Strategy and Wargaming

The Greatest Tactical Wargames, Now With Even More Greatness!

Can you feel it? The crackle of electricity in the air. That tingle of anticipation running down your spine. It’s that time of year. Once more the season is upon us! The winSPWW2 and winSPMBT upgrades of awesome awesomeness season! Two whirlwinds of content set to shatter your expectations of just how good these two games can get are heading your way.

Available for immediate download from Shrapnel Games, the version 8.0 winSPWW2 and version 9.0 winSPMBT upgrade patches continue the annual tradition of improving the winSPWW2 and winSPMBT experience with more content, additional enhancements, and when needed, the elimination of errors. These are consolidation upgrades, allowing those who have not previously upgraded an easier path to bring their games up to date. The upgrades can be downloaded directly from the individual product pages. Just look for the links under the ‘Downloads’ section.

• winSPWW2 Product Page
• winSPMBT Product Page

Read the official press release for a complete list of changes.

Today Matrix Games has revealed another super detailed Battle Map for the upcoming Brother against Brother!

The Battle of Mill Springs took place in Pulaski and Wayne counties, Kentucky, and was a first major victory for the Union troops led by General George Henry Thomas.

As always, we are giving you access to the map and its elegant 20 page PDF Booklet with detailed Orders of Battle of both forces on the battlefield, and a valuable description of the various phases of the battle.

Download the full package here or click here to browse the map online!

Map and Booklet are added to the download section of the product page!

Get more information about the game from its official product page.

Pike & Shot Updated to Version 1.0.4!

“Monarchs ought to put to death the authors and instigators of war, as their sworn enemies and as dangers to their states.” (Elizabeth I – Queen of England and Ireland)

Tercio to Salvo– the first expansion of the acclaimed wargame set in the iron century, is finally released for PC!

Following in the footsteps of the base game Tercio to Salvo introduces brand new conflicts and nations for a refreshing wargaming experience!

The expansion includes 10 historical scenarios that depict iconic European battles from the 16th and early 17th centuries and 49 new army lists for the skirmish mode, allowing the fans to generate an infinite numbers of what-if scenarios with diversified settings and troop types.

A terrific 50% launch discount is available on PC only!

We are also going to offer a free Steam key to anyone who bought a copy of the PC version from the Matrix Games or Slitherine store!

All of this and more!

Pike and Shot is updated to Version 1.0.4! Important improvements will make the gameplay more enjoyable than ever, with more accurate stats for specific units and more choices in skirmish generated maps like the type of terrain.

But the list is very long so be sure to check the full changelog HERE.

You can download the patch from HERE.

Get more information on Pike & Shot from its official game page.

We are delighted to reveal another highly detailed map for the upcoming American Civil War wargame Brother Against Brother: The Drawing of the Sword!

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek represents one of the first battles fought in the Mississippi Theatre and it was seen as a great springboard for the further Confederate operations in the region.

As we did for the previous Battle of Manassas, we are giving alongside the map also a 20 page PDF booklet with the precise description of the forces on the battlefield with the proper order of battle!

Download the full package here or click here to browse the map online!

Map and Booklet are added in the download section of the product page!

Stay tuned for further reveals!

Get more information about the game from its official product page.

Today we are very excited to announce the release of Battle of Kursk – the first expansion of Battle Academy 2 – on PC, Mac and iPad!

Driven by two new challenging campaigns, this expansion includes a carryover system that invites you to have the wider strategic picture in mind when they plan their next turn. As the head of both armies, you will also have to quickly identify the strengths of the new units available to bring out the best of them.

Grab the game here (PC).

But the news from the Ostfront are not over!

Battle Academy 2: Eastern Front base game is updated to Version 1.0.4!

This version is available with several improvements and bug fixes! Now skirmish map generation scripts are in DATA/BATTLE/SCRIPTS (and this allows them to be over-ridden in a campaign for custom skirmish map generation) and the bug related to the sniper’s animation is fixed.

Be sure to check the list of changes and bug fixes here!

You can download the patch from here.

Get more information on Battle Academy 2: Battle of Kursk from its official product page.

The Celts Culture Pack enables players to embark on new campaigns as the Ebdanians, Caledonians and Picts. Alongside unique new culture and faction traits, units, objectives and a new narrative event-chain, the Celts specialise in swift and deadly warfare. Every unit in the Celtic roster has the Guerrilla Deployment trait, enabling them to deploy almost anywhere on the battlefield – even behind enemy lines.

Unleashing the full horror of the apocalypse, the Blood & Burning add-on brings blood effects, decapitations, limb-lops, disembowelment and more to Total War: Attila. Disease-ridden soldiers can be seen vomiting on the battlefield and decapitations and gore-slicked event pictures feature on the Campaign map. Check out the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5zy703KFLc

Note: Blood & Burning contains mature-rated content, rated above Total War: Attila‘s original age rating in many territories, check the product information with your retailer for more information.

