Wargame: AirLand Battle

"More than 800 realistic units coming from 12 different countries are present in the game."

- Alexis Le Dressay

Wargame: AirLand Battle is the real-time strategy/real-time tactics game sequel to Wargame: European Escalation, developed by Eugen Systems and published by Focus Home Interactive, and released on May 29, 2013. The game introduces a new and improved version of the IRISZOOM Engine.

Gameplay
A total of 150 planes will be added, from fighters to bombers to electronic warfare planes. AirLand Battle will also introduce four new nations of Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway to existing eight nations of the NATO and Warsaw Pact factions, making a total of over 750 vehicles and combat units.

There will be a new weapons system, better handling of fire effects, and a new Urban Combat Interface (UCI) allowing for battle inside cities.

The game will feature jet aircraft as a new unit type in gameplay, allowing players to build up their own air force. To allow this feature to be properly implemented, the IRISZOOM Engine has been improved to include bigger maps, and more specifically, maps with higher altitude and verticality, allowing for large mountain ranges and valleys to add to the Scandinavian landscape.

Campaign
1985. After several months of tension between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, an incident in the North Sea suddenly sets the world on fire, starting an all-out war.

During the campaign, strategic supports can be used to provide strategic advantages for your troops.

Development
On August 8, 2012, Eugen Systems uploaded the teaser, showing the alpha gameplay of the AirLand Battle. The teaser revealed one of the new NATO aircraft - the F-15.

On September 25, 2012, Eugen Systems reveals a series of five new screenshots that unveil a some of the many new features of the game, such as the integration of air forces with a huge fleet of more than 150 crafts of all kinds, as well as more than 200 new ground-based combat units and vehicles.

On October 25, 2012, the Wargame Cup, a Wargame: European Escalation video game tournament in order to promote the sequel, was announced. At the end of the fifth round of the tournament, 66 participants who are left are qualified and won access to the upcoming beta of AirLand Battle.

The closed beta of Wargame: AirLand Battle began March 21, 2013. Players could access the closed beta by the use of the beta key, that is distributed through selected community members and Twitter updates. The first stage of the beta is currently over.

Features

 * Dynamic Campaign - A fully dynamic single player campaign starting in 1981.
 * 10 vs. 10 multiplayer matches – You will be able to have twenty-man matches. In what form or context though has yet to be determined.
 * Broadcasting – Eugen will develop a system that will allow people to broadcast their matches, allowing people to jump in as observers to study other peoples tactics and tricks. Might be useful for the eSports scene as well.
 * Urban Warfare – The team have tweaked urban warfare, both in how towns, cities, etc... Are physically built on the map, but also how the Player/AI interact with them. Buildings are grouped into ‘districts’ and infantry units smartly deploy to cover all angles of a district, saving you having to micro-manage them by moving them around between individual buildings.
 * Logistics – Logistical units have been given a tweak, allowing you to choose what the re-supply, whether it be only ammo, or only fuel, or only repairs, or a combination of both
 * Maps – There will be over 30 new maps, mainly based on Scandinavian topography, and the new gamemode Conquest, which is based on territory capture.

Trivia

 * The subtitle is based on AirLand Battle, the name of the framework that formed the US Army's European fighting doctrine during the latter part of the Cold War.