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!

Greetings soldiers of the Eastern Front!

This weekend, June 17-20-, Verdun & Tannenberg will be part of a free weekend! We’re celebrating the release of Verdun & Tannenberg on the latest current gen consoles.



We welcome all recruits, new and veterans! The battlefield can always use more soldiers.
For those who don’t own Verdun and/or Tannenberg yet, we have a special deal going now, combined with the free weekend!

You can get the game with 60% off each or get both games together in the bundle with 65% off!
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/5227/WW1_Game_Series/

Verdun and Tannenberg have laid the foundation for the WW1 Game Series and made it possible for us to continue and create Isonzo! Your continuous support and enthusiasm for our games and excitement for Isonzo is very much appreciated!
Currently, we have a closed Alpha test running for Isonzo for PC players here on Steam!
We don’t have a scheduled deadline for now, as we want to test the game thoroughly.
Be sure to enlist via the form by clicking here!

So far in the Isonzo Intels we have discussed the challenges of recreating historical locations, and announced a new game mode - the Offensive - combined with teasers for the San Michele map! We talked about this in more detail and on location in our video dev blog, be sure to check it out if you haven’t already:



And we recently released a new dev blog too. This time, we talk weapons! There are some fascinating Italian guns revealed - check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1556790/view/4986028794973970850

Good luck on the battlefield soldier!

-WW1 Game Series team

The Entente wins again with 22,754 less casualties than the Central Powers, although with almost 1,000,000 casualties it would be a horrifically expensive victory.

Even the highly successful Gorlice–Tarnów offensive by the Central Powers only resulted in around 300,000-400,000 Russians captured, killed or missing in action - a vast number, but not even half of what we've seen from about nine days of frontline combat in Verdun and Tannenberg. On the Western Front, the French and British attackers in the Second Battle of Artois suffered around 50,000 more casualties than the defending Germans.

Don't forget to check out the latest Isonzo Intel dev blog, all about the challenges of recreating historical landscapes!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1556790/announcements/detail/3041597566481848340


The ruins of San Martino del Carso, that you will find yourself battling through in Isonzo.

See you next time!

Following the initial military disaster of the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914, the Russian Army had been doing better, particularly against the Austro-Hungarians. A Russian counter-attack routed their opponents in the south and allowed them to besiege the fortress city of Przemyśl. The Germans launched a number of attacks to try and distract the Russians, but despite some minor successes they were unable to deal serious damage.


Central Powers troops on the march.

This would change in May 1915. A combined German and Austro-Hungarian force was assembled with more than 700 artillery pieces, including 159 heavy guns and 96 mortars – such as the 305 mm Skoda siege howitzers. They were attacking Russian defenders with only 145 artillery pieces, of which a mere 4 were heavy guns. It did not go well for the outgunned Russians, and what was intended as a distraction quickly became a huge offensive, with the Russians unable to organize a meaningful resistance. What counter-attacks there were only added to the Allied losses. The offensive would continue until June 22, and triggered the Russian withdrawal known as the Great Retreat.


Austro-Hungarian 305 mm heavy mortars – the Central Powers advantage in artillery numbers gave them a significant advantage. Image from Imperial War Museum.

In the current campaign, the balance of casualties currently stands at 794,025 vs 772,397 in favour of the Entente. Once again the Central Powers are on the back foot... but the West to East 1915 campaign will continue until this Friday 4th.

In case you missed the latest Isonzo Intel, it was all about the challenges of recreating historical landscapes in a videogame. Aside from the technical side of things, you first have to find good reference materials, and remember that landscapes can change a lot over the years...

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1556790/announcements/detail/3041597566481848340
Until next time!

Which side will suffer less casualties in this month’s campaign? West to East is named after two major offensives that began in May 1915: the Gorlice-Tarnów offensive and the Second Battle of Artois. Both aimed eastward, but only one was a real success.

