Verdun News

The autumn can be very harsh to soldiers on the front. Not only do wind and rain make for less visibility, the circumstances were abysmal. Just imagine having to spend the night in a muddy trench with no shower, clean clothes and having to fight for your life the entire day.

The First Battle of Ypres was an attempt from both the Central Powers and the Allies to outflank each other from reaching the Belgian border. It is also referred to as ‘the Race to the Sea’. This quickly turned into a battle of attrition, with both factions deciding to dig into trenches, thus setting the stage for much of the Western Front of World War I!
© IWM
[h2]New seasonal event, new special medals, new rules![/h2]
As with our previous seasonal events, all fallen soldiers from each faction will be tracked throughout this campaign event! However, we made a big change that will affect the number of kills. This time, whenever a fight only involves bots, this will not count towards the faction total of the campaign. Only when a player is involved with a kill or is being killed, it will count. It is not required to serve one side during the entire campaign. But that still remains the question, are you Team Central Powers or Team Entente?

The amount of kills earned to each faction can be seen on the main menu. You can earn a special medal during this event. All you have to do is to participate in the battles of Verdun to earn one! You have until November 2nd to do so!

There is a way to upgrade your special medal as well, but more on that in a bit...

[h3]Patching the front[/h3]
Along with the campaign, the latest update for Verdun also fixed a few minor issues. These changes are applicable to version 314.22671

• Changed artilley arc calculation to include target height – artillery may be slightly more precise as a result
  
• Fixed collision on haystacks in the maps Aisne and Champagne
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause Campaigns to appear without them being active
  
• Fixed campaign medals potentially being awarded during 'coming soon' time
  
• Fixed a bug that let LMG players teleport across the map
  
• Fixed jitters on MLE1892
  
• Added truncation on very long player names, although this shouldn't be very noticeable on PC
  
• Campaigns After-Action Report now displays separate casualty stats for match and campaign totals
  
• Fixed clipping and floating bullets on RSC 1917 & 1918
  
• Fixed motion impacting bullet impact effects
  

If you have any feedback, be sure to let us know through the Steam community discussion boards!

[h3]The Eastern Front and Halloween[/h3]
The Bloody Autumn seasonal event is also active on the Eastern Front! The campaign in Tannenberg is based on the Siege of Przemysl. Participating on both fronts will earn you upgraded special medals, so make sure you are equipped for both the Siege of Przemysl ánd the Battle of Ypres!

Last but not least, we wanted to share this amazing screenshot ‘ReallyRiles55’ on the WW1 Game Series subreddit, who found something that might remind you of a spooky event…

[h2]The Relief Offensives have ended...[/h2]
The battle is over, so who won? Well, we tracked the casualties of both sides to see who was taking fewer losses. At some points in the war, commanders were reduced to this kind of attritional combat, simply trying to drain the enemy of soldiers and will to fight. The Entente quickly gained a lead in the casualty advantage (meaning they had this many less casualties), and held onto it throughout the campaign. Between days 6-8 there was a pause as the Central Powers rallied a little, but it didn't last and by the end the Central Powers had suffered 69,817 more losses than the Entente.



However, in the overall context of the campaign, this number is tiny. With both sides combined there were more than 11 million casualties. In our previous campaign, there were less than 9 million casualties over a similar length of time, suggesting the battlefields were more active than previously.

If you want to read more about how these numbers stack up against historical figures (TL:DR they're enormously higher) you can take a look at the post when the last campaign ended. These losses would have been devastating for both sides, and the difference is so small as to give neither side a meaningful advantage. Tragically this sort of battle was far from rare during the First World War.



[h2]Giveaway winners coming soon![/h2]
We'll be announcing winners from the Facebook giveaway very soon! Tins of mints and game keys will be finding their way to lucky winners. Keep an eye on our Facebook page to be the first to hear who won!

The campaign is over. Take a well deserved rest... or head straight back out to the trenches!

At the time of writing, Central Powers casualties are 2,437,263 while Entente casualties are at 2,403,869. That's a difference of 33,000 in favor of the Entente. But there are more than six days to go, and things can change quickly.

