Hi everyone, and happy St. Patrick's Day!

We have a nice surprise for you today: we played the Battle of the Boyne, a turning point in Irish and British history. It is a very nice Pike & Shot: Campaigns scenario made by Paul59 and available for download for free in game, among many others.

Did Agrippa manage to change the course of history and triumph as the Jacobites? Watch the video and find out!

https://youtu.be/S1_6mDTn7MM

There is something we at Slitherine truly hold dear, something which greatly increases replayability and allows players to expand the boundaries of any game: modding.

We always try to give you the tools to mod our games, as well as the know-how. Thanks to that, over the years we have published several games whose modding communities truly flourished. We’ll have a look at those games, starting with Pike & Shot: Campaigns[www.slitherine.com].

Since its release, Pike & Shot has been built upon, expanded, improved with a series of DLCs. First it was From Tercio to Salvo. Then it was Campaigns. And then, the free expansion Le Roi Soleil. Eventually we bundled everything in a new title, Pike & Shot: Campaigns, a huge game to represent any kind of battle from the 15th century up to the early 18th century. Since then, it has achieved a true cult status, being considered by the press one of the best wargames ever made, and managing to truly capture the miniature wargaming feeling.

In the meanwhile, an extremely dedicated fan base has been mastering the editor and has created a staggering number of custom made scenarios and mods. We are talking of over one hundred scenarios made by players, as well as many other campaigns, army lists, mods, and so on.

Let’s have a look at a few select ones, all of them a great mix of historically accurate orders of battle and balanced and exciting gameplay. And don’t forget to visit the forum[www.slitherine.com] to check the complete list[www.slitherine.com] of downloadable scenarios and mods, as well as numerous useful tutorials on modding. All these scenarios can be downloaded easily in game!

Narva 1700 (author: Paul59)

A huge scenario, recreating the epic battle between Charles XII of Sweden and the army of Tsar Peter of Russia under the command of Charles Eugène de Croÿ. It features Narva’s snowy battlefield, new graphics and tons of unique units.


Cotes Bridge 1644 (author: Warlord156)

The English Civil War is raging as the Parliamentarians face the Royalists at Cotes Bridge. Control of the bridge is vital in this extremely tactical battle.


Bosworth 1485 (author: Odenathus)

It’s time for the Wars of the Roses! Two late medieval armies face each other on the field of Bosworth, a battle which will determine the fate of the crown of England. Lead Richard III’s forces and save his throne – or die in the attempt.


There are many, many more scenarios. Entire wars have been fully represented.

Paul59 created 14 excellent scenarios for the Nine Years’ War aswell as 6 on the Great Northern War, Odenathus focused on the Jacobite Rebellion and made 3 really nice scenarios for it, while nikdav concentrated his efforts on the Ottoman Wars and made 5 scenarios!

But Pike & Shot isn’t just battles. It’s also… campaigns!



Suleiman’s European Campaign (author: Paul59)

It’s the first half of the 16th century and the Ottoman Empire is launching major invasions into Europe. The Turkish forces of Suleiman the Magnificent are bolstered by their Moldavian, Wallachian and Tatar vassals, while Hungary will be sustained by the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian crown and the Transylvanian princes in this multiethnic campaign with a plethora of national armies ready to take the field.


The Wars of the Roses (author: Paul59)

Lancaster against York in a dynastic struggle for the crown of England. Which house will prevail? This campaign brings Pike & Shot back to the late medieval era.


And now… mods!

Extra Nations v2 (author: Paul59)

Now this one is just huge. It adds a massive number of accurately researched playable army lists, both in the Campaign and Skirmish mode, with new unit graphics to match. Do you want the list? Irish, Anglo-Irish, Portuguese, Moroccans, Algerians, Dulkadir Emirate, Lithuanians, Moldavians, early Safavid Persians, White Sheep Turcomans, Uzbeks, the Khanate of Kazan, Crimean Tatars, Burgundians, the Monmouth Rebellion, Teutonic Knights, endless national peasant armies, Georgians, the Mamluks, Williamite in Ireland, Scots Williamites and Covenanters, Border Reivers, Bavarians, Prussians, Saxons, Wallachians, Zaporozhian Cossacks, Venetians and Savoyards!

Impressive, right?


Four Seasons (author: adebar)

No, I’m not talking of Vivaldi’s classical music. This gorgeous mod[www.slitherine.com] adds four different graphical sets, to set your battles in any season you’d like. Note: unlike the scenarios and the campaigns, you can’t download this one in game. If you’d like to try it, click on the link and follow the installation instructions.


That's it, for now. There are more, wonderful scenarios and mods for Pike & Shot - we only had limited space and we picked a few, but we'll go back to this game in the future and cover more scenarios, no doubt about that. We'll also feature the modding communities of other games. But for now, we'd like to thank all the modders and scenario makers of Pike & Shot. Thank you guys, you are all fantastic and you made the game even more special!

