Gather around, commanders!

We have a release date. The day that WARNO will launch out of Early Access is now known. Prepare yourself: this coming May 23rd, WARNO will have its official full launch! That’s three weeks from now.

Years of hard work (and playing hard) are paying off. However, WARNO’s release is only the beginning of a new chapter. We are far from done with our beloved “Cold War gone hot” real-time strategy, with the first expansions already worked on.

Let’s detail what’s in store from May 23rd onwards!

Different flavors of WARNO

With the official launch out of Early Access, WARNO will be available in different versions. Let’s detail each one. Current Early Access owners will get additional bonus content, called the EA Pack. This EA Pack will be available to latecomers after launch (more details below).

WARNO “vanilla” Edition

WARNO “vanilla” Edition

Price Tag: $39.99 / 39,99€

Content:

• 5 Army General campaigns.
  
• 8 Operations.
  
• 18 Divisions.
  
• Over 1000 units, expertly researched, modeled and voice-lined.
  
• 6 Nations: the United States, West Germany, the United Kingdom and France for NATO, the Soviet Union and East Germany for the Warsaw Pact.
  
• Extensive Tutorials and a full range of Skirmish, Multiplayer and Cooperative modes.

EA Pack

For Early Access owners, automatically and freely available, a special EA Pack. This DLC contains divisions added as a “thank you” for your continued support during WARNO’s development:

• The EA Pack contains 5 “extra” divisions:
  
• The ”Berlin” divisions: NATO’s Berlin Command and Warsaw Pact’s Berliner Gruppierung and 6-ya Gvardeyskaya Motostrelkovaya Brigada.
  
• Plus NATO’s U.S. 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and the Warsaw Pact’s Soviet 27-ya Gvardeyskaya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya.

After WARNO’s official launch out of Early Access, this EA Pack will be made available as a DLC for $9.99 / 9,99€.

WARNO “Gold” Edition

There is more… much more. Our super deluxe ”Gold” edition of WARNO is jam-packed with extra goodies and the pre-orders of not only two future major expansions but also two extra (previously undisclosed) DLCs (see further below!)!

WARNO “Gold” Edition

Price Tag: $79.99 / 79,99€

Exactly the same content as the “vanilla” edition, plus:

• 2 e-books with almost 200 pages in total! - WARNO's Timeline and Designer's Notes respectively on Army General, Operations plus an in-depth Divisions overview.
  
  • WARNO's Timeline goes deep into “how it came to pass,” painting a frighteningly realistic picture of World War III erupting at the end stages of the Cold War.
    
  • Army General gives not only you detailed insights into our five campaigns but also how we set out to create them. A great sneak peek into WARNO’s development.
    
  • Operations give you an in-depth view of how we designed Operations, the scripted scenarios on specific noteworthy battles in our war scenario, and how they are best played!
    
  • Divisions. An exhaustive list of all WARNO ”Vanilla” and ”Gold” Divisions including historical tidbits, arsenal and unit descriptions, advantages and disadvantages, and how to deploy each battlegroup’s armed forces.

• Pre-Order of the future NORTHAG expansion which will include:
  
  • 2 new Army General campaigns, 4 Operations, 10 new Divisions including new nations such as NATO’s Belgium, the Netherlands and Warsaw Pact’s Poland.
    
  • This DLC will be priced at $24.99 / 24,99€ on release.

• Pre-Order of the future SOUTHAG expansion, bringing:
  
  • 2 new Army General campaigns, 4 Operations, 10 new Divisions including new nations such as NATO’s Canada, Spain and Warsaw Pact’s Czechoslavakia.
    
  • This DLC will likewise be priced at $24.99 / 24,99€ on release.

• And… as a complete surprise… two new and previously undisclosed Nemesis DLCs:
  
  • This will be the first two WARNO Nemesis DLC, a popular mini-DLC series concept we introduced in Steel Division2. The idea behind the Nemesis DLC is that every once in a while, we give the community the option of which set of divisions should be developed next. We typically present three different pairs, after which you will vote on your preferred option!
    
  • Like Steel Division 2, the first Nemesis DLC will be predetermined (to be developed and ready quicker). Nemesis: Air Assault will feature two new air assault divisions: the iconic U.S. 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the Afghan veterans of the Soviet 56-ya OG Desantno-Shturmovaya Brigada.
    
  • The second Nemesis DLC will be the first DLC to be voted on by the community, as described above.
    
  • A Nemesis DLC will be priced at $4.99 / 4,99€.

Be aware that both Army General (NORTHAG & SOUTHAG) and Nemesis (Air Assault & second one to be voted) DLCs won't be available at release, but in the months to come. They will become available to you as soon as officialy released.

