As we move into 2026. We’re taking a look back at the past year and sitting down once again with our development team to discuss their highlights of 2025.
This is the second entry in our 2025 Year In Review blog series, so if you missed the first part, where we spoke to James M Hewitt, Ed Spence and Ziz Simoens, you can find that here.
Parker
What was your favourite release for Dystopian Wars last year?
I’m sure I won’t be the only one to say this, but it has to be the Dystopian Wars Rulebook. It was a real labour of love that brought the whole team together. There were a ton of interesting choices for us to make as we took a wonderful, crunchy and granular game that people love and tried to make it easier to play without losing its essence. This process involved rules changes that guide players into making informed decisions, which was made easier by the brilliant job the graphics team did in making the book easy to navigate via diagrams, cross-referencing and an extensive index.
What was your favourite release for Armoured Clash last year and why?
The Defiance Fighter for the Crown. Adding more aerial units, particularly fighters, has significantly strengthened that pillar of the game. We’d always intended for Armoured Clash to be a game of combined arms using infantry, armour and aircraft to complete your objectives. Building a force should feel like a difficult choice to make sure that you’ve got enough anti-tank weaponry, air cover and boots on the ground to capture and hold the battlefield and with the addition of fighters, this is tougher and more vital.
What are you most proud of working on last year?
As for a product, it hasn’t been released yet, but the thing I'm most proud of is the [REDACTED] system for [REDACTED]. It offers players interesting choices and adds a special vibe to the game I’ve not seen before.
The most gratifying feedback came from players who said the new edition of Dystopian Wars still had the feel of the previous edition, while being easier to play and reducing a certain amount of mental load.
What are your plans for your Warcradle projects next year?
I’ve enjoyed my time building a Crown force for Armoured Clash, but painting ranks of 10mm infantry has proven a challenge. I’m pumped to sort out some time to finish them up, ready for inspection. AC forces look great all together with the mix of tanks, artillery, infantry and more esoteric units. It’s a proper army in a way that larger-scale games often aren’t. 20 dudes and a single tank does not an army make. 200+ individual soldiers, as well as squadrons of armoured vehicles and other support units, however, make you feel like a general.
What release are you looking forward to the most, not just next year?
There are too many to mention, but the big one for me has to be Wild West Exodus. I was a fan and avid player before I ever started working at Warcradle Studios, and getting to be one of the writers for the new edition is a thrill. The balance of keeping the feel of the previous edition while updating the rules to make it easier for new players to get stuck in will be a fun challenge. We’ve also got some new game mechanics we’re excited to share, which aim to keep things tense and engaging right from the start. Armoured Clash and Dystopian Wars have taught us lessons as we’ve worked on them, and we look forward to applying what we’ve learned to usher in a new age for Exodus.
Do you have any words for the community?
A huge THANK YOU for playing and enjoying the games we make. For all the feedback and engagement. For painting, some fantastic examples of the models we produce. Without the players, we’re just making things in a vacuum. That might be fun, but it’s certainly not as fulfilling.
Matthew Carter
What was your favourite release for Dystopian Wars last year and why?
I think the Senator Battlefleet Set is one snazzy-looking kit! As an Alliance player, I’m very jealous that Union players have access to such a lovely-looking set of ships and have had great fun playing against them in recent weeks.
What was your favourite release for Armoured Clash last year and why?
The moment I saw the Commonwealth Faction Battlegroup, it was love at first sight: the drill, the cavalry, the hussars, the drill, the dogs, the drill! As you might have guessed, I could not help but be drawn to the Commonwealth’s mighty and impressive Behemoths and knew I had to build and paint one. As part of the team that input into the Commonwealth Orbat, I’m particularly pleased with the amount of historical research that went into designing their units - the Ovcharka War Dogs and the Steppe Outrider Cavalry are particular favourites.
What are you most proud of working on last year?
That has to be the first real challenge I was tasked with when working on Armoured Clash, the Crown Orbat. Whilst we have learned much as Armoured Clash has grown and evolved, and will surely gain even more valuable insights as the game continues to develop, we really started to think about how to create and communicate beneficial unit synergies and combos when writing this Orbat. The Tristan/Blackwatch combination was one of these, and it was very rewarding to see players notice it from day one of the Orbat release.
What personal Warcradle projects have you worked on this year?
My Alliance fleet for Dystopian Wars has continued to grow, with my small force gaining some much-needed reinforcements in the form of new French and Italian ships. Whilst helping to develop the Alliance Orbat for Dystopian Wars, I grew to adore the Marine Levante units and hope to grow this aspect of my Force significantly in the future!
What are your plans for your Warcradle projects next year?
I’m particularly excited to finally get my sizable Armoured Clash Commonwealth army built and painted. My Mammont is sitting on my desk at the moment, just begging to be painted so that it can act as a delivery mechanism for my dreaded, full-strength Azdaya Berserker Gang. I also plan to unleash the full fury of the Steppe onto my opponents by building as many Steppe Outrider Cavalry units as I possibly can!
What release are you looking forward to the most, not just next year?
I think Wild West Exodus is shaping up to be something really exciting- I can’t wait to see the community’s reaction when it is finished and available to play!
Do you have any words for the community?
Keep posting your battle reports! They are always a treat to read and can give us some real food for thought when we see how people have used units in novel and interesting ways. Any extra data we can gather from the community is always appreciated and a welcome complement to the testing we do as part of the development and review processes.
It’s great to chat with the dev team once again about their favourite parts of last year, stay tuned for part 3 coming soon!