[h2]The Battle of the Somme[/h2]
At this time in 1916, much of the focus was on the village of Guillemont. General Ferdinand Foch and Field Marshal Douglas Haig had planned to capture the village on this day in 1916, but it didn't come off. Haig considered the attack had been inadequately supervised by his subordinate Henry Rawlinson, and hadn't had enough manpower assigned.

A follow-up attack was planned for the following day, on the 25th, but bad weather and a need to replace exhausted divisions caused a delay until September 3rd. When it happened, this attack would finally result in the capture of Guillemont from the Germans, but the cost of fighting in the area had been very high for the Allied forces. Despite air superiority and increasingly accurate artillery fire because of it, the Germans put up a strong, capable defense.



[h2]Japan in WW1[/h2]
The First World War was, as the name suggests, a truly global war. One nation far from Europe who joined the conflict were the Japanese, who declared war on the Central Powers on August 23rd in 1914, and moved against German territories in their sphere of influence. They also sent teams of nurses to France, Russia and Britain. As the war continued, Japan would export large quantities of war material to Entente nations. They also exported a number of rifles - one of which you can use in Verdun's sister game Tannenberg.

The first Arisaka Type 30s were built in 1899, and were the standard issue Japanese rifle until 1905 when they were replaced by the Type 38 - however, a lack of supply meant that some units kept using Type 30s until into the Second World War. Desperate for weapons, Russia bought around 300,000 Type 30s from Japan, and they received more from the British who had ordered them from Japan to arm troops until production of the Lee-Enfield could ramp up. It's possible that a number of these rifles would have been present in some capacity during the Brusilov Offensive.



The battle continues... since this post was begun, casualties have risen to 2,450,007 Central Powers and 2,416,463 Entente. There are six days remaining.

Our campaign begins part way through the real offensives that inspired it. The Battle of the Somme had been raging for 51 days already by this date in 1916, and would continue for more than three months. While there were of course pauses and recovery periods during the battle, it's still a long time to sustain offensive operations.

On the Western Front, the fighting was brought to an end by weather rather than a decision by high command. November 18th saw the last real action of the Battle of the Somme before the rain and snow became too much. Until January the following year the real enemy of soldiers on both sides would be the atrocious weather conditions.



[h2]Steam Daily Deal![/h2]
Get 60% off Verdun and Tannenberg until August 24. If you know someone who hasn't played either game yet but might love both, you can point them to the WW1 Game Series bundle, which is 15% off - taking the total discount on everything in there to 75% off normal price!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/633460/Tannenberg/

As the campaign runs we'll be posting updates along with some history facts, but in Verdun and Tannenberg you can see current casualty rates in the main menu and after each battle ends.

Good luck!

The summer can be a good time for launching an offensive. Dryer weather and less harsh conditions make supplying your forces and maintaining morale easier. Which is not to say that summer in the trenches was by any means pleasant. The summer of 1916 saw two major Entente offensives begin, intended to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun, and we will be running our own campaign event this summer as well...

[h2]A new campaign[/h2]
This campaign is inspired by the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front, and the Brusilov Offensive on the Eastern Front. These were major operations for the Entente forces in 1916, and had mixed results. While the Brusilov Offensive was a great success, smashing the Austro-Hungarian army and gaining territory, the Battle of the Somme was a bloodbath that didn't lead to any major change to the front lines. There's more to it than that, of course - but we'll get into details later this week.



[h2]How does it work?[/h2]
Every fallen soldier on the Western and Eastern Fronts will be tracked. If you fight in a public Frontlines or Maneuver match, your actions will contribute to the campaign casualty totals. While the campaign is running, you will be able to see whether the Central Powers or the Entente are currently faring better. The campaign begins on Thursday.

Earn a campaign medal!
Everyone can earn a special campaign medal by fighting in battles during the event. You can earn a bronze, silver or gold medal. To get gold, fight in five battles on each front - five battles on the Western Front, and five on the Eastern front.

In our last campaign the Entente suffered slightly less casualties, but the difference was so minor as to be effectively a draw - like many major battles of the First World War, in fact. Perhaps this time will be different?

We'll be running a giveaway during the event and posting some interesting history facts. You can read the Steam news right here on the hub, or follow our Twitter, Facebook or Discord!



Ready your rifle and sharpen your bayonet. Less than a day to go...