Strategy and Wargaming

Grand strategy wargame marks anniversary with new bundle

For five years, wargamers around the world have been challenged to out build and outfight history’s most terrible war machines in Hearts of Iron IV, a grand strategy wargame from Paradox Development Studio. Millions of tanks and planes have been built as players fought through an infinite variety of alternate histories set against the backdrop of humanity’s greatest struggle.

In honor of the fifth anniversary of Hearts of Iron IV, Paradox has announced a new bundle that will give players even more style as they prove that they are the master of modern total war.

The Hearts of Iron IV Anniversary Bundle Includes:

• Eastern Front Planes Pack: Over 50 new airplane models for nations fighting in central and eastern Europe, including Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary.
• Eastern Front Music Pack: 13 new music tracks including the Soviet National Anthem, Lili Marlene and My Pierwsza Brygada.

A newly available Immersion Bundle collects the game’s cosmetic touches that add further visual and audio detail to the game, including:

• Radio Pack: 35 songs spread across all three factions, as well reproduced music from earlier games in the Hearts of Iron series.
• Axis Armor Pack: Over 60 armored vehicle models for the German, Japanese and Italian armies, including the StuG III, Japanese experimental heavy tanks and the L-6 light tank.
• Allied Armor Pack: Over 50 armored vehicle models for the American, Soviet, British, and French armies, including the M7 Priest, the French Renault tank and a host of new tank destroyers.
• Allied Speeches Pack: Over 70 minutes of speeches from some of the most inspiring moments from the Allied campaign, including MacArthur’s celebrated “I shall return” and Churchill’s pledge to “fight on the beaches”.

Watch the Hearts of Iron IV: Eastern Front Planes Pack Release Trailer HERE.

Paradox has also updated the Mobilization Bundle to include all of the available Hearts of Iron IV expansions.

These Hearts of Iron IV compilations are all available at the Paradox and Steam stores.

For more game information please visit the official Hearts of Iron IV website.

Feral Interactive have announced that patch 2.0.1 for Total War: ROME REMASTERED is now live.

While this first update focuses on stability, subsurface scattering effects for units in real-time battles have also been implemented. For a full list of fixes in patch 2.0.1, please refer to the Total War Blog.

Work continues to improve AI, pathfinding, and modding functionality for future updates.

Total War: ROME REMASTERED is available from the Feral Store or Steam for £24.99 / $29.99 / €29,99.

Find out more about Total War: ROME REMASTERED at the Total War website.

Source: Blue’s News

SEGA and Relic Entertainment are commemorating the US’s Memorial Day Weekend with a giveaway of Company of Heroes 2, the World War II real-time strategy sequel. The freebie comes along with an additional bonus, as the Ardennes Assault standalone single-player campaign is free as well. Both are available on Steam, yours to keep if you claim them over the next week. Also, all the other content for the game is currently on sale for 80% off. This trailer celebrates the giveaways. Here’s more:

There really is no better opportunity for strategy fans to get their hands on this ground-breaking historical title, engage in its thrilling tactical combat and claim victory over both the Eastern & Western Fronts of World War II. Newcomers to the award-winning World War II RTS series can expect countless hours of single and multiplayer gameplay, with the ultimate goal of defeating the mighty German forces and turning the tide of war. Download COH2 and Ardennes Assault for free now and kick off your single player campaign with The Battle of the Bulge, or dive straight into various intense online multiplayer modes and missions.

Creative Assembly today announces a substantial patch for Total War: Three Kingdoms, as well as exciting news on the future of the series, explained in a newly released Dev Diary. The 1.7.1 patch which goes live today contains numerous community-requested fixes, as well as an important change to the campaign map that sees Mount Song and Hulao pass move to their correct locations. This also allows for some additional improvements to areas around the Yellow River, preventing players getting past gate passes quite so easily – which is a good thing!

In the accompanying Dev Diary, Creative Assembly look back at the past two years of development on Three Kingdoms, sharing the exciting news that while the content for Three Kingdoms DLC is now complete, the team has transitioned onto another project based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel.

As outlined in the video, the team will share more of their direction and scope for this new project when they’re able. For now, the team have indicated that they will be “increasing [their] focus on this novel’s rich cast of characters and their individual and unique narratives, taking the core of what made Total War: Three Kingdoms so special and pushing it further.”

Alongside this important update from the team, SEGA announced a new ‘Complete your Collection’ bundle, allowing players to fill in any gaps in their Three Kingdom’s DLC library at a further discount. This offer will go live alongside the 1.7.1 patch and will end on Thursday 8th July.

To find out the details of the 1.7.1 patch, please visit the Total War blog.

Slitherine announces that Combat Mission: Cold War has a new release date: July 22nd.

The game will also be arriving with our improved PBEM multiplayer system when it officially releases, allowing you and your friends to dive into the immersive multiplayer experience with minimal setup and co-ordination.

In case you missed the original announcement, Combat Mission is returning with a brand-new chapter set between 1979 and 1982. This was the tipping-point of a conflict that gripped the world for 45 years, the Cold War.

