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The First World War in Black and White

Experience WW1 like in the movie reels made in those times, or try your hand at producing your own First World War film! Partly inspired by Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old, where historical footage of the Great War was colorized, we're excited to introduce the reverse: a black and white movie reel like experience as a visual filter in both Tannenberg and Verdun. Film Memoir will be available for all players until April 26, and after the event ends it will still be available for everyone who owns a Supporter Edition.

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[h2]Film Memoir[/h2]
Don't worry, you haven't gone back in time to April 1st - today Film Memoir mode became part of the game for real!

War photography came of age during the First World War, and we often think of it as a dark, bland conflict because the photos and film we see are in black and white. However, a recent trend for colorizing WW1 photos (for instance in They Shall Not Grow Old) has shown more people what you could already know from playing Tannenberg or Verdun - WW1 was grim for many reasons, but it was not bland and colorless. Now you can see how scenes and landscapes you're familiar with in the games would appear to cinema audiences of the time. With Film Memoir mode, gameplay is represented in high contrast black and white, with an old movie filter on top and subtle audio details. In addition to the authentic old movie experience this provides. it will give players quite a new and unique challenge to fight without color cues on the battlefield.



[h2]Show off your journalistic skills and win prizes![/h2]
We will be giving away prizes for creating impressive content with Film Memoir mode - merch and a Supporter Edition!
TIP: Don't forget to turn off the UI with the F8 key before making your films or photos!

We will pick one winner for each of these three categories:
  • Best short film
  • Best image
  • Best story

To enter, post your creations on Twitter using the #WW1Memoir hashtag and @ww1gameseries, OR upload content to the Steam Hub with 'Film Memoir' as part of the description text. Feel free to work together or capture footage on the West or East fronts.
Verdun and Tannenberg are both currently 55% off on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/242860

[h2]Photography on the Eastern Front[/h2]
Compared to many other countries in the war, Russia had a very limited official photography organization. The Tsar had court photographers, but other photos taken on the Eastern Front were generally done by private professionals attached to army units, or soldiers or nurses who happened to own personal cameras. There was less encouragement by Russian media for soldiers to provide photographs, because the state controlled media were highly limited in what they were allowed to publish. Finally, the military collapse in 1917 and the revolution of the same year put paid to whatever official structure was present.

This photograph of an artillery position was taken by an Austro-Hungarian photographer.

The situation was different in Germany and Austria-Hungary, but the sheer scale of the war and the limited technology of the time means that it was never going to be fully documented in every possible way. We can still be grateful for the images we do have, and all the photographers - amateur or professional - who took them.

Try your hand at WW1 film making with Film Memoir mode! We look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Game Update - V311.19980

We have a small update for you today, with various improvements and adjustments. Plus, new options for custom Maneuver matches, a tweak to the Carpathians church, and an achievement fix:
  • Added new Custom match option for Maneuver to set the number of resource points per faction /setscoreentente [number] /setscorecentral [number]
  • Added new Custom match option for Maneuver to remove point drain and allow the game to be won only by HQ capture /sethqcaponly [true/false]
  • Fixed not being able to get the Gavrilo Princip achievement
  • Fixed Carpathians church entrance being too tight

You can read the full changelog on the forums.

Today's update might be small, but we have something bigger planned tomorrow that will change how you look at the battlefield...

FRONTLINE NEWS: See the war as they did... in cinemas.

The First World War was one of the first major conflicts where photography and film were highly significant, due among other things to smaller and improved cameras. The nations involved also began to realize the value of photography and film for propaganda purposes. We thought it would be interesting to give players a chance to experience some of the challenges faced by early filmmakers, working with black and white on top of other technical limitations.

Florence Farmborough, a British nurse who went to the Eastern Front in 1914. She carried a large camera with her and took photographs of the Eastern Front.

Amateur photographers were able to take cameras with them to the front (sometimes smuggling them against regulations), and press outlets sometimes put out calls for photos from these amateurs when the officially released images didn't satisfy their desire for images from the front.

Soon you'll be able to try recording your own black and white war footage, with our upcoming 'Film Memoir' mode! If they say a picture paints a thousand words, a video must be even more... so check this out:

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The Soldier who cried Wolf!

The wolves are on the prowl, and they are more hungry than ever! The thrilling Wolf Truce event is back, and this is your chance to take part of this ten day event until March 29th!

Wolves! Wolves
When a battle starts, there is a chance that a number of wolf packs join the fray, attacking any who stand in their way. In the face of this canine threat, players will have the option to call on a temporary truce in order to deal with this new hungry foe.

There are many historical reports and stories about the danger wolves posed on the Eastern Front. Driven from their habitats due to the war, they attacked civilians and soldiers alike! Soldiers often took precautions, trying to drive them off with machinegun fire and even poison gas.



The Wolf Truce event has been inspired on these accounts and gives players a unique dilemma on the battlefield; do you call on a truce to face this new foe, or do you use the chaos to press on?

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What’s new?
For the third iteration of this event, we’ve made a number of improvements on the UI pertaining the grace period and the truce timer. In addition, the wolves are more aggressive than ever, killing you in 2 bites instead of 3 and you can’t outrun them that easily anymore...



That’s not all, aside from the truce we also made several fixes and improvements such as a more lenient AFK time in private and public matches. For a full overview of all changes and fixes be sure to check out the changelog here.

How to earn The Wolf Truce medal
When the wolves attack, players can enact a Wolf Truce in order to deal with this threat. If they manage to fend off this attack without killing or injuring anyone on the opposing team, they all earn the Wolf Truce medal! But earning this medal is harder than it sounds as the game will not enforce any truce.

When the wolves attack, there will be a minute warning before the truce period starts. A timer shows how long the wolves will continue to attack both sides. The game will notify players if the truce has been broken by someone who injured or killed anyone of the opposite side during this period. If players maintain this truce until the timer ends, they will all earn a Wolf Truce medal!

Want to join in on the fray? Tannenberg is now at a 55% discount!

Good luck and be wary of the eyes in the forest!

FRONTLINE NEWS: Friday Update

[h2]New Update[/h2]
We have fixed various exploits concerning the formatting of in-game usernames, including but not limited to the recoloring issue! Today's fix follows on from a Wednesday update which adjusted MG firing for slower PCs, among other things.

Full changelogs here!

[h2]Happy Valentine's Day![/h2]
Is it just us, or is his expression a little creepy actually?

[h2]We got new splash screen and logo art! What do you think?[/h2]