The Christmas Truce is live in Verdun! From today until January 5, you can call a truce and enter No Man’s Land by choosing the ‘Christmas Truce’ option from the Play menu. The event was inspired by the real Christmas Truces of 1914 on the Western Front. You can read more about the history and process of building the Christmas Truce in this article.

In the Christmas Truce, the only teams that matter are football teams. Instead of guns, you can throw snowballs at other players, maybe play a friendly game of football on an improvised pitch, or just walk around and enjoy all the little details and scenes the truce map has to offer.


Witness a handshake ceremony yourself in-game.

Relax at the bonfire, listen to recordings of some old Christmas Carols, attend a burial in the temporary peace, and of course…

In the Christmas Truce map you can find post offices that allow you to send people outside the game digital Christmas cards. Every card you send counts as one entry in a Christmas raffle, where you could win game keys or merch – from peppermint cans to chocolate and coffee!

Tannenberg has been nominated for an Indie of the Year award over on IndieDB, in the Released Games: FPS category. It would be amazing if you could vote for our game – there are three days left.

Winter has arrived on the Eastern Front and with that, hunger and cold amongst the soldiers on the battlefield. But they’re not the only ones being affected by the cold season and the war. Just like a soldier, the wolf awaits his moment to attack his prey in the woods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X20SeHBIUk
The Wolf Truce has returned to Tannenberg! From today until December 5, you’ll be able to participate in this unique Tannenberg experience! When you hear the wolves howl on the battlefields, the wolf pack will be coming for you. Both sides of the battlefield have the opportunity to cease fire and fight the hungry wolves together. If you and other players are able to eliminate the pack of hungry beasts without hurting anyone on the opposite team, you’ll all earn a special medal.

All your questions are answered in the FAQ!



During the third winter of The Great War in 1917, the region between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea was the battlefield for the German and Russian Armies. Having to fight each other often in brutal conditions and harsh environments resulted in negative effects on the soldiers’ supply lines, leading to some serious food shortages.

However, the soldiers weren’t the only ones who were hungry. The wolves who were native to the region faced an increased difficulty in hunting their normal prey. They already started feasting on the livestock in nearby villages, but it wasn’t enough to quell their hunger.

The wolf attacks might at one point have been so fearsome that the German and Russian troops called a temporary cease-fire toward each other and formed a brief alliance to jointly fight the lupine threat (although these reports do come from US newspapers, so take them with a pinch of salt).



Join the pack and fight the wolves together! You can get Tannenberg - and Verdun - now with 65% discounts in the Steam Autumn Sale! The Wolf Truce event is only available on the Eastern Front, so be sure to get it if you haven’t already and gather your (human) pack together!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/633460?snr=2_9_100015

Today is Remembrance day. A memorial day observed by Commonwealth member states – and often marked by many other countries – it grew out of Armistice Day, which was a tradition until during the Second World War, when the name was changed. The Commonwealth of Nations chose Remembrance Day, while the United States chose Veterans Day.

Armistice Day was so named for the Armistice of Compiègne which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month – November 11, 1918. For many, this marked the end of World War One.


The signing of the Armistice.

Of course, on the Eastern Front the fighting had ended earlier that year. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed by the Bolshevik government following the devastating Operation Faustschlag, where Central Powers forces captured huge swathes of territory to little or no resistance. The Russian Revolution and civil war in Russia had left the country unable to muster any serious defence.

German General Max Hoffmann wrote in his diary on 22 February: "It is the most comical war I have ever known. We put a handful of infantrymen with machine guns and one gun onto a train and rush them off to the next station; they take it, make prisoners of the Bolsheviks, pick up few more troops, and so on. This proceeding has, at any rate, the charm of novelty."

Following this, the Russians had little choice but to sign a treaty and end the fighting on the Eastern Front. In the end, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk would be annulled by the Armistice of November 11th, and Germany's surrender.


The signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

The Poppy is a common symbol of Remembrance Day, hence why it’s sometimes also referred to as Poppy Day. It became the symbol of the Royal British Legion, a veterans’ organization. They sell paper Poppy flowers which one can wear on their clothing, in memory of those who’ve fallen. The proceeds will go towards supporting war victims and families who’ve lost a family member during war.

In Verdun & Tannenberg, you’ll be able to commemorate the Armistice as well. There will be 2 minutes of silence when you start up the game, rewarding you with a special Remembrance medal afterwards if you choose to participate.



