Unexpectedly, Company of Heroes 3 took the Strategy and Wargaming news world by storm, absolutely wrecking publication schedules and any kind of previous, meticulous planning. All that is to say that I spent way more time than what I would like to admit juggling for control of southern Italy and advancing on Mount Casino. The good thing is that Company of Heroes 3 seems to be taking all the right steps into reverting itself back to the original Company of Heroes, highlighting how important infantry combat is and moving away from gimmicky mechanics and an overbearing necessity of armoured support CoH2 is known for.

Company of Heroes 3 playable right now

There’s no point in going too deep here while I’m penning up an in-depth analysis that will- hopefully- come out on the next following days but rest assure, for Company of Heroes 3 is already available for everybody to give a it go and so far it’s marching merrily along the right track.

After the blunder that was Dawn of War 3, a game that completely obliterated every mechanic that made the first two games classical entries in the RTS Hall of Fame, Relic finally understood that dumbing down mechanics is not the way to success. Kudos to them.

Have a go at CoH3 here.

Field of Glory II Medieval – Swords and Scimitars announced

Field of Glory has to be going great for Byzantine Games and Slitherine, because they just won’t stop announcing DLC after DLC. A month after the most recent Reconquista expansion receiving the Strategy and Warming Seal of Approval, now those warring medieval figurines are going East, earning for a fight and a chance of eternal salvation by fighting in the Crusades.

–  20 more nations and factions covering South Eastern Europe and the Middle East from 1040 AD to 1270 AD. These include Arabs (Syria/Iraq), Armenians (Cilician), Bulgarians, Byzantines (Main Empire, also Nikaia, Epiros and Trebizond), Crusaders, Cypriots (Lusignan Kingdom), Dailami, Fatimid Egyptians, Georgians, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Indians (Rajput, other Hindu, Muslim), Khwarazmians, Latin States in Greece, Mamluk Egyptians, Mongols (Ilkhanids), Pechenegs, Seljuq Turks, Serbians and Syrian States. 
–  35 more units (11 brand new, 24 new to Medieval), allowing the troops of all of the new factions to be accurately represented. 
–  41 more army lists allowing historically realistic armies for each of the above factions and their allies at different dates during the period.
–  8 more historical scenarios covering key engagements of the period on an epic scale. These include Manzikert 1071, Dorylaeum 1097, Ascalon 1099, Sirmium 1167, Arsuf 1191, La Forbie 1244, Homs 1281 and Kili 1299.  
–  4 more historically-based campaigns covering major leaders and conflicts of the era: Alexios Komnenos, The First Crusade, Manuel Komnenos, Saladin.  
–  Sandbox campaign expanded to include all the new army lists.
–  Time Warp custom battles modules expanded to include all the new army lists.

Enjoying Cities: Skylines? Want to get into mods? Watch this

Managed to snag Cities: Skylines and a couple of it’s DLC this previous Summer Sale? Want to have a bit more freedom building and managing your city? The video above, produced in cooperation with Paradox Interactive, showcases some of the best utility mods available in the Steam Workshop. I’ve been wanting to go back to Cities: Skylines since I stopped playing it last February. After I’m done with THE Battlesector review, Cities: Skylines is all I need. The time has come.

Gates of Hell – Major Update

World War 2 sleeper hit of 2021, Gates of Hell- Ostfront has released a major update reworking in-game squad composition to reflect their real-life counterparts more accurately. Not only did the developers reworked their current size and composition but this new redesign also lead to them adding a lot of new squads: “The sheer amount of new squads will both bring diversity and a lot of new options to the table. To visualise how the squads step up in expertise and capabilities, we added tier labels to them”.

Also, scout/ recon units were added, these are lightly equipped but have increased vision. New tanks and maps will find their way into the game, too. Futures major updates were teased, with the promise of adding even more maps, missions, units and doctrines.

Steel Division 2 – Nemesis – Storming Toulon

Kick a stone and you’ll find out that another Steel Division 2 DLC is now available. This time it’s all about those who fought on the French Riviera, on the summer of 1944: Operation Dragoon. The new DLC scrambles together the Verteidigungsbereich Toulon battle group and pits it against the 1e Division Française Libre. Both sides bring a host of new equipment into the game such as the Kriegsmarine Marineinfanterie, Commandos d’Afrique special forces, Flak 38, M6 Fargo and new carrier-figthers such as the Hellcat, Wildcat and Seafire.

An interesting look at IL-2 Airports

Here’s a fascinating peek behind the scenes of how 1C Game Studios are reconstructing real-life Normandy airfields for IL-2 Sturmovik.

Ultimate Admira: Age of Sail land battles reworked

The latest release from Game Labs, Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail just received a new, substantial update in it’s land combat, correcting some problems related to unit movement and formation. It’s not the most visual striking update but it appears to have some major implication on the way land battles can go. After reviewing Age of Sail I never went back to it, despite loving every single moment. You can read more about these here.

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