u/Hugh_Beringar

Today we are releasing the 4.06.3 update for American Revolutionary War. This focused update brings a selection of bug fixes and enhancements, including improvements aimed at scenario design, an expanded Philadelphia campaign, and an increased supply wagon radius for company-level play.

American Revolutionary War can also be purchased on Steam today, July 3rd, with Steam keys available through Store Accounts for existing owners.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/musket-pike-american-revolutionary-war-update

Squad Battles: Winter War has been updated to version 4.03.5, continuing the ongoing modernization of the Squad Battles series.

This new release brings Winter War into line with the latest updates for other titles in the series, with code alignment, interface improvements, graphical updates, and a range of fixes aimed at making future development smoother across multiple twentieth-century series.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/squad-battles-winter-war-version-4-03-5-update

Why is it Austerlitz and not Slavkov u Brna? Breslau and not Wrocław? Donbas and not Donbass?

Historical names are rarely simple. They pass through languages, maps, armies, archives, borders, translations, typos, and centuries of convention.

Our latest article looks at how WDS approaches names in historical games: when to use period forms, modern local names, established English battle names, catalog titles, or simply the least confusing option.

From Pointe du Hoc to Stavka, Kyiv, Danzig, and the Romans who were not yet “Byzantines,” it is a tour through the messy afterlife of historical naming.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/what-s-in-a-name

Today, June 22nd, marks the 85th anniversary of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which culminated in the most destructive war in human history. We are commemorating this grim anniversary by updating two Eastern Front Squad Battles titles: Advance of the Reich and Red Victory to version 4.03.5.

This update brings both titles into line with the latest Squad Battles updates, including recent crash fixes, interface refinements, improved graphics, and broader code alignment across related twentieth-century series. Existing owners should download the full installer from their store account for the cleanest update path.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/squad-battles-advance-of-the-reich-and-red-victory-version-4-03-5-update

Today’s essay is from Andrew Bamford, designer of Musket & Pike: War of the Austrian Succession. He turns to the Jacobite forces of the 1745 Rising: an army too often reduced to Highland romance, but in reality shaped by European military practice, improvised organisation, French influence, and calculated psychological warfare.

From Prestonpans and Falkirk Muir to the disaster at Culloden, the article looks at how Charles Edward Stuart’s army was raised, dressed, commanded, and fought.

As a reminder, our Summer Sale is also underway, with 25% off eligible catalog titles through July 5 — a good opportunity to round out your library.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/an-army-of-contradictions

The first free expansion pack for Sword & Siege: Crusades, Book II is available now.

This pack adds a new campaign, The Third Crusade: King Richard’s Vision, plus 10 standalone scenarios covering Acre, Damietta, Bilbeis, Giza, and Jerusalem. Built around a plausible alternate course for Richard the Lionheart’s crusade, the expansion explores what might have happened had the campaign pushed into Egypt before turning back toward the Holy City.

It is free for owners of Crusades, Book II, available as a separate download now, and will be included in the next major update.

As a reminder, our Summer Sale is also underway, with 25% off eligible catalog titles through July 5 — a good opportunity to round out your library.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/a-free-expansion-for-sword-siege-crusades-book-ii

The WDS Summer Sale 2026 is here!

From June 12 through the evening of July 5, every eligible title in our catalog is 25% off, with most games reduced to $29.95 at checkout.

Our automatic 20% bulk discount on orders over $199 also remains active, so larger orders can reach a combined 40% off regular pricing.

It is a great time to round out your collection, revisit a favorite series, or explore a new corner of military history.

Game of the Week posts will pause during the sale and return on July 6. Enjoy the sale!

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/26-summer-sale

From June 8 through June 14, this week’s Game of the Week is Musket & Pike: Renaissance, on sale for 25% off.

Covering some of the defining wars of early modern Europe, the game follows a battlefield world in transition: Swiss pike columns, Landsknechts, arquebusiers, heavy cavalry, artillery, religious conflict, dynastic ambition, and the brutal contest for power from Italy to the Low Countries. It is a rich tactical study of the Renaissance at war, where medieval traditions met the gunpowder age.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/game-of-the-week-june-8-14

Few troops of the American Revolution are more burdened by myth than the so-called “Hessians.” Were they really drunken mercenaries, sold by greedy princes and defeated at Trenton after Christmas revelry? The real story is far more interesting.

This new article looks beyond the familiar caricature to explore the German auxiliary troops in British service: where they came from, why “Hessian” is only partly accurate, how subsidy warfare worked, what captivity changed, and why these soldiers remain one of the most misunderstood forces of the war.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/hessians

Today, we are updating Squad Battles: Eagles Strike to version 4.03.5. This release brings a noticeable visual refresh, with improved figure and head counter graphics, updated NATO counters with weapon type icons, trench icons now visible on the map, and new graphical selection screens. Several dialogues have also been enlarged with bigger fonts for better readability.

