categories: reliability, range, attack, and engine. Generally when creating a variant of an aircraft, it is beneficial to upgrade the category that the aircraft already is dominant in, in order to increase their strengths. For example, a fighter’s strength comes from its high agility, which both helps them to attempt attacks on enemy aircraft and avoid attacks from the enemy. Upgrading the agility of fighters would give them even more of an advantage over the enemy. However, the other categories do not need to be neglected for the “preferred” category, but every point sunk into an upgrade makes the next one more costly in experience points, so spend carefully!

General air composition tips:

• Heavy fighters perform better in larger provinces due to their increased range, while regular fighters perform better in smaller regions.
• Upgrading reliability on aircraft is always a smart move as this will decrease the amount of aircraft lost to accidents.
• The strategic bomber is relatively expensive compared to the tactical bomber. It may be wise to build more of the less effective tactical bombers for strategic bombing in order to have enough aircraft bombing the enemy’s factories.
• Heavy fighters are more expensive than regular fighters, but heavy fighters count more towards air supremacy for your side. Consider investing in a more agile heavy fighter to make more use of this effect.
• If you have multiple air bases in an air region, investing in longer-ranged aircraft is less important so you can rebase the aircraft to where you need them.

PART TWO: THE SECOND WAR TO END ALL WARS

1. ALLIES (+ UNITED STATES)

The Allies have two options at the beginning of the game. Stall as they did historically, waiting until the Germans swallow up too many other states or declare a direct war on an Allied state, or take the riskier option and seize the initiative, attacking the Germans before they can build up the fearsome army that rolled across Europe.

The first option is the “safer” one in the long run, as the main Allied states, the United Kingdom and France, have strong economies and can build up defenses, fuel refineries, and radar stations before the Germans swing around to confront them. Perhaps the Allies may even get lucky and have the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact fall apart and see a war between the Axis and ComIntern, allowing even more time to prepare? In any case, the United States cannot be counted out, and the Allies should do everything in their power to encourage the United States to join the war as quickly as possible. The US has such vast amounts of manpower and natural resources that they can easily turn the tide of the war.

However, the Germans are decidedly weaker early on, and with a combined effort from the UK and France, may prove to be an easy target. It is important to note that the UK does not have a huge military in 1936, and will likely play a support role to France’s army. Italy should also not be counted out, as they have a decently sized and experienced army, fresh out of the conflict in Ethiopia. Those forces can prove to be a major distraction if left alone to run rampant around Africa, where both France and the UK have many important colonies.

1A. THE UNITED KINGDOM

The UK needs to decide whether to abandon the continent and focus on the navy to keep Germans at bay, or to put more resources into the army and potentially risk a weaker navy, opening the isles to attack. There’s not much getting around this quandary, because the United Kingdom has a relatively sizable amount of factories in 1936, but they have not sufficiently re-militarized since World War 1 to call them truly powerful. If the British go for a continental intervention, they can bottle the German navy up in the Baltic Sea if they manage to take the German land adjacent to the North Sea. This can negate the danger the German navy poses to the isles, and will prevent a sudden invasion.

However, this gamble may not work against the Germans, who can be formidable even at their weakest. It may be beneficial to focus on growing the home industry rather than focusing directly on the military in order to give a better long-term advantage. If a more defensive strategy is planned, the UK should take this time to work on building sea forts, AA guns, and radar stations. The British Isles have been historically difficult to conquer for a reason; you can use that to your advantage!

Suggested pre-war strategies:

• Build many civilian factories early, you will need them for the various defenses you’ll be building on the home islands.
• Research air technology to help defend the infrastructure of the UK (and France too if you’re feeling generous); better fighters and radar helped win the Battle of Britain historically, it can work in HOI4 too!
• The UK is not known for having great amounts of manpower, consider a land doctrine that takes this into account.
• The UK can call upon its several Dominions to help during wartime, make sure to make use of your colonies’ manpower!

1B. France

France starts in 1936 with one of the largest land armies in the world, rivaled only by the USSR and Japan. Should France decide to do so, they can build up their forces and present a very challenging foe to the Germans. The Italians cannot be counted out though, and France will end up fighting a two-front war. Fortunately for the French, they have many natural barriers in place to help block the advance of their enemies. The French should focus their efforts on making the homeland as impregnable as possible, building forts along the border with Germany and Italy, as well as with Belgium (the Germans pulled the same “let’s go around them!” trick twice in the 20^th century, make sure you keep an eye on Germans approaching from the north!).

Unfortunately, the French have several important colonies scattered around the world that need defending as well. If the military industry is prioritized at the beginning of the game however, a decent stockpile of equipment can be built up before these resources are threatened. The most important part of France is France itself, and should be defended at all costs.

• France has plenty of manpower early on, but is lacking in industry. Focus on factories to remain competitive.
• France starts with 53 divisions in France itself, make sure these divisions get trained and are stationed on the borders. They can overwhelm the Germans if timed properly!
• A Mediterranean fleet will help keep the Italians pinned down in the Alps as your forces take care of the Germans in the north. Even though Germany and Italy are France’s neighbors, fighting them on the sea is still important.

1C. THE UNITED STATES

The United States has easily the most dominant industry in 1936. However, presenting a problem to the rest of the Allies, they are isolated and not a member of the Allies faction. During the period of time before the US can convince its citizens to allow it to fight, the US can provide much needed fuel and equipment to the Allies and the USSR.

Unlike the other major states in the Allies, Japan will play a serious threat to US interests in the Pacific. The US will need to build a sizable fleet to deal with the Japanese, and will need to deal with a 2-front war. Unlike any other state in the game however, the US has unparalleled natural resources and manpower, and can be the strongest state in the game.

• The US can afford to build divisions that sap more manpower because of the reserves they have, use this to your advantage.
• The US will not enter the war immediately, as such, they have more time to build equipment, build factories, and build ships. The US can enter the war in a position of strength.
• Fighting the Japanese in the Pacific can be very difficult without marines. Make use of their naval invasion bonuses to seize islands with airfields so you can bomb the next set of islands.
• Invading Europe through Africa may prove easier than landing in Normandy. After attacking Italy, another naval invasion in the south of France will be relatively simple to set up.

2. COMINTERN/ THE USSR

The USSR is the only major state in ComIntern in 1936. The USSR has a great amount of manpower and natural resources, second only to the United States, but is held back by early internal conflicts. The USSR can see a civil war before World War 2 proper breaks out, and will need to be prepared to defend itself against the rebels.

This isn’t even mentioning the main threat to the USSR, Germany. The Germans are capable of getting a large mechanized force quickly, and will spell trouble for the USSR in the early game. Much like Germany, the USSR is in a weaker state closer to the start, so preparations to increase the strength of the military should be an early priority to avoid presenting a welcoming target for the Germans. The Japanese may also be interested in taking a bite out of the eastern part of the USSR, and defenses should be built up in case the Japanese decide that China alone isn’t enough for them (Note: China is never enough for the Japanese).

The USSR’s strategy before a world war breaks out should focus on two key areas. The first area is to further build up the industry of the USSR so that troops will be properly equipped when the war kicks off, and the other area is supporting Communist allies wherever possible. The USSR stands largely alone in 1936, with its only allies being Mongolia and Tannu Tuva. Neither of these states can offer much in the way of direct military support or through lend lease, and additional support is necessary if you’re looking to establish ComIntern as the new world order. The USSR should secure as many Communist allies as possible so that it will not stand alone against the Axis or Allies when the time comes.

• Communist China is a next-door Communist neighbor that can prove a useful distraction against the Japanese, or even a helpful ally against the Germans if the war in China goes well. Support them as much as possible without getting directly involved by way of lend lease.
• Station troops prior to the war in cold areas as much as possible. This will acclimate them to the extreme cold weather they will face in combat, and reduce the penalties they take.
• Many states around the world have large blocks of Communist support, even if they are not fully Communist. Use Political Power to pressure these states into becoming Communist, then invite them to ComIntern.

