by Peter Robbins, 27 October 2025
Close on the heels of having recently reviewed the Rise and Fall Of An Empire DLC for Strategic Command War In The Pacific for the site, now I plunge into something a little different, and something I’ve been looking out for a good game to cover for a while now. Slitherine LLC have traipsed the Strategic Command: American Civil War game engine based series now to mid 19th century Europe! Yes. Finally, a company with the guts to cover this period more closely.
If you are more into American fare, of course you can play the core game (which is a requirement to own in order to play this DLC) which is Strategic Command: American Civil War. That wargame in and of itself is one of the more approachable, and hence playable strategic wargames covering the American Civil War. It also happens to be enjoyable and well researched.
Or, you can spread your wings further afield and play its additional DLC, Wars In The Americas, which I only recently purchased myself, as I completely missed that it had been released! (yes, I’m a dolt). It never fails that I get handed a press review copy of a wargame then realize I missed a great DLC, so I go off and buy anything I missed.
Anyhow, I’m an overall Strategic Command series fanboy, and recommend all of the games in all of their series. I don’t say that lightly. They are very playable, which can be a cathartic comparison to some other overblown, bloated strategic nightmares of games. We won’t name them, as Matrix/Slitherine likely sell them, eh-hem 😊 As in all hobbies, life is to taste.
click images to enlarge
Back on topic, I for one love it when companies foray into more forgotten edge conflicts, those that skirt other major more well known conflicts, as it never fails that they TEACH me something I never knew before. That is why we play wargames after all is it not? Well, and to be challenged and entertained.
So, I will give the Strategic Command series, and this DLC in particular; the Trifecta Award: It’s educational, it’s challenging, and it’s entertaining : boom! Bonus award, It’s approachable as well. All while remaining detailed. These are key components to a good wargame in my book. If you can package all of that in with a healthy dose of Player Agency, and you get my support as a reviewer and better yet as a player.
Steam Info
The year is 1848. Revolutions sweep across Europe, shattering Metternich’s Concert of Europe, the diplomatic balance that kept the continent at peace for a generation. Out of the chaos rise three giants of history: Napoleon III, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Otto von Bismarck.
In the three decades that follow, these men will redraw the map of Europe. Driven by the unstoppable force of nationalism, backed by cunning diplomacy, they will lead their nations through a chain of wars, each victory unlocking the next great struggle, until Bismarck himself reshapes the old order at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.
Concert of Europe is the epic second expansion for Strategic Command: American Civil War, plunging you into a transformative era with five brand-new campaigns. From the frozen steppes of Crimea to the sun-baked hills of Italy, you will command armies, forge alliances, and test your strategic genius in an age where a single battle could change the fate of a continent.
Key Features
- Five new campaigns covering European conflicts between 1854 and 1878
- Command historical leaders including Lord Raglan, Marshal Benedek, Osman Pasha and the Emperor Napoleon III.
- Use new units including Crimean Tatars, Ottoman Bashi-Bazouks and Garibaldi’s famous Redshirts.
- Experience a range of new events including the flight of the Russian army from the Alma, revolutions in the northern Italian states, and King Francis’ shocking abandonment of Naples which led to the decisive Battle of the Volturno.
What’s In The Press Preview ?!
I normally do a “What’s In The Box!?” Section to lead off most reviews off, but all I can be sure of for this article is what I can cover directly, and that is the two campaigns provided in the Press Preview branch for this DLC. The Steam Info I’d pasted further above shows you the intended campaigns they are due to include. I’ve never seen Matrix/Slitherine be incorrect in that pre-information, so I think you can take it as the final format of the to-be-released-game. No, I don’t know the official release date, but my guess is at the end of this month.
The main menu for the core game is above. This background image had been upgraded to this livery back when the game’s Wars In The Americas DLC was released. I don’t know if they plan to replace this for this newer DLC release or not. I also do not know if it’s dynamically set if you own the most recent DLCs or not.
The two images above show the two campaigns that were provided in this Press Preview of the DLC. I’ll be diving a bit closer into the second campaign which covers the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, just in that it appeals to me more than the other. Both preview campaigns are well designed.
Victory Conditions
Above are the listed victory conditions for both included preview campaigns. Pretty self-explanatory.
If you want to dive much deeper into the strategies for their campaigns using the [?] Help menu in-game, you can click on Guides icon, and that’ll open the guide pdf for that campaign you are currently playing.
For this press preview, those two campaign how-tos are shown below.
Campaign Sample
I’ll waltz down the Blue Danube for a bit in the Russo-Turkish war scenario, named “1877 Feel Not The Red Rains Fall”. Great name for a campaign. Read the strategy guide before starting any of the Strategic Campaign series of wargames campaigns. They are well written and absolutely will help you win the scenario, or at least get a respectable result.
I tend to like to approach wargaming now-a-days with at least a sprinkle of MDMP or equivalent in tow. For the Concert Of Europe DLC’s Euro-centric sake, let me switch to a similar tried and true set of military planning questions, The Combat Estimate of Great Britain.
The Combat Estimate consists of seven questions as follows:
- What is the situation and how does it affect me?
- What have I been told to do and why?
- What effects do I need to achieve and what direction must I give to develop my plan?
- Where can I best accomplish each action or effect?