As you can see, the ”Gold” edition gives you not only the base game but also the pre-order of two major expansions and two new Nemesis DLCs, plus e-books with a combined content worth of about $110.00 / 110,00€!

Also, you’ll be able to upgrade your copy of WARNO to the ”Gold” edition. There will be a special discount only available before the official launch for early adopters.

Until next week

That’s all, commanders. Please note that there will be no DevBlog next week, with the Eugen team being out of the office for some of the May bank holidays.

Join the WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello commanders!

We hope you are well. After last week’s hullabaloo, we’ll turn our attention to Army General. As a sign of the times, let's talk AI!

We have some interesting improvements coming to our strategic turn-based mode.

Let’s go!

AI and Army General

All right, before we continue, let’s lift a tip of the veil on how AI works in WARNO’s Army General mode. This look under the hood should give you a better understanding of how we intend to improve the AI in Army General.

An Army General map is divided into various sectors. Each one features a status and is given a “weight” related to this status. A sector might be captured by a human player (known as that eternally wicked enemy of the AI) with its status turned to “to be attacked”. Likewise, a sector secured by the AI receives a “to be defended” status.

The “weight” mentioned determines how important a sector is. For instance, a sector with an objective will have a much bigger weight than no man’s land. The weight is influenced by each sector's status. A sector can have a high “to be attacked” weight when the AI needs to secure it, but a low “to be defended” weight once captured.

At the beginning of an AI’s turn, Army General pawns are assigned to capture or defend sectors. All pawns assigned to the same sector are collected as a single group. The more weight a sector has, the more pawns an AI will assign to it.

How AI used to work

Since the release of our first Army General campaign, BRUDERKRIEG, some major improvements have made playing against the AI more challenging.

The first is linked to how the AI attacks opponents' pawns. Originally, it went something like this:

• First, the enemy pawns in a sector to be attacked or defended are identified. Among these hostile forces, the AI would select one (the target) according to criteria such as its type (armor, infantry, artillery) and attack/defense power. The AI would aim to attack this target, but only this one.
  
• Then, the AI would move all the pawns of the group assigned to this sector. If possible, the idea was to have them take positions around all the opponent’s pawns in the sector.
  
• Once the whole group had moved, the AI would check if it could mount an attack on the target depending on the availability of friendly pawns plus the predicted result (victory or defeat).

A major inconvenience of this method was that the AI if they had the opportunity, didn’t assault any easy targets (they weren’t even considered). More so, it didn’t try to optimize its movements, such as bringing as much attack power to bear against a target. In the end, from an outside observer, it felt the AI was not attacking in the most efficient way as it could be.

This behavior was inherited from WARNO’s predecessor, Steel Division 2’s Army General mode. In our World War II game, pawns would attack a target from a distance without having to be in direct contact. Back then, this approach worked well. However, WARNO’s Army General mode operates differently. Only artillery units can take part in a battle from a distance.

The new AI way

So, that’s why we reworked the algorithms completely. From now on, the AI in Army General works as follows:

• The AI considers every enemy pawn in the sector to be attacked or defended, listing them according to type and power.
  
• For each potential target, it checks if it can move one or several pawns from the sector’s group in order to attack the enemy with a favorable predicted outcome.
  
• If yes, the AI creates this sub-group, moves it, and attacks.
  
• It repeats this process until it can no longer attack (and hopefully, those pesky humans have been vanquished).
  
• Once all battles have been fought, the remaining pawns from the group (if any) are moved to surround any enemy pawns in the sector. This is the same as the older algorithm.

The new way of doing things will be a major improvement, as it allows the AI to launch several attacks with the same group in a single turn. It will also allow attacks on isolated “easy” targets. No more running away, human!

And since movements have been optimized, the AI will be able to attack priority targets (usually a “big” enemy pawn) with the appropriate pawns. Previously, it would have moved unsuitable pawns and would not have launched an assault.

There is more to come

Of course, improving the AI is never finished. We are considering other improvements.

• The AI will be able to decide whether to remove an unsuitable pawn from a group and replace it with a stronger and fresher pawn if this means the attack will have a better-predicted outcome.
  
• AI’s pawn positioning will be improved in anticipation of a player’s next move. Much in the same vein as a chess player. Picture this: if the AI attacks a weak garrison with the proper amount of force to defeat it, but if the human player has a strong reserve behind this garrison, ready to take it the next turn, the AI will take this potential counter-attack into account.

Preventing cheesy tactics

Another update that has recently made its way into Army General is to prevent human players' cheesy tactics. Some pawns, especially helicopters, do not have a frontline’s influence value anymore. This means they can’t push a side’s zone of influence. It also means they can move around enemy pawns, surround them, and cut them off from supply.

