Good day, commanders,
We hope you are well. We return with another WARNO - NORTHAG preview, this time focusing on the second Army General campaign coming with our new expansion: Armored Fury.
Plus, we have some interesting news to share on the next Nemesis (number #3) DLC being planned for WARNO.
Read on!
NORTHAG’s Historical Context
For more info on NORTHAG’s historical context, don’t be shy and check out the previous DevBlog in which we detail the war scenario’s timeline and events leading up to NORTHAG’s two Army General campaigns. As talked about in the Four Days to the Weser campaign, the Warsaw Pact unleashes two major new offensives in the North German Plain. In today’s DevBlog, we’ll look at the southern axis, aimed at Hanover-Osnabrück.
Armored Fury has been named for the way it features more, and in some cases an overwhelming majority, of armored divisions and formations on both sides. This perfectly encapsulates the mechanized combined arms approach that would see the best use of “tank country” on this part of the front. This means that this Army General campaign contains more armored battalions (the pawns) to play with than any previous campaign.
Armored Fury Campaign
The Army General campaign itself focuses on the southern Warsaw Pact offensive axis, with its goal being Hanover, a strategically important city and logistical hub. Leading the charge is the Soviet 3rd Combined Army, noteworthy to be made up in its entirety of armored formations - four divisions, to be exact. But not everything goes according to plan for the communists. In our scenario, the leading 47th Guards Tank Division gets drawn into a massive ambush and mauled by a well-prepared and tenaciously defending West German 1. Panzerdivision.
(insérer vidéo Intro_Hanovre ... que je n'ai pas)
Severely beaten, the Soviet vanguard is mostly destroyed, and the survivors are forced to pull out and reorganize. The other communist armored divisions resume the advance, but much more cautiously. This gives the 1. Panzerdivision time to fall back on Hanover, where, thanks to the lull in combat, the British have used the respite to reinforce the city and bring up major armored reinforcements.
The British see an opportunity. With Soviet forces diminished and the balance of power momentarily in NATO’s favor, they decide to launch a limited but tank-heavy counter-offensive to crush the weakened Soviet spearhead. As always, time is of the essence. The Soviets are bringing up their own reinforcements, the Polish 2nd Army, to restart their flagging offensive.
Armored Fury will be a campaign featuring mostly armored units on both sides, with the city of Hanover being the juicy prize NATO and the Warsaw Pact will be fighting over.
Opposing Forces
Armored Fury sees the Soviet 3rd Combined Army (minus a decimated 47th Guards Tank Division) go head-to-head against the I British Corps.
The Soviets field three tank divisions:
- The 7th Guards Tank Division equipped with the T-64B/BVs.
- The 10th Guards Tank Division fielding the T-80B/BV.
- The 12th Guards Tank Division equipped with two-thirds T-64B/BV and one third T-80B/BV.
Depending on the strategic choices you make, Soviet formations in the field can be reinforced by leading elements of the Polish 20 Pacerna with T-72M1s (already featured as one of the expansion’s new major divisions, check out the preview here).
The I British Corps goes to war with some reshuffling. For instance, the corp’s main reserve, the 3rd Armoured Division, has already been sent south to support the I Belgian Corps and won’t be deployable. Instead, in Armored Fury you’ll be playing with the following:
- The frontline 1st Armoured Division (already in-game) and the 4th Armoured Division (to be added with WARNO as a full division, check it out here).
- The West German 1st Panzerdivision dragooned into British I Corps service after falling back on Hanover. Even though some of its brigades have suffered damage or fatigue, the Bundeswehr’s formation is still a force to be reckoned with.
- The British 2nd Infantry Division (also already present in-game) is deploying to secure NATO’s rear and flanks and to reinforce Hanover’s defenses further.
A raft of smaller independent units and detachments will also be deployable by both sides. Expect high casualties among the “lesser” battalions when caught unsupported, though. On paper, the Soviet forces are grouped more together and slightly more powerful, but NATO (for once) has superiority in infantry, using them to hold on to its defensive strong points when needed. Another advantage is that the British start with the campaign’s main objective in their possession: Hanover.
The new WARNO - NORTHAG expansion
WARNO - NORTHAG is the first major expansion coming to WARNO. World War III hits the North German Plain where the attacking Warsaw Pact needs to overcome the staunch defenses of NATO’s NORTHAG. Under British command, Belgian, Dutch, West German, and American forces battle against the powerful northern formations of the Soviet Group of Forces in Germany, including East German and reinforcing Polish armies. The expansion is planned for later in 2024.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2978620/WARNO__NORTHAG/
WARNO - NORTHAG will feature:
- 2 new Army General campaigns.
- 4 new Operations.
- 10 new Divisions, including NATO’s Belgian 16e Pantserdivisie, Dutch 4e Divisie, the British 4th Armoured Division and MultiNational Airborne Division, and the American 9th Infantry (Motorized) Division, while the Warsaw Pact deploys the Soviet 25-ya Tank. Diviziya, the East German 9. Panzerdivision, and the Polish 4 Dywizja Zmechanizowan, 20 Dywizja Pancerna and Grupa Desantowa.
- 3 new playable nations: NATO’s Belgium and the Netherlands, and Warsaw Pact’s Poland.
- New voice acting.
- New units and models.
The new WARNO- NORTHAG detailed
We have started detailing WARNO - NORTHAG’s features. Check the dedicated forum post for all the detailed previews!
A Bit of Nemesis News
Hot on the heels of the recently released Nemesis #2 - Plateau d'Albion, we are already looking ahead at Nemesis #3. However, due to the current development cycle and Eugen’s resource and manpower distribution, we realized that if we wanted to have Nemesis #3 in your eager hands sooner rather than later, we had to pick the divisions ourselves instead of letting you, the community, vote on it. Doing it this way would save us quite a bit of time. This is exactly the same reason why we decided on which divisions to include in Nemesis #1: Air Assault to get it out of the door sooner.
So, in short, Nemesis #3’s content will be decided by us to release it much quicker. We hope to start detailing what’s in store in the not-too-distant future. And then, we will return to a community vote with Nemesis #4!
Until Next Time
We’ll be back later this week with more WARNO - NORTHAG previews.
Join the 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.