- What resources do I need to accomplish each action or effect?
- When and where do these actions take place in relation to each other?
- What control measures do I need to impose?
What I like about the Combat Estimate, is if you ever forget it verbatim, you can easily fall back to asking yourself: Who, What, When, Where, Why? Leave the “How” to the troops and leaders under your command. Don’t repeat doctrine to your team. They know what they need to do. One of the most important phrases to keep in mind is In Order To, or IOT for short. What is the end state you are looking to accomplish? Once I gather up all of the answers to these questions I tend to like to end up creating a Phase or Effects Matrix.
Before we directly answer these questions for the Russo-Turkish scenario, let’s get a lay of the land, which will help answer at least a portion of the first question.
Take note that most of my screen shots below will have turn by turn notes included directly in the screenshot.
Shot by Shot Walk Thru
So we should start by taking note of our allies on hand. A small cadre from Montenegro, and a reasonable size offering from Serbia are on hand to assist.
Ok, now let’s take a light stab at answering the questions, at least at a quick high level.
- What is the situation and how does it affect me?
The Turks have concentrated their forces near Plevna, at least from my initial available intelligence. They also appear to be defending the main roads towards Sofia on the Black Sea coastline. One point chatgpt made about the Estimate was “Identify the choke points, avenues of advance, and expected enemy sectors of fire.” So let’s do that real quick at a high level.
- What have I been told to do and why?
Control at least three of the Victory Objectives. Better yet, control five of those VO (or) Constantinople as a trump card major win. Those VOs are IDd as: Plevna, Sofia, Varna, Philippopolis, Adrianople. The red stars to the top left of those towns in the previous screenshot indicate they are VO. So, I don’t have to kill every last one of them, or the opposite, lose everyone on my side in the process. Avoid that actually! Is preferable. As you end up needing to be able to sustain your winnings when all is said and done. Yay, you took the fortress, now who can actually hold it?
- What effects do I need to achieve and what direction must I give to develop my plan?
Ultimately, I need to take at least three of the red starred objectives. While Plevna and Sofia are tempting, they are also very well defended. I choose to circumvent those “obvious” choices and drive deep into the enemy lines of communication, striking far into the territory to strike fear into their leaders in Constantinople. In the process I will divide their forces, and attempt to cut them off from supporting one another as I move into the interior.
“This is where you stop thinking in “unit moves” and start thinking in effects chains:”
- Fix: Force the Turks to entrench in Plevna by feinting attacks on that fortress.
- Disrupt: Delay any interior forces from synchronizing with the enemy forces in Plevna.
- Destroy: Eliminate key lines of communication hubs that feed towards Plevna.
- Suppress: All units that threaten our main effort into the enemy interior
- Deceive: Mislead about your true axis of attack by maintaining heavy and loud artillery fire on Plevna, covering our thrust into the interior up the middle.
- Where can I best accomplish each action or effect?
What would some engagement boxes be at this strategic view?
- What resources do I need to accomplish each action or effect?
Best laid out by an Effects Matrix we’ll call it. Refer to this full Estimate Verb List I came up with chatgpt for and then lay out Turn by Turn for this strategic scale wargame is best. What are you planning on doing with whom in which turn/s to what effect? Lay out an actual plan or you will just be plodding about like a fool, my usual MO.
- When and where do these actions take place in relation to each other?
Again, an Effects matrix will help lay out answers for questions 4,5, 6, and even 7 if well formatted. So, worth learning how to come up with.
- What control measures do I need to impose?
See the Effects Matrix I’ll concoct here in a moment based upon all of my quick thoughts on The Combat Estimate.
The full chat is here that helped formulate the above matrix
AI is only as good as you feed it. So, always START with your human touch, answer the questions of The Combat Estimate fully on your own, but then have AI help you create artifacts from those thoughts. Accentuate, not replace.
——– MISSION ANALYSIS ABOVE THIS LINE ———
———- OK, LET’S ROCK BELOW THIS LINE ———–
you can still click images to enlarge
We are provided notice that a Bulgarian Legion has formed along our NW front line. Our successes bring out the partisans, never fail.
The attack into the interior has begun. Let’s take us forward at least a few more turns to see how this develops.
First Impressions & Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed getting at least a little taste of the Russo-Turkish War 1877 scenario from the new Strategic Command DLC “Concert Of Europe”. This DLC requires the base game of Strategic Command : American Civil War in order to be able to play it. Keep that in mind. But both are not reasonably priced, and well worth the cost. As I’ve stated elsewhere for Strategic Command titles, this one is on equal par quality wise with the Pacific War WW2 DLC of late. Bravo to Slitherine as a producer, and Fury Software as a development team. Fury, you are absolutely knocking it out of the park of late. Slitherine, keep working with this team. Really well done product across the board.
The one critique I do have just based upon how far I’ve gotten in each campaign is that there are a bit less Decision Points included than in the Rise and Fall Of An Empire DLC that I recently reviewed. With that said, what I’ve seen here is very good in the preview otherwise. But, hey, an observation is an observation. It’s a little light on decision points, and that is what makes these Strategic Command scenarios shine.
BONUS GALLERY
Some unaltered shots from the Italian campaign so you can see a tiny bit of what that offers for an area of operations.
as above, you can click images to enlarge
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