Beyond the visual improvements, 4.03.5 includes important fixes, enhanced organization tools, non-modal Jump Map, Command Report, and Parameter Data windows, plus new in-game cursor options. Existing owners should use the full 4.03.5 installer from their store account.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/squad-battles-eagles-strike-version-4-03-5-update

This week’s Game of the Week is Squad Battles: The Proud and the Few, on sale for 25% off from June 1 through June 7.

Follow the United States Marine Corps across the island battlefields of the Pacific War, from the early crisis after Pearl Harbor to the costly advance toward Japan.

The title has just received a brand-new update, with refreshed graphics, revised content, and additional polish throughout.

It remains a close-range tactical study of amphibious assaults, jungle fighting, fortified positions, night actions, and the small-unit battles that defined the Marine Corps’ Pacific campaign.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/game-of-the-week-june-1-7

Napoleonic Battles: Campaign Bautzen is this week’s Game of the Week, on sale May 25-31 for 25% off.

Explore the spring campaign of 1813, as Napoleon rebuilds after Russia and tries to restore French power in Germany before the Coalition can fully unite.

Fight through Lützen, Bautzen, and the smaller actions of Saxony and Silesia, then explore the Russo-Swedish War of 1808-09 that is also part of the game.

A natural sister title to Campaign Leipzig, Bautzen shows 1813 before the final autumn reckoning.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/game-of-the-week-may-25-31

Part II of our Wars of the Renaissance series moves north and west, from the battlefields of Italy to the fractured worlds of France, Scotland, and the Baltic. This new essay follows the French Wars of Religion, the Rough Wooing and Scotland’s civil crisis, and the early northern struggles over Livonia, ports, castles, and sea routes. It is a story of civil war, dynastic pressure, religious fracture, fortified towns, armed communities, and rulers trying to turn military force into lasting political order.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/wars-of-the-renaissance-part-ii

From May 18 through May 24, this week’s Game of the Week is Panzer Campaigns: Normandy ’44, on sale for 25% off.

Covering one of the most important campaigns of World War II, the game follows the opening phase of Operation Overlord, from the D-Day landings through the fight to expand and secure the Allied bridgehead.

Beaches, airborne lodgments, bocage, Caen, Cherbourg, German counterattacks, and the struggle to turn a foothold into an operational base all come together in this classic Panzer Campaigns title.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/game-of-the-week-may-18-24

Light infantry was one of the keys to eighteenth-century warfare, and nowhere more so than in the American Revolutionary War.

Our latest essay looks at how light troops scouted, screened, skirmished, seized broken ground, and shaped the conditions for battle long before the main lines closed.

From European precedents to Brandywine, Freeman’s Farm, and Cowpens, it explores the doctrine, tactics, and battlefield role of an arm too often reduced to myth. A great read for anyone interested in the history behind the games.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/tactics-and-doctrine-of-light-infantry-in-the-18th-century

Wargame Design Studio is growing on Steam, and this practical guide is aimed at players who are new to the platform or only use it occasionally. It explains how Steam keys work, what changes for existing WDS customers, how to activate a key, wishlist upcoming titles, follow WDS, and leave reviews. It also covers a few useful points about automatic updates, older version branches, PBEM caution, and why Steam activity helps more players discover serious historical wargames.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/wds-on-steam-a-pratical-guide

From May 11 through May 17, this week’s Game of the Week is Civil War Battles: Campaign Shenandoah, on sale for 25% off.

Covering both Jackson’s famous 1862 Valley Campaign and the decisive 1864 operations against Early, the game takes players into a theater shaped by roads, rivers, ridges, timing, and rapid maneuver.

With 175 scenarios, multiple campaigns, editor tools, rich documentation, and a wide range of battles from Kernstown and Winchester to Monocacy, Fisher’s Hill, Tom’s Brook, and Cedar Creek, Campaign Shenandoah offers a deep and highly replayable treatment of this crucial Civil War theater.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/game-of-the-week-may-11-17

Historical reconstruction is rarely as simple as copying “what happened” from a textbook.

Our latest article uses the Battles of Thannuris and Mindouos on Rome’s sixth-century Sasanian frontier as a case study in how historians work when the sources do not line up. Was there one battle, two battles, or a confused memory of overlapping frontier operations?

By comparing primary sources like Procopius, Pseudo-Zachariah, Malalas, archaeology, and modern interpretations, we look at how uncertainty becomes part of the historical process.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/when-sources-do-not-line-up

Fresh on the heels of the recent updates, we have another round for the Sword & Siege series and the two updated Musket & Pike titles. These fixes should be safe for ongoing games and are available now via the Support Hubs or full installers in your Store Account.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/musket-pike-sword-siege-updates-take-two

From May 4 through May 10, this week’s Game of the Week is Panzer Campaigns: Poland ’39, on sale for 25% off for the first time since release. Covering the opening campaign of the Second World War, the title follows the German invasion, the Polish defense, and the Soviet Union's later intervention. Armored thrusts, armored trains, river lines, counterattacks, fortress defenses, and collapsing communications shape a campaign too often reduced to myth.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/game-of-the-week-may-4-10