Strategy and Wargaming

Pack the royal baggage, get the carriage sorted and don’t forget to gather your entourage, because royalty travels in style. Visit your vassals, travel to a grand foreign wedding or take your turn at the jousting lists – all potential occasions for intrigue or advancement. And now the date of departure is set – you can enjoy the luxury (and peril) of medieval travel in Crusader Kings III: Tours and Tournaments on 11 May 2023.

Watch the Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments Pre-Order Trailer HERE.

In Tours and Tournaments, your character will be able to change the course of history through grand activities. Whether it is becoming master of the arena at a tournament, impressing your vassals with an extravagant royal wedding, or personally touring your realm on a grand tour, all of these activities could have world-changing consequences. Not to mention the perils of leaving an ambitious regent at home to rule in your stead while you see the world.

Crusader Kings III: Tours and Tournaments will be available on 11 May 2023 for the suggested retail price of $29.99/£24.99/€29.99 and will launch with a major free update to Crusader Kings III for all players.

Players can pre-order Tours and Tournaments now, or, if they like, purchase Chapter II for Crusader Kings III, a bundle of upcoming content for the game with an unbeatable price.

The Chapter II pack can be ordered now, for a suggested retail price of $34.99/£29.50/€34.99.

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

Commanders wishing to begin their campaign on World War 1’s Western Front before March 30 can purchase from today to immediately assume control.

Frontier Foundry, the games label of Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV), and developers Petroglyph (Command & Conquer™: Remastered, Star Wars™: Empire at War), invite players to take control and lead their chosen side to victory in World War 1 RTS, The Great War: Western Front, available from 17:00 BST // 18:00 CEST // 12:00 EDT // 09:00 PDT today in early access to those who have pre-ordered the game. Players who purchase the game before March 30 can also take their place in the command trench immediately, for a suggested retail price of £29.99/€34.99/$34.99.

Commanders can enhance their experience with the Victory Edition. This includes a detailed digital field guide providing additional in-game intelligence, five digital wallpapers, and Frank Klepacki’s evocative soundtrack, encompassing a myriad of complex and conflicting emotions which reflect World War 1. Victory Edition is available via Steam at a suggested retail price of £34.99/€39.99/$39.99.

Watch the official The Great War: Western Front Pre-Order Trailer HERE.

The Great War: Western Front offers players the opportunity to relive or redefine history in one of history’s most pivotal conflicts, taking command of either the Allied Forces or the Central Powers. Taking total control of the Western Front as both Theatre Commander and Field Commander, players will be required to make difficult decisions in both turn-based grand strategy and RTS gameplay to preserve their faction’s National Will across an immersive campaign which spans the duration of the war, and can be extended beyond 1918 based on their actions. Players can choose to start at the outbreak of the conflict in 1914, or in 1916, assuming leadership at a pivotal point where public support is fading and both sides turn to new technologies such as aviation and tanks in an effort to break the stalemate.

As forces meet on the battlefields, Commanders must carefully consider their supply and weigh up the prospect of the conflict to come. With both sides attempting to push back the enemy, each battlefield reflects the changing seasons and retains the damage caused by previous battles as the cost of the war takes its toll on the landscape. Every decision tips the balance of each battle on a sliding scale, from suppressing key emplacements with artillery and increasing their visibility with observation balloons during an attack, to designing detailed trench networks which provide unique strategic options whether attacking or defending. Victory may be achieved, but at what cost?

Alongside the campaign, Historical Battles allows Commanders to relive key battles from the Western Front, set against Imperial War Museums’ archive footage, and will put their tactical awareness to the test. Additionally, players can improve their battle readiness in a dedicated tutorial, refine their skills and create their own battles from the ground up in Skirmish mode, or take on their fellow Commanders in individual 1v1 Multiplayer battles.

Visit playthegreatwar.com for more game information.

Command Showcase: Ford Class is a DLC series of scenarios that will put you in command of the most significant weapons sensors and units in the modern era with new and hypothetical theaters of war.

Your Second challenge:

Russia, in an attempt to break international sanctions, has set up a trade agreement with Angola. Unfortunately, the situation has turned ugly with the death of the Angolan President, back and forth claims of Russian and/or US and/or European interference fused with a fractious domestic political situation boiling down to civil war. While many nations attempt to evacuate non-combatants, Russia has vowed to send ‘Peacekeepers’ and the US is adamant that its Embassy will remain open and US citizens will be protected.

Enter the USS Ford and her dispersed Strike Group, diverted from a scheduled visit to South America. Simultaneously, the Russians divert their newly refitted Battle Cruiser Admiral Nakhimov from a mission to the Mediterranean. Suddenly two of the most powerful ships on the planet are steaming at high speed towards a tinderbox situation.

What could possibly go wrong?

