Today, we are releasing the new 4.03.4 version of Squad Battles: Red Victory.

Following on from the release of the latest Advance of the Reich on February 9^th, we are bringing Red Victory up to the same standard.

For those that may not be aware, Red Victory is the sister title to Advance of the Reich. Advance of the Reich covered the engagements on the Eastern Front in 1941/1942, while Red Victory includes a plethora of battles from 1943 through to 1945. You can read more on the recent Advance of the Reich release here.

From Stalingrad to Berlin

As 1943 ended, battlefield initiative had swung in the Soviets' favour. The German 6^th Army was trapped in Stalingrad, and Army Group A, was desperately trying to reach Rostov from deep in the Caucasus as the Soviet Little Saturn operation threatened to cut them off. With the failure of Operation Mars and the impasse at Leningrad, both combatants were desperate to bring the fighting to a conclusion.

With the surrender of Stalingrad in early February 1943, the Soviets were determined to maintain their momentum. Bitter fighting saw Kharkov fall, and the Soviet Tank Corps advancing almost to the Dnepr River. What followed was a battle of logistics, with the German railway cut in the south and the Russian spearheads outrunning any supplies that could be delivered. Erich von Manstein was to attack the overstretched Soviets opportunistically, ultimately pushing them back beyond their starting lines of two months earlier. Kharkov was to be retaken. This action was to ultimately set the stage for the Battle of Kursk. 

German armored personnel carrier on the Sumskaya street of Kharkov, March 1943 (Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J22454 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Kursk was to be launched nearly four months later in July 1943. This operation was to see Hitler bet ‘everything on black’, committing much of the carefully replenished panzer forces and their newest, unproven armoured vehicles. Little was left to support Army Group North. The Soviets planned to absorb the German attacks and then strike the exhausted Axis forces. This, they did after stopping the Germans at ruinous cost.

«Противник, истощённый и обескровленный в боях под Курском, перешёл к обороне.»

“The enemy, exhausted and bled white in the Kursk battles, passed to the defensive.”

- Georgy Zhukov (in "Memories and Reflections")

Operation Kutuzov and Rumyantsev were to see all the German gains of the first half of 1943 lost. A destructive, scorched-earth retreat was to be conducted back to the Dnepr River, while, in tandem, the Allied landings in Sicily and, subsequently, mainland Italy were to see further Axis units shipped away from the Eastern Front. In the north, the Rzhev salient was abandoned, removing the last units that could have threatened Moscow. A narrow land corridor to Leningrad had been opened, guaranteeing that some supplies would reach the city.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising , from a report to Heinrich Himmler from May 1943. One of the most iconic pictures of World War II (Public Domain)

The winter of 1943 was to see the German defences on the Dnepr broken in early November with the fall of Kiev, and the advance to the west beyond that city.

1944 dawned with the Soviets trying to clear the remaining forces on the Dnepr River. Catastrophes such as the encirclement at Korsun or the 1^st Panzer Army’s ‘Hube’s pocket’ at Kamenets-Podolsky were to cost both men and much heavy equipment. Soon after, both the Crimea and Odessa were liberated. Leningrad was finally relieved, and Soviet units were at the borders of the Baltic states.

The operations in both North Russia and Ukraine were but a prelude to apocalyptic loss in June with the launching of Bagration.  Army Group Centre was essentially destroyed, and the Russians cleared Byelorussia and advanced deep into Poland. In tandem, the fall of Lvov in Western Ukraine was to see a coup in Romania and a subsequent switch from the Axis to the Allies. The Warsaw uprising was to be savagely suppressed by the Germans, while the Soviets paused in Poland to gain control of the Balkans. As winter approached, Army Group North could not withdraw to East Prussia and chose to defend both Riga and the Courland Peninsula, only to be supplied by sea.

Warsaw was not to be relieved until January 1945, and the massive Vistula-Oder offensive was to see the Baltic states, East Prussia and most of Poland liberated. An Axis attempt to break the siege of Budapest and the subsequent defence of Vienna were to be the final operations in the south. The clearing of East Prussia enabled the Russians to deploy additional forces for a final assault on Berlin. The Oder River was breached, and the city was to fall after two weeks of chaotic fighting and the death of Hitler.

Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, by Yevgeny Khaldei (Restored, uncensored version / Public Domain)

„Am 30. 4. 45 hat sich der Führer selbst entleibt und damit uns, die wir ihm die Treue geschworen hatten, im Stich gelassen.  […] Im Einvernehmen mit dem Oberkommando der sowjetischen Truppen fordere ich Euch daher auf, sofort den Kampf einzustellen.“

“On 30 April 1945, the Führer took his own life, thereby abandoning us, who had sworn allegiance to him.  […] In agreement with the High Command of the Soviet forces, I therefore call upon you to cease fighting immediately.”

