Armoured Commander II will have its first release on Steam on 14th May 2020. I’m keeping the game tagged as Early Access since I do plan on continuing to expand and develop it further, and all future additions will be free to player who own the game already. Thanks to all the fans who helped to test the game these past few months/years!

I’ve put together a draft guide on how to create your own custom campaigns for ArmCom2, it only applies to the Steam version, but luckily this should be available quite soon.

A few bugs fixed in this minor update, saved campaigns from the previous 3.0.x versions are still compatible:

Version 3.0.2 Changelog

FIX: Bug where advancing fire would still occur even if enemy forces had advanced into player’s zone
FIX: Rare crash when trying to load a saved campaign that had corrupted data

A few bugs fixed in this minor update, saved campaigns from the previous 3.0.0 version are still compatible:

Version 3.0.1 Changelog

ADD: Enemy spotted message now specifies if it was a squadmate who did the spotting
ADD: Pop-up message when a crewman recovers from an injury at the end of the combat day, and is not heading to the field hospital
FIX: LoS Blocked and dug-in/entrenched/fortified displays overlapping in unit info console

Version 3.0.0. is now available for download. This will be the last freely available build as the game will be moving to Steam later this year, but the source code for the core game will always be available on the GitHub repo.

Version 3.0.0 Changelog

General

ADD: Full campaign day journal now included in exported campaign log at end of campaign
ADD: Debug command to select a crewman, select an injury location, and apply a selected injury level
FIX: Improved appearance of diagonal arrows in both 8×8 and 16×16 font sets
FIX: Bug where player would not have to select a new tank after abandoning it during a scenario

Campaigns and Campaign Calendar

ADD: Field Hospital:

• new command menu tab and display in the campaign calendar layer
• chance at end of day that a crewman with one or more Heavy or serious injuries are sent to field hospital for up to one week
• odds and possible length of time increase with number and severity of injuries
• player can view crewmen currently in hospital, but no advances can be used until the crewman returns to active service
• once minimum hospital time has passed, crewmen in field hospital have a chance to return to active duty each day
• at the end of their hospital stay, crewman may rejoin the player tank at the start of the next day in the combat calendar
• player can compare returning crewman, choose which position they would take
• if they reach the maximum possible time in hospital, they automatically return to duty
• if “Player Commander” is activated and player crewman is sent to field hospital, the player misses that time in the campaign and has to start with a new crew
• if length of stay extends past end of campaign, then your campaign is over
• otherwise you return to active duty with a new tank and crew

CNG: If game tries to read a campaign .json file and fails, full error message is displayed for debugging purposes
CNG: End of Day display moved to trigger after return from the Campaign Day interface rather than as part of starting a new day
CNG: Improvements to End of Day display
CNG: Small change to order of events when proceeding from the current day to the combat day
CNG: Campaigns now have a set length of total combat days, but the combat calendar is still randomly generated for each campaign

Campaign Day

CNG: Zones with a Target of Opportunity now have their enemy strength level increased
FIX: Bug where no AI zone captures were possible during a ‘Spearhead’ mission day

Scenario

ADD: “No effect” message displayed if firepower resolution on player unit had no effect
ADD: Player units that are Fast moving and/or Recce have a chance of making 1+ extra move actions
ADD: Indicator of player’s spotted/unspotted status at bottom of time console
ADD: Additional factors now influence the Ambush roll at start of battle
CNG: Spotting system:

• Player and squad start scenarios unspotted to enemy
• Player crewmen now only attempt to spot one random possible target per turn
• Allied and enemy AI units do their own spotting before their activation
  CNG: Units now have blocked or clear Lines of Sight between them
• initial LoS between units is generated at the start of the scenario, before the first spotting round
• LoS is always the same both ways (if unit A has LoS to unit B, then unit B has LoS to unit A)
• friendly units in the same hex always have LoS to each other
• LoS is regenerated when a unit moves or repositions
• chance of LoS affected by terrain for both units and range between them
• if LoS is blocked, no attacks are possible, and no spotting checks are possible
• AI units with no LoS to any enemies will try and reposition, guns have no choice but to wait
• if a new unit is spawned (unloaded passenger or reinforcement), it is added to LoS table of every existing unit
• if player unit is on Overrun attack, all enemy units in hex ahead of them are automatically in LoS