3. AXIS (+ JAPAN)

The Axis in 1936 is just Germany, but will typically invite Italy and other small European powers in within the next few years. The main problem facing the Axis is that they are wedged between the two other main factions. The Allies in Western Europe are watching the aggressive actions of Germany and Italy closely, and will likely intervene should the Axis go “too far.” To the east, the USSR will be looking to expand Communist influence further into Europe, and will gladly take opportunities to go to war with the Axis.

Both Germany and Italy have several options to take in terms of annexing small European states, but doing so may trigger the wrath of the Allies.  It may be best to focus efforts on fighting the USSR rather than the Allies, as the USSR will be the larger challenge early on. With this in mind however, the UK and the US both have focuses that will target Germany, so the clock is ticking, regardless of the path the Axis decides to take.

3A. GERMANY

Germany begins in a highly precarious position in 1936. The Wehrmacht is strong but not almighty, and there are eyes watching what happens in Central Europe closely. Growing too quickly and being too greedy can bring down the wrath of the British and French, who are both relatively stronger than Germany in 1936. However, annexing the neighboring territories will supply Germany with much needed manpower and natural resources. Germany should also look for oil sources early, as their sources will be lost quickly during wartime, and their convoys will be harassed by British fleets.

Germany has a strong industry and can easily build up a mechanized military. It is important, however, to not neglect the defenses around Germany, as any war it fights can easily become a multi-front war. Layers of forts and AA guns will reduce the damage done by outside forces, and free up precious manpower for offensives.

Germany has multiple areas it can annex pre-war: Austria, Czechoslovakia, parts of Yugoslavia, and Poland. The initial Anschluss is a relatively safe option, but the more land Germany takes, the more likely the victim of the annexation will fight back, and that the Allies will intervene to protect the annexee. Be patient, but remember, you’re on the clock, with the USSR all too eager to roll right into Europe.

• It will be difficult for Germany to build a fleet to stand up to the British directly. Look into building submarines and naval bombers to even the odds for your surface vessels.
• Refineries will be key as Germany will need oil for their vehicles, but will not produce enough naturally once the war starts. Be sure to build up a big stockpile, you will need it.
• Try to fight one enemy at a time. Germany can become quite powerful by 1939, but they did end up losing the two-front war they fought historically.

3B. ITALY

Italy starts off in war against Ethiopia in 1936, which is a unique situation. The war is not a difficult one to win, considering Italy’s much larger military, but crossing the mountains will prove time-consuming and fights against Ethiopian defenders can drain manpower if you’re not careful. After defeating Ethiopia, a few imperial options exist for a historic Italy. Yugoslavia can either be befriended or claims on Slovenia and Dalmatia can be pressed against them. Additionally, Albania can be occupied, extending Italian control well down both sides of the Adriatic Sea. However, much like Germany’s annexations, aggressive actions can draw the ire of the Allies, so an expansionist Italy should be prepared to fight to defend these conquests.

A strong fleet is necessary to Italy’s survival once war begins as most of Italy’s oil sources are located in Libya. A Mediterranean fleet can ferry troops back and forth from Italy to Africa, as well as halting direct invasions from Africa. Outside of the difficult option of attacking over the Alps in Western Italy, the only viable invasion option for the Allies will be from African bases. Should Italy manage to seize the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar, invasion will be almost impossible.

One of Italy’s largest weaknesses is the lack of a strong industry in 1936. The player should focus on building more factories to allow for quicker construction in Italy’s conquests, as well as preparing defenses along the French-Italian border. It’s also advisable to build up a large stockpile of fuel, because British and French troops in Africa may be able to cut off Italian access to oil.

• Lighter divisions can go a long way in Africa. Most divisions will suffer heavy attrition penalties when fighting in the desert, so consider building divisions with low supply cost.
• The Suez Canal can be destroyed after being captured. To prevent reinforcements coming from further east, a mission to seize and destroy the canal may offer some breathing room to Italian forces in Africa.
• Greece is a potential war target as well, but their mountains make it a difficult country to attack. If you really must attack Greece, bring lots of mountaineers.

3C. JAPAN

Japan needs oil. Japan really needs oil. The 1936 start sees Japan with one of the largest navies in the world, a sizable air force, and a relatively mechanized army, but not nearly enough fuel to support these forces for long. There are several options for expanding into the South Pacific to seize oil sources, but this will quickly bring Japan to conflict with the Allies. Japan must act quickly and decisively in order to ensure their military continues getting fuel.

China presents a major opportunity for the Japanese, as you can play the Chinese warlords against each other for land, but when pushed too hard, they may join together to fight you off. It’s important to form a balanced expansion that will not quickly turn the Chinese against you, but going too slow will allow them to unify on their own anyway. In either case, China will be where most of Japan’s forces will see action for the first few years of the game, and may be the main battleground for Japan in general. If possible, seek to eliminate major Chinese states before antagonizing any other states, particularly the United States.

The United States has a much higher industrial potential than Japan, and will in all likelihood attack by the early 1940’s, whether provoked or not. The Japanese need their navy to act as a shield against the Americans. Striking early will bring the Americans into the war sooner, but it will also put a likely inferior American navy against a modernized Japanese navy.

• Use light infantry divisions with engineers for defending the various islands. Marines get most of their benefits when attacking, so if you’re going to be on the defensive, don’t waste your marines on a non-critical island.
• The Japanese navy won’t see too much action before the Americans enter the war, but it is very important to have the strongest navy possible to prevent the Americans crippling Japanese operations in the Pacific.
• When building planes, remember that most of their operations will take place over large ocean territories. Upgrade their range when you can to make their sorties more efficient.

4. UNALIGNED

Congratulations! You’re a target for the larger factions. Your main goal during the prewar period should be seeking out the faction that’s most likely to win (or at least help you survive) and doing what you can to gain their approval. That way, when you inevitably draw the ire of the bullies on the block, you have allies that at the very least can be a distraction to the enemy.

General strategy should revolve around building heavy forts on borders and doing what you can to increase natural resource production through the excavation research in the industry tech tree, and through building refineries. States are more likely to look favorably on you if they’re trading with you. The other benefit of expanded industry will be the ability to quickly convert civilian factories into military factories to churn out weapons (for you or a lend-lease ally) as soon as things start to look sour.

• Most unaligned states (Chinese states excluded) will frequently have lower manpower than the major states. Keep this in mind when selecting land doctrines. If you aren’t able to get a large mechanized military, the Grand Battleplan doctrine gives an entrenchment bonus, perfect for waiting out a long war.
• At the very least, build fighters to defend your forces and factories from above. Losing air superiority can be devastating to ground forces, and having your factories bombed can cut off critical supplies.
• Hire a political advisor that will guide your state in the direction of the faction you wish to ally with. Becoming that ideology will make that faction friendlier to you, and more likely to offer you protection.

5. AHISTORICAL STRATEGIES

With historical focuses turned off, things can very quickly become crazy for everyone on the map. The UK may decide to become fascist, America could fight a second civil war over civil rights, and Trotsky could end up leading a Communist Mexico. Nothing is guaranteed now without the guiding hand of history there to smooth everything out, and so the main goal for a player without the benefit of hindsight is to join or form a faction and make friends with resources.

The main states to watch out for are the ones who have gotten alternate history focus trees. This will make them unpredictable allies. You can more frequently depend on states who are using focus trees from launch, as there are less alternate history options there. Additionally, states with generic focus trees are more likely to act unpredictably, but they will generally stay neutral as usual. Make these neutral states your allies when possible, to ensure you have a (relatively) trustworthy friend at your side when the going gets tough.

• Autarky! Becoming self-sufficient means that you won’t have to rely on a potential future enemy for resources. Either build refineries to grow your own stockpile, or make friends with some generic focus tree states who are less likely to stab you in the back by suddenly becoming Fascist.
• Be prepared to fight in unexpected places. Many ahistorical campaigns will see fighting in South America, a place World War 2 never reached. Build divisions prepared to fight in specialized locations, as generalized divisions will perform worse than one made to fight in the jungle/the desert/ etc.
• Keep an eye on your focus tree. Some trees depend on another state choosing their historical path in order to work. You can’t become Democratic best friends with the United States if they’re Fascist! Either speed through these focuses as quickly as possible, or choose the self-sufficient options to eliminate external factors.

