Panzer Corps 2 News

Hello Generals,

We are thrilled to announce the release of 5 new Chess Maps for Panzer Corps 2 coming on May 30th.

Overview

Chess Maps for Panzer Corps 2 are essentially quick-to-play Multiplayer maps. Players could also play them alone if they wish, so vs. themselves in Hotseat Mode. Chess maps are kept intentionally small for faster playthroughs. Their maximum size is 10x10 playable hexes, which also results in a limited number of units present. Since chess maps are Multiplayer maps, balance is highly important. Therefore map layouts are meant to be symmetric, so that each side has equal options to move, and victory hexes are symmetrically distributed across the map.

For balance reasons units given to each side need to be equal in their capabilities and combat power - like chess pieces. As Panzer Corps 2 units vary to a degree between player nations minor imbalances may occur though. In Multiplayer tournaments with paired games this is irrelevant though.

Beyond that there is room for variation, so whether chess maps may have an explicit deployment stage, allow core units, rebuy, reinforce etc. is up to the designer for each map. Any special settings should be clearly communicated in the briefings.

[h2]What will include the new update?[/h2]

This free update will include 5 new chess maps:

Mountain King: Spanish Republicans and Nationalists struggle for control of a vital mountain road in 1938



Trench Slog: German and French troops clash along a fortified front line in spring 1940



Desert Rally: British and Italian forces battle for control of several desert villages in North Africa in early 1941.



Ice Warriors: In harsh winter weather Soviet and German forces aim to take small towns and villages in an area parted by a central, frozen river, which allows for quick river crossings.



River Warriors: The summer version of the Ice Warriors map above. The main difference is of course that the river poses now a major obstacle which players have to overcome



See you on May 30th!

[h2]Panzer Corps 2: Frontlines - Bulge is out now![/h2]

Hello Generals,

The first DLC from the Frontlines series is out now.



Prepare to dive into an immersive battlefield set amidst the historical backdrop of the epic Battle of the Bulge, commencing just days before the pivotal date of December 16th, 1944.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Key Features:

• Experience the Battle of the Bulge within a more zoomed-in scale, featuring the famous Siege of Bastogne
  
• Unique Campaign Structure divided into smaller battles for detailed, focused gameplay.
  
• Allied airpower is restricted for a few turns due to adverse weather conditions.
  
• Earn heroes and extra units as rewards.
  
• Tailor the experience by selecting easier or more challenging battles.
  
• Enjoy a balanced gaming experience with rewards and scenario selection.
  
• Adapt difficulty to individual skill levels and preferences.
  

Download now:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2711250/Panzer_Corps_2_Frontlines__Bulge/


And if you haven't had the chance to play the game yet, now is the moment: Panzer Corps 2 and the Axis Operations series will be on a special discount
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1072040/Panzer_Corps_2/


Make sure not to miss DasTactic playing the game on the Slitherine Twitch channel today at 16:30 UK time!

To celebrate the release of Panzer Corps 2: Frontlines - Bulge, we are excited to announce a new Chess Maps Tournament which will feature the 3 multiplayer chess maps.

You can sign-up here.

The tournament follows Swiss Tournament rules: you can find the full list of rules here.

The first round will commence on Tuesday, 2nd April 2024. No further entries can be accepted after the tournament has begun.

The tournament will last 3 rounds, 10 days each. Games are paired, so each matchup will be played both ways. All you need to do is sign up, then the system will pair you with opponents and create your PBEM games. You will be notified by mail of when the tournament is starting and when it will be time to play your turns.

In this part we are first taking a closer look at the campaign path and the battles included, and show updated screenshots that reveal quite some changes compared to those in the first Dev Diary.

Afterwards we are presenting various additions made for Frontlines - Bulge to give this campaign a more specific look&feel.

Campaign Progress

As we revealed in the first Dev Diary, Frontlines - Bulge begins shortly before the Germans launch their large offensive in December 1944.

The opening battle depicts a limited US assault directly at the fortified Siegfried Line close to Monschau. With somewhat over 40 core slots, and against enemy forces without much heavy equipment, this remains an easy task for the beginning.

A few days later everything changed. The same area has turned into the northern sector of the German offensive launched on December 16. Players are now confronted with increasingly heavy enemy attacks, and soon have to deal with highly effective German equipment which can unleash considerable firepower.



In both choices for the second battle we depict the initial German assaults on December 16 only, which allows us to break off and move to other important locations afterwards.

The third battle, to defend St Vith, represents the peak of the early German onslaught. The campaign has moved to the center of the front, where enemy attacks are even more ferocious.



The two choices after St.Vith lead to the last defensive battles, but now the US Army has managed to bring in substantial reinforcements: two elite Airborne Divisions have arrived.

While the 101st Airborne begins to fortify the perimeter around Bastogne in the southern part of the front, near Luxembourg, the 82nd Airborne supports the US effort to stop German armor in the north.



