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!

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...