What other guidance would you like to see? Let us know your top Hearts of Iron 4 tips in the comments!

I’m sure it was coincidence, but about the same time as a pervious article on Tabletop Simulator (or TTS) popped up here on The Wargamer, the software went on sale for a few days. Obviously I picked up a copy to see what all the fuss was about, and in doing so downloaded about 30 commercial wargame adaptation DLC type modules (a lot unlicensed, but more on that later). Here we are talking SPI, Decision Games and a LOT of stuff from GMT. Thus the customer created DLC on GMT’s Borodino Napoleonic boardgame is the case study yours truly has decided to review for this week’s tome.

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF). So long as you remember that TTS is NOT, repeat NOT, really a game but an alternative digital interface for board and miniature wargaming, you would be well advised to grab this little gem for your conflict simulation tool chest. Just don’t get the idea it’s something it’s not.

Preliminaries

TTS is published by Beserk Games and lists for $19.99 US. Although TTS does have some ready made “games” for purchase, the primary focus of the software seems to be as a toolbox allowing end users to create their own DLCs, and most importantly for the wargaming community, as a platform for importing and playing customer made DLCs off Steam. Because TTS is really heavy on graphics vice actual gaming functionality, the hardware requirements are a bit heftier than you might expect. They include, minimum:

OS: Windows 7 SP1+ (but amazingly, MAC OS and Linux are also supported)
Processor: SSE2 instruction set support.
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Graphics card with DX10 (shader model 4.0) capabilities.
DirectX: Version 10
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 3 GB available space

Once you sign into Steam, the place to be is TTS Community page and then under the Workshop tab where you click Browse and then click Collections. This will bring up a list of bards who have programmed their own – FREE – modules for the software. There are 11,598 boardgames available not to mention 8850 so called strategy games. Of these very few are reproductions of legitimate computer games, although I did see one for Star Citizen. Instead there are a lot cardboard and counter games, and not surprisingly, far more miniature wargames. Why? Well although there is plenty of content for historical miniature gaming such as the Bolt Action World War II franchise, and to my surprise, quite a bit for the Battletech Universe, the 800 pound gorilla in the room is – wait for it – Warhammer 40K so we are talking of hundreds of TTS modules, maybe thousands. Seriously, this should be a veritable Cease and Desist litigation magnet for GW, but so far it hasn’t happened.

However, if you are reading this, its likely you’ll want to go to a collection like TTS Wargames as of 5/2018 which has a pretty lengthy list of traditional wargames, to include more casual offerings such as Axis and Allies. Click on any game that interests you, say the Avalon Hill 1975 game Tobruk, and then click the button to Subscribe to it. Or you can just click on the small green box with a “+” by every game in the original list and it will change to a check mark, thus allowing you to subscribe to multiple modules at a single shot. Now the games selected will appear in your copy of TTS.

And bringing up your stash in TTS couldn’t be easier. Once you open the game (and stifle the Legend of Zelda– Super Mario Brothers music), you will see a white box with two square buttons. Click on the button with the green icon that says CREATE, then hit the popup icon that says SINGLEPLAYER. This will take you to a second screen with several line items, one of which sports a light blue icon labeled WORKSHOP. Click this and every TTS module you subscribed to will appear as an icon, normally the game’s original box cover. Click on one and it will import the game from Steam, load it and you will invariably find yourself in a Victorian parlor looking at a nice table with the game map, charts and counters all laid out and set up. In most cases the actual rulebook from the original game is not available, but this is not always the case. You are ready to begin.

La Bataille de la Moscowa

I downloaded a lot for TTS, but I finally decided to play GMT’s Borodino – Battle of the Moscowa 1812. First, I have the game, so I have the rules (trust me, this is important), and second it’s relatively simple to play so it provides an excellent entry point into using TTS for wargaming. It’s also not a particularly large game so this makes easier still. Yes, there is larger and more complex modules available, such as GMTs Three Days of Gettysburg (think Terrible Swift Sword on steroids), but I wouldn’t tackle something like this first.

With this game the first thing TTS shows you is an exact copy of the GMT Borodino hex map with on-map charts and all counters deployed, laying flat on a table. The screen has several icons along the top and on the left edge. Most, but not all, have to do with designing your own DLC so can be ignored. Also along the table’s edge are stand up combat charts (tinted too dark IMHO), some dice, reinforcement and admin counters, timers, a calculator and an ominous looking bag. This bag holds order and corps activation chits as well as an artillery bombardment chit. Borodino uses a random chit pull to determine what formation, regardless of side, will play next and these are contained within the bag. Right click and select either Draw or Deal and one chit will display, such as Constantine’s Russian Imperial Guard Corps. Also on the table is a small notecard giving the URL for a free PDF of the rules, as Borodino is part of GMT’s Living Rules program.

From that point you play the game, literally, with little to no assistance from the computer, as if you were playing solitaire with the map and counters set up right in front of you on the kitchen  table. Yes TTS will roll the die and give you a numerical result. Yes, TTS will let you move counters with via mouse elevated drag and drop with the shadow of the hovering piece showing precisely the hex it will land in when it falls. Yes you can change the facing of a counter by rotating it hexside by hexside. Yes, you can flip the counter to its other side when taking a step loss and yes, the game will black out a portion of the map for you to produce a Fog of War environment. TTS will also save the game for you so you can return later and continue play.

You do everything else, to include cheating if you want. You have to manually determine DRMs during combat to adjust for tactics and terrain and apply them yourself to the die roll, then apply the results. You have to adjust movement for condition and terrain, because the software will not stop your advance when you run out of movement points. Thus if you want to, you can move father than the rules allow, over-stack in a hex, so on and so on. If reinforcements are due, you the player, must place them on the map because the software will not automatically do it for you.

Like I said at the top, not a real game, but an alternative graphics package allowing you to do it yourself on the screen vice in person. Its like TTS is providing the table space, but you are still doing most of the work. And while this was my first stab at the system, I have to say it worked pretty well. There really wasn’t any great difference with me playing the game solitaire this way, or with paper and cardboard. It took about the same amount of time, and the map was small enough I didn’t have to worry about zooming out to nothingness or excessive map adjustments to see what was off screen.

Good, Bad or Ugly?

So what’s my verdict? Well it works. While the idea is novel and delivers on what it promises, its not like TTS advances some radical new style of gameplay or rules philosophy. And there are a couple of areas I think are candidate for improvement. First while TTS will let you zoom, spin and tilt the map, there doesn’t seem to be a way to simply scroll on the map from left to right or top to bottom. Also, a good help section keyed to each module would do well given you have to translate common wargaming into TTS-ese. In Borodino, you pick a chit to determine corps activation, but it might be real nice to know that the poker concept of “Deal” to all participants is the way you make that happen. Trial and error works, but can be annoying.

On the plus side, however, TTS does recognize that many boardgamers, to include solitaire gamers, simply do not like using computers and many more simply do not trust the AI as an opponent or die roller. Yet there is always the problem of having to leave a game up, vulnerable to the machinations of the household Flerken Kitty going nose to nose with the French Imperial Guard and swatting them back to Fontainebleau. TTS fixes this and it is also nice to see a lot of out of print classics showing up as TTS modules, complete with rules. Some of the best games I ever played – cue Avalon Hill’s France 1940– are out of print and near impossible to find. This can really suck. One of my own military PCSs saw the moving van burn to the ground with all my games inside, so ask me how I know. For these two issues alone, TTS is worth a look.

But now copyright. There is a lot of infringement going on here, but in a lot of cases nobody cares because the games in question are the paper version of abandonware. Likewise GMT and other firms have given their permission for such antics so long as one user has a paper copy of the game. Given their Living Rules program, that’s a lot of trust. Other companies, not so much. Under the US DRMA (Digital Rights Management Act) it is perfectly legit for end users to download this stuff, but not for the community to design and upload the stuff without permission, nor for firms like Steam to maintain it if hit with a Take Down request. So with the GWs of the world still lurking around, if you are interested in what TTS can do for you, make haste. Otherwise if something disappears at least now you know why.

