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In the spring of this year, game company GSC released Cossacks: European Wars. The game was a big hit in most countries and is still quite high in the charts. Cossacks is a strategy game with real life events and real units. It is based between the 16th and the 18th century.
The first Cossacks offered hours of gameplay and a lot of fun controlling over 8000 units. The Game was more of a fighting game but you had to feed and build things so you would need peasants to mine, plough and erect buildings. Many people thought that Cossacks European Wars was one the best strategy games since the Age Of Empires Series.

Cossacks: The Art of War will again bring history alive, this time adding Denmark and Bavaria to the mix of nationalities at your disposal. You’ll get six new single missions that will pit varied forces against one another. For instance, the Swedes, Russians, and Poles will wage war for the resources of the Baltic states, while the Ukrainians will fight off the Turks.

As in the first Cossacks there will be five new Single Player campaigns with at least 5 missions in them. These large-scale campaigns will focus on a diverse group of nations: Algeria, Austria, Poland, Prussia, and Saxony. If you think your enemies are too weak and fight like girls then you can have the choice of 4 difficulty levels.

Of Course there is a multiplayer mode with loads of new tricks. The newest multiplayer mode is called ‘territory capture,’ online player rackings and six new multiplayer battles each based on real time battles. All these battles will have the correct landscape and formations. These battles consist of Dunbar and Marston Moor from the English Civil War, the battles of Mook and Newport (My Home) from the Dutch war of Independence, the battle of Wittstock and Breitenfeld from the Thirty Years War, and others.

Perhaps more than the new campaigns, missions, and nations, it’s the new gameplay options in The Art of War that should make it appealing. The original Cossacks was known for its large scope, with hundreds and hundreds of troops fighting and peasants toiling. With the expansion pack, the game’s scope will become even larger. Maps will now be up to 16 times larger than before. You’ll also enjoy new units added to the already extensive mix, including the Bavarian 18th-century musketeer and the Prussian hussar. The most important new units will be the six or seven added warships, including a representation of Nelson’s massive 100-cannon flagship Victory, or a fast French frigate.

At the start of a random map or skirmish mode game you will always be able to choose a number of options such as money, resources (wood, stone etc), land formations, player difficulties and team selections. The new ‘peace mode’ will be very handy as well, because to give nations time to build their empire peace mode is enabled and any unit that fires in peace mode will be killed automatically.

The sound has also improved a lot in this new add-on in so many ways. As soon as your men attack, the sound of a battlefield comes out of your speakers. The sound of distant artillery also can be heard and the sounds of dying men falling in battle.

All the new material and features in The Art of War do come at a small price, though – saved games from the original Cossacks and the expansion won’t be compatible. Each time you begin a session, you’ll need to decide whether you want to play the original game or take advantage of the expansion’s new features.

I already own a copy of Cossacks: European Wars and I think that the add-on will be even better so try and play it. The demo is out now so go and check it out.