Everything you can do in a real-time fight, you can do on the turn-based map, whether it's using your air force to scout an area, your engineers to remove mines or your artillery to demolish enemy units. Relic has created a 'holistic loop' that keeps the campaigns feeling inextricably linked to the RTS battles. You'll have discrete objectives, but otherwise you can explore and conquer these maps however you want, letting you make your own route to victory.

How do Company of Heroes 3's campaigns work?Ĭompany of Heroes 3's campaigns are turn-based and take place on huge maps evocative of Total War. I had to liberate some partisan forces first, and then by making choices that favoured them, I unlocked a bunch of convenient perks. Instead, you'll use them on the campaign map to create traps and snatch up enemy intel. The partisans are a special faction in that you won't be commanding them like a normal army. The cooperation and tension between the Allies is a big part of the campaigns, so you'll need to juggle the desires of your subcommanders, who include an Italian partisan liaison. Importantly, you will actually be able to command both at the same time, giving you a very large toy box to play with. You'll be able to play as the German, UK and US forces, though on the campaign you'll just be playing the Allies. What Company of Heroes 3 factions will be playable? Interestingly, we've also heard that the selection of Italy as a setting was a choice made by the player council Relic is working with. 'So the players are going to go through and play each mission one after the other and experience that whole story start to finish as we tell it to them.' 'The North African operation is a linear story,' senior mission designer David Milne told me during its reveal. The North African campaign is a more straightforward RTS campaign than the open map of Italy. What I could have done in four hours took me 11. I played through a small slice where I had to take Monte Cassino, giving me a road to Rome, but along with my main objective were countless other battles, side missions and territory to conquer.

We've only seen Italy, and it seems massive. You'll duke it out in a campaign set across Italy, and North Africa has now been confirmed as well, where you'll conquer territory, get into skirmishes and fight bespoke battles. After fighting through the Western and Eastern Fronts, Company of Heroes is now heading to the Mediterranean.

Company of heroes 2 control both sides