So in conclusion, TTS may not be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but what it does it does well. It’s a neat little option to have and I heartily recommend you give it a whirl.

Next week will mark the end of Imperator: Rome’s first month of existence. It’s certainly been a tumultuous period – a recent earnings call proved that the new grand-strategy IP has exceeded sales expectations, but it also got a larger vocal backlash than was anticipated.

For a recap of our own thoughts, you should check out my review over on our sister website. The dev team’s stated plans for the immediate future of the game are already looking promising, but while we wait for them to roll out why not considered picking up some new books to expand your knowledge base? Imperator: Rome covers a wide swathe of the Mediterranean world – especially the struggles between the Diadochi – but my own interest in the game has always been firmly rooted in Rome itself.

The following books are from my own personal collection – they largely look at warfare and the Roman Army, but they also cover other concepts like how Rome governed its growing empire. These books cover everything from the early Republic through to the fall of Western Empire, where-as Imperator itself ends its timeline just before the historical establishment of the Principate, but it still makes for some excellent reading. I’ve also thrown in some of personal favourite works of fiction at the end.

Wargamer is an Amazon affiliate.

Pax Romana: War, Peace & Conquest in the Roman World (2017)

Author: Adrian Goldsworthy
Pages: 528
Buy:Amazon

Goldsworthy has spent his entire career writing about Rome and is considered one of the field’s leading experts. In many ways it doesn’t really matter which of his books you pick up, but as an author he should be high on anyone’s reading list. Pax Romana stands out for me as it does a brilliant job at presenting different aspects of Rome’s identity in ways that mainstream media and texts often gloss over. His chapters devoted to how the Roman’s ruled (in the Republic & the Principate) and Rome’s relationship with realms outside their borders are especially illuminating and present a fascinating narrative of Rome’s (sometimes accidental) expansion and transition into imperial overlord.

Other Goldsworthy books worth checking out are:

The Complete Roman Army (2011) (Amazon)

An in-depth guide to the Roman Army, how it operated, how it evolved and how it fought. Mainly focuses on the 1st-3rd Centuries AD but there’s some good Republican-era material as well.

Roman Warfare (2019) (Amazon)

Less of an in-depth guide and more of a narrative of Rome’s military history told via the lens of key conflicts and battles up to the fall of the West. Goes into some wars in more details than others but is generally meant to be a top-level view of the subject.

Veni, Vidi, Vici: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Romans But Were Too Afraid to Ask (2014)

Author: Peter Jones
Pages: 416
Buy:Amazon

Mass-market history is often a double-edged sword; it’s able to provide insight into very complex areas of history in a manner that’s easy to parse, but in doing so leaves out much of the nuance and debate central to historical study. Still, theses kinds of tomes have their uses and I personally have enjoyed reading Jones’ work in VVV,

He presents the history of the Roman people from Rome’s mythical foundation, right through to the Western Empire’s collapse in bite-sized factoids that follow a loose narrative. By design he’s had to settle on specific interpretations of various concepts to avoid bogging down the text with debate, but at the same time he largely avoids presenting his work as undisputed fact. Beyond that, he does a very good job of shining brief moments of illumination across many aspects of Roman society, including ones you may never have thought about before. An excellent gift for amateurs, but also worth a read if you’re in the mood for something lighter and with more breadth.

Legions of Rome (2010)

Author: Stephen Dando-Collins
Pages: 624
Buy:Amazon

The Roman Military has always been what’s drawn me to this period, but specifically it’s the Legions I enjoy reading about. Separate to their evolution into a professional fighting machine, it’s the idea that each Legion grew its own identity and history that transcended the men who served in it that I've always found enticing.

Dando-Collins’ epic tome is excellent reading for anyone who shares the same passion and is a book of three distinct parts. The first one covers the men of the legion, as well as various minutia such as equipment, training etc… as well as ranks. The Second part covers the Legions themselves, including detailed unit histories of the known Early/Mid Imperial era (which includes those legions that survived the Late Republic period, such as Caesar’s 10th Legion).

The final part is a history of key battles fought from 30 BC to the fall of Rome at the start of the 5th Century AD. It could do with more map illustrations in this part, but it's still an excellent overview of the key engagements.

Fiction

Eagles of the Empire Series

Author: Simon Scarrow

If you’re a fan of Roman history and enjoy reading fiction novels, there’s a chance you’ll know about Scarrow and his seventeen book (and counting) series covering the career of two Roman officers in the Legions of 1st Century AD Rome. The tale starts with Claudius’ invasion of Britain, but takes the two officers east as well with them currently on the Armenian frontier.

It’s mainstream fiction to be sure, but Scarrow is known for his research and care for the subject matter, and it’s definitely good fun. If you’re a newcomer you’ll want to start with the first book Under the Eagle, with the latest book being The Blood of Rome.

Vindolanda (2017)

Author: Adrian Goldsworthy
Buy: Amazon

Goldsworthy decided to try his hand at fiction writing a few years ago with his ‘Vindolanda’ series, set at the turn of the 2nd Century A.D. in northern Britain. Before Hadrian’s Wall was built, the frontier was defended by a series of forts that stretched from shore-to-shore in much the same way as the wall eventually would, and the book draws from many of the little details that have been learned from the study of the Vindolanda tablets.

What I like about Goldsworthy’s effort is that it feels a lot more authentic than Scarrow’s work, and pays more care to the known details without bogging down the story. That’s not to say Scarrow’s books are bad, but they can definitely be considered to be occupying the ‘Hollywood History’ side of the scale. Vindolanda and its follow-on novels are a more grounded, but no less engaging, tale of army life at the edge of Rome’s empire.

Do you have any favourite historical works for the ancient Mediterranean? Let us know in the comments below!

The thing I like most about my job is not necessarily all the games I get to play (usually for free), but rather the articles that I get to see go live. It’s not even articles I write myself – I’ve got plenty of excellent wordsmiths on the team now, and some of them come up with some really great stuff that’s honestly a joy to read.

Next week should be a good one – we’ve got a really in-depth guide to waging war in Imperator: Rome, and Jack’s got some UBoat impressions to share with us as well. That’s not to mention reviews and news we’ve got in the pipeline as well. Honestly, I’m at a point where I have nearly too much content, but that’s a fantastic place to be in.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

Rule the Waves 2 Out Now/Soon/Now

Rule the Waves 2 is still scheduled to release sometime today. Latest intel is that it is dependant on the new storefront that NWS have also been developing. Provided that all goes live without a hitch, we imagine you can start purchasing the grand-strategy naval war game sequel later today. If not, things will be delayed into Saturday.

Our review will be going live as soon as we can get it done – NWS have said they’ll send us out code once the game is live so it’s likely to be a couple of weeks before we can bring our own thoughts to the table. In the meantime though, there is a free demo that’s been available since the start of the week if anyone wants to give it a try.

Armored Brigade

A new minor update has been released for Armored Brigade, fixing a few things from the newly added nations as well as adding in two new scenarios that use those new factions. Here’s the changelog:

• Fix: The Italian 75mm and 80mm recoilless rifles had misnamed sprite resources.
• [database] AT rifle grenades 'maxTargetSpeed' increased from 7m/s to 50m/s.
• [database] Italian MMG teams changed from 7.92mm to 7.62mm.
• [scenarios] Add two new DLC scenarios: 'In the Shadows of the Alps' and 'Crossing the Torre Line'.
• [ui] Increase the terrain info pop-up default delay to 1500 milliseconds.

John's finished our review of the DLC pack, which will be published on Monday.

Hearts of Iron 4

Dev Diaries have resumed for Hearts of Iron 4 with more information as to what’s coming on the horizon. The next patch – 1.7 ‘Hydra’ – is going to be focusing on how Fronts work, and also looking at rebalancing the Germany vs. USSR set-up.

