Grand Strategy 2.0 is coming!

[IainMcNeil]

A free community-based expansion is headed to grand strategy fans everywhere!

Slitherine (www.slitherine.com) and Matrix Games are thrilled to announce the MILITARY HISTORY™ Commander – Europe at War Grand Strategy 2.0 expansion. This expansion was created by the community for the community and is completely free to anyone who has MILITARY HISTORY™ Commander - Europe at War! This expansion will be available for PC and Mac next Tuesday, May 31st.

To mark this announcement, we have released a pack of screenshots and an in-depth feature brochure showing off the substantial improvements to the graphics and gameplay.

This expansion has taken years to produce and thousands of man hours from a dedicated collection of people from artists to programmers, manual writers and layout experts. The end result takes this great game to a whole new level. Some of the biggest changes are listed here:

• Airborne divisions and para-drops
• Cross platform multiplayer support for PC vs. Mac
• German SS and Soviet Guards Elite Units
• Amphibious landings against defended coastal hexes
• Geo-political elements, which include:
  • French armistice (which the axis may accept or reject)
  • Early Italian entry if insufficient allied naval presence in the Med
  • Tension in the Balkans
  • Spanish activation as axis or allied minor ally
  • Turkey activation as axis or allied minor ally
  • Finnish armistice
  • Romanian and Bulgaria surrender and activation as allied minor ally
  • Consequences for allied aggression (e.g., UK invasion of Ireland).
• Canadian, Australian, Polish and Indian Commonwealth units and leaders
• Headquarter units
• More and greater variability of leadership ranging from Army Groups (Fronts), Armies and Corps
• Ferry crossings
• Ability to swap positions of two units of the same service type (i.e., ground, air or naval).
• Reinforcement of sub groups at sea
• Leased air bases (Azores, Iceland, Greenland)
• Malta naval and air bases factor into the interdiction and counter-interdiction of axis supply of North Africa
• Allied Interdiction of Swedish Iron Ore to German
• Scripted construction of Atlantic Wall Fortresses
• Many more improvements - too many to list to here!

Get more information on the MILITARY HISTORY™ Commander – Europe at War from its official product page and be sure to check out the new screenshots and brochure!

[trulster]

Great work!

The briefing infers that reaching Omsk is now almost impossible compared to earlier GS versions. In what way has the game changed to make this the case?

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I won't say getting to Omsk is harder than before. We just said that it should generally be very hard for the Germans to get to Siberia because the real Germans were nowhere near accomplishing that.

I think it's easier to get to Omsk with GS v2.0 compared to GS v1.07 if you know what you're doing and the Russians don't. Barbarossa is now more deadly for the Russians and you can collapse if you defend too far to the west. Then you can get to Omsk in 1942. If the Russians save most of their army in 1941 then reaching Omsk will be really hard.

Despite that we've seen games where elite players struggling to hold Omsk against certain Axis play. E. g. with the German armor blob it was too easy to do that and we made it a bit harder. It's still possible, but if the Germans fail in 1943 then they will lose big time. So the armor blob is now a big risk, especially against prepared Allied players. Against Allied players who don't expect the storm then the armor blob can easily get to Omsk.

So I think the best way to figure out the game play is to try yourself. Some things are harder and some things are easier. The main difference is that the Allies can't anymore run on auto-pilot to victory if they survive intact into 1943. The Allies have to be active and creative to break the Germans. If you fail to use your initiative then you won't make it to Berlin in time. So GS v2.0 is more challenging for both sides.

[GPT55]

Could anyone describe the German "armor blob" mentioned above, and the Soviet armor blob mentioned in the new GS 2 brochure? If its just about building lots of armor I would wonder if either really works that well, with oil problems for the germans and too many PPs to build and maintain for the Soviets (too vulnerable to Tacs and German armor). The most successful game I ever played as Germans was against a player that built too much Russian armor (in my opinion).

Pete

[Aufbach]

I'm also not familiar with the "armor blob" (German or Russian). Could anyone briefly explain what this means/how it works?

Thanks.

[Samhain]

Basically build loads of tanks. They're the best ground unit and so they can just swarm the enemy if there's enough of them.

[Clark]

Basically build loads of tanks. They're the best ground unit and so they can just swarm the enemy if there's enough of them.

Exactly. An armor blob, if it's properly employed against an unprepared foe, can sweep aside and annihilate the enemy very quickly. For the Germans, the destroyed units are totally worth the immediate oil drain, because you're destroying units that you might have to use oil to attack later on anyway.

But that's only if the enemy is inexperienced. If they are experienced, it's risky, and unless you get really lucky rolls, you're probably flaming out in '43 or '44.