As some of you may know, I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the past as a writer for Burden of Command – an upcoming WW2 tactical RPG which follows the (real) battles of a (fictional) infantry company of the (very real) 3rd Battalion, 7th US Infantry Regiment through North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany from November 1942 to the very end of the war in Europe.

Some of you may also know that it’s been taking a very long time in development. I was hired to work on it in the middle of 2016 when it was already in early production – and I wrapped up my writing work on it last summer. During that entire time, I’ve seen it go through production, expansion, re-iteration, polish, and eventual playtesting, with me involved mostly in writing and scenario design, but with bits of UX and gameplay design here and there as well.

Over the years, quite a few people (my dad among them) have speculated about when it’ll actually be coming out, which is a fair question given that the game was first announced sometime in 2017. Well, now they have an answer. After years of development and months of intensive playtesting, Burden of Command will be out sometime in between this December and next February.

I know this isn’t a release date as much as a release window, but that window being relatively soon means that the game is more or less in a state of completion. Luke (the lead developer) has been pretty adamant about not pushing the game out before it’s ready, so we can be fairly confident that it’s just about ready now, with the rest of the time remaining just to make sure.

I will not lie, this game has a lot of my best writing in it – including some stuff which I’ve been really excited about showing off. A serious, historical narrative means I was able to tackle a lot of serious historical themes and subjects without having to veil them behind a fictional setting. I put a lot into the main campaign, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of it.