- General der Art. Helmuth Weidling (in the order to cease hostilities on 2 March)

Squad Battles: Red Victory covers the multitude of battles in this period, showing the maturing of Soviet tactics and experiences, while underlining the increasingly desperate plight of the Axis.

Squad Battles Graphical Updates

Red Victory has been brought up to the current Squad Battles visual standard. It includes the updated graphics set: cleaner, more transparent unit and terrain artwork, rebuilt map elements (trees, brush, fields, walls, and other hexside details), and brand-new Eastern Front building graphics created specifically for this title—plus refreshed city and factory visuals to better match the scale of Squad Battles maps. Multiple seasonal “biomes” are included as well (summer, fall, barren, and snow), so the look of the battlefield shifts with the conditions.

You can find additional information about the new graphics update here.

There are many other improvements in versions 4.03.4. The following are the detailed changes as per the changelog.

Red Victory Release 4.03.4 Changelog

Bug Fixes

·         Fixed: Crash when End of Battle song finishes.

·         Fixed: Indirect Fire should not be blocked by friendly units.

·         Fixed: Prevent multiple immobilizations.

·         Fixed: Prevent screen tearing when changing zoom levels.

Enhancements

·         Enhanced Burden of Command 3D graphics added. The beta graphics have been replaced with improved versions.

·         Four biomes added: Summer, Fall, Barren, and Snow.

·         Added biome-specific versions of the 3DSymbols file.

·         Fields, Marshes, Swamps, and Trails are no longer "erased" by Snow conditions, only Frozen.

·         Trenches are now obscured by terrain instead of lying on top.

·         Terrain graphics, including urban, can now have up to twenty-four variations.

·         All explosion animations redone, including new enhanced versions in 2D. There are now twenty-five frames for animation, up from twenty.

·         Support for Night Shading added, select in settings.

·         Swamp hexes added to 3D ground hexes.

·         Swamp hexes added to 2D terrain file.

·         Destroyed sparse villages added to the 2D terrain file.

·         Draw Rice Paddies in 3D mode.

·         Unit bases show in 3D when units are turned off.

·         3D units, both infantry and vehicle are centered in the hex, if there is a single unit.

·         New alternative hex outline color (white) added, select in settings.

·         3D hex outline occlusion added. The hex outline will no longer overwrite terrain.

·         Crew served weapons now show their morale status in both 2D and 3D.

·         Turning infantry or artillery in place will no longer draw enemy fire.

·         The status bar will no longer reveal the existence of a hidden enemy unit when moving into a hex with concealed units.

·         Increased the thickness of range circles in both 2D and 3D, when selecting Maximum Range (shortcut X).

Content Changes

·         Updated weapons and load data to use the new pyrotechnic animations.

·         Several scenarios have been designated as night scenarios. Night shading will be shown, if selected.

·         Twenty-six background music tracks added into the Music directory.

·         All scenarios have been reviewed to ensure the correct biome is used, as well as applying night shading, if applicable.

 

Red Victory Release 4.03.3 Changelog (not released)

Bug Fixes

·         Fixed: Uncrewed guns hide other counters in the hex.

·         Fixed: Loading a vehicle with passengers onto another vehicle with a "Can Carry" flag and on-board weapons results in the on-board weapons being transferred to the new passenger.

·         Fixed: Vehicles being carried by other vehicles show as separate counters on the map.

·         Fixed: Vehicles with passengers stacked with weapons on the ground are drawn with an offset.

·         Fixed: Corrections for Quality Modifier & Alternate Density Optional Rules.

·         Fixed: Error reporting when more than one weapon is selected.

·         Fixed: 3D graphics for bridges and explosions.

·         Fixed: Corrections for IR and Visual detection. Visual and IR Detection devices will not reveal the unit using them. IR Detection Devices will not be subject to scatter.

·         Fixed: Corrected the Jump map terrain drawing.

·         Fixed: Selecting Help in Dialogs where available will open the User manual at the applicable page. We are now including SumatraPDF (with permission) to enable this behaviour.

Enhancements

·         Background music is now supported, and volume can be separately controlled.

·         Victory Point calculations added to the Strength Dialog.

·         Changed Editor icons.

·         Uncrewed guns now have a symbol indicator on the map.

·         Changes to graphics:

o   New counters. The prior counters are available in the Alt directory under each nationality.

o   New 2D & 3D Jungle graphics.

o   New 2D & 3D building graphics.

o   Various other 2D & 3D terrain changes across all map types.

o   Water edges next to beaches are now drawn in 3D mode.

