Isonzo News

We've already shown a bit of Montello, the next free map for Isonzo. Today, we dive deeper into the first half of the map: the beginning of the Austro-Hungarian assault. At the end, you'll also see a little bit of the next cosmetic Units pack.

[h3]First Sector[/h3]
The assault begins with a shallow river crossing, then scaling the steep bank on the other side. A small concrete bunker provides a solid but obvious defensive position for the Italians, anchoring a trench line and barbed wire. Once they make it through the wire, they must fight through a section of woodland towards farms. There is a ruined building which houses a potential forward deployment point for the attackers, perfect to set up the next stage of the attack.

From the right angle, and if you can ignore the smoke and flames, the forest looks almost idyllic.

Once they make their way through the burning woodland trails and past the farmerless farms, the Austro-Hungarians arrive at the first sector to fulfill their first objective.

The farms near the river have suffered heavy damage from the initial artillery bombardment.

The Austro-Hungarian objective in this first sector is to destroy two gun pits. As always with multiple sabotage objectives, how your team divides itself between each objective can be the difference between a quick victory or a drawn out battle. Always be ready to shift between objectives as the need arises!

The terrain leading up to the first two objectives is a mix of woodland, trenches and damaged farm buildings. Good to know: this gun is not one of the objectives.

[h3]Second Sector[/h3]
Once the guns are destroyed, your next objective is a capture point in an ancient Abbey. The Austro-Hungarians will need to cross open fields and cut through more barbed wire to reach their next forward spawn points. Past these forward spawn points is another wire barrier, and then the Abbey itself, atop a gentle hill.

These fields offer limited cover, and if you do make it across there's another line of barbed wire to cut your way through.

The abbey in Montello is loosely inspired by the Abbey of Sant'Eustachio, near the Piave river. A truly ancient building, it was originally constructed around 800 AD, in use for more than 1000 years before being abandoned in 1865, and then heavily damaged during the Second Battle of the Piave River.

It enjoys a commanding position atop a low hill, without too much cover for attackers to use on their final approach. However, it's also not a walled compound, so sneaky (smart) Austro-Hungarian players will be sure to try their luck attacking from the sides, not just the frontal route. As always, defending Engineers can do good work by blocking off the easiest ways in with barbed wire.

The Abbey has taken very heavy damage from artillery fire. Note the supplemental trench below - a good spot for defenders, but also valuable for attackers seeking a covered route to reach a different angle of attack.

[h2]Shellshocked Units[/h2]
The Solstice update will bring a new paid cosmetic DLC alongside the free Montello map and weapons. Here's a little hint about the kind of content you can expect...



[h2]Join us next time as we storm the final objective![/h2]

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We released a small patch with some minor changes, including the Film Memoir mode popup appearing every time you launch the game during the event... which has concluded earlier today. Better late than never!

• Fixed Film Memoir popup constantly appearing in Main Menu
  
• [Mac] Potential fix for occasional 0x0 resolution
  
• Minor visual improvement to Gas mask
  
• Minor localization updates
  
• Network Version increased
  

The download size is expected to be around 250mb and requires patching.

This Sunday 110 years ago, the first World War had officially begun. At the time, no one could've predicted just how large and significant this conflict would become, how many lives would be lost or changed forever.

Every year we commemorate this day, and as customary we've enabled the Film Memoir mode for free on PC. While normally exclusive to the owners of the Supporter Pack DLC, everyone on PC can now enable the Film Memoir mode in the popup window or by going to the Options, then Graphics. It'll be available until August 5th!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]Film Memoir Screenshot Contest[/h2]
This year however, there's more! Let's take a moment to stay away from the bloodshed and instead put our focus on the footprint of WW1. This war left a mark on the continent, much still visible to this day.

We invite you to take the best possible Film Memoir screenshots of the environments in Verdun, Tannenberg and Isonzo that show both the beauty of the many theaters of war and the marks WW1 left behind. Think trenches, barbed wire, craters, destroyed trees, you name it! Remember that Film Memoir needs to be turned on and we highly recommend you disable the UI.

You get two entries for this contest: 1 by posting a screenshot on Discord in the dedicated channel and 1 by posting a screenshot on Reddit with the Memoir Contest flair. These should not be the same screenshots! We'll select 5 winners on Discord and Reddit each, who'll win a DLC pack for Isonzo or the game itself if they don't own it yet. One person cannot win on both platforms and the contest will be closed on August 5th. Good luck!



[h3]Montello Teaser[/h3]
As a little extra, here's a small preview of the flyover for Isonzo's next map: Montello!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Last time on the blog we only saw the very start of the battle represented in our upcoming free Montello map: the Second Battle of the Piave River.

