Strategy and Wargaming

Slitherine today announces Assassin’s Mace has been released. Assassin’s Mace is the third major nation-focused campaign DLC for ICBM: Escalation, following Endless October and United States of Annihilation. This time, the focus is China and its transformation from a country emerging from decades of conflict into a global military and technological superpower. Like the previous campaign DLCs, it also introduces a new set of nation-specific unit cosmetics.

ICBM: Escalation – Assassin’s Mace Gameplay Trailer

Gameplay Changes and Approach

Asymmetric warfare is a major part of the campaign, requiring players to find ways to undermine the enemy’s advantages rather than match their strength directly. China begins as the technologically weaker side and must use strategies such as submarines, anti-ship weapons, and commandos to overcome stronger opponents. Its huge manpower reserves allow players to rely on large numbers of troops when technology is lacking. This creates an important balance between quantity and quality when choosing how to fight.

The campaign also removes research during missions, making for faster, more unit-oriented gameplay. Technology is still gained between missions, allowing China to gradually close the technological gap.
Technological improvement, manpower and time management are fundamental elements that adds strategy depth to the existing gameplay features.

A new campaign: a Century of Conflict

The DLC spans 101 years, with each mission taking place at a pivotal moment in China’s rise.

The campaign begins with the Chinese Civil War in 1946, as communist revolutionaries and the nationalist government fight for control of the country. The Korean War puts its newly established power to the test against a technologically superior coalition. Tensions with the Soviet Union eventually bring former allies into direct confrontation in 1969, while the Third Indochina War demonstrates the challenges of projecting Chinese power beyond its borders.

By 1991, the world changes again as the Soviet Union collapses, leaving China to navigate a new international landscape. The conflicts that follow grow increasingly modern and increasingly dangerous, eventually leading to a confrontation across the Pacific in 2022, another war with Japan in 2031 and a global struggle for energy in 2039. And then comes 2047: Judgment Day.

Discover more about this intriguing campaign on Steam, or the Assassin’s Mace official webpage.

Veterans: Napoleonic Wars, a real-time tactical strategy game set during the Napoleonic era, will launch in Steam Early Access on October 28.

Throughout development, community feedback, messages, and wishlists have played an important role in shaping the game. The team would like to thank everyone who has followed the project and supported its development.

Development will continue beyond the Early Access launch. Shortly before release, the team will publish a roadmap outlining future plans for the game, along with more details about the content available in the initial Early Access build.

Try the Demo During Steam Next Fest

Players will have an opportunity to try Veterans: Napoleonic Wars ahead of its Early Access launch, as the demo will be available during Steam Next Fest from October 19 to October 26.

The demo will feature a selection of content from both the Italian and Egyptian campaigns, giving players an early look at the battles and challenges that await them. Players are also encouraged to share their feedback with the development team.

About Veterans: Napoleonic Wars
Experience the ultimate Napoleonic Wars Wargame where every volley matters. Command history and turn the tides of war in this immersive Real-Time Strategy experience. Quick decisions and keen tactical formations are the only things that stand between your troops and victory.

Slitherine has released Battleplan, its innovative RTS game, now available on Steam.

Many players think that battles are won by strength and numbers alone, but without strategy, the win is far and the losses are great.

Victory belongs to those who look at the map and can think beyond the next hill, shaping the course of an entire campaign. Gone are the days when commanders concerned themselves with a single squad, a single tank, or a single firefight. Warfare is fought across vast fronts, through chains of command, over weeks of relentless operations.

Battleplan Gameplay Trailer

Draw battle plans directly onto the map and orchestrate multi-stage offensives. Establish defensive belts, execute fighting withdrawals, coordinate counterattacks, and unleash bombardments. Divide your forces to seize multiple objectives simultaneously, or concentrate overwhelming strength at a decisive point.

Every division is modeled in detail, from headquarters down to individual companies. Infantry, armor, engineers, artillery, reconnaissance units, anti-tank formations, and support elements operate autonomously under the command structure you create. Your officers interpret and execute your intent, adapting to battlefield conditions as the situation evolves. Each mission is simulated second-by-second, allowing you to pause, play in real-time or fast-forward at will. Mission lengths range from one week to a month. Create your strategy, draw, execute.

Plan at scale, command at depth. Can your plan survive contact with the enemy?

As part of the Triple-I Initiative, Firefly Studios is excited to announce that Stronghold 4, the highly anticipated prequel to the original 2001 classic ‘castle sim’, launches into Steam on December 7th!

Alongside this, a brand new demo featuring Free Build on our largest ever map, a powerful new late-game unit called The Captain, a new defensive tool in the form of moats, as well as wool and weaving production chains is now available for all to play!

Stronghold 4 – Castle Customization & Economy/Release Date Reveal Trailer

Stronghold 4 – Skirmish Trailer

Build glorious fortresses to stand the test of time or tear your enemies’ defences apart before their eyes – the choice is yours!