Features:

• Playable by the US side only and focused on the USS Ford.
• Configurable air wing for the USS Ford with 10, 14 or 20 F-35s and varying numbers of other aircraft to round out the wing.
• Randomized starting positions for many elements.
• P-8, RQ-180 and other high end surveillance aircraft.
• High end SSNs on both sides.
• Airborne insertion of US Marines to the US Embassy.
• A NATO airlift not under the player’s control but needing protection.
• A fast-moving and dynamic situation on the ground which will complicate the player’s ability to achieve tasks and missions.
• An escalation mechanism where both Russia and Angola will gradually lose patience with player actions at different rates and for different reasons, and likely start shooting.

Command Showcase: Ford Class will be released on 6th March.

The Command Showcase: Ford Class DLC requires Command: Modern Operations to play.

Relic Entertainment™, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Limited are excited to announce that Company of Heroes™ 3, the highly anticipated third installment in the beloved strategy franchise, is officially out now on PC on Steam! Watch the launch trailer HERE.

Since Company of Heroes 3 is the biggest launch in the series’ history, we’ve joined forces with some of our greatest community members to produce a hefty 23 brand new tutorial videos, covering everything from combat fundamentals to advanced techniques like breaching and countering.

Long-time Company of Heroes content creator SkippyFX pours over the basics of issuing commands to your units, how to hold onto victory points for dear life, and the strategic importance of capturing airfields. CoH tournament caster StormlessUK covers the subtle art of using the right tank for the right job, how to position them for maximum armour value, and how to smash new routes for your infantry.

Meanwhile, covering more intermediate tactics, content creator Elpern explains how CoH3’s Veterancy system rewards your most persistent units, or how upgrades can turn basic units into specialized threats, like the flamethrower-wielding Royal Engineer.

Last but not least, content creator Tightrope shows players how to counter every possible threat at a strategic or tactical level, including defensive anti-tank units and deadly eagle-eyed snipers.

Check out all these tutorials now to help get you started on your journey across the Italian Dynamic Campaign, the North African Operation, or your next multiplayer match in Company of Heroes 3.

For more information about Company of Heroes 3, head to www.companyofheroes.com.

Relic Entertainment, Inc has release the fourth and final trailer in a series faction reveals for Company of Heroes 3. In this video, players can find out more about the highly-anticipated Deutsches Afrikakorps and their arsenal of mobile, mechanized weaponry and vehicles. Debuting in both single-player and multiplayer, the Afrika Korps were infamous for their prowess in the North African deserts.

Watch the new trailer HERE.

The Afrikakorps is the most radical and unorthodox army in the game, and will suit players who like to play aggressively and keep the pressure on the enemy, benefitting greatly from the synergy between its specialized infantry and armored vehicle roster. Afrikakorps players can use the Half-track to quickly deploy troops to respond to new threats or sustain the offensive, while the versatile Panzer III is the workhorse tank of the army. The Armored Reserves system allows for the deployment of the dread-inducing Tiger Tank and other heavily armored options. In the harsh deserts of North Africa, the Afrikakorps also had to rely on their vehicle-towing capabilities to reposition their anti-tank Flak 36 88mm cannon or repair damaged tanks.

Like all factions in Company of Heroes 3, the Afrikakorps come rounded out with their own assortment of supporting Battlegroups to tackle unique battlefield scenarios. The Italian Guastatori, clad in all-black uniforms, wield deadly flamethrowers to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. Or utilize the Italian Combined Arms Battlegroup, which lets you field some impressive units, such as the highly effective Semovente da 75/18 Assault Gun, the elite Bersaglieri infantry, and the quick striking Carro Armato M13/40 Light Tank.

Company of Heroes 3 is coming to PC on February 23rd and is available for Pre-Order! Get the Launch Edition and receive the Devil’s Brigade DLC pack featuring Legendary skins for Infantry, Vehicles, and other Legendary tier cosmetics. To find out more about Company of Heroes™ 3, head over to CompanyOfHeroes.com.

Matrix Games has announced the release of Nuclear War Simulator. Nuclear war simulator is a detailed realistic simulation and visualization of large-scale nuclear conflicts with a focus on humanitarian consequences. It lets you design conflict scenarios and estimate the consequences using a population density map and realistic weapons effects.

This software should help you answer the question: what will happen if Russia and the United States or India and Pakistan use their arsenals? You can design warheads, missiles and carries, place them on the map and execute attack plans to tell a credible story about how nuclear conflicts play out and what are the consequences. Using a high-resolution population density map and realistic weapons effects like blast, heat and radiation you can make an estimate of how many people will die in a conflict.

Using an intuitive UI you can design warheads, place them on missiles and into silos, on aircraft, TELs and submarines. You can then place the forces onto the map simply clicking on it or importing real-world locations from KMZ files.

