Wargame Design Studio is heading for the Holy Land

Quite a few articles on this site could legitimately begin with “You’ve probably never heard of this game before” but until today I don’t believe I’ve ever had cause to commence one with “You’ve definitely never heard of this game before”. You’ve never heard of Crusades Book I until now because prior to the publication of this post, no-one outside of Wargame Design Studio had.

When I asked David Freer to furnish me with details of Wargame Design Studio’s current activities and future plans I didn’t expect the resulting sitrep to include exclusive details of a new game series!

David: “Wargame Design Studio just celebrated three years since launching our standalone operation. As you know, this followed the purchase of all the intellectual property of John Tiller Software (JTS) in 2021, which included all titles John published with HPS Simulations, and subsequently John Tiller Software. We purchased 12 game series/engines and nearly 100 titles, resulting in a lot of work to bring the games up to more modern standards and realise the potential we believe they have.

Add to that a pipeline of projects that had never been completed as well as a range of developers who saw what we were trying to achieve and wanted to be involved, and we certainly had a challenging workload!

Fast forward three years, and, having published nine full titles and five demos, we are moving the dial again, as we look at the possibility of publishing three new games in the January to March period of 2025. We have never released so many titles in such a short time, whether as WDS, or previously JTS.

Nearing completion of testing, the first upcoming release is War of the Austrian Succession. A Musket & Pike game, this will include a number of engine enhancements, and scenarios covering a range of seldom-simmed campaigns and battles:

• The campaigns in central Germany, with actions like Prague, Sahay, Dettingen, and Simbach.
• De Saxe’s rampage through the Low Countries, with the sprawling battles of Fontenoy, Roucoux, and Laufeldt.
• The First and Second Silesian Wars, including the major battles of Mollwitz, Chotusitz, Hohenfriedberg, Soor, and Kesselsdorf.
• Battles in Italy, from Campo Santo down on the plains to Casteldelfino and Assietta up in the mountains, as well as actions at Madonna dell’Olmo and Velletri.
• The ’45 Rising, with historical battles of Prestonpans, Clifton, Inverurie, Falkirk and Culloden, as well as a hypothetical campaign that imagines what might have happened had Charles chosen to over-rule his advisors and press on southwards in December 1745.

(all Crusades screenshots are WIP)

Exclusively to Tally-Ho Corner (for a week at least!), we would like to announce our planned, second release of 2025. Building on our move to create a more universal Musket & Pike engine, we are releasing the first title in a new WDS game series, Sword & Siege. Sword & Siege is focused on combat in the Middle Ages and the lead game is Crusades Book I. As implied, we hope to have multiple titles covering the Crusades specifically.

This is the earliest period we have simulated (previously the Renaissance was as far back as we went). Many of the features of the Crusades – sieges, heavy cavalry and infantry, horse archers and others – have applicability to both the Middle Ages and even Ancients. You can expect scenarios from 1097 through 1148, covering the major engagements during the First and Second Crusades.

You will be able to command units with an array of weaponry, from infantry armed with swords, axes, maces, and bows, to cavalry with lances, swords and bows, to siege weapons such as the mangonel, trebuchet, onager, ballista, battering ram and siege tower. Create the breach and storm the fortress or man the walls and hurl the attackers back! There will be loads of intense combat to be had with the forces provided.

Combat is not limited to sieges and assaulting fortified towns either. There are battles on the plains which will take place as a relief force is dispatched to try and lift a siege. There are ambush situations where Crusader columns are engulfed by mounted Muslim forces swirling around them and raining arrows from all sides. Or large pitched battles in open terrain where the armies come to grips and try to eliminate their opponents. With better than 60 scenarios to choose from Crusades Book I will have a lot of game play to offer.

Included Muslim forces are Seljuk, Fatimid Caliphate, and other Islamic Allies. The Crusaders include various forces from Christian Europe, Constantinople, and Jerusalem.

We have tailored both 2D and 3D graphics and created a range of period specific forces and rules.  Excited to push our horizons further into the past, we think that the Middle Ages is ripe for a full WDS series.

The third title is an unannounced Panzer Campaigns title. This is with our testing team, and will be another unique, rarely covered campaign. We will share more information with you all once we’re confident it’s passing our production milestones.”