Warno (video game)

Warno is a real-time tactics and turn-based strategy video game created and published by Eugen Systems, released into early access on January 20, 2022, and fully released on May 23, 2024. A spiritual successor to the Wargame: European Escalation series also developed by Eugen, it takes place in a World War III setting in the Fulda Gap, portraying a conventional conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Gameplay
Warno is a strategy game with a real-time tactical layer (for the missions & map levels) and a turn-based strategic layer (for the Army General campaigns). Players control individual units meant to represent historical military vehicles and infantry formations of the Cold War. There are many game modes in Warno focusing on various goals, such as conquering a specific area in the Conquest mode or destroying a number of enemy units in Destruction. The game is played by anywhere between 1 and 20 people, with multiplayer games scaling up to 10 versus 10. Single-player play takes the form of skirmishes against the AI, battles set in specific places, and (upon release) a full campaign.

In both multiplayer and single-player modes, all players receive a ticking income of points to spend on deployable units, such as infantry, artillery, tanks, reconnaissance units, air defense units, attack helicopters, helicopter-born infantry, and aircraft. The units available to the player depend on their chosen battlegroup. Various battlegroups have different specializations, such as a focus on infantry combat or combined arms warfare. Some basic unit functions can be assigned to the AI, but a majority of actions are done by the player. Units are controlled in real time.

The playable formations (known as 'Battlegroups') in game are inspired from the orders of battle of divisions, regiments, and some corps that would have likely engaged each other during the initial stages of war along the German border, such as the American 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment or the Soviet 79th Guards Tank Division. NATO forces are exclusively those based out of CENTAG, the NATO formation which served in Central Europe, especially Germany.

While the tactical gameplay is similar to Wargame, Warno has received considerable quality of life improvements and gameplay changes seen in the Steel Division titles, including allowing the AI to carry out smart orders for player units, the reworked deck system incorporating the orders of battle of in-game divisions, and variants and traits of units in the armory. Warno is also implementing newer single-player content, such as (turn-based) Army General campaigns and (real-time) Operations taken from Steel Division 2. The game includes a basic map editor for player use which allows for simple asset manipulation.