At the time of writing, there have been 1,137,028 Central Powers losses, to 1,143,957 Entente casualties. Almost a 1:1 ratio, with a minor lead for the Central Powers... it could still easily go either way. The Summer Offensive 1915 campaign will continue to run until Monday 22nd of June. We'll see how the battle went historically on the Eastern Front below, but how were things on the Western Front? Find out on our Verdun Steam Hub.

On the Eastern Front the Austro-Hungarians had done poorly in their battle against the Russians, losing territory including the fortified town of Przemyśl in an extended siege. They demanded support from their German allies, threatening to make peace if no aid was forthcoming. General August von Mackensen was tasked with leading the newly formed Eleventh Army in supporting the Austro-Hungarians. What was intended to be a relatively minor relief effort quickly became a major offensive.

The Russians facing the Eleventh Army had 141 light artillery pieces and four heavy guns at their disposal. This was woefully insufficient compared to Mackensen's 457 light guns, 159 heavy pieces, and 96 mortars. The German artillery advantage would prove decisive. From disrupting Russian infantry and counter-battery fire to the heavy mortars used to demolish the defenses of the recently captured fortress at Przemyśl, the German guns were significant everywhere.



The pattern became familiar - the Central Powers would begin with a heavy artillery barrage, and follow up with infantry that would capture the Russian positions. Any Russian counterattack would likely be ill-supported and suffer heavy casualties. The Russian Tsar was slow to authorize any withdrawal, and chose not to start work on constructing better fortifications in the rear. Russian reinforcements were brought in, but were devastated by the German artillery.

Today in 1915 the Russians were only a matter of days away from the Grand Duke Nicholas ordering a complete abandoning of Galicia on 21st of June. Total casualty estimates for the Russian forces range between 250,000 and 400,000, compared to about 216,000 total soldiers deployed to the fight by the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. They would go on to lose around 80,000 to 100,000 men, while advancing hundreds of kilometers.

In Tannenberg and Verdun, the Summer Offensive 1915 is still very much undecided. You have until the 22nd - the battle rages on!

The First World War saw fighting around the world on a scale previously unimaginable for many people. Gains or losses in any individual battle could ultimately have consequences for entire theaters, no matter how minor they might seem at the time. You can experience this yourself today in the WW1 Game Series, as we begin the Summer Offensive 1915 campaign!


In short, every fallen soldier on the Western and Eastern Fronts will be tracked. If you fight in a public Maneuver or Frontlines match, your actions will contribute to the campaign casualty totals. While the campaign is running, you will be able to see whether the Central Powers or the Entente are currently faring better. The campaign begins today: the Summer Offensive 1915.


The name of this campaign refers to the Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive on the Eastern Front, and the Second Battle of Artois on the Western Front. Overall these two operations did not end well for the Entente factions - will things pan out differently this time?





The German led Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive lasted from 2 May to 22 June, 1915. It was intended to reduce pressure on Austro-Hungarian forces who had taken a beating from the Russians. The Austro-Hungarians even threatened the Germans that they might seek an individual peace agreement if they didn't offer any military assistance! In the event, the German attack was so successful that they kept pushing and it became a major offensive effort, ending in a German victory and forcing the Great Retreat back to Russia by Russian forces.




On the Western Front, the Entente were launching the Second Battle of Artois, which ran from 9 May to 18 June, 1915. The French aimed to capture Vimy Ridge and cut off German railway supply to a large part of the front. The British Expeditionary Force launched a supporting attack to increase pressure on the Germans. After initial success and capture of Vimy Ridge, French forces were forced back by a German counterattack. The British attacks did divert two German divisions, but were otherwise failures with high casualties despite heavy bombardments.

We’re looking forward to seeing how this campaign turns out! Common questions are answered in this FAQ post.

While the campaign is running, you can earn a unique medal for taking part in battles as well. The most prestigious award being given to those who fight at least five battles on both fronts!

The campaign will run until Monday 22nd of June, when the Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive ended. Casualties will be tallied until then - in reality, the Entente suffered about three times as many casualties as the Central Powers.

The battle awaits - how will events compare to history? That’s down to how you fight. Good luck!

A little update for you all today, mainly to say that work on the upcoming new map is going excellently. In fact, here's a little teaser!



It probably doesn't give much away, but hopefully it will whet your appetite for a new battlefield. It's a very cool location with some significant terrain features that make it stand out from the other maps in the game already. We'll be teasing more as we lead up to the release!