Developed by Battlefront, Combat Mission: Cold War comes with 15 standalone scenarios set in the US V and VII Corp sectors of West Germany and 3 full length campaigns.

We apologize for the delay, which was slightly longer than expected due to some internal factors caused by Covid. Robust multiplayer is something we feel strongly about, so we hope you will enjoy the enhanced experience PBEM system will offer and why we felt we had to delay the release to include it.

The World Kneels Before You in Crusader Kings III: Royal Court

The life of a king isn’t all feasting and fighting. The larger the court, the more demands that are placed on the head of a ruler. Vassals and subjects demand audiences, petitions somehow find their way to your throne room, and we haven’t even talked about all the interior decorating. So much fabric. How will you rule your court?

In Crusader Kings III: Royal Court, all of these new challenges confront you, as your courtiers clamor for attention. Royal Court is the first major expansion for Crusader Kings III, Paradox Development Studio’s critically-acclaimed strategy role-playing game about the medieval world. Powerful rulers can establish the kind of court that inspires troubadours, decorating it with relics from family history and favoring subjects with the answers to their many problems.

View the Crusader Kings III: Royal Court Announcement Trailer HERE.

Crusader Kings III: Royal Court includes:

• Throne Room: A visual representation of your royal court will reflect all the accumulated majesty and prestige of your dynasty.
• Hold Court: Interact with vassals and courtiers as they come to you with their problems, seeking a royal judgment.
• Grandeur: Increase the quality of life at your court with fancier trappings and better food, all the better to impress your rivals and attract higher quality guests.
• Inspired People: Talented artists, craftspeople and thinkers can work on new projects, adding treasures and artifacts to your court.
• Hybrid Cultures: Make the most of a multicultural realm, developing a new way of life that is specifically adapted to your population and geography.
• Cultural Divergence: split from your traditional culture, adapting it into something new that better fits your aspirations.

This expansion will be accompanied by a major free update that will include a new culture interface and more.

More game information is available on the official Crusader Kings III website.

Matrix Games announce that Reconquista, the first DLC for Field of Glory II: Medieval is now available. Expand your game experience by taking command of the conflicts that have affected the Iberian and Italian Peninsula from 1040 AD to 1270 AD.

Lead your army to victory through legendary battles that have inflamed southern Europe for decades, with 20 more nations and factions covering Spain, Italy and North Africa, including:

The Andalusians, Almohads, Arabs, Aragonese, Byzantine Catapanate of Italy, Castilians / Leónese, Catalans, Granadines, Hafsids, Italian Guelfs, Italian Ghibellines, Italo-Normans, Lombards, Marinids, Murabits, Navarrese, Papal, Portuguese, the Kingdom of Sicily and Tuaregs.

Relive 8 more historical scenarios covering key engagements of the period as well as 4 more historically-based campaigns covering major leaders and conflicts of the era: El Cid, Muhammad II of Granada, Normans in the South and Frederick II Hohenstaufen.

Create your historically realistic battlefield for custom scenarios that can be played against the AI or human opponents using Slitherine’s easy to use PBEM3 server.

Moreover, a new Bundle will be available, containing Field of Glory II: Medieval and Reconquista with an additional 10% discount.

Don’t let your guard down, as the battle continues in Field of Glory II: Medieval – Reconquista.

Matrix Games announces Broken Arrow. Broken Arrow is a large-scale real-time modern warfare tactics game. It features American and Russian factions, more than 100 units and multiple deck specialisations per nation. The game brings the genre to a whole new level by combining the complexity of a joint-forces wargame with the typical real-time tactics action-packed gameplay.

Watch the reveal trailer HERE.

Click here for more game information.

Matrix Games announces Scramble: Battle of Britain. Scramble: Battle of Britain is a simultaneous turn-based dogfighting game. Set in a 3D airspace, the game features fast-paced, tactical combat with dynamic flight physics. Each turn is divided into three phases: planning phase, action phase, and review phase. Survey the aerial battlefield, plan your flight paths, execute spectacular manoeuvres, scrub through time to assess battle damage, and defeat your enemies through masterful tactics and captivating aerobatics.

Click here for more game information.

‘Evil Twin Artworks’, the award winning indie team behind PC RTS classic, ‘Victory At Sea’, Man O’ War: Corsair and Victory At Sea Pacific has just released a major update for their latest Early Access game, Victory At Sea Ironclad.

“Since releasing Victory At Sea Ironclad, we have been asked what the weather will be like in game,” said James Carroll, Director at Evil Twin Artworks. “Now the players have to contend with adverse weather, seeing, mist and fog, rain and heavy storms. All of these affect accuracy and visibility. Not only that but we have also added the Confederate campaign. ”

Set during the American Civil War, Victory At Sea Ironclad gives the player opportunities to not only sail but take control of huge paddle steamers, they can even build and command the fearsome Ironclads of the title.

A huge Open World RTS where you play out the entire Civil War, making history with every decision made. Victory At Sea Ironclad will set sail on Steam Q1 2020 in Early Access.

You can check out the new Steam page for Victory At Sea Ironclad HERE.