One more thing! We are gathering feedback on the modding experience in the Slitherine family, so if you have a few minutes and are willing to answer to a short survey, please click here[www.slitherine.com] and take part in the discussion :) thank you.

Hello everyone, we are releasing a patch for Pike & Shot: Campaigns, bringing the game to version 1.2.6.


Changelog:

1. MP server now sends notification email when challenge is first accepted.
2. Historical button is back to pulsing red when there are new user-created scenarios to download.
3. Major optimisation to prevent slow downs caused by large number of objects on the map (usually forests).
4.Improved campaign AI.
a. AI less likely to chase small raiding forces.
b. AI less likely to lift siege to go and do something else, unless that something else is more important.
5. In Campaigns, End Turn button no longer visible when there is a battle pending.
6. Added tooltip to unit list in the Editor, giving more information about the unit type.
7. Reduced dismounted men-at-arms AP to 10 as they should be.
8. Corrected rare campaign bug in which army reduced to 0 men was not eliminated.
9. Corrected rare campaign bug in which an army could be in two places at the same time. (Which was a consequence of the previous bug).
10. Corrected bug which sometimes caused heavy/medium artillery not to be deployed on the battlefield in very high points count skirmishes.
11. Corrected bug that prevented the adjusted victory conditions for asymmetrical MP historical scenarios from working correctly for the 60% condition.
12. Corrected bug that sometimes caused movement tile highlighting to flicker on during MP replay when moving unit received reaction fire.
13. Charge tooltip now correctly reports when a flank/rear charge will not cause a cohesion autodrop because the charged unit has already autodropped cohesion from a flank/rear charge this turn.
14. Corrected extremely rare bug that could cause AI units to move ridiculously long distances in normal movement.
15. Changed PlaceUnit() function to return the id of the placed unit. This is useful for Scenario scripts when expanding on the script fragment optionally generated by the editor for Reinforcements. (Previously it was necessary to use the PlaceUnitX() function instead).
16. Option to change Difficulty settings no longer offered at the end of campaign battles. You can still change the difficulty setting during a campaign battle if you really want, but it isn’t recommended because it won’t alter the difficulty for the current battle (unless you pick the highest or lowest setting) and it won’t alter the AI side’s strategic revenue advantage in the current campaign. It will, however, alter the force ratio at which each side will retreat rather than accepting battle

Fans of Pike & Shot: Campaigns rejoice! The developers are working hard on a patch containing many bug-fixes, balance changes and UI improvements and would like your contribution. The patch is now in open beta and all players are invited to join.

Instructions:
On Steam, go to your Library, right click on Pike & Shot: Campaigns, click on Properties, then under the Betas tab select the beta branch in the dropdown menu.

Version 1.2.4 Changelog:
1. MP server now sends notification email when challenge is first accepted.
2. Historical button is back to pulsing red when there are new user-created scenarios to download.
3. Major optimisation to prevent slow downs caused by large number of objects on the map (usually forests).
4. Improved campaign AI.
a. AI less likely to chase small raiding forces.
b. AI less likely to lift siege to go and do something else, unless that something else is more important.
5. In Campaigns, End Turn button no longer visible when there is a battle pending.
6. Added tooltip to unit list in the Editor, giving more information about the unit type.
7. Reduced dismounted men-at-arms AP to 10 as they should be.
8. Corrected rare campaign bug in which army reduced to 0 men was not eliminated.
9. Corrected rare campaign bug in which an army could be in two places at the same time. (Which was a consequence of the previous bug).
10. Corrected bug which sometimes caused heavy/medium artillery not to be deployed on the battlefield in very high points count skirmishes.
11. Corrected bug that prevented the adjusted victory conditions for asymmetrical MP historical scenarios from working correctly for the 60% condition.
12. Charge tooltip now correctly reports when a flank/rear charge will not cause a cohesion autodrop because the charged unit has already autodropped cohesion from a flank/rear charge this turn.
13. Corrected extremely rare bug that could cause AI units to move ridiculously long distances in normal movement.
14. Changed PlaceUnit() function to return the id of the placed unit. This is useful for Scenario scripts when expanding on the script fragment optionally generated by the editor for Reinforcements. (Previously it was necessary to use the PlaceUnitX() function instead).
15. Option to change Difficulty settings no longer offered at the end of campaign battles. You can still change the difficulty setting during a campaign battle if you really want, but it isn’t recommended because it won’t alter the difficulty for the current battle (unless you pick the highest or lowest setting) and it won’t alter the AI side’s strategic revenue advantage in the current campaign. It will, however, alter the force ratio at which each side will retreat rather than accepting battle.

Important: All multiplayer games will be hosted on the beta server. If you have any ongoing multiplayer games you can still play them, but you will have to revert to the release version to do so, by disabling the Beta patch under Properties -> Betas. This only takes a few seconds, so should not put you off trying the beta.

Pike and Shot: Campaigns, the tactical wargame depicting over two centuries of struggles in Europe from The Renaissance Wars to the Sun King, receives a new patch, bringing the game to version 1.1.2!

This update improves the game in many ways, included corrections for the campaign mode and more balanced units statistics!

