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Traditional Wargames

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Panzer Campaigns: Rumezyev

Wargame Design Studio 2021 End of Year Update has a lot of interesting information to rummage through, but most importantly for the purposes of this list is the fact that the entire team is currently working on 20 simultaneous projects, in various stages of completion that are scheduled to be released over the next couple of years.

However, having said that and breaking up John Tiller’s tradition of not announcing upcoming games, Wargame Design Studio lifted the veil on their newest entry in the Panzer Campaigns series, Rumyantsev ’43. The game will cover the soviet operation that recaptured the city of Kharkov and it’s going to be the first title from Daniel Asensio, historian, and modder of Panzer Campaigns. Rumyantsev ’43 will be the first of four planned titles covering the war in Eastern Ukraine.

Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm

Finally, the new iteration of the WEGO 1980’s Cold War Gone Hot classic is set to arrive sometime during the next year. The game features 25 scenarios and 4 campaigns across 40 different maps and players will take the role of commanding officers of the USSR, USA, France, Canada, West Germany, East German and Cheskoslovakia in “a data-rich simulation where each nation has information on National Characteristic, Command Parameters, and Orders of Battle. Data Tables are packed with era-specific equipment and troops. Weapon Systems of the time such as guns, missiles, precision munitions, small arms, and much more are comprehensively modeled”.

Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm is scheduled for release this year but no precise release date was announced as of yet.

Panzer Corps 2: Pacific

For the first time in its history, the Panzer Corps franchise goes to the far-east in order to explore the Pacific Theatre of Operations. The new DLC finally bring Imperial Japan to this Panzer General spiritual-successor both as an opponent and as a playable faction. Naval combat got a rework and naval rules were changed to fit the importance the sea had in the conflict (the term “Pacific”, which refers to the “Pacific Ocean” should give you a general idea of how important naval combat was). A new campaign, lasting from 1941 to 1943 will take cyber-Admirals to Wake Island, Coral Sea, Midway, and many others.

Panzer Corps 2: Pacific will be available sometime during 2022.

Headquarters: World War II

Headquarters: World War II – Is really about but it describes itself as a “fast-paced turn-based strategy covering the Battle of Normandy in the three plot-driven campaigns and a number of skirmishes”

Just in case you haven’t heard, the game has destruction. And by the looks of it, it’s going for a focus on vehicle-on-vehicle combat. Indeed, it’s a pretty sight to behold but unfortunately more is needed to spark some form of enthusiastic interest.

The game will be out in 2022 but no definitive date has been announced yet.

Attack at Dawn: North Africa

I’ve recently interviewed Tomislav Čipčić, the single person behind Attack at Dawn: North Africa and both had a lengthy discussion on how Attack at Dawn is implementing the concept of a real-time-hex-and-counter-operational-level-wargame. A novel feature and one that places a greater emphasis on information and fog of war, critical components for the success of both german and allied armies in the desert: “North African theatre seemed the best place to start since the number of troops was limited, and mobile warfare played a very important role”. You can read the whole interview here.

Attack at Dawn: North Africa is releasing sometime during the Spring of 2022.

WARNO

An announcement that came out of nowhere as 2021 was coming to a close, WARNO is the new title from the Wargame (can you believe Wargame: Red Dragon launched eight years ago?) and Steel Division series, Eugen Systems. There’s almost nothing in the way of information when it comes to WARNO other than a couple of posts on the Steam game page outlying their vision of the game. Here are some things that caught my eye “we tried to deliver some profound changes to the available tactical tools, reduce unwanted micromanagement, improve the AI, and increase the pleasure of exercising command on an immersive and detailed battlefield.” The screenshots look fantastic, but that’s to be expected coming from the guys that literally brought high-fidelity graphics in the Strategy genre.

Six nations will make their debut in the early access of the game, aligning either with NATO or Warsaw Pact. As usual, the colossal unit count is back, with 600 different military units from the period. Taking a page from the Steel Division II book, WARNO will feature 4 massive Army General campaigns taking place around the Fulda Gap in 1989.

The game is set to release this month, the 20th of January into Steam Early Access.

Field of Glory 2: Medieval – Storm of Arrows

Following the success of “The Ultimate List Of The BEST World War II Games Of All Time“, I’m gearing up to write another about “The Ultimate List Of The Best Medieval Warfare Games Of All Time” so, in what I can only name as a pro-gamer move, Slitherine did what it could to help me out and announced more content for Field of Glory II: Medieval, with a new DLC called Storm of Arrows– a title referring to the English victory during the Hundred Years War over the French at Agincourt. Soon-to-be constables can expect 45 new units relating to the 14th and 15th centuries, 95 new army lists, bringing the combined number of army lists up to 241, 8 Historical Scenarios (including Crécy, Agincourt, and Aljubarrota) and 5 historically-based campaigns.

Field of Glory II: Medieval – Storm of Arrows will arrive on Steam on the 10th of February.

Burden of Command

If I had a dollar every time I’ve seen Burden of Command in a “most anticipated list of 20XX”… Anyway, the constant update of their developer blogs always fills me with the hope that Burden of Command will, someday, see the light of day. BoC is supposed to be the offspring of classical hex wargames and an RPG system that will emulate the dilemmas of being in command of an American company in the Second World War.

SGS New Games

SGS Glory Recalled, SGS Fall Weiss, SGS Taipings

Heia Safari was one of my surprise hits of last year, its novel setting in Central Africa and the exploration of a conflict never replicated in videogames before, with simple boardlike mechanics is tailor-made for bush commanders wanting to have a quick go at experience the difficulties of jungle fighting. The fact it was designed by Phillipe Thibaut, the man behind the creation of Europa Universalis should serve as a seal of quality enough to recommend Strategy Game Studios ludological historical explorers.

The company is all hands on deck building three games: SGS Glory Recalled is currently undergoing testing and will come out in January 2022. SGS FAll Weiss is also under the watchful eye of testers while additional content is being added and will arrive sometime during the summer. SGS Taipings is 75% completed, currently being tested and under a localization process, it will arrive during “mid-2022”.

Panzers on the Steppe

I spotted Panzers on the Steppe while researching this list and its board game colorful art style immediately captured my attention and revealed itself to be exactly what it looked like: a traditional hex-and-counter wargame about the Eastern Front in the Second World War at the Army/Corps level. All the little bells and whistles wargamers have grown accustomed to are present here: Hexes, Army management, HQ management, Supply, Weather and terrain effects, air attacks, victory conditions, and all that good stuff.

The game will be out in just a couple of weeks, on the 14th of January.

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