To help mark the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, Relic Entertainment’s Quinn Duffy sat down with Military Consultant and Historian Dr. Peter Caddick-Adams to discuss this pivotal moment in World War II history.

Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault is Relic Entertainment’s latest standalone single player expansion in the franchise, and is based upon Battle of the Bulge events.

Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault is available now on Steam. Learn more about the game at www.companyofheroes.com

The Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault standalone campaign places you in the heart of the Battle of the Bulge, arguably the greatest American battle of World War II. Watch the action-packed launch trailer and witness the courageous US forces respond to a surprise attack under heavy fire.

Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault was released on November 17th, 2014 for PC. Grab your copy on Steam

For your PC Master Race purchasing pleasure, click to add the game to your glorious Steam shopping cart. 

For the very first time in the Company of Heroes franchise, players will be able to choose between three different Companies, all with their own unique abilities, to forge their path to glory. Customers who pre-order will gain access to a fourth company, “Fox” Company, led by Captain Monte Durante.

This video details some of the many exciting new options that Fox Company will bring to the game including, their devastating M83 Cluster Bombs, Pinpoint Accurate Artillery and their main weapon, the Fox Company Elite Infantry who will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Pre-order Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault today to receive Fox Company free of charge and then look forward to the game’s release on November 18, 2014.

Company of Heroes: 2 Ardennes Assault is scheduled for release on November 18th, 2014 for PC. Pre-order your copy on Amazon.com, and Steam

For your PC Master Race purchasing pleasure, click to add the game to your glorious Steam shopping cart. 

All seems great in the CoH world tonight, unless of course your a poor bastard like myself (or this guy) who waited until the last day to pre-order the game. In this specific case, a surprise early release actually screws potential last minute buyers out of the pre-order bonuses. While it’s somewhat fair to blame the consumer for waiting until mere hours before the release to pre-order the game, it sure would have been nice of Relic to offer more than the 2 hours notice given on Twitter and the official CoH blog

Amazon still has Company of Heroes 2 – The Western Front Armies available for pre-order, though it’s unclear if you’ll receive the bonuses even then. If you don’t care about playing the game until tomorrow and really wanted those bonus skins, Amazon might be your best chance at this point.

Armed with a list of various tanks they wanted to record, the team descended on California where they were able to capture high quality samples from a variety of actual tanks. They were able to record 6 tanks in total over a span of 3 days. When all was said and done, the team had samples from 6 different tanks that they felt could accurately represent the different types of engines featured in the game.

The team captured samples from the following tanks:

• Jagdpanzer 38(t) “Hetzer” – Inline 6 cyl praga engine gasoline
• OT810/Sd.Kfz. 251 ausf Halftrack – 8 cyl Tatra Diesel engine
• M4A3E8 Sherman – V8 Ford GAA gasoline
• M24 Chaffee – 2x 8cyl Cadillac 44T24 gasoline
• M5 Stuart – Continental 7 cyl W-760-9 A radial engine gasoline
• M47 Pershing heavy tank  – V8 Twin Continental Twin Turbo gasoline

Check out the video above for a preview of the sounds you’ll encounter on the battlefield this week when The Western Front Armies goes live. There’s still time to pre-order Company of Heroes 2 – The Western Front Armies on Amazon.com, the standalone expansion goes live on June 24th, 2014.

You can read more details about the mission in the latest blog post on the official CoH2 blog

Confirmed Units

United States

• Sherman 75 and Sherman 76
• M3 Stuart
• US 105 Howizter
• US armored Calvary AFV with 75mm short
• US riflemen with bars and bazookas
• Us infantry with Grease guns
• US halftrack
• US medical truck
• M8 recon
• US M36

Oberkommando West

• Halftrack Stuka
• Panzer III Long
• Panzer IV short and long
• Panther
• King Tiger
• Fallchirmjagers with FG42s
• Pumas
• Jagdtiger, sturmtiger
• Jagdpanzer IV

Additionally, in a screenshot released by Polygon today, you can see the wreckage of an M7 Priest self-propelled howitzer on the battlefield towards the lower left. It’s very likely we’ll also see this unit in the game.

Confirmed Maps

•  Hurtgen Forest (2-4 players)
• Trois Pont (2-4 players)

2 maps have been confirmed up to this point due to the partial NDA lift. It was reported by a tester to that the actual total will stretch to around 8 maps at launch.

Confirmed Mechanics

Risk vs Reward

– US Paratroopers can be dropped anywhere on the map, including places hidden by fog of war. Environment objects such as dense forests can kill your paratroopers as they land.