·         Unit box changes

o   Moved weapon strength indicator to bottom left of the box.

o   New font for units.

o   Special load attributes are displayed in weapon alt box.

o   Company colours added to unit boxes in Hex Info area, using the border around name for Company Markings.

o   Armor is displayed in front of vehicles box instead of Crew.

·         Enhanced terrain preview box text.

·         Senior leaders are highlighted with the alternative highlight colour, where applicable.

·         Scenario features such as entrenchments now remain visible when selecting "Toggle Units".

·         Game will now load different region map features in 3D mode.

·         Adjusted Cave error message.

·         "Sparse Fill" function added to map editor.

·         Updated User manual.

 

Red Victory Release 4.03.2 Changelog (not released)

Bug Fixes

·         Fixed: Fix CTD when opening the "Rolling Barrages" dialog.

·         Fixed: Added exception handing for the SoLoud audio engine.

·         Fixed: Map Editor wouldn't open sub-maps correctly.

·         Fixed: Map pasting in the Map Editor.

·         Fixed: Proper placement of asymmetrical hexside features.

·         Fixed: Embankment hexsides were not drawn in 3D mode.

·         Fixed: Slopes were clashing with certain map features.

Enhancements

·         Replaced DirectSound with SoLoud audio engine.

·         Added dialog-based volume control.

 

In addition to the above, there are some additional graphical improvements that did not make the 4.03.4 Advance of the Reich release.

They are as follows.

·         New 2D railroads

·         New 2D river/stream edges

·         Additional details in 2D towns and villages

·         New 2D damaged trees

 

Example of New 2D Railroads.

Damaged trees.

Red Victory is one of the most ambitious Squad Battles titles ever created. Özgür (Oz) Budak is one of the most innovative Squad Battles scenario designers, and he built nearly all the included situations. As mentioned, this title was the follow-on to Squad Battles: Advance of the Reich, which covered the 1941-1942 period on the Eastern Front. Red Victory covers many of the pivotal battles from 1943 to the fall of Berlin in 1945. There are 97 scenarios covering a range of actions as the Soviets pushed the invading Axis back to the west. Some example operations, many with multiple scenarios:

• Soviet amphibious operations at Novorossiysk
• The lifting of the siege at Leningrad
• The Third battle of Kharkov
• Manstein’s Backhand Blow
• Warsaw Ghetto
• The Battle of Kursk
• Mius River operations
• Operation Rumyantsev
• Dnepr River operations
• Korsun Pocket
• Partisan operations in Tito’s Yugoslavia
• Operation Bagration
• Operations in Poland
• The Battle of Budapest
• East Prussia
• Seelow Heights and the defence of the Oder River.
• The Battle of Berlin

Also included are three campaigns with multiple scenarios covering:

• Battle of Tali-Ihantala in Finland
• Operation Sudwind in Slovakia
• Battle for Tempelhof during the Fall of Berlin.

Red Victory includes the aforementioned playable scenarios, as well as a Getting Started and four Bootcamp scenarios to introduce new players to the game system. As listed, representative operations from February 1943 through to May 1945 are included with a good mix of small (company), medium (battalion) and large (regiment) engagements. You can read about all the included scenarios here as well as where in Europe they are here.

Included are 91 maps covering many locations in Eastern and Central Europe. The largest map of Kharkov city and environs contains over 86 thousand hexes at 40 meters per hex. 58 sub maps are also included.

91 Order of Battles cover the evolving 1943 to 1945 force mix for both the Axis and Allied sides. The represented Allied forces include the Soviet and Polish. The included Axis forces are the Germans, Hungarians, Rumanians, and Finns.

We included a lot of historical documentation and notes with this title, you can review each by clicking on the images below.

Visual Order of Battles

     

Vehicles and Weapons Encyclopedia

Getting Started Guide

Screenshots

Finally, below are some screenshots of the game. As with the entire Squad Battles series, this title has three 2D views and two 3D views to choose from. (Clicking the image shows you an enlarged version) As mentioned, you can find additional screenshots and information about the new graphic update here.

The new 4.03.4 Red Victory can be bought directly from the store page here.

Note for existing Red Victory owners: The latest patch must be applied to a clean 4.03.1 installation—do not patch over earlier versions. We strongly recommend downloading the full 4.03.4 installer from your store account rather than patching the previous 4.03.1 version, as the graphics have undergone extensive changes.

For Advance of the Reich owners: The 4.03.4 installer and patch have been updated to include the minor graphical updates mentioned. If you want the latest, you can either patch over a 4.03.1 or 4.03.4 version, or reinstall using the full installer. The changes are minor and not mandatory.