To celebrate the release of the Montello Expansion, we bring you the Montello Cycling Tour! Clear skies and a light breeze not included.
In the Cycling Tour, we'll be exploring the area represented in the Montello map. There's a lot of history to be found here, from the very structures that played a role in this battle to the monuments erected in memory della Grande Guerra. Every friday we'll make a new stop at one of these historic locations until we arrive at our final destination: The Nervesa della Battaglia train station.
We arrive at the second stop of the tour after a short 5 minute cycle through Parrocchia Santa Croce. It gets quite steep here, so I hope you haven't been skipping leg day.
Oh and by the way, happy anniversary! Isonzo released exactly 2 years ago, so we'd like to thank you for being here with us! We couldn't have gotten this far with you, and there's plenty more on the way! Now, onto the tour.
Stop #2: Monumento Ragazzi del '99
We find ourselves at Monumento Ragazzi del '99 in Santa Croce del Montello, a monument dedicated to The Boys of '99. These kids got their call for conscription in 1916 at the age of 17 and sent to the front lines in 1917 once they reached the age of 18.
About the Boys of '99
The first group of 80,000 conscripts was called upon in first 4 months of 1917. Upon arrival, they were hastily prepared for war and merged into the front lines along the Piave in November 1917, shorty after the losses in the Battle of Caporetto in October. Earlier that year in May, another group of 180,000 teenagers was called, with a smaller group later in July.
The end of 1917 was a time of desperation for the Italian Army, as the Battle of Caporetto was a costly defeat and both the German and Austro-Hungarian forces were gaining ground. The Italians managed to prop up their ranks at the Piave, Grappa and Montello with the fresh, but inexperienced Boys of '99. These new numbers helped with the landslide victory in the Second Battle of the Piave River in June 1918 and allowed for a large scale counter-offensive in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Italian victory that ended the war on the Italian front in November 1918 and contributed to the end of WW1 just one week later.
In many places you'll find references to the Boys of '99, from a statue and park in Bassano del Grappa to a viaduct in Gorizia and a plaque in Milan. The last person of the Boys of '99 to remain was Giovanni Antonio Carta, who was born in December 1899 and passed away in June 2007.
Statue Ragazzi del '99 in Bassano del Grappa
The Monument
The monument itself features a large holy cross (Santa Croce), a statue of one of the Boys of '99 holding a flag pole, a second statue representing the mothers of the kids, as well as two field guns. There's a large plague in honor of "The Heroes of Montello", awarding medals of Military Valor in memory of a number of soldiers. General Giuseppe Vaccari is also highlighted for his command over the XXII corps, which played an integral part in the victory in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto,
Three times a day, the church back in Santa Croce plays La Leggenda del Piave, a patriotic song about the Italian victory in the Second Battle of the Piave River. You can listen to the song below!
There's a small local history museum near the monument with a complete historical archive of the Ragazzi del '99, but this can only be visited on request.
In-game
In Isonzo, you may recognize "Ragazzi del '99" from the achievement with the same name. It requires you to win 10 matches as a Defender, in honor of the role the Boys of '99 had in halting the Central Powers' advance and pushing them back out of Italy.
Up next
Next time, we'll head further south in the direction of Nervesa della Battaglia. It's about an 18 minute cycle with some elevation. Our stop next week is the Monumento a Francesco Baracca. See you there!
The Montello Cycling Tour is a collaboration with local organizations. We'd like to thank them for helping us out with information about the region, the history and photos they provided. If you're interested in visiting the area, please check them out and tell them we sent you!
[table noborder=1] [tr] [td] [/td] [td] For bike renting and a historic tour with possibility for a meal.
Bike Rental Montello
https://aglizattieri.com/ [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] [/td] [td] Looking for your next holiday destination?
Today we released a patch with fixes to some bugs. Thank you for your reports!
M.91 Russisches Repetier-Gewehr bayonet is now usable for Austo-Hungarian Engineers
M.91 Russisches Repetier-Gewehr and Schwer-Handgranate now show up in the Profile Weapons view
Fixed incorrect faction voice lines being played at the start of the match
Fixed body armor showing on uniforms when Sentry or Death Company perks weren't enabled
Improved logging for reported issues
The download size is expected to be around 57mb.
The Montello Cycling Tour: The Piave Crossing [#1]
To celebrate the release of the Montello Expansion, we're bringing you the Montello Cycling Tour! Don't worry, you won't actually have to do any of the cycling.