More game information is available at the official Nuclear War Simulator web page.

For the first time in the history of the series we are proud to announce the release of the first DLC for Strategic Command.

Strategic Command: Wars in the Americas gives you the opportunity to fight five new campaigns covering some of the greatest conflicts of the mid/late 19th century. Including battlefields ranging from the deserts of Peru to the jungles of Cuba, these campaigns will provide countless hours of entertainment while challenging your strategic skills to the utmost!

This DLC contains five major wars, new unit types, new historical leaders, new events and so much more.

Click here for more game information.

The seventh chapter of the Axis Operations series begins to loom

Matrix Games has announced Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations – 1944, the latest DLC for Panzer Corps 2. The Axis Operations – 1944 DLC Campaign is the first DLC that offers two entire campaigns that are completely separate and independent from one another.

In the historical campaign, prepare to face the brutal realities of the decline of the German Wehrmacht as it struggles to survive the Allied onslaught battering it from all directions.

In the ahistorical campaign, continue your success that has secured the Caucasus region for Germany as you defend your extensive conquests from familiar and totally new challenges.

To properly explore the historical battles and ahistorical events in the 1944 DLC, Axis Operations 1944 has grown to provide the largest amount of content a DLC has yet to have.

The vast 20 scenarios count offers the best glimpse at exploring the historical realities of devastating battles fought on the Eastern Front during 1944, especially during Operation Bagration.

The ahistorical campaign is a fully fleshed out and realized campaign with well-researched potential successes, and setbacks, the mighty German Wehrmacht may have faced even after it emerged as the victor from the Battle of Kursk.

New features:

• Two playable campaigns
• New 20 huge scenarios
• A new set of objectives, classified as Elite Objective
• Import your core forces completed the previous Axis Operations1943 East campaign
• Field Marshal Erwin Rommel returns!

More information is available at the official Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations – 1944 webpage.

By Blood Alone Add-On Includes Plane Designer and New Alternate Histories

Paradox Interactive’s best-selling grand strategy wargame Hearts of Iron IV gets even grander and more strategic today with the release of By Blood Alone, a new expansion pack that adds new ways to explore the limits of your military genius and long-term planning.

The centerpieces of By Blood Alone include the much requested aircraft designer, allowing you to build the fighters and bombers of your imagination, and three new national focus trees, carving out room for an even wider range of diverging alternate histories, whether you successfully repel European conquest as Ethiopia or foment a communist revolution in wartime Italy.

Features of Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone include:

• New Italian Focus Tree: Alternate histories of Fascist Italy, including a socialist revolution.
• New Ethiopian Focus Tree: Defy the odds to defeat the Italian invader or resist the conqueror from abroad using unique Government in Exile abilities.
• New Swiss Focus Tree: Surrounded by France, Germany and Italy, the mountain nation of Switzerland finds strength in its neutrality, balancing competing factions and overtures from the great powers.
• New Peace Conference Options: Demilitarize zones of the map or entire nations, bid on the capital ships of defeated powers, or claim control of enemy resources or factories as reparations.
• Aircraft Designer: Design and build your own planes, from nimble interceptors that prioritize speed to durable bombers crafted to unload tons of destruction from high above.
• Unit Medals: A log of each division’s accomplishments lets you track their performance, and even allow you to award medals to those that have performed well.
• Embargo Interaction: Embargo your enemies with a new diplomatic interaction, preventing them from trading with you if they have generated enough world tension.
• New Unit Models: More than 20 new pieces of unit art for Italian, Ethiopian and Swiss armies.
• New Plane Models: 67 new plane models.
• 12 New Music Tracks

As usual, the release of By Blood Alone will be accompanied by a major update to Hearts of Iron IV, available for free for everyone who owns the game.

Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone is available now for a suggested retail price of $19.99/£15.49/€19.99.

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

For the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, Command Modern Operations is pleased to announce a new DLC that will bring you back to 1982. Command Falklands contains fifteen scenarios and two bonus missions that put you in charge of the most significant units during the war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands off the coast of South America.

Watch the Command Falklands announcement trailer HERE.

Take command of the Argentine forces or the British task force assembled in 48 hours to fight the Argentine invasion, manage units previously taken out of service in bonus scenarios such as the HMS Ark Royal, Buccaneer and Phantom Fighters long-range attack planes, and the aircraft carrier CVA-01.

Features:

• 15 Scenarios plus 2 Bonus Scenarios including units not present or available during the war.
• Scenarios designed by a retired Royal Navy officer and Falklands veteran, who served on HMS Plymouth
• Management actual and previously taken out of service units
• Air, surface and underwater combat
• Guide your Forces to victory in a multi-sided campaign.

Are you ready to counter the invasion?

Find out more about Command: Modern Operations – Falklands at the games official webpage.