As a negative effect, pawns finding themselves isolated behind the enemy frontline would always prioritize reconnecting with their own side. This meant that helicopters would cross the frontline only to move safely back immediately. From now on, pawns without influence will not be allowed to cross the frontline unless it means taking a position to attack an enemy pawn.

Until next week

That’s all for this AI-heavy DevBlog. Let us know what you think. Keep the discourse civil, gentle people!

Join the WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

Until then. See you on the battlefield, commander.

Hello commanders,

Welcome back to another DevBlog. In today’s post, we’ll discuss a nation jostled into the spotlight rather repeatedly in recent times: the British.

Hold on to your teacups, lads!

An End to Misery

The British: they sure had it tough - oh, the suffering, dear WARNO community, it was great and unrelenting (for all of us)...

So, to rest a community’s rather vocal minority’s excited hearts and pouty mouths, we decided to collect some new units into one DevBlog.

WARRIOR APPLIQUE

Make way for the WARRIOR APPLIQUE (a most fitting title), coming to the 1st Armoured Division. This Milan-equipped Warrior IFV has additional bolt-on armor, granting it +1 Front and Side armor.

This type of applique protection was first added to Warriors deployed for Operation Desert Storm. The ATGM on the IFV has also been upgraded from MILAN 1 to a more advanced MILAN 2. This transport option will be only available to ARM. RIFLES squads.

SARACEN and SALADIN

That’s not all. The next two units are coming to the 2nd Infantry Division. This formation was responsible for rear-area defense for the British I Corps in NORTHAG. As such, it could count on plenty of old equipment stored throughout West Germany, which would equip its Territorial reinforcements rushing from the UK. These pre-positioned war stocks included lots of SARACEN APCs, as well as a few SALADIN armored cars. Both have been modeled and will be added to the 2nd Infantry Division.

SARACEN
The venerable FV103 SARACEN is a 6x6 wheeled APC, lightly armored and armed only with a 7,62mm machine gun. Introduced in 1952, the vehicle was only removed from active service in the 1980s to be replaced by the Saxon. In 1989, the British Army still employed hundreds of them, mainly in Northern Ireland, where it was a familiar sight during the Troubles. Other SARACEN were in storage in the United Kingdom or West Germany (as mentioned above). In-game, it will be a transport option for specific TERRIERS units.

SALADIN
The FV601 SALADIN was a heavy armored car, sharing the same 6x6 wheeled chassis as the SARACEN but sporting a turret armed with a low-velocity 76mm gun (the predecessor to the weapon mounted on the SCORPION recon vehicle). The SALADIN mostly saw service in Northern Ireland and Cyprus as part of the United Nations. In WARNO, these vehicles will be made available as older (and thus cheaper) recon vehicles featuring the Reservist trait.

BUCCANEER

Last but not least: the BUCCANEER. We already mentioned in the previous DevBlog that this iconic British unit would make a “cameo” appearance in WARNO’s Left Hook Army General campaign. The Blackburn BUCCANEER was the RAF’s prime ground-attack aircraft until the introduction of the TORNADO. Mostly replaced in this role, the “Bucs” were kept in the UK for maritime and nuclear strikes. Still, they were very capable of performing a range of ground-attack sorties, even more so than the newer TORNADO thanks to their versatile loadout: “heavy” bombing, air-ground missiles, SEAD, and even hauling laser-guided bombs.

In WARNO, the BUCCANEER will be only playable in the Army General campaign for now. The unit will be featured in all its glory in a future NORTHAG expansion.

A Meeting of the Like-Minded

In other, exciting news, the Eugen team had a very nice encounter with fellow game developers and Cold War enthusiasts Radian Simulations known from the excellent Gunner, Heat, PC! armor simulator.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1705180/Gunner_HEAT_PC/

Eugen’s own Matthieu “MadMat”, Stephan “Panzer”, and Luka “HrcAk47” were invited for a “Developer Chat” discussing all things related to game design, rationale of making games, production issues, unit research, and more!

Until next week

That’s all for this DevBlog. Keep the discourse civil, commander. And, before spamming or instigating flamewars or other nefarious campaigns, yes, we are working hard on WARNO, and no, we don’t have a release day for the full launch out of Early Access. And don’t get us started on “what about X unit’s mustache?” or “X is under/over/backward performing,” “or WARNO should be a cozy dystopian hack&slash anime.” All will be revealed in due course, commander. And no, we won’t stop with our Napoleon historical tidbits - they are a well-cherished Eugen tradition!

Join the WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

Until then. See you on the battlefield.

Hello commanders,

You might wonder what’s cooking in Eugen’s kitchen. Of course, WARNO is getting ready to be served in full, with the official launch out of Early Access soon (Eugen™), but that’s not all!

In today’s DevBlog, we’ll present a lovely mix of updates coming to WARNO’s divisions and existing units.

