Strategy and Wargaming

By Stace Harman @ Eurogamer

There’s a lot riding on the arrival of Total War: Attila. While the eponymous anti-hero and fearsome leader of the Huns is borne on box and horse alike, this title also carries with it the hopes of the long-running series’ significant fan base. After the learning process necessitated by Total War: Rome 2‘s post-release incremental updates, this is The Creative Assembly and Sega’s chance to prove their reach no longer exceeds their grasp, and they can launch a stable, balanced and content-rich title straight off the bat.

Read on…

Total War: Attila is now available to purchase at retailers and available for digital download. View the official launch trailer HERE.

The Dark Ages approach. A time of famine, disease and war, where refugees in their thousands flee from a sweeping tide of destruction and death. Desperate barbaric tribes rally against the ailing might of a dying and divided Roman empire; the light of civilization gutters and dims. In the great steppes of Scythia, a vast and terrifying force gathers, led by a warrior king whose thirst for conquest is utterly unequalled.

The Scourge of God, the very herald of the apocalypse, Attila the Hun.

In the next instalment in the multi award-winning Total War series of strategy games, Total War: Attila introduces exciting new gameplay mechanics which improve and add to numerous core turn-based and real-time Total War systems. The world will darken around you as Attila’s forces descend on your homeland creating a unique vision of survival strategy.

For more information about Total War: Attila please visit www.totalwar.com.

I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy..” (William Westmoreland – Chief of Staff of the US Army from 1968 to 1972)

Vietnam ’65, the new counter-insurgency strategy game by Every Single Soldier, has an official release date! We’re releasing on March 5th and streaming it live tomorrow at 2 pm EST/20.00 CET.

Developer Every Single Soldier aims to capture the specifics of the Vietnam War. At the head of the US forces, you will have to forget what you have learnt from other strategy games and think differently to destroy the enemy: building a safe logistic chain, gathering intelligence through the local villages, calling in air support on time, revealing the Ho Chi Minh trail, and minimizing casualties will be crucial to securing political support and eliminating the invisible Viet Cong threat!

Check it out tomorrow as we are going to give you a sneak peak of the game on the official Twitch channel of the Slitherine Group!

Get more information on Vietnam ‘65 from its official product page.

Source: GameInformer

The special edition of Creative Assemblies’ newest strategy sim, Total War: Attila, will include three new playable factions, a 64-page biography, and a double-sided poster, but you don’t want me yammering on about this game. Watch someone take an arrow to the knee while trying to do an unboxing. One of these developers is about to get the short straw when trying to do an unboxing video.

SEGA offers a new video for Total War: Attila, the follow-up title to Total War: Rome II scheduled to be available on February 17th, 2015, across all territories on both physical and digital formats. Developed by Creative Assembly, the next installment in the multi award-winning Total War series of strategy games will include some features that fans have been asking for, such as family trees and skill trees. It also features advanced street-fighting, civilians, complete settlement destruction and dynamic fire that can rage across a city as armies clash.

The Huns’ expert horsemanship makes them formidable foes. In battle, their combination of ranged attacks and the speed at which they can cover ground is breath-taking – and terrifying – to behold. In Total War: Attila the Huns’ starting hordes are strong, but need time to grow before they become a major force with which to scour the world. With their unique, unrelenting faction traits, the Huns could develop into an overwhelming force with the right guiding hand. They will need a legendary leader… will it be you?

Leading Eastern and Central European publisher, 1C Company, announced the release of the Men of War: Assault Squad 2 first DLC named Iron Fist.

Iron Fist contains a set of new features and additional single player content:

• Replays of your multiplayer matches and the ability to save, load and share them with others
• 3rd person direct control feature
• 5 new singleplayer skirmishes in which you fight as a veteran tank crew via the new 3rd person controls
• Free updates include DirectX 10 Support, Multiplayer spectator slots, Unit veterancy, Auto ammo ressuply

Men of War: Assault Squad 2 Iron Fist DLC is set to be released digitally on February 19th 2015, for suggested price 9.99 EUR/9.99 USD/6.99 GBP.

The new screenshots from DLC are available on the Men of War official website.

