Earlier this year we read some interesting community discussions about the role of the Wex flamethrower in the game, and since then we spent some time looking into changes to the Wex in order to make it a more worthwhile weapon. With today's update it has been reworked and is out now for you all to try!

Here's what you can expect: in short, the range and power has been increased on the primary attack. Furthermore, a special trait of the Wex is the fire pools that are left behind. These fire pools have also been made more powerful, and a few tricky bugs that could stop them injuring people in certain situations have been squashed. This will make the Wex a capable area denial weapon if used right. Finally, there are some graphical tweaks to make the (now more deadly) fire a little prettier.



The update includes other tweaks and fixes, but it's primarily about the Wex.

Wex Changes

• Improved the Wex's direct fire. Close to its original design, it fires 13 meters, and kills in two hits
  
• Improved the Wex indirect fire pools, which can be used for area control or to 'throw' fire at places you cannot hit directly. Pools last 3 seconds and kill in five 'hits' if a player remains on it.
  
• Fixed direct fire pools only damaging each enemy once.
  
• Removed the limit on enemies that can be damaged by a single direct fire pool.
  
• Reworked the Wex's particles to match its larger fire range.
  
• Added particle collision for the Wex's flames (only on higher Particle Graphics settings).

You can read the full changelog on the Steam forums.



If you read all the way down here, congratulations. We have another update coming tomorrow that will let you see the battlefield in a very different way...

The First World War was one of the first major conflicts where photography and film were highly significant, due among other things to smaller and improved cameras. The nations involved also began to realize the value of photography and film for propaganda purposes. We thought it would be interesting to give players a chance to experience some of the challenges faced by early filmmakers, working with black and white on top of other technical limitations.


Ernest Brooks, one of the relatively few British photographers on the Western Front.

Amateur photographers were able to take cameras with them to the front (sometimes smuggling them against regulations), and press outlets sometimes put out calls for photos from these amateurs when the officially released images didn't satisfy their desire for images from the front.

Soon you'll be able to try recording your own black and white war footage, with our upcoming 'Film Memoir' mode! If they say a picture paints a thousand words, a video must be even more... so check this out:

Update
Verdun has received a number of improvements this March. Among these are floating weapon shadows, setting issues and animation related trickery.
We’ve also increased the AFK (=time to get yourself some drinks and snacks) in private and public matches, ensured certain matchups are more historically accurate in Attrition mode, added a potential fix for game crashes occurring after sound outage and stuttering and that’s not all! For a complete overview of the fixes and improvements, be sure to take a look at our changelog here.

Tannenberg Wolf Truce event!
The Eastern Front needs capable soldiers! Be sure to enlist yourself or a friend and join the fray!


Tannenberg is now 55% off during it's thrilling Wolf Truce event!...

Inspired by several historical reports and newspapers, hungry wolves are roving the Eastern Front forming a frightening new foe both sides have to face.



Players are now faced with a dilemma, do you call a truce to face this new threat together, or do you use the ensuing chaos to press on! A special medal can be earned if the truce holds true, but restraining yourself is harder than it sounds!



We look forward to seeing you on both on the Western and Eastern battlefields!

Of course, this is a holiday which has changed quite a bit since WW1. Originally it was known only as Washington's Birthday, and fell on February the 22nd since that was, well, his birthday.

It wasn't until the thrillingly named Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 that the holiday was officially set to be the third Monday in February. This change might make things more orderly, but it does also mean that (at least since 1971) the holiday is effectively never actually on Washington's birthday anymore. We'll come close in 2022, when it'll be on the 21st!

Here's a couple of cartoons from February 22nd in 1918, taken from the Stars & Stripes, the American military newspaper. There's no mention of the holiday in the paper.



We rounded off last week with a small update on Friday which fixed a few bugs and ironed out a couple more exploits relating to in-game user names, which followed up on an earlier update that fixed a few things, including slower machine gun firing for some players with slower computers.

Read the full changelog here.

We have a couple of more unusual screenshots from players today!


echo1 put together this wide shot of a soldier bearing down through gas.


A bogged down tank catches the eye in this watery scene by Tom Grump.

We've been busy lately, but mostly on secret projects that aren't ready for sharing yet! That doesn't mean we don't have anything interesting for you. Quite the contrary...

