Hello, Armoured Clash players! James here from the Warcradle Studios Games Development team. I’m here to share some information about the Armoured Clash Global Update. Read on to learn why we’re doing it and how it will affect your games.
What’s the Global Update?
I’m glad you asked, hypothetical reader.
A tabletop wargame like Armoured Clash is a complicated beast, with countless moving parts. You can do as much playtesing as possible during development, but it’s not until the game is released that you’ll really get a sense for how it plays, what works, and what doesn’t. This means that the first few months of a game’s lifespan provides vital information to the developers behind it. And sure enough, we’ve been scouring the internet, watching battle reports, and listening to what people are saying about the various different factions and units in the game, We’ve been gradually implementing a number of updates and changes to our internal playtest games, and now we’re ready to unleash them on the world.
Our three main aims with the Global Update are as follows:
We want to smooth out any areas that are confusing new players. There are a couple of rule-related questions that have cropped up multiple times online, and this is our chance to make them easier to understand.
We want to ensure that all four of the currently published ORBATs are equally interesting to play. The first factions for any game often feel a bit conservative, as the developers are still figuring out the extent of the design space. We’ve taken this opportunity to revisit the Crown and Empire and apply some lessons we’ve learned in the months since launch.
We want to make sure that all of the units within an ORBAT have a role to play on the battlefield. We’ve given some units a little upgrade since we felt that they were underperforming, and we’ve nudged a couple of units in the opposite direction if they felt overpowered.
Oh, and of course… we’ve added Aircraft units to each of the ORBATs!
What’s affected by the Global Update?
The Global Update affects pretty much everything currently available on the Armoured Clash website:
Each currently published ORBAT has been updated and now has a comprehensive Change Log section at the back, explaining what’s changed from the previous version.
The Designers’ Commentary has had a page removed, as it’s no longer relevant.
A small item has been added to the Rulebook errata, and the digital Armoured Clash rulebook has been updated accordingly.
We’ve also added a new file to the Resources page: the Armoured Clash Rules Glossary. We realised that spreading the Special Rules and Weapon Qualities across all of the ORBATs had the potential for confusion and inconsistency, so we’ve collated all of them into the Glossary. Don’t forget to download it alongside your shiny new ORBAT!
How Often will Orbats be updated in future?
Int he development team, we’re always faced with a balancing act. As most of the published materials for Armoured Clash are digital, it’s easy for us to react to any issues that arise and make quick changes to rule documents. However, we know it can be frustrating for players to constantly check for updates each time they play. So, in the name of transparency, here’s our plan for the future of Armoured Clash:
Whenever a new unit is added to a faction, we’ll create a new version of that faction’s ORBAT - i.e., moving from v1.01 to v1.03. Our aim is to only add, not change anything, unless it’s absolutely necessary to do so. This means that players who aren’t adding the new unit to their force can continue to play with their current ORBAT without having to download a new one.
If a small error is found, like a typo, a badly worded rule, or a layout error, we might fix it with a minor update to the current version of the ORBAT (eg., v1.02 will be updated to v1.02a). Alternatively, we might save it for the next version update, if there’s one on the horizon.
Beyond these two situations, we’re planning to do Global Updates no more than once or twice a year. This first update is probably the most extensive one there will ever be; in future, it’s more likely that we’ll focus on minor balance tweaks.
So, there we have it. We really hope you enjoy the changes, and look forward to seeing what everyone thinks of them, Make sure you share your thoughts on the Storm of Steel Facebook Group, or the Warcradle Discord Server! And, if you’d like to stay updated on any other Warcradle-related news and updates, make sure to sign up for our newsletter.