Tannenberg News

Our new game Isonzo is coming later this year!

The Great War had many battlefields with a vast variety of landscapes and warring nations - and later this year you will be able to fight on the Italian Front.

Although you’re used to fighting in the cold in Tannenberg, high up in the mountains of Isonzo will be a new experience! The rivers and charming Italian towns create an entirely new environment for you to conquer!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Read all about Isonzo![/h3]
Check out the special announcement post we made on the Isonzo page, and wishlist the game too while you're there!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1556790

[h3]Thank you[/h3]
For now, we want to thank you all for your love and support for Verdun and Tannenberg! We’re definitely not forgetting the games that brought us here - we’re excited for the next step in our WW1 Game Series adventure and hope you’ll join us!

Arrivederci, hope to see you all in Italy later this year!

- The WW1 Game Series team

And so the latest campaign comes to a close, with 945,395 casualties for the Entente and 982,641 for the Central Powers. That's 37,246 more losses for the Central Powers. So far the Entente have generally come out on top in the campaigns - albeit by a small margin. Perhaps people prefer playing for the Allies?

The first Austro-Hungarian counter-offensive aimed at relieving the Prsmsl Fortress consisted of 175,000 men in total, so these losses are vastly greater than any week long battle during the war. As you'd expect, considering that Verdun and Tannenberg are about frontline combat at an intensity that could never be maintained for long in real life.



Thanks to everyone who took part. We hope you had fun and found the history interesting!

The Winter War 1915 campaign continues for a couple more days - have you earned a gold medal yet? On the Eastern Front there were Austro-Hungarian troops trying to break through to relieve Przemyśl Fortress, meanwhile on the Western Front an important observation point was being contested.

Photograph from the summit of Hartmanswillerkopf in 1915.

January 1915 saw mountain warfare centered on the Hartmanswillerkopf peak in the Vosges mountains. German and French troops fought intermittently from 1914-1916 to control the heights, which offered both sides potential observation of strategic railways. The operations were costly (though nowhere near as brutally harsh as in the Carpathians) and troops were often pulled from the Hartmanswillerkopf conflict to reinforce other areas of the front. Ultimately both sides would go on to accept a stalemate in early 1916, and the situation became stable until 1918.

Hartmanswillerkopf memorial.

The campaign will end on February 4th. So far the Entente are ahead with almost 30,000 less casualties than the Central Powers. Will things change before the 4th?

[h2]New seasonal event with new medals![/h2]
A brand new Winter War 1915 campaign is starting soon, this Thursday 28th! Fallen soldiers will be tracked throughout the event, except for battles where only bots are involved. The 'winner' will be whichever faction suffers the least casualties at the end of the event. It is not required to serve one side during the entire campaign. But surely you'll still be inclined to pick a side?

The amount of kills earned by each faction can be seen on the main menu. You can earn special medals during this event. All you have to do is to participate in the battles of Tannenberg to earn one! You can upgrade your medal by fighting battles in our Western Front shooter Verdun as well - if you fight 5 battles in both games, you'll earn the gold medal! You have until February 4th to do so...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/242860/Verdun/
[h2]A little history[/h2]
The Eastern Front saw a very bloody winter in 1915. In an ill-conceived attempt to relieve the besieged Przemyśl Fortress, the Austro-Hungarian command launched an offensive through the Carpathian Mountains in the depths of Winter. Around 175,000 men were committed to a grueling slog through impossible conditions with deep snow and night temperatures that could reach -25°F. A horrific 75% would become casualties through freezing, exhaustion, suicide, and more rarely combat. After some initial success against outnumbered Russian defenders, counter-attacks quickly drove back the Austro-Hungarian effort. They never got close to relieving Przemyśl.

A painting of Russian troops marching through the mountains.

[h2]Good luck out there![/h2]

Many will know what happened at the Western Front during Christmas of 1914. German and British soldiers would lay down their weapons and celebrate the holidays together. But how was spending Christmas on the Eastern Front? That’s a little more complicated than you might think…

This has to do with the different calendars used. Nowadays, we mostly refer to the Gregorian calendar. However, the Russians still used the Julian calendar. There are a few reports that Germans would seek out a truce during Christmas, but these aren’t as widely spread or well known as what occurred in 1914. For soldiers in the trenches of the Eastern Front, it would have been ‘business as usual’, although that is a weird statement considering they were at war...

One of the important Russian offensives is named the ‘Christmas Battles’ and took place on the second and third weeks of January 1917, if we go by our current calendar. The battle took place in a swampy, frozen landscape and stood out because of the partial victory for the Russian Empire. In particular the Latvian Riflemen earned their reputation as very capable combatants based on this offensive.



[h2]The Christmas Truce in Verdun[/h2]
In Verdun, our WW1 Game that takes place on the Western Front, the Christmas Truce event returns! From December 22nd 2020 until January 5th 2021, you can join the Christmas Truce and even win a special medal for doing so! Jump into a special map where all players have the same loadout. Stories to tell, snowballs to pick up and a football to kick. Celebrate Christmas in a unique way with your fellow soldiers and earn the Christmas Truce medal by participating in the festivities.
[previewyoutube]https://youtu.be/LqSbWDa-RyU[/previewyoutube]

[h2]What makes a truce?[/h2]
Co-founder of M2H Studios and developer of the WW1 Game Series, Mike Hergaarden, has written an interesting behind the scenes article about including different truces and other lesser known historic events in games. “The common factor in these truces is a shared human experience.” To get some more insights, read the article here.


[h2]A cold winter sale[/h2]
If you are looking to enlist on the battlefields of World War I, now is the perfect time! Tannenberg is -60% off and could be gifted to a fellow soldier. Looking to head over to the Western Front and join the Christmas Truce? Verdun is -70% off as well!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/242860/Verdun/
[h3]From the development team of the WW1 Game Series, we wish you a merry Christmas and a healthy new year![/h3]