Battlefront.com is proud to present our latest modern tactical warfare entry, Combat Mission: Black Sea! Combat Mission: Black Sea is now available for PC and Mac OS X as a Download, Mail, and Download & Mail Delivery, starting at $55 (plus S&H if applicable).

Conceived and written before real conflict arrived in 2014, Combat Mission: Black Sea is a military simulation depicting a fictional 2017 conflict between NATO and Russia in Ukraine. Command American, Ukrainian, or Russian ground forces in the increasingly sophisticated and deadly environment that is modern combined arms warfare.

Combat Mission: Black Sea is an all new standalone game and does not require any of the other Combat Mission titles. Black Sea depicts three modern militaries in extreme detail, including the United States Army, Ukrainian Ground Forces, and Russian Ground Forces. Included are the combat formations and equipment used by infantry, armored, Stryker, motor rifle, and tank brigades.

Black Sea also comes with all new game engine features, including:

• Amphibious vehicles
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
• Electronic warfare
• Precision artillery munitions
• Active protection systems
• Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs)
• Expanded night vision systems

For more details about the game, an overview of the new features, and a bunch of beta screenshots, jump right here to the Combat Mission: Black Sea game page.

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West, the huge wargame that was released at the end of last year, has received yet another update. Patch 1.00.11 brings a great deal of changes and balance fixes, that create even more historical gameplay than this extraordinary detailed game could already bring to the table. In addition, the patch boasts a handful of AI improvements, as well the implementation of many new aircraft photos and unit symbols.

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West 1943-45 is the most ambitious and detailed computer wargame on the Western Front of World War II ever made. Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasions of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

The full changelog can be found here.

The patch can be downloaded and installed automatically by launching the updater tool. The manual download can be found here.

Click here to find out more about Gary Grigsby’s War in the West.

“So long as the opposing forces are at the outset approximately equal in numbers and moral and there are no flanks to turn, a long struggle for supremacy is inevitable” (General Sir Douglas Haig – British commander)

Praised for its historical accuracy and its capacity to properly cover a huge conflict that involved thousands of men and units, Ageod’s WW1 wargame, To End All Wars, amazed history buffs last summer. However, the huge scale of the Grand Campaign was demanding a lot of time and a deep involvement from the players. So the developers went back to the WW1 battlefields and selected a list of smaller scenarios able to not only offer an original approach of the war, but also to provide true tactical operational challenges to their fans!

As a result, we are pleased to announce today a first expansion called Breaking the Deadlock, introducing some key confrontations of the Great War!

The game features five historical scenarios:

• Serbia (1915) covers the decisive Central Powers offensive in Serbia dedicated to secure the area and build a safe and effective supply chain between Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
• Rumania (1916) narrates the entry of Rumania into the war on the Allied side after having been neutral for 2 years, and the Central Powers rapid counterattack in the Balkan theatre.
• Caporetto (1917) begins with the Germans sending support to the Austrian army on the Italian Front, resulting with some unconventional warfare tactics based on gas attacks and use of assault troops.
• Palestine(1917-1918) the British and Ottoman Empires confront each other in the Middle Eastern theatre. Players will have to deal with logistic challenges and unusual terrain types to be victorious on this exotic battlefield.
• 1916 Campaign (1916-1918) is a fresh new starting point of the Grand Campaign. Victory has not picked her side yet!

The game is currently in a late beta stage and will be available on February the 24th.

Get more information on To End All Wars – Breaking the Deadlock from its official product page.

A not so Phoney War

1939-1940: The war machine is released. Plans for the invasion of Poland and Western countries have been carefully prepared by the German commanders. But the Wehrmacht effectiveness is still not proved and its opponents have some serious military assets. Speed and surprise are key success factors that armchair generals will have to master to seize Warsaw, Paris, and London … or the German troops will be sent packing back to Berlin!

Since its first release, the game has benefited from regular and in-depth support from the developers. Today, the game is reaching a new level with a release on the Steam platform, and we are very excited to be able to show this classic strategy title to a whole new audience!

In order to celebrate this important milestone, we are offering a 50% discount during the week of the launch! We are also going to offer a free Steam key to anyone who bought a copy of the game from the Matrix Games or Slitherine store, once the game is available on this digital platform!

Get more information on Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris from its official Steam page.