Let’s dig in!

Berliner Gruppierung

While the new Soviet 6-ya Gvardeyskaya Motostrelkovaya Brigada (or 6th Guards Separate Motor Rifle Brigade) seems to be popular, the Big Split (read more about it here) proved more detrimental to the original Berliner Gruppierung than expected. We decided to beef up the latter East German division by allowing it to play more to its strengths.

This means:

• More generous Activation Point slot distribution, especially (but not only) in the INF, AIR, and HELO categories.
  
• Better WACH. (all) infantry squads availability.
  
• More MOT.-SCHÜTZEN cards.
  
• Access to more Mi-8 gunship helicopter variants.
  
• Access to the BRDM-2 MALYUTKA.
  
• Added a new UAZ-469 AGS-17 as transport/recon option for MOT.-GRENZER recon squads. The Grenztruppen were the only East German users of the AGS-17 grenade launcher.
  
• Fixed the missing second LMG in the new MOT.-SCHÜTZEN infantry squad variants (Strela AA, SVD marksman, and Metis ATGM). We also fixed the squad’s lower Metis loadout compared to other ATGM-equipped infantry.

K.d.A. Bezirk Erfurt

Next up is the K.d.A. Bezirk Erfurt. Note that updates to this East German division will also affect the Berliner Gruppierung above. One change is the replacement of the K.d.A. SCHÜTZEN squad’s RPG-7 with an older RPG-2. A price update is also part of this deal.

In this way, K.d.A. Bezirk Erfurt’s infantry will come in a variety of different AT flavors:

• K.d.A.: equipped with the RPG-2 (10 AP). A cheap and meaty squad, but with an older rocket launcher featuring lower armor penetration.
  
• RESERVISTEN, featuring the RPG-7VM (14AP).
  
• MOT.-SCHÜTZEN, featuring the RPG-7VL (18AP).

Bundesgrenzschutz Changes

From the Warsaw Pact, we turn to NATO’s Bundesgrenzschutz B.G.S, or the West German federal border police. The B.G.S. squads proved a bit too proficient in close combat, thanks to its all-SMG load-out. This was neither their role in real life nor how we envisioned the squad’s use in-game. Therefore, we decided to split the unit into two separate ones to reflect their roles better.

The B.G.S squads featured with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment represent the small patrols keeping a close watch on the Inner German Border. These will be reduced to 5-man squads, still entirely equipped with SMGs, and rebranded B.G.S. STREIFE (meaning patrol).

In the case of war, West German border guards were meant to be pulled out and regrouped in rear areas. Here, they would guard against infiltrators and saboteurs and protect against raids by enemy special forces. This is why they are featured with Territorialkommando Süd. The B.G.S in this division will retain the current naming and 9-man organization but see a change of small arms to 3x MP-5, 5x G3 battle rifles, and 1x MG-3 machine guns. They will feature a new model with Stahlhelm, the trademark WW2 helmet, which they still use up to 1989 so the East-German border guards opposite them would identify them as Germans too, not Americans!

Both B.G.S units are going to be repriced accordingly.

The Reservists of the 11e Division Parachutiste

The French are next. The RESERVISTES of the 11e Division Parachutiste made this division a bit too efficient, providing the battlegroup with cheap, plentiful, and strong infantry.

The reasoning behind including this particular unit with one of the French Army’s elite formations was that the division was composed of 7 “teeth” battalions, made up of 2x metropolitan (from France proper), 4x naval infantry, and 1x Légion paratrooper battalions.

While the Légion (2e REP) and one naval infantry (1er RPIMa, acting as divisional special forces regiment) were fully professional, the other RPIMa were “semi-professional,” and expanded with conscripts and reservists. The two metropolitan battalions were filled with returning reservists and (fit but unruly) conscripts.

The RESERVISTES in the 11e Division Parachutiste represented this latter category of soldiers, though in real life, they would be trained reservists or “strong-minded” conscripts (airborne regiments were used as disciplinary units for the unruly ones).

That’s the historical justification, but in game terms, it didn’t really pan out this way. We decided to step in.

This means:

• We removed the RESERVISTES in the division. We differentiated the remaining infantry squads to more accurately represent the original formation’s battalions:
  
  • CHASSEURS-PARACHUTISTES (representing the 1er and 9e RCP): These are metropolitan paratroopers, keeping their squad small arms and organization, but losing the Shock trait and one veterancy step.
    
  • PARAS-MARINES (representing the 3e, 6e and 8e RPIMa): this is a new unit, representing the naval infantry paratroopers, and will be available in numbers. Same veterancy and organization as the existing Chasseurs-Paras., but with the APILAS.
    
  • PARAS-LEGIONNAIRES (representing the 2e REP): no stats changes.
    