In the Cycling Tour, we'll be exploring the area represented in the Montello map. There's a lot of history to be found here, from the very structures that played a role in this battle to the monuments erected in memory della Grande Guerra. Every friday we'll make a new stop at one of these historic locations until we arrive at our final destination: The Nervesa della Battaglia train station.
We kick this tour off at the bank of the river Piave, where the Austro-Hungarian forces collided with the Italian bunkers marking the start of the battle.
Stop #1: The Piave Crossing
Unlike their previous success at Caporetto, the Austro-Hungarians opted to go for an all-out frontal attack at various points of the front line, most of which followed the river Piave. One of these locations was the bank at the north-east point of the Montello hill, where small landmasses in the river could provide cover from enemy fire and make for a saver crossing. However, the Italians did bolster their defenses along the river in anticipation of an attack. Likely having realized this would be a good point for the Austro-Hungarians to cross, various bunkers were constructed here.
You'll likely notice that Piave doesn't look all that impressive. While the size of the river does depend on the season and the amount of rain, Piave isn't the river it was during the war. In fact, a bit south east of this location is a small airstrip housing many historic (and some goofy) aircraft, built where the Piave used to flow.
The bunkers still exist to this day as a small open air museum called Bunker del Sentiero Brigata Lucca, with a 2.5km path to connect all of them. We've also been here as part of our research for the game! Game development sure is hard work.
We can recommend it if you're looking to visit the area. It's a nice walk if the weather allows it, but it can get very slippery when wet and it's not very accessible.
In-game
The crossing of the river is the starting position of the Austro-Hungarians in-game. In order to get to the first objective on Montello, they'll need to push past these bunkers. Thank to Montello, there's quite a large elevation difference however, making it difficult to climb up to the bunkers and slowing the attackers down massively.
The Austro-Hungarian starting position with references we used to recreate it
The bunkers and the climb to get to them from the riverbank.
Up next
We leave the bunkers and properly start the tour by heading south, following the route of the Austro-Hungarian assault. Our next stop is the Monumento Ragazzi del '99 Santa Croce del Montello. See you there next week!
The Montello Cycling Tour is a collaboration with local organizations. We'd like to thank them for helping us out with information about the region, the history and photos they provided. If you're interested in visiting the area, please check them out and tell them we sent you!
[table noborder=1] [tr] [td] [/td] [td] For bike renting and a historic tour with possibility for a meal.
Bike Rental Montello
https://aglizattieri.com/ [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] [/td] [td] Looking for your next holiday destination?
Montello Expansion | Live AMA with the Developers!
To celebrate the new Montello expansion, we're live answering your questions about Isonzo & the new update and give you a little tour through the new map!
We leave the frigid heights of the Alps for a climate a little more pleasant. Back along the river Piave, we find ourselves at the Austro-Hungarian assault on the Italian town of Nervesa della Battaglia: Montello.
Alongside Montello, the Austro-Hungarians get 2 new weapons to add to their arsenal and everyone looks a little bloodied and battle-hardened in the brand-new Shellshocked Units DLC. The best part? All of it is available right now!
New map: Montello
Austro-Hungarian forces cross the river Piave and charge the Italian bunkers along the shore. Fighting continues in the trenches at the farmlands on Montello and towards an ancient Abbey. The final stages of the battle turn into urban warfare, as the Austro-Hungarian push to secure the train station at the other side of Nervesa della Battaglia. Will the Italians be able to fend them off?
The map is named after the large hill (described as being "bean shaped") at the edge of the Alps, due east of Grappa and Vidor bridge.
Montello is a varied map with many different types of encounters, set in a burning forest and leading into close quarters combat if the Italians lose ground.
Want to get the know the region even more? You're in luck. In the upcoming weeks, we'll be exploring the region even more with a Digital Cycling Tour in collaboration with Bike Rental Agli Zattieri through Prosecco Hills and the War Museum in Vittorio Veneto! We'll discover what the region was like back in the day, as well as how the war affects it to this day. Be sure to keep an eye on Steam and our social channels every Friday!
New weapons
The Austro-Hungarian forces get themselves some new tools to aid them in their advance.