It’s an interesting read, although the dev’s desire to make it so that Germany wins by 1945 without allied intervention has caused some stir. Accusations of ‘ahistorical’ are flying all over the place, but to be honest history, especially the military history of a global conflict, is complicated. Things panned out the way they did, because they did, and it’s hard completely dismiss the Allied presence as it relates to the Eastern Front.

Regardless of the truth of the matter, there’s actually no point in designing a scenario in a WW2 (Germany vs. USSR) that completely ignores the Allies. It could lead to a scenario where the Allies don’t have to do anything, and Germany still loses, or worse, the Allies don’t do anything and Germany wins, thus making them impossible to take-down. Either way there’s severely reduced agency for anyone playing an Allied power.

Panzer Campaigns Gold

Wargame Design Studio have finished the final three Gold updates to the few remaining Panzer Campaigns games. Tobruk ’41, El Alamein ’42 and Tunisia ’43 have round off the last of the Mediterranean theatre games, meaning that all 22 games in JTS’ iconic series have been given the Gold treatment.

We’ve got the Colonel working on a review of El Alamein for next week, and we’ll try and do articles on the others as and when I find writers who are interested in covering them. In the meantime, Wargame Design Studio are free to start pursuing their own projects again.

That's all we've got for you this week. As always, if you spot anything else let us know in the comments!

We’ve got a rare bit of table-top news for you today. It’s a tad on the mainstream side – Modiphius Entertainment aren’t exactly a ‘house name’ in the world of wargaming, but they’re about to take another step in the that direction with their newly announced table-top skirmish miniature war game The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms.

Designed by former White Dwarf Editor Mark Latham, the game uses a system that's similar to what was in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Modiphius' other Bethesda licensed game, except it's been reworked to better fit fantasy medieval combat.

The game will feature 32mm resin figures with unique bases and will largely centre around central ‘hero’ figures from the games, like Ulfric Stormcloak or General Tullius from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, leading small groups of henchmen figures. It brings Call to Arms firmly within the realm of other skirmish-level miniature war games such as Kill Team, Company of Iron, SAGA etc… which we’ve looked at in the past.

There will be two different gameplay modes:

A PvE Solo/Co-Op mode that will let one or more people work together to complete various narrative/quest missions. These will involve various heroes and henchmen against AI opponents, like Stormcloaks or Draugr. There will be campaign-like adventures involving several missions, and your forces will change and evolve over time. The press release even talks about players being able to found their own settlement, evoking the RPG elements of the Elder Scrolls video-games.

Of course, being wargamers, we’re also very interesting in the PvP mode as well. Skyrim is marked by the Civil War that breaks out between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks, and players will also be able to take part in this struggle via competitive rules that pits warbands against each other, typically comprising 1-6 heroes and 3-15 troops.

The first wave will comprise of a two-player starter set with both Stormcloak and Imperial Army lists, as well as reinforcement sets with extra miniatures for both sides. There is also a ‘solo’ Dragonborn set that features unique heroes and Draugr miniatures to serve as AI opponents. They Draugr are not yet available as a ‘playable’ race, but they will be added into the game later along with other factions and adventurer sets which will expand the options available to the player.

We asked Modiphius for some extra information regarding some of the initial releases, so here’s some highlights:

• Models from the Two-Player Set and the Solo set are compatible with all of the game modes available on release, apart from the Draugr who are only there to act as AI opponents in the PvE mode.
• The Dragonborn set is designed to be a solo experience, but one can Co-Op in PvE with extra miniatures.
• Solo (or Co-Op) mode lets one or more people work together controlling various heroes and henchman to try to complete the narrative missions. The rules will let you run all the contents of the box as AI, so I could play just some heroes against AI Imperials, or the Imperials vs AI Stormcloaks.

Finally, because it’s currently looming in the background, we asked the company whether any plans were in place regarding this new product range and the potential trade war looming between China and the US. While Modiphius pointed out that it may not happen at all, they are still “planning head to ensure [they] can work with the factory and distribution to minimise the effect on customers and retailers.”

The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms is planned for a general release by Christmas 2019, although they will be doing promotions with specific limited edition miniatures over the next few months. The ‘Dragonborn’ miniature will be available to purchase online, at the UK Games Expo and GenCon in August, with more special editions planned.

You can find out more information on the game’s official website.

The recently released “nation pack” for last November’s Armored Brigade is a great example of why you can never have too much of a good thing. The two nations included in the DLC, Italy and Yugoslavia, bring Armored Brigades already fulsome roster up to nine cold war combatants.

What's more, players who purchase the nation pack will also have access to the new 61x61 Km map of the Italian-Yugoslav border, making for plausible randomly generated missions between the starring nations of the DLC. Or should I say plausibly generated campaigns, as Veitikka Studios, to coincide with the release of the nation pack, co-released a free dynamic campaign generator, adding an aspect to Armored Brigade that was sorely needed since launch.

As the core content of the DLC, Italy and Yugoslavia are both a blast to play, and can present a novel challenge for seasoned Armored Brigade vets, both commanding and playing against, especially Yugoslavia. The now defunct country’s units are a mishmash of very high and very low-quality infantry, with mostly older Soviet armor accompanied by a few oddities. I had to minimize the game the first time I saw a Yugoslav M36 tank destroyer, and check to make sure I was right that they were using an American vehicle from World War II. My favorite Yugoslavian unit in the pack, however, is the lowly “Territorial Defense Unit”. Super cheap, low stat units packing semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns, useful for affordably clogging up en masse just about any area on the map you want to make annoying for your opponent to move through. The Territorial Defense Units work especially well in conjunction with Yugoslavia’s terrifying T-12 100mm AT gun, for when you absolutely must deny the AI freedom of movement. 

The Italian forces present are equally plucky, if not marginally better equipped. Designed to protect Italy’s mountainous eastern border, the army is at its best when defending. In addition to their low quality, high quantity infantry reserve units, the Italians also have the exclusive “Alpini” infantry units. These mountain troops boast high stats and a relatively purchasing cost, but are hamstrung by archaic equipment, such as MG42s and AT rifle grenades. A nice selection of Leopard tanks notwithstanding, I found Italy has a hard time pushing with the same assertiveness as some of the titles other nations. The same can be said for Yugoslavia, and while this can result in some lopsided beatings when pairing one of these nations against the USSR or US, pitting Italy or Yugoslavia against another minor player can yield some very fun match-ups. For example, Poland has their own “Territorial Defense” units, and having literal swarms of Polish and Yugoslavian cannon fodder units duke it out in a city map with nothing but their sub-machine guns and grenades was the most fun I’ve had wargaming in a while.

Speaking of maps, the newly included one of the Italian border is a treat. With multiple large cities, an archipelago, peninsulas, and hilly forests on the eastern edge, this map has a little bit of everything. Some of the more mountainous terrain may be off limits depending on the scale of the game your looking to set-up, as the game set-up screen let me know multiple times, “impassable terrain prevents AI planning”. Luckily, this isn't the case with the more aquatic battlefields of southern Italy, so players can go nuts setting up maritime invasions. Prior to the release of the nation pack, there was only one map featuring water and islands, so this inclusion is nice for players, like myself, who love epic beach landings.

As was mentioned, Veitikka Studios was kind enough to release a dynamic campaign generator for free to coincide with the release of the nation pack. Prior to gameplay, the player plots out a series of waypoints where battles will take place and selects a cadre of forces he must try to preserve as the campaign wears on. Also factored into campaign gameplay is ammo and supplies, which really changes up the Armored Brigade formula. In addition to giving context and a larger purpose to the individual battles, the campaign also works tough decisions out of the player in terms of choices they make between battles. Support assets and unit replacements are both spent from the same pool of points, meaning today's casualties can make the next day’s battle hopeless with no artillery or air support. I would like to emphatically reiterate, players do not need the nation pack to get access to the campaign generator, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it and what it has done for Armored Brigade. My time with the nation pack’s new units and maps has been almost entirely within this new mode, and apart from experimentation and testing, I don’t see myself going back to playing my battles in a vacuum.

