10 June 1987, Northern Italy. In the first light of dawn, the infamous combined armies of Yugoslavia and their Communist henchmen tried to force the proud Allied bloc hastily set by the NATO Command at the entrance of the Val Padana: the road to the nerve center of Milan had to be blocked.
Elements of the Armored Brigade “Legnano” and the “Centauro” with their Leopard 1 tanks and supporting Infantry dig in the suburbs of Palmanova to defend the railway and motorway junctions leading to the industrial heart of Northern Italy. In the sky above them, Mangusta A129 helicopters from the 7th AVES “Vega” Regiment loiter and lurk ready to protect NATO defenses from the imposing Soviet assault.
The Nation Pack: Italy – Yugoslavia new map, featuring the “gate” to south Europe and the area between Gorizia, Monfalcone and Udine. NATO need to defend this soft passage to Italy vital heart. The player can choose any slice of it to set up his battle.
Palmanova city, with its nine point star distintive and unmistakable shape made by medieval walls. Here, in our battle, NATO Italian forces need to stop the Red Tide advance towards West. It will be a fight between Leopard 1 and T-55 tanks.
The Italian troops, shielding behind the urban area and the woods, are waiting for the Yogoslav forces to advance south of the city. All grey shapes are smoking wrecks of T55s destroyed by the Italian Leopards.
The Cold War is over, crushed by the deafening mechanical rumble of the Communist T55s and the BMP1s. The Third World War has just begun, and Democracy is in great danger.
A scary scenario, isn’t it? Those of us over thirty years remember very well that what we have called “peace” in the 70s and 80s was actually a long and dangerous Cold War in which the two blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, were constantly on the verge of fighting, and the sword of Damocles of a third World War was constantly hanging over our heads. Luckily, it didn’t happen. The Berlin Wall was demolished in 1989, and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. No T-72 attempted to cross the border with West Germany or the Italian frontier.
Armored Brigade, published by Matrix Games last November, is a tactical Wargame set during the Cold War and simulating battles between NATO armies (US, UK, West Germany) against those of the Warsaw Pact (USSR, Poland and the their allies) with unprecedent detail to the single tank or infantry platoon.
Considered both by press and gamers as a unique masterpiece, one of the very few to focus on a (fortunately) hypothetical but extremely interesting theater, now it expands with a new scenario.
After the huge map of the West German border with the Pact, centered around the famous “Fulda Gap”, the new DLC Nation Pack adds the equally vast map of the southern border of NATO between Italy and Yugoslavia. And not only the map: both the Italian and the Yugoslav armies are now available in the battle order for the players.
But that’s not all: along with the DLC, and totally free for all the owners of the original game, the free update 1.023 comes with the highly anticipated Campaign Generator. Now the players can create dynamic campaigns and fight subsequent battles combined to one another. Two birds with a stone!
Both the DLC Nation Pack: Italy-Yugoslavia and the free update containing the Campaign Generator are now available for PC only on the Matrix Games store.