Take a look on the changelog below:

- Added details to unit type description in Force Selection screen for Raise New Army in campaigns.
- Added current status of individual units present to tooltips in Force display screen at start of campaign battle.
- Added number of men and armour description to unit type description in Force Selection screen for skirmishes.
- Allowed any non-light foot without missile weapons to charge cavalry.
- Added Map Border plugin to Editor. This allows you to set all tiles outside the playable map area to black.
- Mousing over enemy armies prior to hitting the Start Battle button when a battle is pending now shows the number of infantry and cavalry including any garrison/militia units that have been added. (Previously showed the uplifted point estimate, but only showed the total number of men in field army units present).
- Stopped highly understrength campaign units from getting excessive damage mitigation for small unit size.
- Increased musket % on Scot Highlander musketeers to 66%. (This to compensate for unintended double whammy of having their short range shooting reduced because of impact foot status).
- Corrected various minor bugs.

Grab the game here!

“I depart, but the State shall always remain” - King Louis XIV on his deathbed

King Louis XIV de Bourbon, following in the political footsteps of Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, is strengthening the power of the monarchy to the detriment of the feudal aristocracy.

The Thirty Years’ War’s end – won over an exhausted Holy Roman Empire – has not brought a stable peace. Spain is still acting aggressively against France’s interests and many German and Dutch princedoms are starting to fear France’s unmatched military power.

But despite all the enemies he is facing, internal and external, Louis XIV is strongly inclined to make the Kingdom of France the Arbiter of Europe. Like a Sun determining the orbits of the other minor celestial bodies around it.

Le Grand Siècle - the "Great Century” – has begun!

Pike and Shot: Campaigns has been updated! This new version is dedicated to the great military modernization of the French Army - with which the Roi Soleil desired to sustain his absolutism – the matching military advances of the other European powers, as well as several other great improvements!

More specifically:

1. Added “Le Roi Soleil” skirmish module, covering European armies from 1649 to 1698. This adds 37 new army lists and many new unit types to the game.
2. Added these new army lists to the Pike and Shot Campaign to allow it to cover any European conflict from 1494 to 1698.
3. Added new Late Pike and Shot models for Austrian units in Great Turkish War campaign.
4. Used new models for Royalist Edgehill mostly-pike and mostly-musket units.
5. Descriptions added to MP scenarios.
6. Campaigns: Significantly increased chance of defending army fighting either open battle or defending field fortifications rather than retreating when province is invaded. If they fight an open battle against a superior invading force there is a chance they will engage the invader before all his troops have arrived.
7. Campaigns: Improved auto resolution algorithm for defensive (field fortification) battles.
8. Campaigns: Corrected bug in reporting of supply limits for provinces with enemy armies in them. Now correctly reports supply limit that will apply for player armies when the enemy field army has been driven from the province.
9. Corrected sound effect for Szeklers and Lancer Banners shooting.
10. Corrected troop description of Veteran Late Pike & Shot and LG.

Have fun!

"The Lord God is my Armour!" - Gustavus Adolphus, refusing the steel body armour offered by his aides, 16th September 1632.

Since the beginning of the Italian Wars in 1494, Europe has been turned into an endless killing ground. Armies are raised one after another, sooner or later involving all the powers and kingdoms of the Old Continent in the conflicts. This is a time of cruelty and great military innovations. This is the era of the birth of Modern States and the definitive death of the Middle Ages.
This is the Iron Century!

Pike and Shot: Campaigns is released! The latest and comprehensive title in the Pike and Shot franchise is finally out!

Challenge yourself with 4 historical campaigns, including the eruption of Gustavus Adolphus’s innovative army into the Thirty Years War, the rise of the famous Roundheads during the English Civil War, and the great 1683 siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Empire, or choose your troops from 21 new skirmish army lists and lead them into furious battles across the Europe!
Your destiny awaits!

Grab the game here!

If you wish to learn more about the game, be sure to join us live on Twitch[www.twitch.tv] tonight for a gameplay session of Pike & Shot: Campaigns!

IMPORTANT!
Pike and Shot: Campaigns is a stand-alone release and includes all the content from the Pike and Shot base game and the Tercio to Salvo expansion. Any community scenarios you had installed for the previous Pike & Shot releases will have to be redownloaded for Pike & Shot Campaigns.

Owners of Pike and Shot get a 75% discount when upgrading to Pike and Shot : Campaigns. If you have a version from our site or an affiliated store you’ll have a serial. Your Pike and Shot serial will act as a discount code to give you 75% when applied to your shopping cart on the Slitherine or Matrix sites.

If you bought from Steam, all you need to do is go to the Steam page and your discount will be pre-applied. Please note the Steam discount is only valid until the 27th October so make sure you upgrade before then!

In addition, be aware that Pike & Shot: Campaigns is not multiplayer compatible with the previous Pike & Shot games. So if you have any PBEM++ games running from the previous Pike & Shot releases, then be sure not to uninstall your old game until these have been completed.