Overall, this latest DLC has me excited for the future of Armored Brigade and I hope the developer continues to expand their title in such a way going forward. The cold war is a setting rife with material, and I am eager to see what Veitikka has up their sleeve (Southeast Asia anyone?). Also worth mentioning is the affordable price tag ($15) which nets you two armies and a gigantic map for the price of lunch. For those still on the fence about Armored Brigade, the nation pack probably won’t be enough to convince you to take the plunge, but for fans of the game looking for a challenge and to inject some more variety into their game, this DLC is a no-brainer.

I kinda pick-and-choose my wargaming as anything after 1914 because that’s when the French lost their flamboyant red pantaloons and let’s face it, if you can’t go out to fight looking good, why go at all? Yet even in World War II there are some campaigns that really just float my U-Boat. Nope, nothing on the West Front, because I’m just tired hearing about the “Greatest Generation,” and nothing in the East because seriously, how many times can you do Stalingrad?

But the campaign in North Africa? Yeah, that’s the ticket for many reasons, not the least of which is the Regio Esercito (Italian Army). I like underdogs, particularly those with tough, courageous soldiers whose only fault was third rate equipment (though the excellent, turn on a Lira CR42 Falco biplane gave the RAF fits for, like, ever) and even worse leadership.

Thus I was tickled to hear that the final set of games refurbished to Gold status within the JTS Panzer Campaigns franchise were all about North Africa. Then I became downright ecstatic when the Boss let me pick theEl Alamein ’42 Gold product to take a look at.

Bottom line – first rate. If you have the original, this is a free upgrade, but if not, $39.95 US are gonna be shekels well spent.

New Paint and Detailing

Like other games gone Gold, a lot of the changes in Alamein are cosmetic. However, don’t underrate the importance of this. Good graphics and sound can make the game easier to play due to being able to easily distinguish different type of terrain, units and info counters with the Mark I eyeball in front of a computer screen. They can also be a sign of historical accuracy, giving the player an indication the designer did his job in the realism department. Finally, there is the immersion factor. Napoleon said, “give me enough ribbon for the tunics of my soldiers and I will conquer the world.” He knew looking good strengthened performance and I think something similar here. A game that looks current and stylish just seems to increase the fun factor. Don’t think so? Take a look at some of the recent reboots of old classics counter wargames and ask which one you would rather play.

Surprisingly, it was the sound effects upgrade that caught my attention first and the most. Yes, you have the rattle of machine guns and hard thud of artillery explosions, but now they seem far more like what I heard at Truppenubungsplatz Grafenwoehr when I was stationed in Germany with the US Army. In addition, not only can voices be heard giving commands in the background, but now that distinctive “clink” when an artillery round is ejected from the breach as well. First rate, mate.

Otherwise the top menu bar has been redone in icon style, segregated by color for general functionality. The left side bar where unit tiles with stats are displayed now portray more photographic looking pictures, especially of soldiers and leaders. All equipment is not only the right type but in the proper camouflage specific to that type of vehicle, vice an overall pattern for the army. Terrain hexes now sport that light middle “bubble” with soft double edge hex sides. The color palette is perfect for North Africa and you’ll have little trouble distinguishing terrain, but will likely wonder why your gaming room feels a little warmer.

The same thing for the unit counters which have both a 3D option with mini-portraits and vehicle sprites, or the more traditional NATO symbology set. Oddly enough, the latter seems to have changed since I was in the military, as I actually had to look up some units, notably air defense which used a dome type symbol way back when. In the game the French (as in Free French Marines) are in dark blue, the Germans in blue gray, the Italians in rust orange and the Commonwealth forces in beige-tan. You can flip a switch and put a colored background to the NATO symbols to indicate parent division and in a neat bit of design, some counters are split diagonally into two colors as in indication of a different nationality or specialized function. For example, some Italian units split have rust/half grey black indicating the unit is CCNN (Camicie Nere, Black Shirt, or more politely Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale).

And lo and behold, Political Correctness has also entered the fray as a certain, disreputable hooked cross has been replace by the Eisenkreuz for certain symbols, to include the regulation German Wehrmacht standard. Its kinda like having a miniature wargame on Gettysburg without the Army of Northern Virginia carrying any Battle Flags, but it is what it is. I prefer to think, however, somehow the Kaiser was still in charge.

Under the Hood

As regards changes in the actual gameplay department, not so much. There are only four and they are a) unit movement is no longer halved when disrupted during day, while after dark the reduction is two thirds, b) Place All Reinforcements function (I really like this) added, c) fragile morale included for some armies and d) national surrender has been included as well. Maybe it’s a “don’t fix it if it’s not broke” thing, but that’s all.

The big horsepower change in the engine block comes in the form of scenarios, both quantitively and qualitatively. First, the numbers. In the original software Alamein boasted 34 scenarios, but this time around the JTS folks have added an additional 46 for a grand total of 80. Of these 33 had been previously designed by well known modder Ed “Volcano Man” Williams, to include 33 alternate or hypothetical actions and 11 more from his Operation Compass (the British offensive against the Italians 9 December 1940 thru 9 February 1941, Sidi Barrani to El Agheila) expansion. There are also two knew uber researched campaign games, one by Bryan Jennings on Operation Venezia (from the codeword Venezia, starting Rommel’s massive flanking movement at the battle of Gazala) and another on 2nd El Alamein by Cesar Moreno.

Even the old, original scenarios seemed to have been more than cosmetically touched up in a few cases. Some look as if they now have different or enlarged maps, starting forces or initial setup up schemes. Regardless, this is a huge package of games to play, all starting in early 1941 with Compass and going thru the aftermath of 2nd El Alamein. There are also a couple, or so scenarios devoted to a hypothetical German-Italian invasion of Malta, so just about all the battles you could hope for are covered.

But how does it play? Well, pretty good because when you play one Panzer Campaign product, you kinda play them all. Per a previous product review this means, left-click selects a unit, movement is right-click on adjacent hexes or left-click drag. Firing is accomplished by switching to “Fire” on the menu and clicking on the target or right-click + CTRL on the target. Artillery and air strikes are called by choosing a battery or squadron and right clicking on hex in range. Assaults are accomplished by moving onto an adjacent enemy position.

More importantly, however, the campaign environment is a lot different than other games in the series, which is why I like it. For example, let’s take a look at...

The Defense of Tobruk

No this isn’t about the Allied defense of the place, but a scenario (called Hallowed Ground) where Italian Generale di Corpo d'Armata Annibale "barba elettrica" Bergonzoli covered the rout of the Italian army during Compass by digging in his heels at Tobruk. Old “Electric Whiskers,” as he was called, proved a tough nut to crack initially, particularly by a pursuing Commonwealth force becoming increasingly short on fuel and stamina. The game is only 17 turns long with two hour turns, one kilometer hexes and battalion type units. Because so many units are initially fixed in place, this is a particularly good scenario to learn the system if you play the Italians. Bergonzoli and the lads are on the defense, are in a lot better shape logistically and are really forced to react to the British and Australians, making the conduct of the battle simpler. Also, you gotta love that both Italian (the San Giorgio) and British (Ladybird and Aphis) heavy cruisers slug it out with shore batteries and each other.

In this battle the Italians are hunkered down behind minefields, bunkers and trenches held by “leg” infantry supported by a lot of guns. Other artillery and mobile armored forces are centrally located in “fire brigade” status, initially fixed on the ground. The not so loyal opposition has the bulk of its forces, motorized infantry, massed on the eastern flank of the Tobruk fortifications, with a much less dense screen of similar troops facing the western flank. All British armored or mobile forces face Tobruk from the south, and in a neat little twist, a Yuge portion of their army is labeled as Isolated for supply, low on ammo and in particular, low on fuel.