Get the latest demo now and Wishlist the game on Steam!

Relic Entertainment is proud to announce the Company of Heroes 3: 3.0 Update, which will launch on November 5th on PC. As part of the ongoing celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Company of Heroes, this will be the most significant update to Company of Heroes 3 since its launch.

Company of Heroes 3: 3.0 Update Teaser Trailer

Designed to enhance nearly every aspect of the game, the 3.0 Update introduces extensive visual and environmental upgrades, major audio improvements, smarter AI, gameplay and balance refinements, new and refreshed maps, campaign enhancements, and new content for Final Stand. Together, these changes elevate the battlefield experience for both new and returning players while reinforcing Relic’s ongoing commitment to Company of Heroes 3.

Visual & Environmental Enhancements

The 3.0 Update introduces extensive visual and environmental upgrades, including new snow and rain weather effects, enhanced fog and atmospheric effects, improved soldier lighting, dynamic terrain wetness, updated animation systems, new and expanded environmental art sets, and new industrial, winter, and autumn-themed battlefields. Together, these improvements bring greater immersion, variety, and battlefield atmosphere to every match.

Audio Improvements

Battlefields will sound better than ever with new and improved weapon firing sounds, enhanced impact and explosion effects, and upgraded vehicle destruction audio. Players will also be able to enjoy an expanded music selection featuring classic tracks from both Company of Heroes and Company of Heroes 2, bringing iconic music from across the franchise into Company of Heroes 3.

Gameplay, AI & Balance Improvements

The 3.0 Update introduces important gameplay refinements designed to improve the moment-to-moment experience. AI has been upgraded through improvements to late-game performance and a new Combat Rating calculation that enables smarter battlefield decision-making and retreat behavior. Additional balance changes build upon previous updates to encourage more diverse strategic playstyles while continuing efforts to address dominant strategies.

Campaign Improvements

The 3.0 Update delivers improvements across the Company of Heroes 3 campaign experience. Addressing progression-blocking issues, implementing extensive bug fixes, and introducing a host of gameplay and presentation improvements. The Italian Dynamic Campaign Map has had a visuals update to match the quality of the 3.0 visual effort, while improvements to map clarity and readability make commanding your forces and navigating the campaign more intuitive than ever.

Combine this with an ongoing refinement to in mission gameplay and visuals, and overall mission flow, these campaign updates provide a stronger and more polished single-player experience for both new and returning players.

New & Refreshed Maps

The 3.0 Update expands Company of Heroes 3′s multiplayer offerings with a collection of brand-new battlefields alongside refreshed community favorites. In addition to the new maps, every multiplayer map in Company of Heroes 3 has received improvements as part of the 3.0 Update, including visual, environmental, lighting, weather, atmosphere, and gameplay refinements designed to improve immersion, readability, and variety across the entire multiplayer experience. The maps highlighted below received the most significant additions and refresh work.

Company of Heroes 3 is available now on Steam.

Matrix Games today announced that the landmark v1.10 Real-Time Multiplayer (RTMP) Update for Command: Modern Operations is now live on Steam!

For the very first time in CMO history, you can step out of solo scenario execution and experience high-stakes modern military operations alongside—or against—fellow human commanders in real time.

Key Highlights of the RTMP Update

Head-to-Head & Co-op Warfare:
• Test your operational plans in live 1v1 tactical engagements or coordinate joint multi-domain operations against AI threats.

Seamless Real-Time Execution:

• Issue orders, adjust Weapon Release Authorities (WRA), and manage radar/emission control (EMCON) on the fly as tactical situations evolve in real time.

Balanced Tactical Scale:

• Optimized for focused, high-intensity scenarios, delivering fluid performance in complex joint-strike operations.

Full Domain Integration:

• Coordinate air packages, naval strike groups, subsurface wolfpacks, and orbital assets in a live multiplayer environment.

How to Play
1. Update your Command: Modern Operations installation to the latest build on Steam.

2. Select Multiplayer from the main menu.

3. Host or join a scenario lobby with your fellow commander and take your place at the command desk.

Relive and Rewrite the History of Spain and Morocco in Across the Pillars

The Strait of Gibraltar is the gateway to the Mediterranean. Whoever controls this narrow waterway and Pillars of Hercules can limit access in and out of that great sea, and also ease passage between Europe and Africa. Engage in the historic struggle over this crucial passage and guide the nations that seek to control it in Across the Pillars, a Chronicle Pack for Europa Universalis V, coming on 28 October, 2026.

Across the Pillars opens up the history of Castile/Spain, Morocco, and Granada with new historical Situations for players to engage with. Settle the fate of southern Iberia and use control of the region to lead your nation to new historic heights. Unique decisions, events and other historical flavor drop you into the dramatic struggle for domination of the region in a richly drawn late medieval and early modern world.