We released a small update yesterday with a few nice fixes. Previous changelogs can be found on the Steam Hub.

• Fixed being able to spawn in contested sectors
  
• Fixed film memoir and motion blur
  
• Fixed call-ins being displayed as mustard gas
  
• Disabled the squad menu while spectating
  
• Prevented future bans due to higher rate-of-fire from HMGs
  
• Updated engine version

Speaking of releases, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 releases of Tannenberg are also in sight. We'll share more information with you as soon as we can confirm release dates! Of course our Twitter and Facebook are also great sources of the latest news.



Player ЖыжЪ spotted this little bit of environmental detail in the game. If it seems a little silly, consider...




...this photo uploaded by Runcible to the artwork section - allegedly German cycle troops in 1914. Personally, we'd prefer the ladder-chair system to bike-shoulders!


That's all for now. But rest assured, more news is coming soon!

The Film Memoir event has finished, and there has been some amazing stuff made -thanks to everyone who took part and especially those who shared what they made. If you really enjoyed playing with Film Memoir mode and want to give us some extra support, the aptly named Supporter Edition DLC includes permanent access to Film Memoir, along with some other nice extras from wallpapers and artwork to the game soundtrack.

Now to the competition - first off, thank you all for participating! There were lots of great moments captured on camera, but some stood out. A drumroll please as we announce our three competition winners! Congratulations to...


Tommies in Flanders, a stirring patriotic film of British troops in action.
By Liam.


A rare moment of quiet in Verdun, captioned: 'British soldiers in the trench. Year 1915.'
By Tanya Degurechaff.


The body on the ground suggests this is real combat photography rather than being taken during a training exercise! Captioned: 'German officer leading troops to charge enemy positions during the Battle of Tannenberg, in 1914.'
By Wise Wolfie.

The winners will receive a Supporter Edition, a hefty can of refreshing mints, and one of these delightful roly-polys:



If you won, look out for a Steam friend request from one of our mods so we can get in touch to arrange sending out your prize!

The console versions of Tannenberg for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are making solid progress, despite some slowdown due to the ongoing coronavirus situation. We aren't quite ready to announce a release date yet, but rest assured that as soon as we know, you'll know!

Stay safe out there everyone!

Experience WW1 like in the movie reels made in those times, or try your hand at producing your own First World War film! Partly inspired by Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old, where historical footage of the Great War was colorized, we're excited to introduce the reverse: a black and white movie reel like experience as a visual filter in both Tannenberg and Verdun. Film Memoir will be available for all players until April 26, and after the event ends it will still be available for everyone who owns a Supporter Edition.


Don't worry, you haven't gone back in time to April 1st - today Film Memoir mode became part of the game for real!

War photography came of age during the First World War, and we often think of it as a dark, bland conflict because the photos and film we see are in black and white. However, a recent trend for colorizing WW1 photos (for instance in They Shall Not Grow Old) has shown more people what you could already know from playing Tannenberg or Verdun - WW1 was grim for many reasons, but it was not bland and colorless. Now you can see how scenes and landscapes you're familiar with in the games would appear to cinema audiences of the time. With Film Memoir mode, gameplay is represented in high contrast black and white, with an old movie filter on top and subtle audio details. In addition to the authentic old movie experience this provides. it will give players quite a new and unique challenge to fight without color cues on the battlefield.



We will be giving away prizes for creating impressive content with Film Memoir mode - merch and a Supporter Edition!
TIP: Don't forget to turn off the UI with the F8 key before making your films or photos!

We will pick one winner for each of these three categories:

• Best short film
  
• Best image
  
• Best story

To enter, post your creations on Twitter using the #WW1Memoir hashtag and @ww1gameseries, OR upload content to the Steam Hub with 'Film Memoir' as part of the description text. Feel free to work together or capture footage on the West or East fronts.
Verdun and Tannenberg are both currently 55% off on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/242860

Compared to many other countries in the war, Russia had a very limited official photography organization. The Tsar had court photographers, but other photos taken on the Eastern Front were generally done by private professionals attached to army units, or soldiers or nurses who happened to own personal cameras. There was less encouragement by Russian media for soldiers to provide photographs, because the state controlled media were highly limited in what they were allowed to publish. Finally, the military collapse in 1917 and the revolution of the same year put paid to whatever official structure was present.