CNG: No attack console display if an unspotted unit is firing at the player
CNG: No RoF chance if weapon is gun and unit has moved
CNG: Increased bonus to RoF chance when a dedicated loader is working the gun, added penalty when no loader working the gun
CNG: Reposition now part of the Movement Phase rather than being a separate command
CNG: Decreased odds of unit smoke upon spawn or after moving
CNG: Reduced movement chance modifiers of Muddy/Snow and Deep Snow ground conditions
FIX: Bug where enemy reinforcements could arrive pinned due to player’s earlier advancing fire
FIX: Bug where enemy units would not attempt to recover from being Pinned
FIX: Enemy units that try to move but are not successful will still have a new terrain, LoS, etc. generated
FIX: Firepower resolution odds can no longer total more than 100%
FIX: Attack procedure would always assume that the first position that could operate the weapon was doing so, and use the crewman in that position for skill modifiers; now it checks and finds the first crewman on the correct command and assumes that they are operating the weapon
FIX: Crash when abandoning tank during a scenario
FIX: Bug where squadmates would be recalled after campaign day was over but scenario still continued

I’ve uploaded a build of the new version of ArmCom2, it still needs testing but I think most of the major bugs and crashes have now been dealt with.

Minor update to fix a crash when a critically injured crewman’s injury improves.

Minor update to fix a crash when exporting the campaign log.

A small update for the stable release of ArmCom2, with one small display fix and some changes to Overrun:

Campaign Day

FIX: Air Support N/A when Overcast display

Scenario

CNG: Revisions to Overrun:

• player squad does not lose overrun status until end of enemy activation
• tank must have at least one MG in order for command to be available
• targets still get some entrenched/dug-in bonus
• units on overrun attack do not receive terrain bonuses when attacked during that turn
• attacks on player units that come from the overrun target hex that turn have a point blank range bonus (to represent defenders firing at the last moment)

The main downloadable build for ArmCom2 has been updated to version 2.0.0, bringing a number of improvements and fixes that I’ve been working on over the past few weeks. Full changelog follows:

Version 2.0.0 Changelog

General

ADD: Load saved campaign menu
ADD: Confirmation step when starting a new campaign that would erase a saved one
ADD: “Loading…” screen when loading a saved campaign
ADD: “Shaken” condition for crewmen, slightly more likely to be injured while Shaken
ADD: British AI units: A9 Cruiser Mk I CS, Mk VI B, A13 Mk I (for player and AI), A11 Matilda, OQF 2-Pounder AT Gun, Morris CS9 (MG), Daimler Scout Car (Dingo), OQF 25-Pounder, OQF 4.5″ Howitzer, OQF 3.7″ Gun, Morris 15 cwt Truck
ADD: French units: Char B-1 bis (for player and AI), AMD 35, SA-L 34, SA 37 APX, 75mm mle 1897, 105mm C mle 1935, Laffly S20TL, Citroen 23
ADD: Check to see if a saved game would be overwritten when selecting a random campaign
ADD: Crewmen can switch to other positions within the player tank:

• crewmen have a position that they are normally supposed to be in
• crewman can take on any position, but if it require more training than they already have, they will suffer negative modifers to attack, move rolls, etc.
• one crewman must be on the Switch Position command if the switch is taking place during a scenario
• the switch position menu will pop up at the start of the Crew Action phase, before any other actions are possible
• any crewmen that swap positions during a scenario will have their command set to None
  if the player is resupplied during a campaign day, any dead bodies in the tank will be removed
• at end of day, crewmen move back to their usual position before new recruits are added to fill up any remaining empty positions

ADD: Historical disclaimer and copyright notice in loading logo screen
ADD: Grenades and Flame Thrower weapons for AI units
ADD: Gun weapons can define a different effective HE firepower rating than their calibre would normally use
ADD: Check to see if campaign json files can be parsed, campaign file won’t be loaded and will be skipped if not
ADD: To-hit and armour penetration modifiers for APCR and APDS ammo types
ADD: Space for a description of each campaign week
CNG: New injury and condition system for crewmen
CNG: Light and Heavy injuries will be healed at end of combat day
CNG: Injuries can now cause fatigue to accumulate
CNG: Saved games are now organized per campaign and player can keep one saved game per campaign
CNG: Player tanks can now load up to 15% more ammo per gun than safe maximum
CNG: If player tank is knocked out with extra ammo, greater chance of crew injury: if gun is <= 37mm, +1% per extra shell, otherwise +2% per extra shell
CNG: “Permadeath” campaign option now called “Player Commander”
CNG: Increased range of anti-tank rifles to 2 hexes
CNG: Removed “Field Gun” as a unit class, all now counted as “Artillery Gun”
CNG: Anti-tank Rifles now assigned to specialist teams rather than being carried by infantry squads
CNG: Minor change to Northwestern Europe regional settings to prevent chance of snow in May
FIX: No longer possible to spend advance points on dead crewmen
FIX: Was not possible to remove any shells from the Ready Rack if the general stores were already full, now there’s a 1-shell allowance beyond max+extra to allow this
FIX: Bug where switching font size would deinitialize the sound engine and mess up keyboard input
FIX: Bug where crewman bailed-out flags would not be reset about bail out procedure
FIX: If player selected an assault gun or tank destroyer, no squadmates were spawned
FIX: Removed silence at end of theme song before loop

