Wargamer Weekly: Easter Front By Joe Robinson

It’s a bank holiday here in the UK today, so we’re keeping this update short. Coming up to the end of the month again so updates are either going to be a bit more granular or essentially place holder as I wait for May's assignments to start trickling in. We've got a couple of cool things left, though.

I’ve been playing a lot of Imperator: Rome for our sister website, Strategy Gamer. Our full review will be published there, but I do have some thoughts that I might write up here that are more suited for Wargamer’s audience.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

Matrix Games Easter Sale

Matrix Games & Slitherine are having an Easter Sale, which runs from now until April 23rd. It's another coupon job via their website (so not Steam, GOG or anywhere else), so make sure you apply the code 'HAPPYEASTER' at the checkout BEFORE paying any money. Seriously, if you're at the point where you have to pay and you don't think the coupon has worked, Abort Mission.

The discount is 30%, and it applies to pretty everything apart from Battlestar Galactica: Sin & Sacrifice DLC & Command: Desert Storm.

Steel Division 2 Delayed

We’ve some-what enjoyed our time with Steel Division 2’s Beta, although we’ve got a few concerns left. Seems we’ll have longer to wait for the final build than we thought – Eugen announced that, to make sure their new ‘Army General’ single-player mode lives up to hype, they want to take a little bit more time to polish.

The new (and supposedly ‘final’) release date for Steel Division 2 is now June 18th for the digital version, and June 20th for the other version. Hopefully they’ll be able to put the extra time to good use. Beta Phase 3 starts today and runs until Thursday, and there's likely to be a few more beta sessions between now and May 29th, at which point the beta will be playable non-stop until the game's release.

We’re planning on doing more micro-updates to our Beta article for the interim, although we’ll probably stop in the run up till release. Ian will be taking over from Charles to do the full-review.

Rule the Waves 2 Release Date

NWS has posted on their website that Rule the Waves 2, the next entry in their grand-strategy war game series, will be releasing on April 25th. We’ve already been in touch with the developers and requisitioned review code when it’s ready, so with any luck you’ll be able to read out official verdict in early May.

World of Warships: Legends

The late Mr. Cobb was a quiet fan of arcade naval war game World of Warships - I've been playing it recently myself and while it's in no way a naval simulation, it's still quite good fun. It's a lot more strategic than Wargaming.net's other properties - there are certain facts about fighting at sea that prevent you getting too 'Hollywood' with the design. You've got to lead your shots, plan your approach, make sure your guns are in the right place ahead time (because if they're not, you could go make a cup of tea in the time it takes for them swing round) etc...

The main reason for my dabbling is because of World of Warships: Legends - it's the game's console version and it released earlier this week. While we're largely a PC crowd here, some of you may own a PS4 or Xbox One - or at least have family that do. Legends is basically the same game, with some subtle differences that make it a stand-alone product. I might do a more comprehensive write-up sometime in the next couple of weeks, or at least talk about my time with the PC version, so stay tuned. One thing that's important to note though is that, at the time of writing, you can't link your accounts between Legends and the main game, so you're essentially starting from scratch.

Wargame Design Studio

Wargame Design Studio ‘pre’ announced that their next project is a brand new game titled Japan ’45. It covers Operation Olympic, which was the first step in the wider Operation Downfall where the Allied armies were preparing to invade mainland Japan.

Olympic targeted Kyushu, Japan’s southern island, which was going to be used to provide air bases for Allied air-power to subdue the rest of the country. Olympic & the wider Downfall operation were ultimately cancelled after Japan surrendered, but the game’s scenarios have been built using available information regarding Allied & Japanese plans for the island.

WDS hope to release a second game, Japan ’46, which will cover another part of Downfall and the invasion of Japan’s main island, Honshu – Operation Coronet.

That’s all for this week – enjoy your (long) weekends and have a good Easter break!