The M.91 Russisches Repetier-Gewehr is essentially a Mosin–Nagant under new management. During the many battles with the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarians captured hundred thousands of Mosin–Nagant rifles and were assigned to their own troops. An estimated 200,000-300,000 of these rifles were converted to the Austro-Hungarian M93 8x50R cartridge by 1918, which was used by the Mannlicher rifles, but the version you'll be using is the original Mosin–Nagant with a new name.
Meanwhile, the Schwere-Handgranate was introduced by Austria-Hungary late in the war. Translating into English as “Heavy hand grenade“ – the grenade is quite sizeable compared to its contemporaries like the Mills bomb. It also shares a similar style of casting – though, as with the Mills bomb the cast pattern might not strictly be due to fragmentation capabilities but so that it was easier to handle is the muddy trenches of WW1.
Shellshocked Units
With a new update comes of course a new cosmetic Units pack to let you customize your look! Shellshocked contains a ton of coats and head gear that have seen better days, to be honest. Luckily, there are also some armor options for those who like to come well-equipped.
When it comes to face customization, there are a bunch of bloody bandage options to really show you're just about done with the war and some facial hair options that look quite well kept, all things considered, along with two pretty mugs to put them on!
The Shellshocked Units DLC contains a total of 40+ items across two nations:
6 Italian uniforms
13 Italian Headgear Items
6 Austro-Hungarian uniforms
12 Austro-Hungarian Headgear Items
5 Facial Items
5 Mustaches
2 Faces
For more information on what you're getting with the Shellshocked Units DLC, be sure to check out the page:
Where there's an expansion, there's a sale! You can pick up various discount between now and September 19th! Refer to the table below to see what's on sale and when.
Of course, all DLC mentioned here are cosmetic only and do not impact gameplay.
[table noborder=1 equalcells=1] [tr] [th]Until Sept 9[/th] [th]Discount[/th] [th]Sept 5 - Sept 19[/th] [th]Discount[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Isonzo - Base Game[/td] [td]-67%[/td] [td]Isonzo - Deluxe Edition[/td] [td]-65%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Isonzo - First Wave[/td] [td]-40%[/td] [td]Isonzo - Second Wave[/td] [td]-40%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Isonzo - Soundtrack[/td] [td]-50%[/td] [td]Reserve Units DLC[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Isonzo - Digital Goods[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [td]Veteran Units DLC[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Royal Units DLC[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [td]Alpine Units DLC[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Expedition Units DLC[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [td]Elite Units DLC[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Glacial Units DLC[/td] [td]-30%[/td] [td][/td] [td][/td] [/tr]
Waiting for a discount on something specific? Be sure to add it to your wishlist, or keep an eye on the Isonzo DLC overview page!
Patch Notes
Alongside the shiny new content additions, we have a couple small fixes this update.
New content
New map - Montello
New weapons for Austro-Hungarian Engineer and Rifleman - Schwere-handgranate - M.91 Russisches Repetier-Gewehr
Fixes & Improvements
Fixed snow goggle images in customization screen
Potential fix for Gas Kills not counting for Thus With A Kiss achievement
Fixed culling issues with taller buildings on some maps
Stability fixes
Performance improvements
Now soldier, it's time to fight on Montello. See you on the front lines!
Welcome back to another dev blog! We're thrilled to say that the long wait is almost over, and we can officially announce when you'll be able to jump into the battle for Montello yourselves. Make a note in your calendars...
The Solstice update will release on September 5th!
That includes the Montello map, the Mosin-Nagant rifle, the schwerhandgranate and the paid Shellshocked Units Pack cosmetic DLC. In today's blog we're going to show off the full Montello flyover video, and tell you what to expect when the fighting reaches the map's final sector: the town of Nervesa della Battaglia.
Watch the complete Montello Flyover video:
Montello's final objective
In the previous blog we followed the Austro-Hungarian advance all the way from the banks of the Piave to the abbey command post.
Once the Abbey is secure, the Austro-Hungarians have one final line of defense to break. There is a single capture point, in the train station on the other side of the town of Nervesa della Battaglia. But getting there will involve tough street by street fighting.
Looking from Italian lines towards the Abbey. Austro-Hungarian troops will need to attack down this hill through the burning forest.
The Italians were prepared, with new positions ready in case the Abbey was lost. Through a patch of forest, much of it burning after heavy artillery bombardment, is a deep trench line on the outskirts of the town. There is an Italian forward deployment post here which must be cleared out, and once that's done the Austro-Hungarians would be well advised to construct their own forward post at the other end of the trench line.
