Latest WDS blog reveals PzC Rumyantsev '43 and other titles

[ComradeP]

First of all, best wishes for 2022 and a happy New Year to all fellow Blitz members and family.

WDS revealed Rumyantsev '43 by Daniel Asensio (DanTGN on the Blitz and at Punta de Lanza, who also created Compass '40 scenarios for El Alamein '42) which is expected to be published in 2022.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/2021-en...ear-update

One remark about the blog post: the area of operations is not "Southern Russia".

Stalingrad/Volgograd is in Southern Russia, Kharkov and most of the map area is in Ukraine.

Southwestern Russia and Ukraine, though a lengthy description, would be more accurate. The only large Russian city on the jump map screenshot is Belgorod.

The western map edges seem to be around Poltava in the southwest (though Poltava isn't on the game map in the 4th Battle of Kharkov jump map, it's on the Second Phase jump map) and at Bilopillia or so in the northwest. Compared to Kharkov '43, I'd estimate about 25 hexes were added to the northern part of the map, some 50 or so to the western part of the map, 150 hexes or so were removed along the Y-axis from the southern part of the map. The eastern edge of the map seems to be more or less the same as in Kharkov '43.

Explicit mention was made of a revised Kursk campaign (the southern part) being included as well, just like a revised Market Garden campaign was included in Scheldt '44. The additional effort is greatly appreciated.

The same post also revealed 3 other titles are being worked on covering the fighting in Southwestern Russia and Ukraine in mid-1943. Note: the blog mentions this is a release cycle that will take several years.

The other titles are:

-A game covering the fighting "north" of the area covered by Operation Rumyantsev and I would say it's a safe guess that title will be Kutuzov/Orel '43.

Smolensk '43 would also be possible, but the fighting for Smolensk was done in stages, ending later and starting earlier than the offensives in Southwestern Russia and Ukraine. Kutuzov '43 is a logical tie-in to the other offensives aimed at reaching the Dnepr.

-A game covering the fighting "south" of Operation Rumyantsev. This might be an expanded Mius '43 title, or an entirely new title, featuring the fighting for the Donbas.

-A game combining the three other titles into big campaign scenarios. WDS mentioned somewhere in 2020 that they were working on a master map which would allow various titles to be combined into one almost strategic scale title.

Good to hear a number of new titles are being worked on, and I look forward to playing a game by a new designer.

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No mention is made of any FWWC games, which is usual. Volcano Man is a man of mystery and doesn't reveal much about upcoming FWWC titles, but I guess he's working on a title involving something that starts with "G": Galicia, Greece, Gallipoli, Germans.

I was getting a bit worried about how Volcano Man was doing, as there was no word from him with the launch of WDS as developer and publisher of FWWC titles. He recently replied to a post about Nancy scenarios in France '14, and it seems he was just very busy.

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Edit: Panzer Battles - Moscow is also not mentioned, I hope it is not facing delays.