After two of the most eventful weeks I can remember, the world of strategy and wargaming is slowing down a bit, as everyone hunkers down and waits for the inevitable coming of the Easter Bunny, roasted meat, and chocolate eggs. That also means we should see a Steam Easter Sale emerge sometime soon, and all available information points to a March 19th starting date, but I’ll let you know once it starts.
Slay The Spire 2 Out Now – Everyone Liked That
When Slay the Spire first came out in 2017, it single-handedly started this whole craze about roguelike deckbuilders by combining various elements that people enjoy into a neat, easy-to-play but hard-to-master package. Players have a starting deck; each combat stage unlocks newer cards, as they’ll be building their deck as they progress further into their run. Lose your HP, and it’s back to the start, with some new unlocks to help you on your next run, mostly new cards you can add to your decks. The game was a massive success, and it’s still one of Steam’s best-rated games of all time, with an impressive 97% overwhelmingly positive aggregate of 181.715 reviews.
With that level of success, it was only a matter of time before a 2 was put in front of Slay The Spire, and what surprised people the most about that is how similar the game is to the first one. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is taken to the next level with Slay The Spire 2, and the game is essentially a massive upgrade to everything else that came before. Players can expect to have more characters, cards, monsters, trickets, and new, harder challenges to tackle. Some visual improvements were made as well, and now there are proper unit animations too. Chances are, if you had fun with the original, you’ll feel right at home and love this one too. Were it not for the fact that I have some work I need to take care of, I would probably be playing it.
Xenonauts 2 Full Version Out In April After 10 Years of Development
“Any time there’s an action, there’s also an equal and opposite reaction”, said Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most epic gamers of all time. So, naturally, when XCOM: Enemy Unknown single-handedly revitalized the turn-based strategy genre in the early 2010s, a movement to revitalize the old-school genre of TBS ran concurrent to it. Leading the charge of players that were hoping for an experience that closely resembled the original XCOM from the 90s was Xenonauts – essentially a spiritual successor to Julian Gollop’s title in everything but brand. The game did so well that work on Xenonauts 2 began right away, in 2015. A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was launched in 2018, and the game was funded in 8 hours. However, the game would only arrive in Early Access in 2023.
Now, the game is releasing on April 2nd, 2026. The game came a great deal during the nearly 2 years it was cooking in EA, with new alien races added, dozens of new projects, equipment, and aircraft, more mission types, a lot of maps, and a proper narrative storyline. Having reviewed the version that arrived in Early Access in 2023, I was pleasantly surprised by the move to 3D, even if the game is not a revolutionary new entry. It doesn’t try to redefine the genre. Heck, it doesn’t even try to redefine the franchise […]. Xenonauts 2 might only be halfway through, but I can confidently recommend it. With the existence of Xenonauts 2, there’s almost no reason to return to the first Xenonauts, unless for nostalgia or the (Cold War) setting”.
Given the fact that I quite enjoyed playing the Early Access version of it, the game already sold over 160,000- so there’s plenty of interest there too- and have been thinking about jumping back into it as of late, I’ll probably end up reviewing the game, so stay tuned for that.
Headquarters: Cold War Out In March 19th
The release of Headquarters: World War 2 was a much-welcomed one by the digital wargaming community, which had been craving a new turn-based tactical-level title set in World War 2 that managed to be both accessible and had a significant amount of depth at the same time. Capable of competing with the likes of Battle Academy and The Troop, some of the most accessible titles out there, this Slitherine-published wargame became beloved enough that it got 2 major DLCs for the Ardennes and Market Garden.
With its success and a player base happy, the move was made to take the game into the Cold War, so that a whole host of new players might be able to enjoy its turn-based combat system. The chronological progression isn’t just visual, and while the basics do stay the same, the game now has helicopter and air assault units, which are massive game changers when compared to World War 2. in Headquarters: Cold War weapon ranges and movement speed have also been tweaked to reflect modern technology, and the game comes with two full campaigns totalling 20 missions, combined, 58 unit models, and new combat skills and skill-trees for officers.
You can expect a review to come in the following days.
Panzer Campaigns Donbas ’43 Out Now
If there’s one thing wargamers know, it’s that we’ll never have enough games set in the Eastern Front, no matter how many hundreds of those already exist. Fortunately, Wargame Design Studio has just released Panzer Campaigns: Donbas ’43. For the modest amount of $39.95, you can experience some of the biggest military operations in Human History, across 101 scenarios, playable by both sides, as the Axis and the Soviets. The game has a true-to-life order of battle and includes the battles of Izyum-Barvenkovo, the Mius, the Donbas Offensive, and the Counterattack at Znamenka, amongst several others.
Wargame Design Studio Game of the Week Has You Invading England
The release of Panzer Campaigns: Donbas ’43 isn’t the only big news coming from Wargame Design Studio this week. Their game of the week programme has been running for quite a while now, and their game of choice for that week goes for 25% off. That means that for the low price of $29.95, wargamers can pick up Panzer Campaigns: Sea Lion ’40. Unlike their recently released title, which takes place on a real military operation, this Panzer Campaigns entry goes into alt-history territory, exploring how a possible invasion of mainland Britain could have gone down if the Germans tried to cross the Channel, across 49 scenarios, where you can play on both sides.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s round-up. It’s a bit shorter than usual, but let’s talk in the comments down below! What will you be playing this weekend? I’ll personally be playing a title that I’m still under embargo and cannot talk about, and might even find some time to give Slay the Spire 2 a go, as well as to try and get a couple of rounds of conquest in Battlefield 6, which I have been enjoying quite a lot!
Also, go and vote on the Hot Seat Awards 2026!
Support Strategy and Wargaming
I do what I do in Strategy and Wargaming because I love to do this, and I’m never going to stop. If you would like to support me with that, you can buy me a coffee for a dollar if you’re feeling generous. If you can’t, no worries, Strategy and Wargaming will always be free, and I’d love to have you around!
