by Peter Robbins, 17 November 2025
A few disclaimers ahead of writing this article. I’ve been a customer of OTS and Matrix for the Flashpoint Campaigns series of wargames from Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm, to Flashpoint Campaign: Southern Storm, and now to FC: Cold War. This particular review copy I’m basing this article on is labeled as a Press Preview of the latest wargame in the series. The above means that there may be changes to what you see in this Preview article before the intended November 20th release, so please take everything stated here with a slight grain of salt in case something is replaced or improved ahead of release. I can say pretty safely that this game feels “well-baked”. I’ve not found any major bugs or what-the-f moments while playing it.
click images to enlarge
While I may be provided press copies of games occasionally, I will not hold back from calling out something that feels odd, icky, or half-arsed. With that said, I normally will outright not review a game if it’s not worth owning for a portion of the wargaming crowd at large. If you see that I’ve written an article for a wargame, it generally means, it’s worth owning if it fits your general tastes.
I can say unequivocally that Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War is a wargame worth owning, worth keeping on your hard drive, and worth playing regularly on your own or with friends via the Matrix Games PBEM++ system. It will pay for itself many times over.
Boom. Article done. I kid. But: Why? you may ask?
Well first and foremost, what about from the perspective of someone that already owns Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm? How much has changed? Well, the UI is mostly the same. I will call a spade a spade there. It’s almost identical. Not much in the way of surprises there. If you’ve played SS you’ll be able to pick up CW and play right away.
At first I was like: Why would I buy the same game again?
Well, I’ll tell you why, you nearly triple your content in one button click. And it’s good content, well-varied and well-designed. I will also call out that OTS and Matrix recently announced that previous owners of Southern Storm will get an Upgrade option, at Half Off! See details here. That will be $25 for what equates to a massive DLC, and upgrade to the core engine. For new players, the game will be initially sold for $49.99. I think a solid price for a solid wargame. You will have months of fun with this wargame, if not a year+ if you find the right droogs online to keep extending your play out beyond the battlefield horizon.
But come on, doesn’t it improve the engine any?
Yes, it does. It adds full support for Air Transport and Air Assault. There are also small leaps and bounds of improved intelligence and functionality throughout the UI as well. Some of the improvements are not apparent at first, but as you dig in, most screens have improved intel and ease of operation included. I do think they looked at every piece of existing UI and asked themselves, can anything be improved about this screen? Most of the game did not need to be updated, a testament to how good Southern Storm already was in functionality. The areas improved the most are around SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).
Why was a new overall version called for?
Well, honestly, and from the view point of a software engineer myself, it’s been a while since the original release (Over Two Year Ago), and they’ve been providing free content up til now. No paid for DLCs. Could this have been released as a DLC? Well, they kind of did that by providing a 50% deep discount to Southern Storm owners? I think that was a good move on their part.
Cold War basically is DLC for SS, but, with Air Assault added and several other ease of operations, mostly around SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), which we all called out throughout playing SS that this game needed.
Well, I still hate the artwork! (common callouts for SS) Well, then get off your bum and replace it. All of the tools are provided: Art modding support, Map editor, Scenario Editor, Campaign Editor. They also give you the keys to the unit data* files. You can edit the parameters for all of the units included. So, you think a particular tank is better than the adversary’s equivalent? Well, get in there and boost it up a bit if you disagree with OTS’ interpretation.
Ok, so here is one humbling truth about FC:CW. It’s a board game, not a simulator.
If you attempt to play it like the latter, you will lose miserably. And I have! Once I realized that I was playing a board game, where you are playing against the condensed/interpreted numbers of the hex and the unit counters, I did much better. Get used to all of the map overlays provided as they give very good clues as to how the game engine views the play thru.
I’m still not a legend in this wargame, and may never be, but I’m enjoying it much better by playing it as a board game. Cover/Concealment/Elevation/Line Of Sight, these are the numbers you need to play with and against; not the “visual representation” of the combat as it plays out. The more you are resolved to this, the more you will greatly enjoy this wargame.
If you try and think that counter is one little helicopter flying over 1 for 1 terrain, you will get owned by the AI and your human opponents alike.
Learn the SOP system. It is the core mechanic of this wargame. Set that well by unit types and commander’s intentions, or you will get buttered through by the enemy as your troops will just sit there and take it to the face, money shot and all.
Additional Tips & Tidbits
- Avoid stacking if possible.You become more visible if stacked.
- Avoid moving unless necessary. Move = Dead, Unless concealed by elevation / terrain / smoke (concealment rating of hex).
- Create separation between sub-units, but keep the overall unit within command radius. Think of producing a checkerboard pattern for each overall unit.
- Overwatch is your friend. Fire & Maneuver is a winning combo.
- Recon is a good thing. The more you know, and the less they know, the better.
- Artillery, leave it to the FSCC to control, but an occasional direct fire is ok.
- “Hunt” with helos, or they will be annihilated if you only use “Move” commands.
