Après les jeux Panzer Campaigns et Napoleon Battles, HPS Simulations inaugure avec France ‘14 une toute nouvelle série intitulée First World War Campaigns. Comme son nom le laisse supposer, cette série ambitionne de couvrir la majorité des campagnes de la Première Guerre Mondiale.
France ‘14 se concentrera donc sur les campagnes françaises en proposant pas moins de 33 scénarios et 6 campagnes complètes parmi lesquelles l’invasion de la France par l’armée allemande jusqu’à la première bataille de la Marne, ou encore celle des Flandres.
D’un point de vue ergonomie, les habitués des séries Panzer Campaigns et Modern Campaigns se retrouveront en terrain connu puisque l’interface devrait sensiblement rester la même.
Cependant la série First World War Campaigns se démarquerait de ses ainés en introduisant plusieurs modifications dans le gameplay, principalement au niveau des caractéristiques, règles et coûts relatifs aux unités.
La sortie de France ‘14 est prévu, théoriquement, pour ce 4 juin. Le site officiel ne proposant pour l’instant pas d’informations sur le jeu, voyez en attendant les images et le communiqué ci-dessous.
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Communiqué
HPS Simulations is proud to announce the upcoming release of France ‘14, a John Tiller Game
The Great War exploded in the summer of 1914 as Germany marched into Belgium, sweeping aside Allied forces in pursuit of the crushing victory they expected with their finely tuned, but heavily modified, Schlieffen Plan. The German army then pushed on into France and as its columns closed in on Paris, victory seemed a foregone conclusion. However, defying all odds, the weary French and British made an about face and counterattacked along the Marne, defeating the Schlieffen Plan and halting the German advance.
The 1914 campaign in France would be the opening act of a gruesome war that would not end until 1918, a war which would end with the overthrow of many of the monarchs in Europe, and consume the lives of over eighteen million people. The First World War would mark the end of the Napoleonic old European order, and would be the catalyst for an even greater struggle known as World War II.
France ‘14 is the first title in a new series entitled First World War Campaigns. This series attempts something that has never been attempted before: to cover all the major campaigns of World War One, with units going down to battalion level. The history of the war itself is often plagued by inaccurate stereotypes and assumptions, and this series attempts to dispel them and bridge what is otherwise a relatively empty wargaming void in history. The First World War Campaigns series also seeks to demonstrate the evolution of warfare between the Napoleonic period and the Second World War by demonstrating the evolution of weapons and tactics: it will show the rise of tanks, poison gas, assault infantry, and airpower. If you like Panzer Campaigns or the Napoleonic Battles series, then First World War Campaigns will help complete your wargaming experience!
France ‘14
33 stand alone scenarios and 6 campaigns to choose from
Battles include:
1.The Ardennes,
2.Mons,
3.Le Cateau,
4.Guise,
5.1st Marne (the entire battle from Paris to Nancy, not just the BEF area),
6.1st Aisne,
7.1st Arras,
8.1st Ypres
9. Sorties out of Antwerp
10.Assaults on Liege and Namur, and more
Campaign scenarios consist of:
1. the early German invasion of France up to the reversal at the Marne (158 turns),
2.the exciting « Race to the Sea » where both sides attempted to outflank each other in a great meeting engagement from the Aisne to the English Channel (246 turns),
3.the entire Flanders campaign (190 turns),
4.the gut wrenching campaign covering the entire 1st Battle of Ypres in all three of its phases (190 turns), and more
Utilizes an easy to use and intuitive interface similar to the Panzer Campaigns and Modern Campaigns game series
Represents all major aspects of warfare during this period, including deadly machine guns, the evolution of cavalry, the birth of aviation, the awesome power of siege artillery, the devastating firepower of massed artillery and field guns, and more.
Some differences between First World War Campaigns and Panzer Campaigns:
Setting up prevents all firing including direct fire
Costs MG and Field Guns (non-IF artillery) full allowance to setup
A Towed Gun Limitation value limits the number of deployed towed guns in any one hex
Cavalry charge (man unit on horse)
4x assault
Assault cost 1/3
Mounted cavalry takes assault losses when defending at 1/12 normal value but must retreat if the defending hex consists entirely of mounted cavalry and the attackers do not consist entirely of mounted cavalry
Costs Cavalry 2/3 allowance to change to Travel Mode
Cavalry costs 2X Victory Points
Mounted cavalry cannot recover fatigue
New Fort hex (1.5x pillbox effects)
Detached units -1 morale
Attachments at Army level
MG units can retreat with no additional losses (goes to travel mode)
MG units must be in Travel Mode to move
Siege Guns – must be in travel or rail mode to move
Costs full movement allowance to go into travel mode
Requires setup
Cannot fire Op Fire or Defensive Fire or Fire Direct
Setting up probability is half normal
One fire per turn
Fire against Forts and Redoubts *= 50
All air strikes are subject to scatter up to 2 hexes away
Air recon scatters but provides the same information
All indirect fire is plotted on map and resolved at beginning of next turn
Field Guns (non-Indirect Fire artillery) can retreat from assault with 1/2 losses and do not exert a ZOC
Only engineers can damage rail
Units moving at night not by rail or road movement become Disrupted
All assaults at night result in Disrupted attackers
All HQ units in Travel or Rail Mode are Out of Command
and more!
New changes to both engines:
Added new Forced Bridge Crossing Rule which allows units to force a bridge crossing against enemy ZOC (see Users Manual under Movement)
Increased engineer digging in bonus from 2x to 3x
Changed hot key « R » to Toggle Rail Mode
The game also has a scenario and sub-map editor included with the game. Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play.
France ‘14 is scheduled for release on June 4th, 2010.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
-1 GHz Pentium CPU
- 512 MB RAM
- 400 MB Hard Drive
-Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 operating system.
-Microsoft DirectX 9.0+
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