Shortly before the end of 1944 the tables have turned again, and the US Army is firmly on the offensive. Players can either lead the relief effort for Bastogne, or move back to the center of the front, where German armor almost reached the Meuse River.

Afterwards Bastogne comes into focus again as US forces seek to widen the rather narrow link they created before to relieve the town, but substantial German reinforcements thrown into the fight make this anything but easy.



The last stage of the campaign depicts the Allied offensive in January 1945 to erase the large front bulge created by earlier German advances.

At this point players can opt for the Battle of Bure, the only British-led scenario in this campaign. British forces here are set up as auxiliary units, and players can skip this battle entirely if they wish. However, they may also reap a number of bonuses if they achieve the secondary objectives at Bure in time.



In the last two battles the player’s core has grown well beyond 100 core slots. The final chapter of the campaign plays out as a combined offensive of US forces against both the northern and the southern ends of the Bulge, aimed to retake Houffalize.

Visual Additions

Since Panzer Corps 2: Frontlines - Bulge is the first content that features the US Army for the player’s side a number of visuals were added.

Like previous content this campaign comes with its own set of map images, for example to highlight the various path selections that are offered as the campaign progresses.



A new set of commander images has also been included, so that players can now pick one of various US officers for their portrait when they launch the campaign.

Another round of US hero portraits specifically made for this content has been added as well.



Last but not least the game now includes new briefing images specifically made for the Battle of the Bulge, and a new forest terrain set that is more fitting for the Ardennes, the main battlefield of this campaign. This new set is visible in various screenshots posted in this diary.



Units and Camo Patterns

The US has quite a large unit roster already, but a few new unit models have been added for this campaign. One is the A-20G, an improved version of the A-20 Havoc bomber in the main game.

The new G variant comes with improved soft attack stats due to the extra guns in the nose, but the aircraft remains a low-cost alternative to other tactical bombers available at this point.



The German side has not been lazy either, and introduces another version of their late-war, 8-wheeled recon vehicle - the SdKfz 234/4. Built on the same chassis as the previous 234/1 and 234/2 armored cars the new model is equipped with the long-barreled 7,5 cm PaK.

Due to its increased anti-tank capability this vehicle also became known as Pak-Wagen, and entered German service in late 1944.



Finally in rare cases players can apply new paint schemes to selected US aircraft as camo patterns.

This goes specifically for the P-51D which can be skinned to show the typical USAAF late-war look where aircraft appeared largely in pure-metallic, but often with colorful elements on the nose, tail or other parts.



Conclusion

That’s all for this part of the Dev Diary. We hope you welcome the extra campaign info, and that the new screenshots, as well as previews for new visuals demonstrate that this content has evolved quite a bit compared to the earlier DD. As you are reading this we’re gearing up for release, which can be expected soon!

Panzer Corps 2: Frontlines - Bulge is coming on March 21st!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2711250/Panzer_Corps_2_Frontlines__Bulge/

Prepare to dive into an immersive battlefield set amidst the historical backdrop of the epic Battle of the Bulge, commencing just days before the pivotal date of December 16th, 1944.



Mission Overview: A Journey Through History

Panzer Corps 2: Frontlines - Bulge invites players to embark on a dynamic campaign that unfolds during the iconic Battle of the Bulge.


Commencing with a smaller-scale US attack along the border region between Belgium and Germany, players are confronted soon with heavy German attacks that throw US forces back until they can finally turn the tide again. Rather than compressing the entire battle into a single scenario, Frontlines - Bulge divides it into smaller battles, offering players a more detailed and immersive gameplay experience.

New Challenges Await

Prepare to face a new array of challenges as you engage in the early stages of the German offensive. Players must strategize and adapt to adverse weather conditions that limit Allied airpower.



To ensure a balanced and enjoyable gaming experience, rewards such as heroes and extra units await those who rise to the challenge.

Key Features:

• Experience the Battle of the Bulge within a more zoomed-in scale, featuring the famous Siege of Bastogne
  
• Unique Campaign Structure divided into smaller battles for detailed, focused gameplay.
  
• Allied airpower is limited early on due to adverse weather conditions.
  
• Earn heroes and extra units as rewards.
  
• Tailor the experience by selecting easier or more challenging battles.
  
• Enjoy a balanced gaming experience with rewards and scenario selection.
  
• Adapt difficulty to individual skill levels and preferences.
  

See you on March 21st

Wishlist now:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2711250/Panzer_Corps_2_Frontlines__Bulge/

The game is still in development, some details seen in this preview are subject to change.

Frontlines represents a brand new chapter in the Panzer Corps Saga, so a dev diary is the perfect opportunity to introduce players to the general idea behind it, and particularly to the first entry in this series.



What it is, and what it's not

Frontlines - Bulge gives players the chance to experience a decisive part of World War II in Europe – for the first time in Panzer Corps 2 from the American side.

The campaign depicts the Battle of the Bulge from mid-December 1944 to mid-January 1945.

