Another of Battlefront's popular WEGO military sim/wargames, Combat Mission: Black Sea (CMBS) is being released on Steam today. It's the second of the company's stable to make this leap, following Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 (CMSF2) which was released late last year thanks to a new publishing partnership with with Matrix Games/Slitherine.
CMBS was first launched in 2014 and covers a fictional war in Ukraine between NATO, Russian and Ukrainian forces. Like CMSF (which takes place in Syria) it was developed before the real conflicts in the Ukraine and Syria took place and doesn't represent the real war. These suspiciously prophetic coincidences do suggest, however, that if Battlefront ever does a game about a zombie apocalypse then it's probably time to run for the hills.
The backstory to the game was altered to fit with recent events and sees the Crimea splitting from Ukraine, the Ukrainians joining NATO, Russia forcefully objecting and all hell breaking loose. The plot is very well developed and frighteningly plausible. An interesting feature is that it gives alternative paths for NATO and Russian success. Arguably a back story isn't required for a game like this, but I do think that it helps the player to feel involved and this one is a very good example.
RELATED LINKS:
Opinion: The CM:SF2 Demo Is a Good Sign of Things to Come
Combat Mission Shock Force 2 is available for pre-order
Review: Command Live Episodes 1 & 2