Campaigns and Campaign Calendar

CNG: Campaigns can now define two or more enemy nations, only units of one nation will be encountered in a single scenario
CNG: Improved appearance of menus
FIX: Now actually possible to switch between guns in Ammo Load menu
FIX: Journal entries now wrap properly in the journal menu tab display

Campaign Day

ADD: Cycle selected gun command in supply menu, can display ammo for 2+ guns
ADD: Campaign weeks can modify the standard terrain type odds from the standard for that region
CNG: Crew no longer replaced during a combat day, player must end day to get replacements
CNG: Improved display layout of Movement tab of Command menu

Scenario

ADD: Crewmen with head/neck injury that is Heavy or worse have a penalty to spot
ADD: Crewmen with leg/foot injuries that are Heavy or worse have a penalty to bailing out
ADD: Crewmen with arm/hand injuries that are Heavy or worse have a penalty to gun/MG attacks
ADD: Firepower resolution pop-up window
ADD: Infantry and Guns can be Reduced as a result of firepower; greater chance of being destroyed in future, and attacks from them are less effective
ADD: Infantry and Guns can be Routed as a result of firepower; will not attack and can only move further away
ADD: Overrun attack for player: must have 1+ enemy infantry or gun units in front of player:

• no other movement possible but player and rest of squad counts as moving
• any MG attacks against targets in front of player are more effective
• target’s gun shield, entrenched, or dug-in modifiers do not apply
• ADD: Close Combat weapon type and attack procedure
• mostly initiated by enemy infantry squads, using grenades
• must be within 1 hex to attack, count as moving after the attack
• attack will apply firepower on infantry/guns, AP hit on vehicles
• always count as hitting the side of a target vehicle
• modifiers slightly different from point fire and area fire attacks
• enemy infantry will tend to avoid close combat attacks, since it makes them more vulnerable, especially if they are already fortified
• if a crewman is CE during a close combat attack and the tank is knocked out, greater chance of being injured as a result
• only applicable against targets in adjacent hex immediately forward of player
• player and squad count as moving for that turn but will not move into a new hex
• Overrun area fire attacks against spotted enemy guns or infantry suffer no movement/turret rotation/pivot penalties, and targets get no bonus from being dug-in or entrenched

ADD: During allied action and enemy action phase, the context console displays info about ongoing attacks
ADD: Crewmen in area of tank (either hull or turret/superstructure) that was hit by AP round knocking it out are more likely to be injured as a result
ADD: If player tank is knocked out by a Flame Thrower, very high chance that tank will burn up
ADD: Movement bonus for vehicles with Off Road capability
ADD: Portrait for unspotted enemy units
CNG: Enemy guns are abandoned if the unit was routed and the crew move away, no VP awarded
CNG: Enemy units hit by firepower are no longer automatically spotted next turn, but they are easier to spot
CNG: Slightly increased chance of pinning infantry and gun units
CNG: Hull-mounted guns now have a higher penalty for firing at a moving target
CNG: Guns with turntables (or similar fast rotation) have a lower penalty for firing at a moving target
CNG: Adjusted base fp to-destroy chance on infantry and guns
CNG: Right-click unit info pop-up now also displays the unit type description
FIX: Added missing terrain effect modifiers for vehicles for some terrain types
FIX: Slightly changed order of sound effect and message when a unit is destroyed, fixes bug where notification of truck contents would appear before message about it being destroyed
FIX: Missing movement bonus for Fast Wheeled vehicles
FIX: Bug where fate points would save player from AP but the displayed AP roll would appear to have passed
FIX: Minor display errors