Another forward deployment post can be constructed by the attackers inside the town itself, but it's very easy to get ambushed, snuck up on, or grenaded in the close confines of the crumbling streets of Nervesa. Having an intermediate spawn point on the outskirts will save you a long walk back from the Abbey if you get taken out.
This plaza is one of the more open parts of the town, and you can see there is still a lot of cover and concealment to be found. Grenades can be bounced off buildings to land in streets where enemies are advancing, and close combat weapons can extract a bloody toll from careless soldiers.
Artillery bombardment has opened up new routes through the town with walls turned to rubble and entire houses levelled, but it hasn't done much to extend sight lines. Pistols and bayonets are invaluable in these close quarters, and recon flights can save your teammates from unpleasant surprises. Make it through the ruins and debris of the town, and the capture point awaits: the Nervesa railway station. Fight through the abandoned train cars and clear out the main station building to win the battle - if you're an Austro-Hungarian, that is.
The ground floor of the railway station. You can see there are two sets of stairs leading to the top floor, but sending grenades through that hole in the floor first is recommended.
For the Italians, you'll need to fight to the death to protect the station, but if the attackers still have a lot of tickets remaining it might be worth sallying forth back into Nervesa itself to try and sabotage the Austro-Hungarian forward spawn points. The railway station is a good defensive position and your team's engineers can surely fortify it more, but it's probably easier to attrite the attackers in the streets than the more open ground of the trainyard. If the Austro-Hungarians set up machine guns or snipers on the edges of the town there's a chance they can pin down defenders in the station itself and make it difficult for reinforcements to arrive anywhere except through the back of the station building - and having your whole team bundled up in one place is a recipe for disaster.
Will the Austro-Hungarian advance be stopped? Or will the Italians face what could be their final disaster?
Make history when Montello releases on September 5th.
We've already shown a bit of Montello, the next free map for Isonzo. Today, we dive deeper into the first half of the map: the beginning of the Austro-Hungarian assault. At the end, you'll also see a little bit of the next cosmetic Units pack.
First Sector
The assault begins with a shallow river crossing, then scaling the steep bank on the other side. A small concrete bunker provides a solid but obvious defensive position for the Italians, anchoring a trench line and barbed wire. Once they make it through the wire, they must fight through a section of woodland towards farms. There is a ruined building which houses a potential forward deployment point for the attackers, perfect to set up the next stage of the attack.
From the right angle, and if you can ignore the smoke and flames, the forest looks almost idyllic.
Once they make their way through the burning woodland trails and past the farmerless farms, the Austro-Hungarians arrive at the first sector to fulfill their first objective.
The farms near the river have suffered heavy damage from the initial artillery bombardment.
The Austro-Hungarian objective in this first sector is to destroy two gun pits. As always with multiple sabotage objectives, how your team divides itself between each objective can be the difference between a quick victory or a drawn out battle. Always be ready to shift between objectives as the need arises!
The terrain leading up to the first two objectives is a mix of woodland, trenches and damaged farm buildings. Good to know: this gun is not one of the objectives.
Second Sector
Once the guns are destroyed, your next objective is a capture point in an ancient Abbey. The Austro-Hungarians will need to cross open fields and cut through more barbed wire to reach their next forward spawn points. Past these forward spawn points is another wire barrier, and then the Abbey itself, atop a gentle hill.
These fields offer limited cover, and if you do make it across there's another line of barbed wire to cut your way through.
The abbey in Montello is loosely inspired by the Abbey of Sant'Eustachio, near the Piave river. A truly ancient building, it was originally constructed around 800 AD, in use for more than 1000 years before being abandoned in 1865, and then heavily damaged during the Second Battle of the Piave River.
It enjoys a commanding position atop a low hill, without too much cover for attackers to use on their final approach. However, it's also not a walled compound, so sneaky (smart) Austro-Hungarian players will be sure to try their luck attacking from the sides, not just the frontal route. As always, defending Engineers can do good work by blocking off the easiest ways in with barbed wire.
The Abbey has taken very heavy damage from artillery fire. Note the supplemental trench below - a good spot for defenders, but also valuable for attackers seeking a covered route to reach a different angle of attack.
Shellshocked Units
The Solstice update will bring a new paid cosmetic DLC alongside the free Montello map and weapons. Here's a little hint about the kind of content you can expect...
Join us next time as we storm the final objective!