This photograph of an artillery position was taken by an Austro-Hungarian photographer.

The situation was different in Germany and Austria-Hungary, but the sheer scale of the war and the limited technology of the time means that it was never going to be fully documented in every possible way. We can still be grateful for the images we do have, and all the photographers - amateur or professional - who took them.

Try your hand at WW1 film making with Film Memoir mode! We look forward to seeing what you come up with.

We have a small update for you today, with various improvements and adjustments. Plus, new options for custom Maneuver matches, a tweak to the Carpathians church, and an achievement fix:

• Added new Custom match option for Maneuver to set the number of resource points per faction /setscoreentente [number] /setscorecentral [number]
  
• Added new Custom match option for Maneuver to remove point drain and allow the game to be won only by HQ capture /sethqcaponly [true/false]
  
• Fixed not being able to get the Gavrilo Princip achievement
  
• Fixed Carpathians church entrance being too tight

You can read the full changelog on the forums.

Today's update might be small, but we have something bigger planned tomorrow that will change how you look at the battlefield...

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.


Florence Farmborough, a British nurse who went to the Eastern Front in 1914. She carried a large camera with her and took photographs of the Eastern 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:

The wolves are on the prowl, and they are more hungry than ever! The thrilling Wolf Truce event is back, and this is your chance to take part of this ten day event until March 29th!

Wolves! Wolves
When a battle starts, there is a chance that a number of wolf packs join the fray, attacking any who stand in their way. In the face of this canine threat, players will have the option to call on a temporary truce in order to deal with this new hungry foe.

There are many historical reports and stories about the danger wolves posed on the Eastern Front. Driven from their habitats due to the war, they attacked civilians and soldiers alike! Soldiers often took precautions, trying to drive them off with machinegun fire and even poison gas.



The Wolf Truce event has been inspired on these accounts and gives players a unique dilemma on the battlefield; do you call on a truce to face this new foe, or do you use the chaos to press on?



What’s new?
For the third iteration of this event, we’ve made a number of improvements on the UI pertaining the grace period and the truce timer. In addition, the wolves are more aggressive than ever, killing you in 2 bites instead of 3 and you can’t outrun them that easily anymore...



That’s not all, aside from the truce we also made several fixes and improvements such as a more lenient AFK time in private and public matches. For a full overview of all changes and fixes be sure to check out the changelog here.

How to earn The Wolf Truce medal
When the wolves attack, players can enact a Wolf Truce in order to deal with this threat. If they manage to fend off this attack without killing or injuring anyone on the opposing team, they all earn the Wolf Truce medal! But earning this medal is harder than it sounds as the game will not enforce any truce.

When the wolves attack, there will be a minute warning before the truce period starts. A timer shows how long the wolves will continue to attack both sides. The game will notify players if the truce has been broken by someone who injured or killed anyone of the opposite side during this period. If players maintain this truce until the timer ends, they will all earn a Wolf Truce medal!

Want to join in on the fray? Tannenberg is now at a 55% discount!

Good luck and be wary of the eyes in the forest!

We have fixed various exploits concerning the formatting of in-game usernames, including but not limited to the recoloring issue! Today's fix follows on from a Wednesday update which adjusted MG firing for slower PCs, among other things.

Full changelogs here!


Is it just us, or is his expression a little creepy actually?

We've been hard at work this year on Tannenberg for consoles. The Verdun remaster for consoles went great, and we are channeling that same energy for the Tannenberg release. More on that hopefully soon!

We might not have a lot of game news to share, but we had some interesting film discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages, plus a couple of nice screenshots from players!



Tannenberg player Panzerjäger II P (which made us think of this cute vehicle, though it's probably a reference to the rather chunkier Elefant) took this moody screenshot of an artillery position surrounded by smoke clouds.

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.

January already saw us release one update with a collection of fixes. You can read the changelog here.

How many of you have had a chance to see 1917 in cinemas? It's an amazing experience, in particular because it was filmed in such a way as to give the impression of one continuous shot without 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 from a Central Powers perspective is the Hungarian movie Szürke senkik (Grey Nobodies). Thanks to György for that tip!

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

Finally, Markus suggested 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!

We'll leave you with this nice shot by player OPA_ZIGOTA that looks like two Bulgarian soldiers waiting for the order to attack as dawn breaks.