– The German Sturmtiger is an insanely powerful tank that fires a 38cm rocket. Once fired though, the Sturmtiger crew must exit the vehicle to manually reload for the next shot. The crew is highly vulnerable to counterattack during this time.

– The German King Tiger tank will require a huge amount of resources; for most players the King Tiger will be their only tank. While the King Tigers gun is the most devastating anti-tank weapon in the game, the King Tiger is also slow in both speed and turret rotation. Effectively using the King Tiger will require cordinationing with teammates to ensure it doesn’t get flanked.

– The German Oberkommano team will utilize mobile bases; a similar mechanic was seen in the original Company of Heroes game for the British. Additional resources will be granted for brave players that expand their bases to the front lines, despite the grave risk of losing everything in battle.

You can pre-order Company of Heroes 2 – The Western Front Armies right now on Amazon.com for $19.99, this includes both the US and Oberkommano West teams. The standalone multiplayer expansion is set to release on June 24th, 2014.

Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies is set to release on June 24th, 2014. You can be pre-ordered Company of Heroes 2 – The Western Front Armies now on Amazon.com; players that pre-order the game will gain access to exclusive skins for each faction in addition to both the US and German Oberkommando West teams when the game launches.

Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies is the first Standalone Multiplayer release for Company of Heroes 2. The focus shifts back to the Western Front, depicting some of the most brutal fighting of World War II in the darkest days of the conflict. The addition of the US Forces and the German Oberkommando West brings two entirely unique factions that will forever change the shape of multiplayer combat.

Each Army has distinctive tactical gameplay options, new infantry, team weapons, vehicles, abilities and upgrades on a total of eight seasonal multiplayer maps set on the Western Front. The Western Front Armies also includes an extended progression system that introduces other unique content into the game and enables players to dive deeper into the tactical and strategic aspects of the game than ever before.

The Western Front Armies will be available as a stand-alone package that represents an entry point into the franchise and access to the vibrant Company of Heroes 2 community. New players can also access 23 existing Company of Heroes 2 maps in auto-match, and play against all other existing factions.

Relic has unveiled a brand new trailer for Company of Heroes 2: The Western Fronts Armies to celebrate the beginning of pre-orders for the upcoming expansion.

For $19.99 USD you’ll get both the US Forces and the Oberkommando West factions for Company of Heroes 2. As stand-alone additions to the game these factions will give you access to the CoH2 multiplayer experience, without requiring you to own the base game.

For pre-ordering you’ll get the following bonus content:
• 2 new vehicle skins (1 per faction) – applicable to all weight classes
• 2 faceplates (1 per faction)

You can pre-order right now at http://store.steampowered.com/app/260309/

Today’s patch is quite lengthy and includes a huge amount of changes to both sides, though the Soviet side does seem to benefit from more of the changes than the Germans. Relic’s aim is to better differentiate the mid to late game units and offer Soviets better opportunities to defend in the late game phase.

The changes are so lengthy that it’s probably best to check out the official changelog on the Relic forums.

Click the headline to check out the trailer for the Company of Heroes 2: Elbe Day Update.

The bundle is priced at $19.99 and will allow all players to team up in mutiplayer battles, regardless of what content you own.

Read on after the break for the full press release.

SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced that fans of their critically acclaimed strategy game Company of Heroes™ 2 will see a standalone multiplayer offering launching in June this year for $19.99. Each individual army will also be available as a standalone purchase for $12.99 via digital download, providing new players with a minimal entry point into the massive Company of Heroes 2 multiplayer community.

Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies brings players back to the Western Front first introduced in the original award-winning Company of Heroes™. The Western Front Armies introduces two unique collections of new content – the US Forces and the German Oberkommando West. Each army has distinctive tactical gameplay options, new infantry, team weapons, vehicles, abilities and upgrades on a total of eight seasonal multiplayer maps set on the Western Front. The Western Front Armies also includes a new progression system that introduces other unique content into the game and enables players to dive deeper into the tactical and strategic aspects of the game than ever before.

ll Company of Heroes 2 players can then battle across 31 maps (along with more than 1000 community maps available on Steam Workshop) in auto-match multiplayer, regardless of what content they already own, even if they have just purchased the new Western Front Armies

“We know how much fans love the setting of the original game and we have responded to their request to revisit the Western Front,” said Greg Wilson, Executive Producer at Relic Entertainment. “By offering Western Front focused content to Company of Heroes 2, we are giving players a brand new set of tactical options that significantly expand their multiplayer experience. At the same time, it has never been easier for new players to get access to our vast multiplayer community. “

For more information on Company of Heroes 2, please see www.companyofheroes.com