Europa Universalis V: Across The Pillars Story Trailer

Features of Europa Universalis V: Across the Pillars include:

• The Battle of the Strait: A new historical Situation focused on the conflict between Castile, Marinid Morocco and Granada over the remnants of Muslim rule in Iberia.

• New decisions, cabinet actions and country interactions themed around this contest.
• New events and special actions related to the struggle over the Strait of Gibraltar.
• The winner of the Battle of the Strait proceeds to the Golden Century Situation, allowing the victor to continue to project power beyond the region.

More historical flavor

• Unique Expeditions: Special Expedition content available only in Across the Pillars, including unique explorations, gold caravans and treasure fleets.
• Religious Orders: New unique military orders for Iberian nations.
• Iberian Union: Choose the path of a centralized Iberian monarchy or a federalized Iberian state in a reworked Iberian Wedding scenario. Unite the thrones of the peninsula through new laws and policies.
• Iberian Bureaucracies: 12 new bureaucracy options drawn from Spanish and Portuguese history.
• Maghrebi Bureaucracies: 8 new bureaucracy options drawn from North African history.
• New Iberian Historical Events: Many new historical events for the region, including general Iberian content as well as unique dynamic events for Castile/Spain, Portugal, Aragon and Navarre.
• New Maghrebi Historical Events: Many new historical events for the region, including general Maghrebi content as well as unique dynamic events for Morocco, Granada and other nations in the region.
• New Technological Advances: Dozens of new advances to research, unique to Iberian or Maghrebi nations.
• New Cosmetic Flavor: New unit and ship models, portrait assets, event illustrations, monuments and Works of Art are available for Iberian and Maghrebi nations.
• New Music: Six new Castilian-themed songs, played on baroque instruments and sung in medieval Spanish, plus three new Moroccan-themed songs inspired by 16th-century call-and-response songs and played on the guembri and qraqeb.

Europa Universalis V: Across the Pillars will be released alongside the free 1.4 ‘Rio Salado’’ update for the base game. This major update to Europa Universalis V is a significant part of Paradox Tinto’s campaign to add free new game features, systems and flavor to the game. Over the first year, the team has been making changes, big and small, to the game, and ‘Rio Salado’ is the biggest update yet, adding Expeditions (character led missions to distant lands), making changes to Catholicism (reworked religious orders and changes to how cardinals are managed), improving dynastic gameplay, major changes to trade and more.

Europa Universalis V: Across the Pillars will be available on 28 October 2026 for the suggested retail price of $19.99/£16.99/€19.99. This Chronicle Pack is also available as a part of the Europa Universalis V: Premium Edition.

Wishlist Europa Universalis V: Across the Pillars on Steam.

Matrix Games today announced that Decisive Campaigns: Twilight in the East is in the works. The game features detailed artwork, with different uniforms and vehicle designs, seven ground conditions ranging from regular terrain to deep snow, six weather types, and a day-night cycle that add visual variety and realism.

Decisive Campaigns: Twilight in the East Interview Video

The new installment expands the Decisive Campaigns series both in terms of its engine and content, while its integration of Slitherine’s PBEM++ system provides a more streamlined multiplayer experience. At launch, the game will include eight small scenarios, seven medium scenarios, three large scenarios, and one massive scenario. It will also feature the equipment and troop-type graphics needed to create scenarios covering the entire Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945, meaning modders can begin creating their own content without having to wait for future DLCs.

Finally, Decisive Campaigns: Twilight in the East will officially release on November 12th! Don’t forget to wishlist the game now on the games webpage. Sign-up for the beta HERE.

Matrix Games has officially announced that “Lowland Lions“, the first major content expansion for Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War, is out now. The Northern Sector of the Inter-German border comes to life as you take command of the Dutch 1st Corps, featuring specialized ground search radar, water-heavy high-speed corridors, and 14 scenarios including the classic Wolves Campaign from Red Storm.

Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War – Lowland Lions Launch Trailer

Purchase “Lowland Lions“ now on Steam.

It is said that you cannot serve both God and the World, but the devout must still live in the world. Therefore, the divine must find ways to thrive alongside the mundane. The secular may use the sword to compel obedience from the clerics, but those who speak for God can threaten an eternal punishment in return. Find your way through the political and religious conflicts of the Middle Ages in By God Alone, a new expansion pack for Crusader Kings III, available now. Crusader Kings III: By God Alone a core expansion for Paradox Interactive’s celebrated role-playing grand strategy game of the medieval world. This expansion, for the first time, gives players the opportunity to play as religious rulers and engage in the many crises and debates that characterized this time and place. Players can manipulate the tenets of the faith to expose and weaken a rival, make rulers or priests puppets to control, or pursue and advance heresies in the name of personal power.

Crusader Kings III: By God Alone Official Release Trailer

Crusader Kings III: By God Alone is available now on Steam for the suggested retail price of $19.99/£16.99/€19.99. It is also available as part of the Chapter V bundle for Crusader Kings III.