I played two games, one as the British, the other as Bergonzoli and over all I found the AI running the Commonwealth to be relatively passive, massing their infantry between Bir el Azazi and Bir Suesi for an eventual attack. When running the Italians, however, the AI became very proactive with probing attacks, sending a lot of engineers forward and then stripping infantry with artillery from the fortifications facing south and massing them along the western flank. No kidding, there was a line of at least six hexes, as in six kilometers, completely devoid of any Italian units whatsoever. I wondered “what the Hell” but then it hit me (OK, I looked it up)  – Bergonzoli was attempting a breakout to the west into Libya along the Via Balbia. I launched every Matilda, Stuart and tracked kitchen sink I had into the gap only to be mired in minefields and bunkers while seemingly all the cannon Ansaldo every produced rained Hell. Then a lot of my units simply stopped because they ran out of gas. I would have liked to see this engagement go on more than a few extra turns, but the scenario was merciful and ended.

So, note(s) to self. In this game, unlike others in the series, engineers can be a big deal because there seem to be mines everywhere. On the battlefield, tactical supply is a big deal, especially fuel. Movement rates are deceptive with trails and roads an absolute must to get anywhere even remotely fast.  Nothing on either side seems capable of inflicting a lot of casualties  (and there isn’t a lot of airpower), as I don’t think I ever saw a result more than two or three KIA. Bunkers are manned, even if there isn’t a unit counter sitting in the hex, and so on and so on.

Yup, a good deal

In other words, Alamein may have gone Gold cosmetically, but nothing has changed as regards the high quality of play and the game’s ability to accurately simulate warfare at this level. Garnish this with a substantial face lift that not only looks state of the art and highly professional, but also more informative and easier to translate into play, and you have a solid product plus. Then top the entire meal with a desert (get it, desert?) baked in the unique North African battlefield environment. I like it, you’ll like it, so I’ll happily recommend it.

If, like me, you simply cannot get enough of Paradox Development Studio’s grand strategy titles, then you have likely been playing a lot of Imperator: Rome. Though the game synthesizes mechanics gleaned from a bunch of the studio’s previous titles, such as managing interpersonal relationships, population management, and trade, Imperator is first and foremost concerned with warfare, expanding your empire, and winning battles. Because of this, a strong emphasis is placed not just on grand strategic geopolitics, but also on the nitty-gritty tactical-level combat of your armies in the field.

For a more general Imperator: Rome guide, check out our sister website.

Whereas in some other Paradox titles tactics can be safely ignored, in Imperator, they’re a fundamental component in your quest to stamp your name across the map. While not as impenetrable as some grognard’s fare, if you're new to these kinds of games, the minutiae of the new tactical combat mechanics can be a bit daunting. If you need a primer, or just want to take a look at the tactics with a more analytical eye, we’ve got you covered.

The Fundamentals

Let’s start with the absolute basics before moving onto the meatier stuff:

• Armies are composed of cohorts of 1000 men each and are built and replaced using your nation’s available manpower pool.
• There are nine unit types: Archers, Heavy Infantry, Light Infantry, Camels, Heavy Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Horse Archers, Chariots, and War Elephants.
• Each of these unit types has certain traits — like their maneuver and damage ratings — that make them useful in certain roles, such as cavalry in the flanks, archers as frontline skirmishers, and heavy infantry as the hard backbone of your reserve. Units will also deal more or less damage based on what type of unit they are fighting.

It’s worth noting that Imperator is extremely transparent. Pretty much everything you need to know to make informed decisions about your enemy can be found in tool-tips or other parts of the UI. For example:

• You can see exactly how many cohorts other nations have recruited and how much manpower they have in reserve in the Diplomacy screen.
• The warscore screen will tell you how many of each unit type an opponent has.
• By hovering your cursor over an enemy army, you can see what types of units they are comprised of, as well as their general’s martial skill.

Combat Mechanics

Imperator’s combat system is broken down into 3 components: a primary frontline, a secondary frontline, and flanks. It’s similar to the system Paradox used in Europa Universalis IV, though much more streamlined for tactical customization. Here’s how that system plays out in practice: 

• Only the units in the Primary frontline and the flanks can attack.
• Units attack the enemy directly across from them at first, and then, as units flee or are killed, they can attack other units in the line based on their maneuver skill.
• Flanking units typically have a high maneuver, allowing them to attack far into the primary frontline after the enemy flank has been dealt with.
• Once units from the primary frontline are removed, units from the secondary frontline, acting as a reserve, will move into the line to take their place.
• Both the size of the flanks, as well as which unit types will be placed in each of these roles can be modified in the Army Interface, allowing you to experiment with the different roles once you have a firmer grip on combat mechanics and army composition.

Additionally, discipline, morale, leader skill, and terrain all impact this basic structure. A die roll takes these factors, as well as your unit types and modifiers and applies them to determine how much physical and morale damage is being dealt, with a new roll happening every five days. Having a Leader with a high martial skill will give buffs to your rolls, whereas adverse terrain effects can give a debuff. Even if there is some hard math going on under the hood, you can get by with an intuitive understanding of some military basics. You don’t need a graduate degree in mathematics to know that you should avoid letting incompetent generals attack with underpaid units over rivers.

Army Composition, Traditions, and Tactics

The real nuts-and-bolts of Imperator’s tactical gameplay lies at the intersection of how the various combat mechanics interact with each nation’s unique strengths and weaknesses. The trick to crafting a coherent army composition is to take into account how these systems react to and play off one another. So, how do you know what composition to use? Most often, this will be determined by three factors: resources, traditions, and tactics.

Army Composition: Resources

At the most basic level, resources will determine what units you can recruit. To build war elephants, for example, you will need access to an elephant resource tile. This effectively locks certain unit compositions away from certain nations until they expand enough to acquire these resources. Strategic resources like iron, steppe horses, camels, or the aforementioned elephants will be highly sought after, and will likely funnel your nation’s army composition in a certain direction based on what you have available to you.

Army Composition: Traditions

Equally as important as resources is your military tradition. There are seven unique traditions, each with three branching paths, representing broad ideological strains within a culture group. These provide bonuses to different unit types, unlock special military abilities, and some even grant access to a unique tactic for your army to use. Much like the scarcity of resources, the bonuses provided by these military traditions will shepherd you towards some types of units and away from others. Do your traditions give significant buffs to cavalry? You should probably consider using a cavalry-heavy force with wider flanks. Tons of Elephant buffs in the tree you chose? Maybe a meatier shock-focused force is right for you.

Army Composition: Tactics

The next factor to consider when composing an army is tactics. There are ten tactics that you can select for your army: five basic (Shock Action, Envelopment, Skirmishing, Deception, and Bottleneck) and five that are unique to specific military tradition trees (Triplex Acies, Hit and Run, Padma Vyuha, Cavalry Skirmish, and Phalanx). The old Sun Tzu maxim “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles” holds especially true here as these tactics operate in a Rock-paper-scissors fashion with each tactic of the ten being good against two, bad against two others, and neutral against the rest.

If you’re having trouble finding out which tactics to use, the tooltip on the left of each bar shows what the percentage of effectiveness is for each tactic option based on your current army composition, while on the right of the bar it shows what tactics each particular type is good or bad against. Of course, Combat is not only knowing what tactics to use, but also knowing what tactics your enemy is likely using based on their current composition. Even if a tactic is lower on total efficiency, it may be more effective based on the enemies army composition.

Army Composition: In Practice

So, what does this look like in practice? Let's use Rome as an example to see how these three factors come together to provide the framework of an effective army composition. Starting with the first factor, resources. Elephants, camels, and horse archers are all out of your reach from a resource perspective, so you likely won't be able to use those, but Rome starts with access to iron and horses, so both types of cavalry, as well as heavy infantry are on the table.

In terms of tradition, Rome is part of the Italic military tradition, and within that tree there is a Roman branch that provides two bonuses to heavy infantry and one to light infantry. So you’re going to want to use mostly heavy infantry, with some light mixed in for skirmishing purposes, depending on your tactics, alongside some heavy cavalry, as the two starting tactics that buff heavy infantry — Bottleneck and Shock Action — also boost heavy cavalry.