  • SAS (representing the 1er RPIMa, aka “French SAS”): no stats changes.

The remaining infantry squads are all repriced accordingly.

Furthermore, the SAGAIE (all variants) will also see a price change to curb their capacity to cause a nuisance through sheer numbers.

Until next week

That’s all for this week’s melange of WARNO news. We are keen to hear your thoughts! You know the drill, commanders: keep the discourse calm, cool, and collected.

Join the WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

See you on the battlefield.

Welcome back, commanders.

Let’s talk maps! In today’s DevBlog, we’ll put the spotlight on several upcoming upgrades to WARNO’s current roster of maps, from reinforcement routes to redesigned Command Zones.

Note that these updates will affect all of WARNO’s battlefields. The updates will come as part of our game’s official launch from Early Access.

Improved Defensive Zones

The first thing on the list: we will improve specific defensive areas in our maps. Certain battlefields have an overload of chokepoints, which result in “tactical traffic jams.” The superimposition of these sectors in places such as forests or towns makes it much harder for players to read the actual terrain. That’s a major imbalance: both confusing and creating uneven combat situations.

That’s why we made an effort to pass the magic wand to deblock or update terrain that was considered too narrow - or in the case of Deathrow or Mount River - streamline excessively dense areas.

Improved Urban District Layouts

Another improvement coming to WARNO’s maps is the upgraded sizes of urban districts. As you can imagine, during our game’s Early Access, successive battlefield updates led to disparities in the size of districts - some being too small, others too large. These variations made selecting units inside neighborhoods too challenging, forcing players to finnick their way through. This is a less-than-intuitive experience. We set out to standardize all urban districts currently present within the game.

Standard Reinforcement Times

A significant update coming to WARNO is standardizing reinforcement times across battlefields. It’s not as simple as it sounds. It involved redesigning the reinforcement routes on the edges of the map and repositioning certain Command Zones. Several maps either had too long or too fast reinforcement arrival times. Long delays disrupt the game's rhythm too much (and also increase unit losses).

The same approach to more balanced urban districts was used. Standardizing the reinforcement times makes it more predictable when units will arrive.

Visual Tweaks

Updating the maps also allowed us to improve their graphics rendering. Some of the battlefields have a bit of a “dull” haze to them, which we have corrected. In the same vein, we worked on making vegetation and mountain textures visually more pleasing and realistic.

Command Zones updates

Lastly, on certain maps, we’ll modify the placement and size of Command Zones. See below for some examples!

A DEFCON 2 Tournament Update

We are also excited to share news about the latest ongoing community-driven team match-up tournament to grace WARNO: DEFCON 2 - hosted by the amazing WarYes website.

The finals, as well as the third-place team matches of DEFCON 2, are due to be played this weekend, between the 5th and 7th of April. And be prepared, commander; it’s going to be a clash of titans.

Third Place
Tmansuffers (Tmanplays and Hippie) will square off against The return of the revenge of the vab T20 - reloaded (Tiberius Rancor and Darricks).

Finals
Boss of the Gym (Menkar 4 and STANAG) go head-to-head against Spartan System (NATOBOY and NBK).

All teams in this last round of DEFCON 2 have placed high enough for a share of the $1169 prize pool.

Which team will claim themselves World War III champions of WARNO? Who will bask in the forever glory of being the first winner of DEFCON 2? Who will be venerated as the alpha and omega of WARNO online play (at least for a little while)? This weekend, we’ll find out.

Tune in to WarYesTV[www.twitch.tv] to watch the nail-biting action unfold live! Want in? Join the WarYes Discord[discord.gg] if you’re keen to sign up for the next DEFCON tournament. Additional details further below.

To the victor goes the spoils!

Detailed Rules[docs.google.com]

Challonge Bracket[challonge.com]

Matcherino[matcherino.com]

Milestone BERNADOTTE out now!

In case you haven’t seen it, the latest milestone - BERNADOTTE - is out now. It brings the much-anticipated Army General online Coop and Versus functionality, Command & Control optional game setting, additional divisional “housecleaning,” plus a big balance patch. Be sure to check out the milestone’s details and latest patch notes in the previous DevBlog here.

Note that the BERNADOTTE milestone is the last major update before WARNO’s official launch out of Early Access!

Until next week

Keep it cool, commanders. As always, don’t hesitate to let us know what you think.

Join the WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Commanders, are you ready?

WARNO’sp latest milestone BERNADOTTE has launched! This major update brings not only a new division (and another heavily updated) but also much-anticipated Army General online Coop and Versus functionality, Command & Control optional game setting, additional divisional “housecleaning,” plus a big balance patch.

BERNADOTTE is the last milestone before WARNO’s official launch out of Early Access!

Keep reading to find out more.

