Plusieurs wargames sont en développement chez WDS, studio qui reprend entièrement le flambeau des jeux de John Tiller Software (voir cet interview). Voici aujourd’hui pour bien entamer cette nouvelle année qui débute une volée de captures d’écrans présentant ce futur titre de la série Panzer Campaigns, qui reste sur le front de l’est et va s’attacher ici à simuler l’opération qui permit à l’URSS de reprendre Kharkov après la défaite allemande de Koursk.
Jeu qui sera en fait le premier d’une tétralogie sur le thème des opérations dans le sud de la Russie à la mi-1943.
Pour plus d’informations sur Panzer Campaigns – Rumyantsev ’43, dont la date de sortie n’est pas connue, patientez encore un peu le temps que la fiche du jeu soit mise en ligne. Dans l’intervalle voyez éventuellement la page de la série Panzer Campaigns chez WDS.
A lire sur cette série nos articles Smolensk ’41 : Panzer General !, Stalingrad ’42 : une guerre de mouvement entre Don et Volga, Minsk ’44 : le terrible été de la Wehrmacht, Moscow ’41 : l’impossible victoire. Ou également ce récit de partie Panzer Campaigns – Normandy ’44 : AAR Utah beach.
Et si vous voulez essayez le jeu, voyez la fiche de la démo : Panzer Campaigns Mius ’43.
Communiqué
2021 End of Year Update
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Traditionally, John Tiller did not talk about new titles in development. The rationale was to prevent disappointment when a title was either not ready when expected or ultimately shelved. WDS changed that approach with the early revelation of Panzer Battles Kursk – Southern Flank, six months before release and we have subsequently announced at least one new title expected to be published in the following year. The same approach has been done every year since with Panzer Campaigns Kiev ’43 being the revelation in our 2020 End of Year Update.
Internally we have two sides to the ‘house’, there are teams working on the pre-twentieth century series and then the twentieth century to the current day teams. We currently have over twenty projects in various stages of completion that are scheduled for release over the next three years or so. These are new game projects beyond the enhancement work listed previously. In some cases, a new game series is planned to take us beyond the twelve series currently available.
With the caveat that all is work in progress we would like to share a title that is expected to be released in 2022.
With four different teams working on Panzer Campaigns, we have significant new titles in development. The title we are announcing, from the Panzer Campaigns series, is Rumyantsev ’43.
Panzer Campaigns Rumyantsev ’43 covers the Soviet operation of the same name to recapture Kharkov after the German defeat in the battle of Kursk. This battle is also called the fourth battle of Kharkov and would be the final time the city would change hands. The game is the first title from Daniel Asensio, a historian (speciality: Ancient Iberian peoples in pre-Roman Hispania) and a keen modder of Panzer Campaigns. The title covers the period from July to mid-August and will cover both the first and second phases of Operation Rumyantsev, the battle for Kharkov, and the counterattack at Bogodukhov. Additionally, like the inclusion of Market-Garden in Panzer Campaigns Scheldt ’44, we expect to include a new version of the German attack on the Southern flank of the Kursk bulge to provide additional context to the follow-on Soviet operations. Here are a few screenshots from the current prototype build:
Significantly, Panzer Campaigns Rumyantsev ’43 will be the first release of a planned four title series covering the major operations in Southern Russia in mid-1943. We mentioned in the equivalent blog post last year that the Eastern Front in 1943 had not been adequately investigated and we are planning to remedy that. We already have a title in development that covers the area north of the Rumyantsev operation and we are planning a third that covers to the south. The fourth title is proposed to link all three games together, similar to how Modern Campaigns Danube Front ’85 pulls together Fulda Gap ’85 and North German Plain ’85. The difference here though is the over-arching title will only have a number of campaign scenarios included and will probably be recommended for multi-player play due to the size of the scenarios. The other three titles will be focused on the various sized scenarios you would expect to see in a standard Panzer Campaigns game. This is a big project, but Daniel is making great progress.
If not apparent, we are sharing news of a game release cycle that will take several years. This is different to the past, but we think it worthwhile trialling, with all the necessary caveats. By giving you all an insight into our current development projects we can share more, receive feedback and more content for future blog posts. It also helps the developers see the level of support or interest in a title and its content. All going well, we will share more in-development titles during the year.
2021 was a year of unexpected change. 2022 will be a year of consolidating what was done in the run-up to the launch of WDS. We have our work cut out for us, but with your support we believe we can continue to deliver the games you love to play.
Happy New Year!