The Germans intended the Gorlice-Tarnów offensive to be a relatively minor operation to take some pressure off their Austro-Hungarian allies, but it would turn into a major assault that collapsed Russian lines. The Second Battle of Artois had the goal of capturing Vimy Ridge, and while the French would take the heights, they would not be able to hold them.


Artwork depicting fighting during the Gorlice-Tarnów offensive.

How do campaigns work? It’s fairly simple: all Entente and Central Powers casualties in the Frontlines and Maneuver game modes in Verdun and Tannenberg will be tallied up, and the ‘victors’ will be the ones with least losses. The Central Powers have not won a campaign in a while. That doesn’t mean they can’t do so this time.

Read the Campaign FAQ here!

Furthermore, we're still working hard on Isonzo! Please be sure to wishlist our upcoming game if you haven't already! Last week, intell was shared on the creation of historical maps in Isonzo, which of course included some new screenshots and a teaser for the next blogpost..!

You can read our second Isonzo Intel here!

The carso landscape


Good luck out there...

When the dust settled, the Entente were well ahead, having suffered 50,280 less casualties than the Central Powers. It certainly seems like the Entente are the favored faction among the player base, as they keep coming out on top. A new campaign will be coming soon, so maybe things will be different next time.

The total casualties once again cleared 2,000,000 total, almost reaching 2,500,000. There were more casualties than the German military suffered during the entirety of WW1. An important reminder that games like Verdun and Tannenberg represent particularly intense frontline combat, of a kind that generally wasn't sustained for very long.


German troops releasing gas from canisters on the Western Front.

Last year we made a small road trip down to Italy for some on-site research. Three of us made the trip: series creative director Jos, together with producer Thomas and level designer Robin. While there, we made a few videos too...

Developer Jos on location in Italy, discussing the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo.

Alongside the video, we've released an extensive dev blog going into more detail about the multi-map Offensive game mode! Check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1556790/view/3059609427948758060

On the morning of January 31st, 1915, a German soldier on the Eastern Front might have looked towards the town of Bolimów hoping to see an experimental German weapon in action for the first time. The weapon in question was a number of 15cm artillery shells loaded with tear gas. Once the shells met a charge of TNT, they would be blasted open and the canisters would transform into a large cloud of xylyl bromide tear gas. Russian soldiers would suffer extreme irritation to their eyes, noses and ears. Once blinded and suffering, they would be unable to prevent a German attack breaking through their lines.

That German soldier would have been terribly disappointed - the contents of thousands of gas shells blew back towards German lines instead of towards the Russians. Ultimately, an even greater debacle was only avoided because the gas froze due to the cold temperatures on the battlefield, which minimized German casualties.


Sturmtruppe geht vor unter Gas - etching and aquatint by Otto Dix.
(Stormtroopers Advance Under a Gas Attack)

Although the attempt went poorly (to say the least), the new German innovation in their usage of poison gas did not go unnoticed by the Russians. But the failure did mean that the news was not widely spread to Russia’s allies in the west, which set the stage for a more effective gas attack the following year at the Second Battle of Ypres. Read about that here!

At the time of writing, the Central Powers have suffered around 22,000 more casualties than the Entente, which would be a significant loss compared to previous campaigns, where the differences were often less than 10,000.

The campaign will end on April 30, this Friday.

The Entente and Central Powers clash again in our latest campaign event: the Poison Prince campaign. Casualties from both Verdun and Tannenberg on PC will be tallied up until April 30, and the side which loses the least men will emerge victorious.

Poison gas was first used on the Eastern Front at the Battle of Bolimów in Russia, by the Germans. It failed (badly) but poison gas would be used again on the Western Front during the Second Battle of Ypres. It would be far more successful there… we’ll share more about these two moments in history during the course of the campaign!


Russian soldiers wearing gas masks.

The Poison Prince campaign is named after the German commander for the second, more effective gas attack. Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg was the crown-prince of the Kingdom of Württemberg, part of Germany which would cease to exist in 1918.

Read the Campaign FAQ here!

Good luck out there…