BERNADOTTE Explained

All right, you know the drill. All WARNO milestones are named after famous (and not so famous) French military commanders from the Napoleonic era. If you want to know more about the man behind the name, read our historical perspective coming up.

If your personal preference is to dive straight into war, skip ahead and check out what BERNADOTTE brings further below.

Milestone’s historical namesake

Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, better known to the Swedes as King Karl IV Johan, was a French military commander who became the first of the dynasty of monarchs ruling modern Sweden to this day. He has a long and convoluted history with Napoleon, being a rival not only as a political and army leader and in war, but also in love.

While initially serving well, there were frequent clashes between Bernadotte and Napoleon, including in politics (Bernadotte was a Republican) and battlefield conduct, and shared the same love interest (who would ultimately choose Bernadotte over Napoleon). Bernadotte would never regard himself as anything but equal to Napoleon, never an underling. He had been one of France’s leading military and political figures, and he would not content himself to be just one out of eighteen marshals of the first promotion. The seeds for Bernadotte’s ascension to the Swedish throne would be planted during the siege of Lübeck, in which his courteous behavior won the respect of the Swedes.

Different objectives
However, his less-than-stellar performance at Wagram saw him stripped of command by Napoleon and sent back to Paris. Under house arrest, he was thrust into the spotlights again due to the British landings at Antwerp. With no one else at hand, Bernadotte was given overall commanded by Fouché (the Minister of Police) and showed so much energy in getting rid of the British with a bunch of second-rate troops it was difficult for Napoleon to punish him afterwards.

The next thing is an even bigger surprise. The specter of an administrative spot in occupied Spain hanging over him, Bernadotte instead moved to Sweden as its new crown prince. He didn’t have any say in this position, having been elected by the Swedish nobility (with Napoléon's approval), but all parties could see the benefits of Bernadotte’s new job. Napoleon saw this as an opportunity to get rid of a political rival and create a potential new European ally. However, Bernadotte followed his own plans, putting Swedish interests first. He turned into the enemy, going to war against France and even successfully defeating the French on numerous occasions.

After Napoleon’s final defeat in 1815, Talleyrand’s scheming in Paris brought the old Bourbon dynasty back to the throne, despite the Russian Tsar Alexander’s support to Bernadotte’s claim. In 1818, at the Swedish king’s death, he was crowned the new king as Karl IV Johann. His dynasty still endures today.

In France, Bernadotte was widely regarded as a traitor, having turned against his former nation. Yet, Napoléon refused to label him as such. Even when Bernadotte was at war with France, Désirée Clary, Bernadotte’s spouse, was left in peace, even acting as a discreet channel between the two men. Love conquers all - ha!

Milestone BERNADOTTE features

Enough about cuddly feelings, let’s go to war! What can you expect from the BERNADOTTE milestone in WARNO?

• Army General’s Coop and Versus functionality. From now on, you’ll be able to play with or against your friends or other players online. For more details on Army General’s, check the DevBlog here.

• A new Warsaw Pact division, the Soviet 6-yaOG Motostrelkovaya Brigada (6th Guards Separate Motor Rifle Brigade) and revised Berliner Gruppierung as part of the The Big Split divisional ”housecleaning.” Read all about it in this dedicated post here.

• Even more “housecleaning” specifically “Part V”, more details here, updating the US 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), French 11e Division Parachutiste, and UK 2nd Infantry Division.

• The new Command & Control setting for multiplayer lobbies, an optional “upkeep” system that decreases a player’s income depending on the amount of reinforcements they deploy on the battlefield. More information in this DevBlog as well.

• This is a major balance patch, with all the juicy details in the corresponding milestone BERNADOTTE patch notes

Until next week

All right. We hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor. As always, we are keen to hear what you think. The Eugen team is small but passionate and very dedicated to making the full launch of WARNO out of Early Access a success. This does mean we won’t have time to address all comments or suggestions, but we will keep an eye out for all feedback. We kindly ask you to be respectful of the developers and your fellow community members. We are all in together to make WARNO the best possible game. Play it cool, calm, and collected, commanders.

Join the WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello, hello, hello!

Welcome back. After last week’s mini-insight on “what’s to come”, in today’s DevBlog, we’ll circle back to WARNO’s Army General campaigns.

We will focus on the so-called “Kassel Axis” of our World War III scenario in West Germany. Contained within are the Airborne Assault - chronologically speaking, the first campaign - plus the follow-up larger Left Hook campaign.

Let’s go!

Army General explained

Once again, to make things clear: WARNO will ship with five campaigns, of which one—Bruderkrieg—has already been released. The remaining four campaigns will be part of WARNO’s upcoming official launch out of Early Access. Bruderkrieg is an extra campaign we managed to add on top of the four promised initially.

