Are you ready, commanders?
Today is the day! WARNO’s latest milestone, GROUCHY, has arrived. And with it, the brand spanking new Army General with one full campaign - BRUDERKRIEG - plus four Army General tutorials.
GROUCHY brings much, much more. Keep reading for all the juicy details, but this includes a new map, new optional lightning conditions for maps, tank rework, new vehicles and traits, VFX updates, and divisional updates (including some brand-new previously undisclosed updates detailed below).
Let’s go!
Milestone GROUCHY features
If you want to read more about GROUCHY’s rather infamous “late” historical namesake, check out last week’s DevBlog for some military history.
We have managed to add some additional “housecleaning” updates affecting the West German divisions and one British battlegroup. See below for more!
Apart from that, what can you expect from GROUCHY milestone in WARNO?
- Army General’s four tutorials. These explain everything from movement to combat, action points, AA interception, reinforcements, what you must do to win, and more! Read more about the tutorials here.
- The first Army General campaign, BRUDERKRIEG, playable as both NATO and WARSAW PACT, but for the time being only in single-player. Versus and cooperative online will be added later. This is an “extra” campaign on top of the four Army General campaigns originally envisioned to be featured in WARNO. We converted an initial prototype into a condensed campaign with BRUDERKRIEG pitting the armies of a divided Germany against each other. Note that this campaign is more compact than the other campaigns, which are larger in scale (some are truly massive!). Read more in this DevBlog here.
- A brand-new urban map, HESSE. We previewed it in last week’s DevBlog.
- Tank Rework and divisional “house cleaning” Part 2, both topics which can be read in this DevBlog, plus “house cleaning” Part 3 (which is detailed in this post here). We have also added some additional rebalancing affecting West German and one British division.
- New vehicles and unit Traits: Electronic Warfare helicopters with the Jammer trait.
- Major SFX pass, including:
- Tracer rounds for machine gun, flak, autocannon, etc. will have their correct NATO/Warsaw Pact specific colors.
- More compression effects on explosions (read: shockwaves).
- Reworked and optimized MLRS smoke trails.
- Reworked and optimized airplanes and helicopter flares.
- New configurable map ambiance.Players can choose which lightning setting they prefer for the map in the game creation lobby. You’ll get the option between night, morning, or afternoon. Note that in Army General, this ambiance setting will automatically match the in-game time depicted. More of these new lightning options will follow.
Additional divisional housecleaning
Previously undisclosed, but we added some extra changes to existing divisions in the GROUCHY milestone. We “cleaned up” the West German battlegroups, plus started work on one of the British divisions (more updates to come to our BAOR formations).
So what’s new in GROUCHY?
West Germany
As seen with other NATO and Warsaw Pact divisions, we took a stab at smoothing out the West German battlegroups. The 2. Panzergrenadierdivision and the 5. Panzerdivision was that - typical for German meticulous organization - both formations were composed of the same building blocks: Panzer and Panzergrenadier brigades. With most of the equipment standardized, the divisions differed in the ratios in which these brigades were featured. We wanted to find additional ways to make both these divisions more distinct from one another.
Another point of attention was that, unlike other armies, the West German Bundeswehr was the only nation in WARNO without a “pure” national division lacking any foreign allied detachments. The 2. PzGrenadier is located closer to NORTHAG, and - as simulated and played within our Army General campaigns - will be isolated from the rest of CENTAG due to the Soviet offensive. Being pushed back to the northern NATO allies, it made the most sense to keep the 2. PzGrenadier multinational. This means that the 5. Panzer is the logical choice to be converted into a “pure” West German division.
Another way to set each of the three West German divisions apart (including Territorialkommando Süd) was to tweak their air support. We decided to make the TerrKdo Süd division more of a “flying circus,” regrouping all trainer and obsolete German planes. Therefore, all GINA (fit for the museum), ALPHA JET (trainers), and F-104G (reserve) will be removed from the other divisions and concentrated in TerrKdo Süd only.
- The 5. Panzer, as a “pure” German division, will be the only formation fielding “true” Luftwaffe airplanes of the era. This means F-4F and Tornado aircraft with several new and/or modified loadouts.
- The 2. PzGrenadier receives replacements for its transferred obsolete and trainer planes but will depend more on other NORTHAG national air forces (see below).
- TerrKdo Süd, as a rear-area reserve command, will get the complete eclectic mix of GINA, ALPHA JET and F-104G planes.
What does this mean for each division?