There has been some discussion in the community about the Wex - the German flamethrower you might not have seen getting much use in the game. In this thread on the forum people went back and forth on the weaknesses of this unusual weapon. We can say we are looking into ways to make the Wex a powerful, satisfying weapon to use without it being as overpowered as it has been at times in the past. Veteran players will likely remember how the Wex has changed previously - we hope that we can find a happy middle ground for it!



It appears that some people have been able to give their in-game names bright colors by using a Steam formatting trick. This isn't intentional, and we are planning to fix this with an update soon.

We already released an update in January with some fixes. As always, find the latest changelogs here!

Who's seen 1917 in cinemas? It's an incredible experience, filmed in such a way as to give the impression of one continuous shot without obvious cuts.



We had some discussion on Facebook and Twitter, with people recommending a whole host of interesting WW1 films. In particular there were a couple of foreign films which sounded intriguing, put forward after one person said that they found another film from an allied perspective rather dull and uninspired.

One of those films is the Hungarian movie Szürke senkik (Grey Nobodies), recommended by György!

It's not technically WW1 itself, but Meelis also suggested something a bit different with Names in Marble, which is about the Estonian War of Independence shortly after WW1. They do caution that it's perhaps not the most historically accurate film!

Finally, Markus mentioned Westfront 1918, a German film from 1930 that he thought had similar vibes to All Quiet on the Western Front.


A still from Westfront 1918: Vier von der Infanterie.

There are even more recommendations on the Facebook post itself if you're in need of new films to watch!

As a final note, the anniversary of the start of the Battle of Verdun is coming up soon, on February 21st... does anyone have any books or films they'd recommend that cover the Battle of Verdun?

Bartoft posted a screenshot from what must have been an epic squad defence game. In their own words:

"A marathon late night Squad Defence game in Verdun. The game started at 11:15pm on 31.1.20 and ended at 5am on 1. 2 .20. This is my last screen shot before our 4 man squad were finally wiped out by the attacking Germans on wave 70. The total game playing time on this shot shows 339 minutes and 51 seconds at the end of wave 69. The screen shot shows enemy dead in our final trench.



In the foreground I am holding my favourite weapon in the game - a Short Magazine Lee Enfield bolt action rifle with a ten shot magazine. I was also equipped with 3 hand grenades at each load out and a trench club for hand to hand fighting.

My game log showed I achieved 2035 kills in the game. This could only be achieved with the cooperation of the other players in the squad. Together we worked well as a team backing each other up as necessary when the enemy almost broke through on numerous occasions."

Verdun remastered out now on PlayStation 4!
We're pleased to announce that the PlayStation 4 release of Verdun remastered has passed certification and is now live as well! The update brings new maps, squads, AI bots, a whole new look and feel, revamped audio, and much more...
Read the full changelog on Reddit!

The update is free for all Verdun owners on PlayStation 4.

Steam Winter Sale
In other news, the Steam Winter Sale is live and Verdun is 80% off - or expand your war to the Eastern Front and pick up Tannenberg for a 60% discount.

A Truce Between Giants
Inspired by the true events of the Christmas Truce in 1914, the annual Verdun Christmas Truce event, which has been going on for 7 years already, is live again! Players will be able to experience this unexpected moment of peace and common humanity amidst the horror and chaos of the First World War.


Players are able to visit a special Christmas Truce map where they can play football matches, have snowball fights and send Christmas cards from the trenches by email or social media. There’s a lot more to do and explore, so enjoy your time with your fellow players and do not fear any bayonet or artillery shell... though a snowball to the face is to be expected!



As 2019 comes to a close we’re excited to see the revamped version of Verdun released on consoles, and Tannenberg releasing on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2020.

Truce Timeline 2013-2019
The Christmas Truce has quite the storied history by now. It all began back in 2013…

2013
Things started on a quiet note, with a short update announcing an in-game truce between Frontline matches. Exchanging seasonal greetings, snowball fights, and football were the first features!

2014
In 2014 there was a longer announcement with some exciting competitions for the first time, and the first appearance of Scottish soldiers in Verdun – at the time, only for the Christmas Truce!