The base game’s campaigns are set in central West Germany during the first week of the Warsaw Pact invasion. These can be divided into either the Frankfurt axis or the Kassel axis. If you want to read more about the Frankfurt campaigns, check out this DevBlog here, detailing the Fulda Gap and the massive Highway 66 campaigns.

The incoming milestone BERNADOTTE will add new functionality to the Army General campaign mode, allowing you to play with or against other players in either Versus or Coop mode. This means that Bruderkrieg will be - once more - our testing grounds for a little while, while the other four campaigns will be playable both in single-player and online at launch!

Each Army General campaign will feature strategic options, from bringing extra reinforcements or choosing between two different units.

Airborne Assault

The first shots of the war happen on the Kassel axis, specifically the Kassel-Calden airport, which is seized in a daring but risky covert operation by Soviet and East German special forces before daybreak. With more and more Soviet VDV air assault troops being ferried in, an airhead is established in the rear of NATO’s West German 2. Panzergrenadier-Division in the northern sectors of CENTAG.

With CENTAG’s attention focused on the Fulda Gap, the communist threat on this part of the front was considered secondary by NATO command. Call it faulty intelligence, Soviet misdirection, or complacency. At dawn, massive artillery bombardments and continuous aerial strikes descend on Bundeswehr forces in the Kassel sector. Arrayed in front of the NATO defenses is the Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army, a powerful force keen to join up with friendly paratroopers. For the hard-pressed Bundeswehr defenders, the communists seem to attack from all sides. A Warsaw Pact breakthrough threatens to rip a dangerous gap between NATO commands, bisecting the lines of communications between the north and the south of West Germany.

The Airborne Assault campaign calls on historical air assault landings made by the Soviets and, more recently, Russian forces on airports behind enemy lines. Kassel-Calden’s mission also reflects the use of elite special forces and saboteur squads, with inspiration drawn from the Soviet Operation Storm-333 in 1979.

Airborne Assault Insights

In this campaign, unlike Bruderkrieg or Fulda Ga, NATO starts with an entire division - the Bundeswehr’s 2. Panzergrenadier-Division - already deployed. Some additional smaller formations are on the map as well. However, the West German brigades are spread out, while some require a few turns before they are ready to move.

The Warsaw Pact forces are all Soviets except for a single Nationale Volksarmee battalion. Their attack on Kassel and Göttingen is full-on. A key aspect of this campaign is the communist coup de main behind NATO lines, smack in the middle of the 2. Panzergrenadier-Division’s deployment area. The West German mechanized infantry is torn between performing two missions at the onset of the Pact’s invasion: safeguarding CENTAG’s flank at Fritzlar in the south or maintaining the vital link with NORTHAG in the east.

Not only that, they need to muster forces as soon as possible and crush those pesky paratroopers, sowing chaos in the rear. Aside from a single advanced Belgian recon battalion, the only help CENTAG can spare is air support from USAF and Luftwaffe air squadrons.

Having to focus on two different combat missions while the full weight of the invading Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army bears down on you… NATO is clearly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Market Garden Revisited
For the Warsaw Pact, the situation on the ground echoes a Market Garden-style operation. A pocket of paratroopers is isolated behind NATO lines and needs to be relieved by friendly armored forces trying to break through the enemy frontline as soon as possible. As long as the communists hold on to Kassel-Calden airport and thus maintain the air bridge, fresh battalions of the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade will be fed into it. This increases your chance of holding on to the pocket and maybe even increase its size. However, the paratroopers are lightly equipped and armed, and will have a difficult time standing against a concerted attack.

On the ground, the 20th Guards Motor Rifles Division is supported by an armored regiment from the 9th Tank Division, as well as independent helicopter and Spetsnaz forces. This is a powerful formation, but it has to break through the West German defenses, clear the Kassel urban sector, and then split between two distant objectives: either Diemelstadt in the east or Fritzlar in the south. Not an easy task!

Left Hook

The initial Soviet offensive on Kassel didn’t create the breakthrough envisioned by high command, but did result in a large salient in NATO lines. The fighting has been hard for both sides and after a momentary pause, more and more units are being deployed. The front is far from stable. A new phase in the war begins around Kassel after four days of intense fighting. Success for the Warsaw Pact can only come from seizing their objectives, while NATO needs to defend tooth and nail both West German territory and their allies on the battlefield.

A regrouped and reinforced Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army will push again and try to break out of the Kassel bulge. The objective is Dortmund. However, unlike the chaotic first hours of the war, NATO has rallied. Under British command, the Belgian I (BE) Corps is being deployed with additional British units. The Bundeswehr is also reforming. As such, both sides are planning their own counter-attacks.

Both sides see the stakes raised in Left Hook. NATO did not collapse as easily as predicted by the Soviet high command, while the Soviet Army was far from being a spent force with a vast number of soldiers and equipment still available to resume the attack.

