Devblog #162

Community members! There is a lot of news to tell you. We are on our way to another game update, for which we plan an open beta. Besides that, we want to showcase a single-player mission from the “Finest Hour” DLC, as has become tradition. Also, we are sure you want to hear the release date for “Finest Hour”. Are we right? Keep reading!



[h2]Finest Hour Single Player campaigns[/h2]
As has become tradition, we will now proceed to reveal one of the 16 single-player missions that will make up the 2 Finest Hour single-player campaigns. We have already revealed that the Commonwealth campaign will consist of 7 scripted missions and 3 skirmishes, while the German campaign will have 5 scripted missions and 1 skirmish. Today, we look at one of the Commonwealth missions.

[h2]Operation Goodwood[/h2]
This operation happened roughly 6 weeks after the D-Day landings.
It was a major British armored offensive, intended to break out from the Caen bridgehead. In the bigger picture, this operation was to draw German forces away from the American front.



Following an enormous aerial bombardment early on July 18th, British armored divisions of Lieutenant-General Richard O’Connor’s VIII Corps advanced south from the Orne River bridgehead.

One of the main stages of the operation was the village of Cagny, positioned on rising ground east of Caen, overlooking mostly open fields; it proved to be an ideal location for the Germans to set up defensive positions. Its location made it one of the most critical German strongpoints the British had to overcome in this operation.

This photograph of Cagny was taken by a PR Mk.IX Spitfire of 16 sqn RAF, just before noon on the day of the attack, showing damage resulting from the heavy bombing

The bombing had indeed inflicted heavy damage on nearby villages and German positions, but Cagny itself - already fortified and occupied by elements of the German 21st Panzer-Division - would prove to be a formidable obstacle all the same. Hidden anti-tank guns, dug-in infantry, and cleverly positioned tanks allowed the defenders to survive the bombardment and prepare for the British attack.

[h2]The mission in Gates of Hell[/h2]
The first thing to do in this mission is to select your doctrine. Different doctrine choices (Offensive, defensive, all-round and irregular) will give access to different types of troops. This is a recurring theme in the Finest Hour campaign. The choice of doctrine also determines which objectives you get. Every doctrine has its own set of cutscenes, voice lines and achievements.

The second thing you see obviously involves the landscape around Cagny; as mentioned earlier, this area would become one of the main scenes of this bloody battle.
We have recreated the battlefield using aerial reconnaissance and survey photographs, since post-war development has rendered the landscape very different from what it looked like in WW2.

https://youtu.be/PaEXScjioCU
”Goodwood” mission intro cutscene

As the player, you are part of the second armoured unit to arrive on the scene at Cagny; the 11th Armoured Division rolls ahead of your unit in the initial stage of the battle, coming under fire from some German Pak and Flak, while your unit - the Guards Armoured Division - witnesses the 11th getting hit. The situation clearly demonstrates the need to overcome the German guns hidden in the treelines on the North side of Cagny.

How will you go about it? You have a good number of units at your disposal, including specialised armor. Depending on your choice of doctrine, the specialised armor can be Churchill Crocodile, Churchill AVRE, Cromwell Mk.VI CS or Sherman crab.
You will need to make sure to position your Cromwell and Sherman tanks well enough to prevent any surprise flanking manoeuvres by the German 21st Panzer division.

Like in real life, German Pak are hidden somewhere in a treeline

You will have to find a balance between caution and aggression. All the time, the realization that you don’t have forever to take Cagny dominates. You have a need to advance beyond the first treeline to take the entire village as well; it will be largely up to you to find solutions to this tactical problem quickly, or risk enemy reinforcements reaching the scene. You will get a good feel of the scale of Operation Goodwood and get plenty of resources.

A selection of Finest Hour weaponry

A selection of late war tanks

A selection of early war tanks

Some of the Churchill tanks

More Churchill tanks

Some of the armored cars

[h2]Game Update 62[/h2]
We will introduce a game update in a few days. To ensure that this update is stable before we release the Finest Hour DLC, it will be in open beta until the release day.

[h2]Release path[/h2]
Assuming the Open Beta for game update 62 runs trouble-free, we expect to be able to release the Game Update in parallel with the release of the Finest Hour DLC, on the 2nd December at 19:00 CET or 10:00 AM PST - barring any unforeseen events, of course.
Press access to Finest Hour is already here; a number of content creators we are subscribed to will be revealing parts of the DLC - you can see who we recommend (and subscribe to) on our Youtube homepage.
Wishlist Finest Hour today:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3691330/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Finest_Hour/

[h2]Steam Awards[/h2]
Is Gates of Hell a labor of Love? Steam seems to think so:

“This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the debut of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years.”

If you agree with this notion, we’d be thankful if you would nominate us too! You can find it here:
https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/nominations/2025

[h2]Did you know?[/h2]

• Several interesting websites describe Operation Goodwood in detail
  
• Countless old French aerial photos from the Cagny (and other) area(s) can be found HERE
• The Finest Hour DLC contains more vehicles and tanks than “Ostfront” did in 2021 (on release)
  
• Finest Hour also introduces 6 new aircraft

That’s it for this blog. Will you be playing the Operation Goodwood mission solo or in co-op?
Let us know in the comments!

See you on the battlefield!