2015
For 2015 a new official trailer was released, and the ability to send Christmas cards to friends and family was implemented. As well as that, a brand new Christmas Truce map was added, full of delightful Christmas details. During the event, over 12,000 Christmas cards were sent from the frontlines!



2016
In 2016 we released a special temporary Christmas Truce DLC, with all proceeds going to the War Child charity. Everyone who donated this way got unlimited access to the Christmas Truce over this Christmas.

2017
The War Child donation DLC returned for 2017, with more money raised for charity. We also gave away some WW1 Game Series swag including trench whistles, game keys, and even a thermos or two!

2018
A new feature arrived in 2018 as part of a personal charity effort by M2H – tree planting! A new forest of 2,500 trees was donated by M2H as part of Trees for All, to be planted in the Netherlands and Uganda. Soldiers in the trenches of WW1 would prop up trees to serve as Christmas trees, so we added the ability to plant a tree and challenged the community to match our 2,500 trees, with one tree per player. In fact, more 6,000 trees were planted in-game!

2019
Which brings us to today, the seventh year of the Christmas Truce in Verdun. Some of you have been there every year since the beginning, and some will be joining for the first time this year. You can once again earn an annual special medal by participating in a Christmas Truce from the main menu, and staying until the end of the round! We wish everyone a merry Christmas and thank you all for your support!

Exciting news for Xbox fans; Verdun has been remastered bringing all kinds of new content and updates for the players, as well as a completely new look and feel.



The graphics have been updated; with more detail on character models as well as other smaller improvements. In addition, a brand new audio system and soundscape has been developed, with improved weapon sounds recorded from real WW1 weapons made available by collectors.
AI controlled soldiers have also been added to the game to ensure battles are always filled. As a cherry on top of the cake, we’ve also added the latest St. Mihiel map, as well as the Tirailleurs Senegalese and ANZAC squad types to the game. There are numerous other improvements not mentioned, including various improvements in the gameplay, controls and interface.



You can check out the full changelog on Reddit.

Verdun is 60% off in the Steam Autumn sale!
Let your history minded friends know, or if you're feeling generous you could get it for them (nothing like a friend signing you up for service on the Western Front...)


Tannenberg is 60% off right now as well, and there is a special event running in-game...
The Wolf Truce is based off newspaper reports at the time which described masses of hungry wolves attacking soldiers in the face of machine gun fire, gas and grenades! This report from a US newspaper is likely to have been just a little exaggerated, but more sober Russian sources do describe the danger wolves could pose to injured men or stragglers.



In the game a wolf attack gives players the choice to hold a ceasefire and work together to fight off the wolves, or go for complete chaos and continue the battle while also being harried by the pack. A medal can be earned if players manage to defeat the wolves while sticking to the ceasefire - it's harder than it sounds!


This screenshot was taken by a player during the first Wolf Truce event earlier this year.

We'd firstly like to express our appreciation for everyone who responded to our Armistice activities here and on social media with thoughtful comments. It’s great that after so many years, people are still showing their respect and commemorating the World War One.


This is an impromptu in-game Armistice captured by player bucklington.


Another Armistice screenshot by player Stephen Dedalus.

Next Sunday 24th November, player Ranjid is organising another great community re-enactment event.

You are invited to join a ferocious battle between the French and Germans at Saint Mihiel. Poilus and Senegalese Tirailleurs will face German Landser squads backed up by Stosstruppen and Pioneers. Since it's a battle in 1918, you can expect some less common weapons like the MP 18s and flamethrowers to be present.

This is re-enactment event, so you'll be expected to follow some basic instructions. Your reward is the chance to participate in coordinated 'over the top' mass charges following artillery barrages, bayonet attacks, and simply a more organized battle experience. There's nothing quite like it!

Sign up by shooting Ranjid a message - read all about the event here!


This was taken during a Saint-Mihiel battle event held earlier this year!


A screenshot from a previous re-enactment event.

We'd like to say thank you to Ranjid for his many wonderful events over the years. He has announced that he will retire from these events in 2020, and we wish him all the best.


Ranjid's favorite GIF from an event (check out the full quality version!)

Of course, you don't need any special permissions to arrange an event. In the x64 group we have seen some great matches planned on the EU and US servers, more info here. We love community events, and it'd be great to see others take the initiative and host some events of their own.