Early on, you will be pulled toward the Bottleneck tactic, as it is effective with heavy infantry and cavalry, but the light infantry builds of your northern Gallic neighbors are likely using the skirmishing tactic, which is effective against that, so it may be a good idea to switch to shock action to neutralize. If you’re starting to expand south and begin fighting in North Africa and the Carthaginians are using shock tactics with elephants, switch over to the bottleneck tactic and change your composition accordingly. Once you have unlocked the Triplex Acies tactic from your traditions, switch your composition to a heavy infantry, light infantry, light cavalry combination to maximize efficiency and decimate skirmisher-reliant tribal states and the antiquated phalanxes of Alexander’s successors. Success in Imperator, much like Roman success in the real world, will depend on your ability to be flexible depending on what you know about your enemy.

Other Key Concepts 

Forts and Terrain

Operationally, Imperator uses forts and terrain to create a complex landscape to play out these engaging tactical battles. Forts exert a zone of control that disables movement through adjacent provinces, forcing armies to stop and siege before proceeding. Where the nuance comes into play is when you combine this feature with the impassable terrain that dots much of the map.

Creating bottlenecks through alpine passes or ambushing divided armies taking circuitous routes to get around forts is extremely satisfying and makes for some nail-biting gameplay. By navigating these mechanics wisely, even outnumbered armies can make the most of a strong defensible position to defeat a larger foe or stymie an attempted conquest.

Attrition, Manpower, and Mercenaries

At the macro level, your ability to keep the war machine running is going to be determined by your available manpower. It’s the key resource you will need to sustain your conquests. Unfortunately, in many provinces, harsh attrition can melt away your manpower in a matter of months. Because of this, even in your home provinces, Imperator’s brutally high attrition can prevent the kind of giant doom stacking that other Paradox strategy titles see, creating interesting tactical considerations in the process.

The trick to avoiding high attrition while at war is to divide your forces, preserving manpower and sieging more territory in the process; however, doing this comes with the risk of making your armies more vulnerable to an undivided enemy force marching just outside the fog of war. Knowing how many forces your enemy has at their disposal can help mitigate this threat. You can take advantage of the UI’s transparency to see how many cohorts your enemy has in reserve, and keep a close eye on the field if you know they have forces that may be consolidating somewhere behind the front lines.

The best way to preserve manpower is to rely on mercenaries. Mercenaries are much more than a simple stopgap measure for wartime emergencies or auxiliaries to supplement your main army. The preciousness of manpower and the brutality of pre-modern attrition rates mean that they take on a much more pivotal role. In the early game, they will be less viable for smaller nations, as their high maintenance and disband cost (you need to pay them a lump sum at the end of their service) means that unless you’re playing as one of the large Diadochi kingdoms, chances are you won't have the income to use them outside of extreme emergency situations. In the mid-to-late game, however, mercenaries will become almost vital for your war effort. As your state expands, trade and tax income should leave you with a healthy well of cash to dip into.

By converting this cash into what amounts to a secondary manpower pool, you can keep up the pace of pyrrhic wars or conquer small states while your manpower pool is replenishing. Mercenaries tend to gather in swarms around large population centers, and, in the post-Alexandrian east, wars will often devolve into largely mercenary affairs, as each side tosses stacks at one another in order to overwhelm each other in the harsh deserts of the near east. If you find yourself on the wrong side of one of these conflicts, know that mercenary armies can be bought off and flipped to the opposing side of a conflict by being offered a large sum of money, which the original buyer can counter with a higher sum. This can allow you to significantly weaken an opposing enemy army right before an engagement or potentially end an important hostile siege. When it turns the tide of a close war, it feels so, so satisfying.

Naval Warfare

Naval combat is pretty bare-bones in the current version of the game, and vaguely reminiscent of Crusader Kings II’s almost laughably abstracted naval mechanics. Paradox has gone on the record in a recent dev diary promising to add some variety in the next big update, but as of right now, there is only one type of ship available, the trireme, which can be used to carry troops, blockade ports, and attack other ships. Unless you have some powerful ship traditions or an incredible general modifying your fleet, combat basically boils down in favor of whoever has the larger stack. Other than Carthage and occasionally Egypt, the AI does not usually maintain too large of a navy.

If you’re playing as a Mediterranean power, once your pockets get deep enough it can be helpful to build and maintain a navy of at least thirty to forty ships. Trying to keep your navy at least 1.5 to 2 times that of your closest rival is a good idea, unless you are really cash strapped, as once you have naval dominance, transports will allow you to easily maintain control of a vast empire and provide the means of shipping additional forces or mercenaries as required.

The End, and a Beginning

While Imperator: Rome will doubtless be built up with numerous patches and DLC, the base game rests on some really interesting tactical foundations. Coming from a studio that often ignores tactics altogether or abstracts them away, this is a really positive step forward, and hopefully is a sign of things to come. Even if you’re not someone with a penchant for optimizing army compositions or micromanaging field armies, there is a lot of fun to be had in learning to manage the nuances of Imperator’s more combat-oriented gameplay.  

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve enjoyed this week. I’ve been looking forward to putting Timothy’s Imperator: Rome Warfare guide online ever since he submitted the final draft, and we got reviews of Armored Brigade’s DLC pack and El Alamein ’42 Gold out the door as well. The announcement of an Elder Scrolls-themed tabletop skirmish wargame was also a bit of a surprise, but we still like the look of it.

As a quick FYI – I’m on holiday next week so there won't be a Wargamer Weekly update. Ian’s looking after the ship so I imagine they’ll be a news post of some kind, but I’ve not asked him to replicate what I do so just keep that in mind.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

ArmA 3 is having a moment

We’ve been speculating here at Wargamer HQ what Bohemia want to do with their military sim/shooter ArmA 3. A focus on new ‘creator’ DLC and a lack of renewed commitment to the usual fare made us think perhaps they were running out of ideas, or steam. Turns out we don’t know what we’re talking about:

I mean sure, why not? ArmA 3: Contact will feature a single-player campaign with a military science-fiction themed story. The narrative elements of ArmA 3 haven’t always been the strongest amongst the game’s various DLC packs, mainly due to weak AI behaviour. It’ll be interesting to see whether a more focused, and off-the-rails, DLC pack like this can side-step those legacy issues.

There will be a new 163 km squared map called Livonia, 2 new factions, and new weapons, vehicles and gear. There will also be content for multiplayer as well as free bonus content for the main, non-alien infested game. We for one welcome our new alien overlords with open arms - we can't wait to check this out when it drops on July 25th.

Wolves will be at the gate next week

Not much from Matrix/Slitherine this week, but Field of Glory 2’s next DLC pack, Wolves at the Gate, will be released next Thursday. Bill’s already on the case and his weekly article will be going live on Thursday with a review. Keep an eye out for it.

Matrix are also running another FOG2 tournament to celebrate the new release, which will use the new 'Allies' feature but you won't need any other DLCs to participate, just the base game.

Field of Glory 2 Screens & AMA

The other bit of news this week is also Field of Glory related. One of the lea developers, Philippe Malacher, took to Reddit yesterday to host an AMA where he field various questions about himself, the game and anything else people felt liked asking. You can read the full thread here.

Also, some new screenshots dropped today, if you're interested:

Steel Division 2 Army General

Steel Division 2 is still a month away, but we’ve finally been given a glimpse of how the Army General mode works. Up till now, the recent Beta tests focuses purely on multiplayer and skirmish-style gameplay.

It’s not an overly long video, but goes into plenty of details as to the general turn-to-turn running of the game mode. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Hearts of Iron (6)4

Hearts of Iron 4 is officially going 64-bit with the next major patch – 1.7 Hydra. This week’s Dev Diary has gone into a little more detail as to what that means and how it’ll change things going forward. Older versions of the game won’t be upgraded to 64-bit, but will remain available via Steam’s Beta functionality. All future patches will be 64-bit exclusive, and short-term improvements will make things like convoys work better.

Hydra will also be making some tweaks to various aspects of naval combat, such as Submarines and Troop Transports. Carriers are also being changed to that their planes strike earlier in a combat, before the main ships themselves close to range.

If you’ve seen anything else you’ve liked or think wargamers need to know about, let us know in the comments!