War Footing (v1.0)

A nation’s survival rests on decisions made long before soldiers meet the enemy in War Footing, a turn-based military strategy game about preparing for an invasion rather than micromanaging firefights. You serve as Minister of Defense, balancing the unglamorous but decisive work of funding armed forces, securing weapons, shaping doctrine, and keeping the government stable enough to sustain the effort. Its tone is sober and analytical, focused on the pressure of making imperfect choices with limited time and political capital. Eight scenarios create different crises, from difficult economic conditions to dangerous enemy positions and supply limitations.

Each turn covers a week, giving you a steady cycle of procurement, training, force organization, diplomacy, and deployment. Units range from companies to brigades, and more than 180 pieces of equipment let you build forces around infantry weapons, tanks, artillery, aircraft, and air-defense systems. Buying expensive imported hardware can deliver immediate quality, while domestic production may offer greater long-term reliability; every option carries costs in money, availability, and political consequences. Once combat begins, operations resolve across regional sectors, so readiness, combined-arms support, unit placement, and a doctrine suited to the enemy matter far more than individual battlefield commands.

War Footing stands out by making the bureaucratic and industrial side of war the main event, treating logistics and policy as weapons in their own right. Political stability and foreign relationships are not background flavor: neglect them can choke funding, complicate purchases, or leave an otherwise capable military unable to function. The operational combat model rewards players who understand force composition and can anticipate threats, but it avoids the dense unit-by-unit maneuvering of games such as Combat Mission or Gary Grigsby’s War in the East. Fans of geopolitical planning, defense management, and deliberate strategy will find a compact but demanding command simulation, while newcomers should expect a learning curve built around careful reading, patient experimentation, and accepting that no defense plan can afford everything.