- A planned “Assault” is better than just willy-nilly “Move”-ing to contact. But the golden 3:1 (CE) ratio is still a key to successful attack.. Attack “defensively” with Kill Zones.
- Understand the SOP settings fluently, and set appropriate to your plan.
What’s In The Box?!
Ok, let me get off the soap box and give you the nitty gritty, then you can decide if you want the game. What do you get for your money?
Guides / Tutorials
From the What’s New guide it shows you the list over overall guides provided and a short description for each.
I like how they’ve split up the concerns here, so that you are not having to read a monolith of a User Guide. If there was ONE “User Guide” of the bunch provided, the main manual is the FM01. Love the US Army guide naming convention influence on the file naming. It’s 157 pages, but I’d classify it as a “quick read” all said and done. One night would get you through most of it. I do recommend you read it before playing a scenario all the way through. Start a scenario, get into a bit, but then stop and RTFM is a good adage to live by.
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Scenarios
Here is a combined image look at every scenario provided out of the box in FC: Cold War. I also show what Tutorials are available for your training sake.
This has a metric ton of scenarios. This is borderline Wargaming Design Studio level of scenario content, and that is saying something. Take it as a compliment. If you can get through all of these with marginal victory, well, you get a t-shirt of your own making for that. I applaud you. It’s worth going through them all, as they offer a great variety of nationalities and maps/areas of operations.
Tutorials
The tutorials are also available, with much better description pages in the newer main menu [Tutorials] button area. As you can see below, the descriptions are very well done. They took their time on these tutorials, and the related portions of the FM guides included are well done. This is a great improvement over the previous title in the series. You feel much more equipped to succeed with these new tutorials in hand.
Campaigns
The previous game had four campaigns, this one has ten (including those original four). More = Better, as long as what is provided is up to par quality wise. By a quick play through of the first phases of each I’d say they are equivalent quality level of the original four. David Whitt is one of the primary campaign designers of the new campaigns, and I have played against David in this game and other games. I’ve also seen him make great content for this game and others, like Armored Brigade II (also worth owning). He takes his time making things, be it maps or scenarios. So, you are getting good content here in FC: Cold War. We’ll show a few shots from several of the campaigns further below in a gallery.
Multiplayer
You can play any of the scenarios via the Matrix PBEM++ system. This has not changed significantly since FC: Southern Storm. It’s almost identical. Perhaps a few things improved under the hood but I can’t see the code. I’ve placed a few shots from a multiplayer match I’m playing with one of OTS’s scenario designers, David Whitt below. Don’t cheat David! Skip looking at this section! (Actually doesn’t make a difference you wrote the scenario anyhow 🙂)
Below we are starting a match of “The Three Sisters” scenario, which you can also play solo of course. You set up a Challenge, the opponent accepts it, it can be password protected so that no Joe Blow accepts it instead of your droogs. Pretty simple, but it works, and once you start it, you can very easily continue the match. Not to mention you can have multiple matches running at once in case you want to Bobby Fischer that shite.
Sidebar: Defense Rating Overlay
One note: Look for the highest ratings, and artillery the crap out of them 🙂 as those little enemy bugger recon units are likely in the 90+ ones! Watch yourselves!
So far so good in our multiplayer match, but I did get my nose punched in the way of a company of tanks getting nearly annihilated in a kill zone David set up nicely. Anyhow, it’s a fun game solo, but even more enjoyable against fellow humans!
Editors
Included with the game are all of the tools that the game makers used to generate its content. That is rare for a gaming company to include all of. Some companies will withhold providing the map editor, OTS have not here, it’s there. Use it. Make new content if you hate the maps.
Above, you can see that you are in fact able to edit the Order Of Battle directly, from scratch. Now, you are using the common definitions of force structure as defined in the Data files for that nationality. More on that in the FM09 data files guide if you want more details on what information is in which excel spreadsheet. An M&S engineer’s wet dream.
Part of the scenario editing process is coming up with Battle Plans. If you really want to dig into how the AI works in this wargame, learn how to write scenarios and Battle Plans. It will help you devise your own for your side when playing against AI or Humans alike.
Read FM05 Battle Planning for more detail on this particular subject. It is definitely worth diving into as then you’ll understand the AI brain involved in the scenarios much better. Knowledge is Power – Yoooooo Joe!
Unit Data Manipulation
Read through the full Data Manipulation Guide FM09 for more details on what is editable. It’s all .xslx format spreadsheets. Really nice that they’ve opened this up for public viewing and editing. I think the pinnacle of playing this series of wargames would be to get into all of the nationality data files, and study what they mean. It will help you understand why that combat resolution that just took place resulted in what you went “wait, what!?” to, in some cases.
One thing they mention strongly: BACKUP the files before editing them, or you can get yourself into a state where the game or scenarios using that nationality will not launch properly. Even one wrong comma can Bjork the game.