The new Frontlines series will offer shorter, but nonetheless very intense campaigns, and this more focussed approach allows us to show specific operations in a much more detailed way.

A typical Panzer Corps 2 DLC depicting an entire year of the war wouldn’t spend a dozen battles to cover only 4-5 weeks of combat. But, due to the different scope of Frontlines - Bulge we have the opportunity to dive deeper.

And the fierce fighting during the Battle of the Bulge, from the start of the German offensive to the iconic siege of Bastogne, and finally to the Allied struggle to regain lost ground, is certainly worth being shown in a dedicated DLC Campaign.



History in the making

The move away from Germany-centered content may not come as a surprise for players after the conclusion of the Axis Operations series in AO:1946, but it marks a fundamental shift in many ways beyond just taking another side.

There is less of an incentive to add large ahistorical campaign paths since the Allies won the war, and we think that a campaign about the Battle of the Bulge should reflect the actual course of it more closely but without putting historic accuracy above gameplay and fun factor.

Featuring the US Army in the Ardennes in 1944 adds an extra layer of challenges, since you are soon confronted with highly effective late-war equipment fielded by the Germans and need to find ways to deal with it.



On top of that the typical strengths of the Allied side, especially of the US, are not readily available when the German offensive begins.

Allied air power was initially limited by bad weather, and the Ardennes were only thinly held by a few US divisions, while the Germans had secretly amassed substantial forces to establish numerical superiority at least in the early stages of their surprise offensive.

The Devil is in the details, but so is God

To give you an idea what "focussed" or "detailed" means, let's compare the standalone "End of the Bulge" map included in the base game already to an example from the new Frontlines content.



As you can see we show the entire perimeter around Bastogne in a completely different scale now. Houffalize, the next important town in the Ardennes is near Bastogne in the standalone scenario – in Frontlines' siege of Bastogne it is outside the map area.

Obviously a single map featuring most of the Bulge requires a more abstract take, while a dedicated campaign about the same topic allows for a much more detailed look.

Similar approaches have been taken before sometimes in the Panzer Corps series, but now this more zoomed-in take is applied campaign-wide, which has a huge impact in various ways:

We use a consistent scale for maps which are closely linked geographically, with only slight variation where needed.

For example the early stage of the campaign plays in the northern sector of the front, with several maps showing different parts of it, but in the same, more zoomed-in scale.

This enables us to include smaller, but historically significant locations, and most importantly to depict key engagements with more varied forces that resemble the historic realities to a higher degree.



All those various aspects add up to a campaign that offers an in-depth experience of the Battle of the Bulge. It aims to be closer to history without abandoning the fun-to-play nature of the Panzer Corps series.

Put differently, in Frontlines - Bulge it is not your job to rewrite history, but you can relive it.

All quiet on the western front?

The limited timeframe of the Battle of the Bulge, coupled with more zoomed-in maps, means that individual turns are measured in hours, and a complete scenario represents - at best - days of combat, not weeks or even months.

Instead of an entire battle we often depict certain key stages of important engagements.

To come back to our example of Bastogne: the initial German encirclement and siege of the town, the following US relief effort and subsequent heavy fighting around Bastogne are three separate scenarios in this campaign.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves too much here. Frontlines - Bulge begins a few days before the Germans launch their surprise offensive which led to the formation of the large front bulge that became eponymous for the entire battle.

At this point the front along the old border between Germany and Belgium is rather calm. US forces only conduct limited attacks to prepare for a bigger offensive on their own, unaware that their enemy is already moving in position for an all-out offensive against them.



Consequently the first map is intended to be a smaller, and relatively easy intro battle to the campaign.

Decisions, decisions...

The gloves are coming off when the enemy onslaught begins. But for the second battle players can still decide between an easier task at the northern tip of the front or the more chaotic and difficult first clashes just a few miles south.

There are several of these choices throughout the campaign to select easier or more challenging battles. However, they are also included to depict different, yet equally important developments that happened roughly at the same time.

So do you rather hold out with the 101st Airborne in Bastogne, or do you support the 82nd Airborne to stop Kampfgruppe Peiper trying to break through towards Antwerp? Do you then move to Patton's relief effort for Bastogne, or aim to cut off Wehrmacht Panzers which almost reached the Meuse River?



You do not have to follow a specific campaign path resulting from these choices. This is a gameplay decision to allow players to explore the different scenarios linked to those choices more easily.

Conclusion

That’s it for the first part of this Dev Diary. We hope you enjoyed this introduction to Frontlines, and that it gives you a better sense of what to expect in the new campaign. Stay tuned for the next Dev Diary, which will arrive soon!


Join now the Beta

You can now apply to the beta and help us in developing the game. If you are willing to test it, find bugs, offer feedback and criticism and you love Panzer Corps, we definetely could use your help.

What are you waiting for? Click here to sign up.


Wishlist now:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2711250/Panzer_Corps_2_Frontlines__Bulge/