Leaked Austro-Hungarian battle plans meant that the Italians were able to bombard them just before they began their assault, while they were still packed together in forward trenches. Casualties were heavy, and in places even led to the attack being cancelled or delayed. For the most part though, the Austro-Hungarian soldiers went forward and aggressively crossed the river to engage Italian positions on the other side.

They made it over the river and were able to advance 5 miles (8 km) further before the attack ran out of steam. The Austro-Hungarian commander Boroević attempted to restart the assault in the following days, but the destruction of bridges and high water levels made resupply across the river a nightmare, with some troops even drowning as they tried to cross.

A screenshot of the Piave river in Isonzo alongside reference materials. You can easily imagine how long those pontoon bridges would last under artillery fire.

On July 19th, four days after the attack began, the Italian General Diaz launched a counterattack into Boroević's flank which inflicted significant losses and further degraded their ability to attack. By the next day, Emperor Karl had taken personal command and ordered a retreat. Three days after that, the Italians finished recapturing all the lost ground on their side of the river. Italy's allies encouraged them to keep up the offensive and chase the Austro-Hungarians across the Piave, but General Diaz figured that the same supply issues that had hindered the Austro-Hungarian operations would block effective Italian attacks as well - not to mention the fact his forces were still scattered and not ready for an offensive. Instead smaller actions were taken to secure useful ground and prepare for a future offensive. Italy would be at no further risk of attack from the thoroughly exhausted Austro-Hungarian military.

The town of Nervesa della Battaglia in-game, as seen from the defender's perspective looking towards the Austro-Hungarian advance.

[h2]Gameplay and History[/h2]
As with all our maps, we've done a lot of research to recreate the battlefield while also making it a playable space with entertaining gameplay. This means making sure key landmarks and defenses are represented, but allows for some wriggle room when it comes to proportions and distances. The goal is to capture the challenges and opportunities offered by the landscape, but avoid frustration or particular objectives being too easy.

These photographs of the river helped us create a memorable starting area for the battle.

People unfamiliar with the First World War might think all trenches are much alike, but as all you veteran WW1 Series players will know, every area of every front had trenches with specific quirks. Getting trenches right for each map is a top priority.

[h3]For the next blog, we'll share a first view of the new map in motion, and for the blog after that we'll be going more in-depth about what to expect when stepping onto the Montello battlefield for the first time![/h3]

[h2]See you next time![/h2]

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Fans of Italian poetry who follow our roadmap might already have guessed which battle is the focus of the new Offensive map. The battle has two names, one of them coined by famous Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio: The Battle of the Solstice. Hence the name of the Offensive which will feature the next new map (and later the final new map) on the roadmap.


The less poetic name is the Second Battle of the Piave River. On June 15th 1918, the Austro-Hungarian army gathered their strength for a massive assault on Italian positions. Russia had been out of the war for some time, and the Battle of Caporetto in 1917 had been a great success for the Central Powers, moving the frontline up to the Piave river. This new offensive was aimed at breaking through the Italian defense on the Piave. Our upcoming map is named after a hill that would stand at the center of this battle: Montello.

Almost 100,000 men and 7,000 artillery pieces were mustered for the attack, with many of the Austro-Hungarian formations having been trained in the highly effective 'infiltration tactics' used by German stormtroopers. A major victory here could effectively take Italy out of the war, allowing the Central Powers to focus more resources on the troubled Western Front.

The battlefield around an early objective location.

However, the Italians had not been idle since their defeat in the Battle of Caporetto. Of particular note was the removal of the incompetent General Luigi Cadorna and his replacement with General Armando Diaz as senior commander of the Italian Army. Under his leadership, Italian morale was stabilized and more flexible defensive tactics were developed, allowing for more independence for troops at the frontline - including giving them freedom to retreat or counterattack as needed, in sharp contrast to Cadorna's often bloody and ineffective determination to hold ground at any cost. During the Battle of Caporetto, he initially denied a request to withdraw from a commander on the ground, which led to Italian soldiers having to fall back under constant harassment from Central Powers troops instead of being able to make an orderly retreat.

A drawing of General Diaz on his 60th birthday in 1922, 4 years after the Second Battle of the Piave.

The battle started poorly for the Austro-Hungarians, as Diaz had intelligence on the exact starting time of their attack. Half an hour before they were due to go 'over the top', a heavy artillery barrage struck the Austro-Hungarian forward trenches and caused heavy casualties. Despite this, the attack mostly began as scheduled and the Piave river was crossed. This is where the battle begins for the players - one obstacle has been dealt with, but now there will be hard fighting as they must first climb and then descend Montello. On the other side lie the final objectives for this map.

The river crossing where the Austro-Hungarian players begin.

Join us for the next blog to learn more about the terrain you'll be fighting over in the first few sectors, and find out how the battle went historically.

[h3]We'll be back in two weeks![/h3]

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