Hello!
Commanders, it’s good to be back! As promised in last week’s highlight, in today’s DevBlog, we look at another Operation coming to WARNO in the not-too-distant future: The Kitzingen Ruse.
Let’s detail how you will play this audacious VDV operation, set at the very beginning of our World War III.
War is coming home
As you know, WARNO’s World War III begins on June 21st, 1989. As we explained in our previous DevBlog, which highlighted the NATO Operation Backhand Blow, our missions have not been released (or revealed) in exact chronological order. However, with Warsaw Pact’s The Kitzingen Ruse, we have a contender for our conflict's very first combat operation.
You might recall that the The Kitzingen Ruse is a critical VDV (Vozdushno-Desantnye Voyska, or Soviet Airborne Forces) mission deep behind enemy (NATO) lines. It takes place in the opening hours of our war, with a surprise strike of air assault units descending on the outskirts of Würzburg, with several landings in the area envisioned. This medium-sized Bavarian city is located 60km away from the Inner German Border. It lies southeast of Frankfurt.
The secret surprise attack, while very risky, if successful, would place Soviet forces on the doorsteps of Würzburg. Taking this city would open up the key southern flank, to be used by the Soviet Army to encircle Frankfurt by rapidly using the multilane Bundesautobahn 3 in the opening days of the war.
The VDV lead the way
The light air assault troops of the VDV lead the attack in the The Kitzingen Ruse, specifically the 900th Separate Air Assault Battalion. Their target is the small town of Kitzingen, east of Würzburg, where a bridge over the river Main is a critical objective. If seized and held against invariable NATO counter-attacks, follow-up ground forces from the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division coming from East Germany will provide the necessary reinforcements.
The surprise attack would not be easy, but the elite VDV have trained hard and in absolute secrecy for such a daring operation. Ferried in by Mi-8 and supported by Mi-24 gunships at treetop height, taking control of the battlefield, and then defending for as long as possible were all mission objectives these Soviet air assault units would have been trained for. Furthermore, 2S9 Nona mortars, BM-21V Grad-V, and BMD-1 and BMD-2 fighting vehicles support the various Destaniki troops.
Local opposition would be lighter Bundeswehr reserves as the Heimatschutzen, even though heavier units from the U.S. 197th Infantry Brigade are likely also to make their appearance.
In this Operation, the nerve-wracking ride toward the target has already been successful. But lo-and-behold, that was not the most challenging part. The real fight for the Kitzingen bridgehead is about to kick off. As the VDV commander, you’ll have access to a wide range of equipment, including light vehicles, AA, and artillery units. They might not carry the heaviest of guns or toughest armor, but the experienced soldiers under your command will make do with what they have as they defend against West German and American forces.
The Kitzingen Ruse in-game
In the Kitzingen Ruse, you can only gain Command Points by controlling Command Zones. However, one of the primary objectives, DMITRI, does not provide any points. The income is critical to deploy a sizable force in the field; lose too many zones, and it will become increasingly more difficult to hold the bridgehead.
(insérer video KitzingenIntro)
Extending the perimeter from the Kitzingen bridge and positioning your troops well will be one of the first objectives. The bridge itself contains the BORIS sector, your lifeline for relief forces coming from the opposite bank.
You have some light BMD vehicles, but your force is mostly made up of infantry squads, ATGM teams, and recon troops. A defense in depth will be key to success. The Command Zones, which radiate outwards from the bridge, have a combination of forests, treelines, small settlements, and fields, all rather crowded but with good roads. This means the terrain is excellent for infantry ambushes.
Be aware that the NATO counter-attack will begin almost at once.
Additional light artillery forces and AA units provide some fire support. Moreover, you’ll have several variants of Mi-24 helicopter gunships at your disposal, but they must be deployed expertly and carefully. Enemy air forces will try to attack your bridgehead with everything they have.
The Kitzingen Ruse is not for the faint-hearted, as increasing pressure will probably make any commander fall back on their positions, ever closer to the bridge. The aim is to hold on until the reinforcements arrive. If you manage, you’ll go down in the history books for being instrumental in the subsequent Soviet successes in CENTAG’s area of West Germany.
An updates on updates
We take our passionate community seriously, especially when it comes to comments and feedback on the current state of the game, new units or nations, changes needed to mechanics or stats, and the like. However, at Eugen, we are only a small team of dedicated developers, with multiple feature pipelines, updates and projects happening at the same time, and some things… take a bit longer (yes, you can imagine the Eugen trademark here). Things break, things get delayed, and things need to be redone - all realities of game development.
We only want to say that we hear you, especially when balancing patches or updates, improvements to existing game modes, or how to make multiplayer even better. But be respectful to us and other players. Repeatedly demanding changes, unreasonable or demeaning remarks, insulting the community, and other childish behavior are not to be respected or tolerated by us, our fans, or our player base.
We are hard at work, and only together we can make a better WARNO. We take all constructive criticism to heart, and trust us, we read and check all the feedback. As WARNO is still in Early Access, frequent updates, patches, and changes are to be expected up to the full launch (and after, not to worry!). We hope to provide you more info on what to expect soon!
So, once again, enjoy WARNO, and stay cool, calm, and collected, commander!
Action Against Hunger Charity Event
Before we leave you, we have a message from our dedicated Protosz asking us to spread the word about the upcoming Action Against Hunger charity community tournament. After a very successful 2022 edition, in which more than $2100 was raised, Action Against Hunger event is back in the same format. Once again, by playing both Steel Division 2 and WARNO in a competitive setting, you’ll be able to support the funraising effort for the Action Against Hunger charity.
The charity tournament event will take place on the 27th and 28th of May. The first day, the 27th, will be exclusively dedicated to Steel Division 2, while the 28th of May will be all about WARNO.
You can sign up for the tournament by following this link: https://playsdl.com/tournament/4th-SDL-charity-tourney.
More information about the fundraising can be found by following this link:
https://actionfundraisers.funraise.org/fundraiser/sdl.
We’ll be sharing more info leading up to the tournament. Please note that this event is not organized by Eugen but through the community. Much like previous editions, and other player initiatives, we wholeheartedly support the event. If you have any questions, please contact the organizers directly.
See you on the battlefield
That’s all for this week. We’ll return with more on WARNO next week!
Don’t forget to join the passionate WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server, Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram.
See you on the battlefield, commander.