Both are out today and available for purchase from Steam:

• Celts Culture Pack ($7.99/£5.99/€7.49)
• Blood & Burning ($2.99/£1.99/€2.49)

For further details, please visit the official Total War website.

“The only true rule for cavalry is to follow the enemy as long as he retreats”- Stonewall Jackson

Good news for you, American Civil War fans!

As the release date of Brother Against Brother: The Drawing of the Sword approaches, we have a lot to share with you. One of the key features of the game is the incredible attention to detail and realism that was put to recreate the historical battle maps. So from now until release, we will give you the opportunity to let you browse them, discover them, own them and more!

We will start with the 1st Manassas battle map. This huge image has been slightly reduced to allow you to check it out online, but you can also download the fully blown thing alongside a 20 page PDF booklet with the battle history and the full in-game order of battle. Download it here if you want to be blown away!

The map is so rich in detail, you will be able to find all elements from single regiments to railroads, woods, villas. Nothing was left out of it. It took years of primary research for Western Civilization Software to come up with one of the most detailed and historical battle maps every created for any game.

To make thing easy, you will find all this also in the download section of the product page.

Stay tuned! Because we have planned to release a new map every week until the release of the game.

Get more information about the game from its official product page.

By Richard Talbot @ The Wargamer

As a wise man once said, “And now for something completely different!”. Well perhaps not completely different, but Vietnam ’65 is not just another wargame, this is an attempt to create a game about counter-insurgency warfare (COIN) rather than conventional warfare so it isn’t about lining up your troops to face off against the enemy, it’s more difficult than that – you have to find the buggers first, and then they run away to hit you from a different direction. You’ll find yourself shouting “will you just stand still and die” at the computer on more than one occasion when playing Vietnam ’65 if my experience is anything to go on.

Read on…

“The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield. We must stop him in the water, destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat!” (1944 – Erwin Rommel)

The definitive wargame of the Western Front is updated to version 1.00.21! New contents and features are now fully integrated to give the game a more detailed perspective. For instance Italian reinforcements are now allowed prior to July 43 (in the past they were not allowed until after Italy had surrendered) and with this version it’s more difficult to reach very high interdiction values.

The list is very long, so be sure to check the full changelog here.

The patch can be downloaded here.

But this time the good news is not finished, because alongside the update we are very happy to announce that an expansion of the base game focused on the attempts of the Allies to open a second front in Europe prior to Overlord is now ready to enter the beta phase! And we ask players to help us test it by enlisting for the beta here.

Operation Torch includes 10 diverse scenarios for an extensive coverage of the African and Western European theaters between late 1942 and 1945 including both historical and what-if operations.

Operation Torch includes 10 diverse scenarios for an extensive coverage of the African and Western European theaters between late 1942 and 1945 including both historical and what-if operations.

A lot of astounding news! What are you waiting for?

Get more information about the game from its official product page.

“The time for war has not yet come, but it will come, and that soon; and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard.” (Stonewall Jackson, Confederate General)

Following up on the success of their last foray into the American Civil War, the development team behind the award-winning “Forge of Freedom” have returned to the period at the tactical level. Brother against Brother: The Drawing of the Sword, the latest new wargame from Western Civilization Software, is finally ready to march. Indeed, this epic military strategy game covering the first year of the American Civil War will be available on April 16th!

It is 1861. Nearly a million armed Americans face each other along a line stretching 1200 miles from Virginia to Missouri. Tensions in the country reach a climax when Confederate forces fire upon a key Union fort in South Carolina in April. This is the starting point of a bloody four year conflict between the North and the South that would leave an indelible mark on American history.

In Brother against Brother: The Drawing of the Sword, the focus is on the opening battles of the American Civil War. Players will be able to command both sides and relive the major encounters of 1861 and early 1862. Thanks to extensive historical and topographical research, including in-person examinations of each battlefield and consultations of materials previously unavailable to game-designers, the maps and orders of battle each have been recreated at an unprecedented scale and level of detail. Connoisseurs of the period will immediately notice that the behavior of the commanders and their soldiers perfectly matches the tactics of this era! However, Brother against Brother is much more than a rigorous simulation, it also offers several what-if scenarios for a very refreshing approach to famous battles such as 1st Manassas or Wilson’s Creek.

Erik Rutins, Director of Product Development at Matrix Games, said, “It’s always a pleasure to work with the team at Western Civilization Software, but I believe this release is truly special. For Civil War computer wargame fans, I believe that the incredible research and great gameplay included in Brother against Brother will make this game the definitive treatment of these battles for years to come.”

Get more information about the game from its official product page.