Mechanics & Gameplay
I want to avoid just repeating everything in the manuals. Get the game, read the manuals, they are worth reading.
For now, let me by way of mostly words describe a typical turn as a player. Hopefully this will paint a reasonable picture to newcomers of how the game plays out. One of the more important panels in the UI is the Game Control Panel. If you understand this, you will understand the asynchronous WEGO phasing in this game.
What I would normally do in a typical turn:
- Firstly, Recon intel is your friend. Get your recon units out and find the enemy. If they are just sitting still, they are not doing much for you, unless you’ve already placed them into a good viewing position.
- Have a solid idea of what your Intent is for any given battalion. Think in terms of Combat Verbs. Always include an IOT (“in order to”) in your plan, so you have an idea of “Why” they are doing what they are doing. Battalion level for me is the appropriate echelon to concentrate on to start planning in this wargame. Depending upon the size of the order of battle, you may need to extend down to Company level orders. Executing orders there-under, keep that overall “plan of effect” in mind. Most “unit counters” in the game are Platoons/Sections. You do need to micromanage a bit in this game. Unlike for example games like Command Ops 2 where you can give a battalion overall command and the rest will do their jobs. You can use some CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT+ Left Mouse button clicking to select more than one counter when issuing orders, so that can speed up your ordering a good bit (if you intend them to do similar actions).
- Next, you find those HQ units for each Battalion or Company by way of the nifty little order of battle panel item which OTS call the “OOB Tree View”. Double-clicking on it within that OOB view will position it on that HQ.
- While positioned on that HQ unit, use the Multi-Unit Overlay / Chain Of Command menu item to show dotted lines to its subordinate units and solid lines to its assigned higher HQ. Make sure to keep all subunits of a particular HQ within its command radius, or you will suffer order and supply delays! You don’t want that in the heat of battle.
- If you let that go haywire too much on multiple commands your OODA loop will extend, and the number of changes to give additional orders across the board will spread out in time. The time chart in the Game Control Panel will start extending with additional minutes. For example you started the game being able to give new orders every 19 minutes, then if your units are getting out of command radius, that’ll spread out to 24 minutes or longer. You want to be able to shift orders quicker than your opponent. Get within their OODA loop to succeed in this game.
- Now, use Move Deliberate or Move Hasty to get your units where you want them to end up, but only move them if you have cover and concealment along the way. Get smoke in front of them to mask the maneuvering, and have units sit still and provide Overwatch while they move. Bounding overwatch is your friend in this game, otherwise you will be buttered down like toast. Modern combat is extremely deadly. If you can be seen, you very likely will be killed.
- If you intend to overall attack a position, make sure you have at least 3 times the estimated enemy combat strength, and cover your assault with heavy artillery and air support when and if available. Then use the Assault action, instead of the Move Deliberate or Move Hasty orders.
- If you feel the need, intercede with your own Artillery or Air Support direct commands by way of the Fire Support menu item, but avoid just doing that entirely. Let the FSCC do its job primarily. Only intercede when it’s obvious that something needs doing and it’s just not kicking into gear to do it.
- Make sure that you have attended to ALL of your units before hitting the [START] button to progress through to the Turn Execution phase. You will not be able to re-order units until the next color coded block shows up on the game control panel for your side. Normally about 20 game minutes+.
- One tip, AVOID changing unit orders if at all possible. Let them finish the job you set them out to do. If you keep on changing orders, it introduces lag into the OODA loop, which may add up over time to not being able to order them when you REALLY need to. Think before you give orders, give them enough buffer to work by way of their SOP alone. Set appropriate SOPs (standard operating procedures) for that unit or even that troop type. Make sure they are not set to an SOP that will accept too many losses if your intent is not to hold a piece of land.
The above is a typical turn. I hope that paints a general picture of what to expect. Rinse, repeat, survive, kill, win? Hopefully in that order.
Preview Final Thoughts
What is provided with Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War is a significant leap forward from FC: Southern Storm. This game is fully worth buying as an existing Southern Storm customer if you enjoyed the prior. When you purchase Cold War you are expanding your existing game by nearly three fold. There are many more scenarios (roughly twice as many), fully supported Air Assault and Ground Convoy Transport, as well as much more organized SOP settings and configurations.
I was originally skeptical, it felt like I would be re-buying the same game as Southern Storm; but having now seen the fully operating Press Preview, I’m convinced this is well worth the cost of upgrading from Southern Storm to Cold War. Get it. It’s solid. Not much more to say. It’s better than the previous iteration of the series. There is definitely enough new content and upgraded features to warrant laying down your hard earned money for this new offering in the Flashpoint Campaign series.
Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War
Preview ~ Mentioned in Dispatches Podcast ~ AAR set 1 ~ AAR set 2
You can chat about this game in the Modern World section of our discussion forums
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Actually the scale is 500m per hex.
yep, Peter had sent me that edit and I gacked up and forgot to put it in there before I set it for publication. That one’s on me, not him!