Furthermore, we have a special poppy emote in our Discord especially for this day. Feel free to share in our Discord if you’re remembering anyone special and how you’re planning to do so.
For the Facebook users, there’s a special Poppy filter that you can use for your profile picture. You can click here to be directed to the filter.

Another campaign, another Entente victory:

Central Powers casualties: 1,933,610
Entente casualties: 1,819,664


For our next campaign, we might just have to shake things up a bit and offer some kind of reward to see if it's possible for the Central Powers to even come close to winning...

We're still hard at work on Isonzo, and we have plans for a new dev blog soon. Here's a little teaser for what kind of subject you might expect.



For those who don't know, Movember is a charity for men's health, which started out in 2003 as two Australian friends growing mustaches to see if they could bring them back into fashion. A year later, inspired by how the mustaches could start conversations, they started a website and made a drive for charity, raising $40,000. By 2006 they were raising millions for charity each year, and it's only grown since then.

Since 2003, Movember has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects around the world, challenging the status quo, shaking up men’s health research and transforming the way health services reach and support men.

Read more on the official Movember website.
Of course, the First World War was back when moustaches were still in fashion - take a look at these four below! We're running a poll on Twitter to see who has the greatest moustache...



By the way, this vote isn't just for fun - the outcome will influence something with the WW1 Game Series as well, so think carefully before you click! Keep your eyes open, we have more plans for Movember and the WW1 Game Series this month...

On the Eastern Front in October, in the fortress of Przemyśl the Austro-Hungarian defenders were enjoying a temporary respite after a brutal period of siege and assault from Russian forces. Earlier in the month, troops from the Austro-Hungarian Third Army had forced the Russians to withdraw. But this would only be a brief respite.

By November 10, a second siege would begin following the withdrawal of both German and Austro-Hungarian armies. That winter would be a grim one for the Austro-Hungarians. The fortress would be bombarded ceaselessly and conditions would steadily worsen. Outside the fort, almost a million soldiers would be killed and wounded trying to force a way through the Carpathian mountains to relieve Przemyśl – many from hideous weather conditions and disease.


Part of Przemyśl today.

The last relief effort was in February, and after that failure the commander at Przemyśl was told that there would be no help coming. The garrison maintained their resistance until March 22, first destroying anything of value within the city. When there was nothing more they could do, more than 110,000 men surrendered, including nine generals. The loss of Przemyśl and the disastrous attempts to save it might have broken the back of the Austro-Hungarian army barely 8 months after the war had begun… and it would be more than three years before it ended.

Last year, Tannenberg designer Jos Hoebe sat down with Professor Alexander Watson from Goldsmiths, University of London to discuss the history of Przemyśl and the operations surrounding it. You can watch the full discussion on YouTube!


The Water and Blood 1914 campaign will be running for another three days, until October 31st. Currently the Entente have a lead of 91,000 casualties - will they manage to increase that to a lead of 100,000 by the end of the campaign?

It's in your hands!

On the Western Front, Belgian forces are putting up a stiff fight against the German Fourth Army in the Battle of the Yser. Here on the Eastern Front, the first Siege of Przemyśl has been broken by an advancing Austro-Hungarian army… but it won’t last. By November 10, 1914, a second siege will begin following the withdrawal of both German and Austro-Hungarian armies. By March 1915 the fortress will have surrendered.


The ruins of Przemyśl after the siege.

Water and Blood 1914 is our latest campaign event, and it will run until October 31, when intentional flooding by Belgian forces left the Germans with no choice but to withdraw. Which side will be able to win this battle of attrition?

All casualties in Frontlines and Maneuver game modes in Verdun and Tannenberg will be added to the total losses, and the winning side will be whoever suffers the least killed and wounded. Too many First World War battles essentially became meatgrinders (or were even conceived as such from the start) and so it is for our campaigns.

Read the Campaign FAQ here!

There has been a new Isonzo Intel blog talking about rifle grenades and a few other weapons that will be in our upcoming new game. The rifle grenades used in WW1 were early ones, and each nation often came up with very different, interesting designs.

You can read the sixth Isonzo Intel here!


#1: Italian Benaglia Rifle Grenade, #2 Austro-Hungarian Zeitzünder Gewehrgranate, 1st Variant.