5. Panzerdivision
The 5. Panzer loses its two American attachments: AH-64A APACHE and F-16C [SEAD]. The HELO category has been nerfed, but the divisional TANK tab has been boosted.
Other changes include:
- Removal of the MARDER 1A3 as a transport option for its PANZERGRENADIER squads. This variant of the IFV was still very rare in 1989 and, as such, has been reserved for deployment with the 2. PzGrenadier.
- Removal of the M110A2G since the division already has access to MARS. These MRLS units replaced the older heavy self-propelled artillery, so removing the big gun tubes from the ART tab makes sense.
- Removal of older airplanes and trainers.
The 5. Panzer gets some new toys to play with:
- A (new) F-4F [RKT] with heavy Zuni rockets has been added.
- F-4F [AA] has been modified to " ripple-fire " its A2A missiles, which means they fire them in pairs. While the payload will be fired more rapidly, the “shotgun” effect is more destructive.
- Added more LEOPARD 2A3 cards (both in regular and CV variants).
- Added more BO-10 PAH-1 helicopters.
- MARS ammunition has been changed from HE to cluster (to match reality).
- While the MARS changes from HE to cluster ammo, its lighter cousin LARS converts from cluster to HE, meaning less range but with a greater rate of fire (again, to match reality). This later change affects all divisions that feature the LARS MLRS.
Our intention for the 5. Panzer is to be the paragon division of German technology, with a prime focus on its chief strength: tanks!
2. Panzergrenadierdivision
Most of the changes to the mechanized 2. PzGrenadier will affect its air component, though two ground units will also be updated.
- Same LARS updates as found in the 5. Panzer.
- Removal of the MARS MLRS.
- ”Flying circus” changes in the air force with the removal of reserve and trainers.
What about 2. PzGrenadier’s new air force? Being pushed into NORTHAG by the Warsaw Pact’s offensive, in our war scenario, 2. PzGrenadier will enjoy greater support from the NATO allies, including new Belgian units!
- We replaced the GINA [HE] and [RKT] variant with British HARRIER GR.3 counterparts.
- We replaced the GINA [NPLM] (having no HARRIER counterpart) with a (new) Belgian MIRAGE 5BE [NPLM].
- And we replaced the HARRIER GR.3 [AA] (which didn’t exist in real life) with the (new) Belgian F-16A [AA]. These fighter planes are only armed with older Sidewinder missiles, but nonetheless, six of them “ripple firing” two at a time. A heavy aerial shotgun, once in range.
Territorialkommando Süd
Onwards to the second-line TerrKdo Süd. The main change will be the concentration of an eclectic mix of airplanes with new and modified loadouts. The core of the division’s air support will be made up of the GINA, ALPHA JET, and F-104G, but in turn, the regular Luftwaffe plane will be moved out and foreign air support restricted. This means:
- Removal of all F-4F planes.
- Removal of the F-16C [AT].
- Removal of the MIRAGE 5F [CLU].
- This leaves foreign air support limited to MIRAGE 2000 C fighters and F-111F [LGB2] fighter-bombers.
On the ground, we focused the divisional infantry more on the mainstay JÄGER. As such, we added more variants of this type of soldier to represent that - usually - they were lacking in AT weapons.
- Renamed JÄGER into JÄGER (PzF).
- Decreased JÄGER (PzF)’s card number from 4 to 2.
- Added one card of (new) JÄGER (CarlG).
- Added one card of (new) JÄGER (these take over the old name, but lack any AT weapons).
- Added (new) MTW M113A1G MILAN as a transport option for MILAN teams and JÄGER squads.
1st Armoured Division
The British 1st Armoured Division - for now - will only get a limited update to correct a TO&E mistake:
- Removed FOX
- Added one extra card each of SCIMITAR and SCORPION.
This change was made because the FOX scout cars, replacing the SCIMITARS and SCORPIONS, were only to be found in Territorial Brigades (of which the 1st Armoured had none).
Ranked Reboot
As announced previously in our DevBlogs, the Ranked has just been rebooted for a "special season" starting today up to the WARNO's full release.
Until next week
GROUCHY is out in the wild. We can’t wait to hear what you think! However, keep in mind that with WARNO still being in Early Access, we are committed to listen, fix, improve, and update the Army General (and all other modes) before the official launch, and after!
We know expectations have been high, and we hope the new Army General delivers. Regardless, keep your comments and feedback calm, cool, and collected especially towards other players and the devs. No need for flame wars, meme spamming, belligerent commentary, or otherwise rude behavior. You know the drill!
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!
