Wargame: AirLand Battle
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| Developer(s) | Eugen Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Focus Home Interactive |
| Engine | IRISZOOM engine v3.0 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS/X, Linux |
| Release date(s) | May 29, 2013 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time tactics |
| Mode(s) | Single player and Multiplayer |
Wargame: AirLand Battle is a real-time strategy video game developed by Eugen Systems and published by Focus Home Interactive, released on May 29, 2013. It is set in Europe during the Cold War, most specifically in the years 1975–85. It is the sequel to the 2012 Wargame: European Escalation.
Gameplay
Wargame's playable factions are the Warsaw Pact, which is subdivided into the Soviet Union, Communist Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia; and NATO, which is subdivided into the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Canada, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Players can choose various units from the subfactions of the side they are playing on, unlocking new units or improved variants as they progress. In all, there are just over 800 historical units recreated to varying degrees of accuracy in Wargame: AirLand Battle.
Each country has its own arsenal of units, reflecting their military doctrine. It is possible to create a 'deck' or battlegroup focusing on various criteria, with the option to mix units from multiple nations' armories.
NATO
- USA: United States is NATO's generalist. United States's units have no obvious shortcomings with the exception of a small range of high end tanks and little high-end anti-tank guided missile capacity, unlike some of their more specialized allies or enemies; although their air assets (helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft) are generally superior to every other country.
- France: France's combat doctrines were forged in the constant colonial wars of the 1950s and 1960s, giving priority to light units. French vehicles are both accurate and fast, but very fragile. They are at their best performing fast strikes, ambushes and hit-and-run tactics, but aren't strong in head-on engagements.
- United Kingdom: British tanks are opposites of the French ones: they are heavily armoured and armed, but very slow, and are at their best in a defensive situation. In contrast, their infantry benefit from fast troop transports and support vehicles. The United Kingdom, like France, has few short comings, most directly limited by its lack of SEAD.
- Federal Republic of Germany: For a long time, Germany was equipped with former US Army vehicles. At the start of the 1970s, it made up for this discrepancy by equipping the German army with ultra-modern locally built vehicles. As for the Panzergrenadieren, they remain, like their Second World War predecessors, among the most heavily armed infantry units. A strong NATO nation, held back by their lack of airpower and being forced to use mostly radar equipped anti-air.
- Sweden: Theoretically neutral, Cold War Sweden leans heavily towards NATO and considers the Warsaw Pact its only real threat. As a result, its armored divisions are capable of rapidly regrouping to strike the Pact's airborne landings fast and with devastating effect. This mobility-centered approach relies on a strong and efficient air force to support and cover ground operations, to the detriment of scarce ground support troops.
- Canada: Having to be rapidly deployed to Europe from North America, Canadian forces rely more on their robust infantry and anti-tank equipment than on their armored division, which is generally made up of older equipment than its enemy and allied counterparts. More comfortable in a defensive rather than an offensive strategy, Canadian troops have a good infantry capability, thanks to their land and airborne transport, which is among the fastest transports in the game.
- Norway: The main target in any Soviet offensive in Scandinavia, the Norwegian army – like the Canadian forces – deploys formidable infantry. Specialized in close combat, Norwegian troops are responsible for containing enemy advances and inflicting maximum damage to enemy troops, in order to give other NATO member states enough time to send reinforcements. They can also rely on a modern and flexible air force that was modernized at the beginning of the 1980s with American aid.
- Denmark: With a National Guard twice the size of their regular army, Danish forces are built around light task forces. Mainly under threat from Polish airborne and amphibious assault troops, they rely on strong infantry, as well as armored and armed reconnaissance vehicles and many light vehicles and anti-tank helicopters capable of quickly repelling invaders.
Warsaw Pact
- Soviet Union: Just like its American counterpart, the Soviet army has no obvious shortcomings or disadvantages whatsoever except for having a generally higher average price for its units. It relies mostly on its tank formations and vast array of artillery units to break the enemy front. USSR also use heavily armed and armored helicopter units.
- Poland: Poland's equipment is mostly borrowed from the USSR arsenals, but counts more on its elite infantry units than its armored formations. Equipped with the fastest troop transports available in the Warsaw Pact, they are very mobile and are able to attack or redeploy quickly.
- Czechoslovakia: But for the tanks and helicopters, the Czechoslovakian army had its own arrays of vehicles, based on its national military industry. With excellent artillery and air defense units, and among the best special forces, it is well suited to support players of other factions.
- East Germany: Like Poland, East Germany is mostly using Soviet equipment. Relying mostly on heavy infantry formations, it is also the keeper of most the Cold War's heated border, the Iron Curtain. Therefore, East Germany had developed a lot of dedicated recon and intelligence gathering units. East Germany is dependent on USSR forces.
Campaigns
Wargame: Airland Battle includes four campaigns that can be played alone or cooperatively with another player. The turn-based portions of all four campaigns take place on the same map depicting Northern Europe.
Die Hard – USSR/East Germany
As the Warsaw Pact's main offensive nears the Rhine, its southern front is threatened by NATO advances. To secure a favourable position at the negotiating table, a daring plan is hatched to seize Aarhus, thus depriving NATO of its most vital reinforcement ports.
Fortress Oslo – West Germany/UK/USA/France
Sweden, Norway and Denmark have all fallen to the Warsaw Pact. In Germany, however, NATO counter-attacks have halted and caused significant losses to Pact forces. Under pressure from public opinion in the West, NATO high command dispatches forces to liberate Denmark and Norway.
ZHUKOV-2 – USSR/Poland/East Germany
With the war in Germany at a stalemate, NATO and the Warsaw Pact focus their attention on Scandinavia. Following intelligence reports of a planned NATO assault, the HQ of the Soviet Northern Front orders the execution of alert plan ZHUKOV-2: a general offensive on NATO positions in Scandinavia.
War in the North – NATO/Sweden
The Warsaw Pact have declared war on Sweden and crossed its borders, thus placing the neutral country on NATO's side. Norwegian and Swedish forces must hold the line until reinforcements arrive.
Multiplayer
Wargame: AirLand Battle is a primarily multiplayer game. There are several game modes to play.
The majority of multiplayer games are skirmish battles, where players fight against other players and/or AI generated opponents with custom built decks. These battles vary in size, location, and style, adding to generally unique experience for each game.
Expansions
The first free expansion; Vox Populi; was released on August 1, 2013[1]
The second free expansion, Magna Carta, was released on December 10, 2013. The DLC included some new large scaled maps and new vehicles as well as infantry, now per nation.
Engine
Wargame: AirLand Battle uses an improved version of IRISZOOM engine. The 3rd generation of the IRISZOOM engine displays contour maps that were directly rendered from satellite images. The huge maps - up to 150 km² and simultaneously showing millions of objects - have gained in variety and realism whilst still supporting rapid transition from far to close up, with specific detail paid to the topography.
Sequel
During August 2013 a sequel, Wargame: Red Dragon was announced. It is set during the Cold War but after the original games, in East Asia. It introduces China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and the ANZAC as new factions. The campaign focuses around a Korea conflict during the 1980s. It introduces naval warfare to the Wargame series. Wargame: Red Dragon was released in April 2014.
Reception
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Wargame: AirLand Battle has received generally positive reviews upon release, with a Metacritic score of 82%.