We just released a new dev blog for Isonzo! This time it's all about our new class system, which will allow you more freedom in how you equip yourself. Read the basics below, or get all the juicy details in the full blog:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1556790/view/2967296416598907677
In Isonzo we wanted to tailor the class selection to the nature of the fighting on the Italian Front and to reflect the new gameplay features we are introducing such as construction. We want to put a larger focus on non-combat roles for players to shape the battlefield and help their team members fight more effectively. The focus is on working together and advancing as a team, and the selection of classes reflects this.

The classes we have follow a generic class “archetype”, but for both the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire there will be different weapons and uniforms based on actual historical units that fulfilled these roles. There will be more info in future blogs about the specifics of each class and how these are implemented per faction.

The below images are from our brand-new UI that is still very much Work In Progress (some icons are still a bit crusty). As you can also see we’ve significantly upped the level of detail on our characters as well. We’ll talk more about what that means as we draw closer to launch!


All factions have classes based on historical units, such as the Italian Alpini as mountaineer versus Austrian Kaiserjagers.

[url=
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1556790/view/2967296416598907677]Read the full article on the Isonzo Steam Hub![/url]

The First World War began 107 years ago today, with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia on July 28th, 1914. By that time, Serbia, Russia and Austria-Hungary had all already begun mobilizing their military forces, in response to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip. It was a turbulent affair, and only a series of wild chances led to the death of the Archduke. Gavrilo Princip was a Bosnian Serb, and Austria-Hungary quickly capitalized on the assassination as an excusefor war, presenting Serbia with a series of intentionally unreasonable demands. Things spiralled from there.


The Russian Tsar Nicholas II holds an icon and blesses troops about to depart for the frontlines in 1914.

Following the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war, Germany mobilized and declared war on Russia. On the Western Front, Luxembourg was occupied by German troops on August 2nd, and they declared war on France the day after. The invasion of Belgium began on August 4th, and Britain sent a demand to Germany to cease their attack under threat of war - predictably there was no response, and so Britain was at war with Germany by midnight of the 4th. The First World War had begun in earnest.

This month’s campaign is inspired by the fighting seen at the start of the war. The Russians led an advance into Galicia far more quickly than expected - the Germans had been assuming that Russian mobilization would be slow. However, famed general Hindenburg was recalled and shortly afterwards the Battle of Tannenberg was fought, with disastrous consequences for the Russians. On the Western Front things were roughly mirrored: the Germans made rapid gains and approached Paris, before ultimately being halted during the First Battle of the Marne in September.

All casualties in Frontlines and Maneuver game modes in Verdun and Tannenberg will be added to the total. Too many First World War battles essentially became meatgrinders (or were even conceived as such from the start) and so it is for our campaigns. The Central Powers have lost all recent campaigns, often by large margins. Will it be different this time?

Read the Campaign FAQ here!



Furthermore, to commemorate the start of World War One, we’re holding a Commemoration Event on our social media and Discord channel. From today, July 28, until August 8 we’ll be posting in black and white! Every day we will focus on something else, so be sure to check in every day to see what we’re up to.

Want to go more in-depth with fellow players, mods and possibly the devs? We have a special channel in our Discord in relation to our Commemoration Event as well. If you haven’t already, be sure to join our Discord server by clicking here.

Alongside these events, the Film Memoir mode will be available for free for everyone on PC! Be sure to join us in the black and white posting by sharing your screenshots and clips while using this mode. Don’t forget to use the special hashtag #RememberWW1 on Twitter so we can easily find the content you create while using this feature!



Last but not least, Verdun and Tannenberg were released on the Epic Games Store last Thursday, along with Verdun being free to claim there for a week. You’ve likely seen many new players in-game, let’s all welcome them to the WW1 battlefields!!

That’s all the news from the trenches for now!
Wishing you all the best from the WW1 Game Series team!

Soldiers on the Eastern Front!


The devs on the Italian Front are reporting new Intel on Isonzo for you!
In our first dev blog, we mentioned that Isonzo will have a new gamemode: Offensive.
We shared more insights on this new aspect of the game, combined with new visuals.



Be sure to read up on the latest Isonzo Intel fore more information!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1556790/view/2981928042027184445

Thank you all for your continious support and excitement for Isonzo.



Welcome to all the new players who joined us during the free weekend! We saw a great number of new players after the weekend. New recruits and veteran players, thank you for your support and love for the game!




Furthermore, The Great War's start anniversary is approaching later this month. We can't share any details now, but we'll have something planned for you all. Please keep an eye out here and on our social media!

See you on the battlefield!