Left Hook Insights

This larger campaign takes place a few days after Airborne Assault. Kassel has fallen, the heavily mauled 2. Panzergrenadier-Division pushed back towards NORTHAG. This isolates the West German formation from its parent Bundeswehr’s III Korps in CENTAG. However, the Soviets have failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough.

The timely intervention of a British brigade plugging the line and holding along the Diemel River (the battle depicted in theWARNO’s Operation Hold Until Relieved, linking the two Army General campaigns), has given NATO critical time to regroup and reorganize.

While most of the forces from Airborne Assault have suffered losses, the Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army and NORTHAG are fielding reinforcements. For NATO, it means the whole Belgian I (BE) Corps plus the British 3rd Armoured Division and other smaller formations. The Pact fields the additional 9th and 11th Guards Tank Division. Both sides plan to launch a new offensive to regain the initiative before their opponent can launch their own operations.

The Belgians were initially only meant to be featured as a teaser for the future NORTHAG expansion, but they ended up being added in strength to represent almost half of the campaign’s NATO forces. Other units will be featured more as cameos, including a strategic choice that lets you deploy heavy Buccaneer bombers.

Until next week

That’s it for this deep dive into Army General. Let us know what you think! We’ll be back soon!

Join the passionate WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello commanders!

In today’s DevBlog, we’ll look ahead at what’s coming to WARNO soon. This will include the next major milestone, BERNADOTTE. And… it will be the final milestone before the official launch of WARNO out of Early Access!

Milestone BERNADOTTE will feature:

• Army General will gain Versus and Coop mode (see below).
  
• Previously detailed latest batches of divisional ”Housecleaning”. Read more about them here, specifically Part V and The Big Split.
  
• The new Command&Control setting (more on that below)

This last milestone will not feature the remaining Army General campaigns. These will come with WARNO’s launch out of Early Access.

Army General’s Coop and Versus Modes

As it says on the tin, the Army General’s upcoming Coop and Versus update will allow you to play any Army General campaign with or against other human players. It will retroactively apply to Bruderkrieg, already featured in WARNO, but will be - of course - a standard setting with the launch of the remaining Army General campaigns.

There will be some restrictions to both the Versus and Coop mode.

• Four human players max.
  
• Three human players top on the same side.

In Coop, all players will be able to perform all the game’s actions. So, be sure to be on the same page and have a plan - hence “cooperation,” commanders.

Once a battle is met in Army General, but before a tactical game is launched, players can distribute the battalions among them. Then, if needed, you’ll be able to switch companies from one to another to make things more balanced. Note that battles featuring fewer companies than human players on one side will be autoresolved.

Command & Control

What’s the new Command & Control (C2) setting? In short, the more units you call in as reinforcements, the less income you get. It is an “upkeep” system adapted to WARNO, bringing several key elements:

First, it offers the advantage of letting commanders focus more on the tactical aspect of the game. It limits the number of units a commander can control on the battlefield at any time. This is especially useful for players wanting to deal with fewer units simultaneously.

Another element is that it releases players from constantly bringing reinforcements to use up their Command points. As we know, in a regular game, you are forced to spend your points as fast as possible; otherwise, you’ll field fewer units than an opponent, which puts you at a disadvantage.

Lastly, the new setting prevents an over-dominant player from increasing their lead during a battle in an insurmountable way, giving a real chance for the underdog to make a comeback.

A Setting Not a New Game Rule

Command & Control is a setting, not a new game rule. It can be applied on top of the classic Conquest and Destruction Combat Rules, only affecting the players’ income, not the victory conditions.

Your income is reduced by an amount of Command Points equivalent to a percentage of the cost of each unit deployed on the battlefield. Hence, the more units called in, the less income. Currently, we have three settings: 0% (no upkeep, the current setting), 5%, and 7%.

There are a few caveats:

• LOG units are not counted in this upkeep. This means that maintaining your logistic lines will be crucial in the battle. As the famous quote goes, “Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.”
  
• AIR upkeep is half that of ground units, regardless of the setting you choose.
  
• You can’t accumulate more than 5.000 Command Points.

The new Command & Control setting will be included in the next milestone BERNADOTTE, both available in Skirmish and multiplayer game creation lobbies (but not in Ranked). We will also convert 10vs10 lobbies to feature this new setting.

British Textures

Last but not least, some British Army textures! In the wake of the CHIEFTAIN MK.9 remodeling, which we talked about previously, we made a pass on several British vehicles, giving them brand-new textures and markings!

Until next week

All right, that’s all for this DevBlog. As always, until next week.

Join the passionate WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server[discord.gg], Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram[www.instagram.com].

See you on the battlefield, commander!