We released a small patch with some minor changes, including the Film Memoir mode popup appearing every time you launch the game during the event... which has concluded earlier today. Better late than never!
Fixed Film Memoir popup constantly appearing in Main Menu
[Mac] Potential fix for occasional 0x0 resolution
Minor visual improvement to Gas mask
Minor localization updates
Network Version increased
The download size is expected to be around 250mb and requires patching.
Commemorate the start of WW1 - Film Memoir Screenshot Contest
This Sunday 110 years ago, the first World War had officially begun. At the time, no one could've predicted just how large and significant this conflict would become, how many lives would be lost or changed forever.
Every year we commemorate this day, and as customary we've enabled the Film Memoir mode for free on PC. While normally exclusive to the owners of the Supporter Pack DLC, everyone on PC can now enable the Film Memoir mode in the popup window or by going to the Options, then Graphics. It'll be available until August 5th!
Film Memoir Screenshot Contest
This year however, there's more! Let's take a moment to stay away from the bloodshed and instead put our focus on the footprint of WW1. This war left a mark on the continent, much still visible to this day.
We invite you to take the best possible Film Memoir screenshots of the environments in Verdun, Tannenberg and Isonzo that show both the beauty of the many theaters of war and the marks WW1 left behind. Think trenches, barbed wire, craters, destroyed trees, you name it! Remember that Film Memoir needs to be turned on and we highly recommend you disable the UI.
You get two entries for this contest: 1 by posting a screenshot on Discord in the dedicated channel and 1 by posting a screenshot on Reddit with the Memoir Contest flair. These should not be the same screenshots! We'll select 5 winners on Discord and Reddit each, who'll win a DLC pack for Isonzo or the game itself if they don't own it yet. One person cannot win on both platforms and the contest will be closed on August 5th. Good luck!
Montello Teaser
As a little extra, here's a small preview of the flyover for Isonzo's next map: Montello!
More about Montello!
Last time on the blog we only saw the very start of the battle represented in our upcoming free Montello map: the Second Battle of the Piave River.
Leaked Austro-Hungarian battle plans meant that the Italians were able to bombard them just before they began their assault, while they were still packed together in forward trenches. Casualties were heavy, and in places even led to the attack being cancelled or delayed. For the most part though, the Austro-Hungarian soldiers went forward and aggressively crossed the river to engage Italian positions on the other side.
They made it over the river and were able to advance 5 miles (8 km) further before the attack ran out of steam. The Austro-Hungarian commander Boroević attempted to restart the assault in the following days, but the destruction of bridges and high water levels made resupply across the river a nightmare, with some troops even drowning as they tried to cross.
A screenshot of the Piave river in Isonzo alongside reference materials. You can easily imagine how long those pontoon bridges would last under artillery fire.
On July 19th, four days after the attack began, the Italian General Diaz launched a counterattack into Boroević's flank which inflicted significant losses and further degraded their ability to attack. By the next day, Emperor Karl had taken personal command and ordered a retreat. Three days after that, the Italians finished recapturing all the lost ground on their side of the river. Italy's allies encouraged them to keep up the offensive and chase the Austro-Hungarians across the Piave, but General Diaz figured that the same supply issues that had hindered the Austro-Hungarian operations would block effective Italian attacks as well - not to mention the fact his forces were still scattered and not ready for an offensive. Instead smaller actions were taken to secure useful ground and prepare for a future offensive. Italy would be at no further risk of attack from the thoroughly exhausted Austro-Hungarian military.
The town of Nervesa della Battaglia in-game, as seen from the defender's perspective looking towards the Austro-Hungarian advance.
Gameplay and History
As with all our maps, we've done a lot of research to recreate the battlefield while also making it a playable space with entertaining gameplay. This means making sure key landmarks and defenses are represented, but allows for some wriggle room when it comes to proportions and distances. The goal is to capture the challenges and opportunities offered by the landscape, but avoid frustration or particular objectives being too easy.
These photographs of the river helped us create a memorable starting area for the battle.
People unfamiliar with the First World War might think all trenches are much alike, but as all you veteran WW1 Series players will know, every area of every front had trenches with specific quirks. Getting trenches right for each map is a top priority.
For the next blog, we'll share a first view of the new map in motion, and for the blog after that we'll be going more in-depth about what to expect when stepping onto the Montello battlefield for the first time!
The route on Google Maps
Source
Statue Ragazzi del '99 in Bassano del Grappa
Source
The route on Google Maps
