Gen'l,

December 24, and all quiet on the Potomac tonight. With the cessation of fighting, troops retire to their winter quarters. Unofficial cease-fires are agreed on, and along the picket lines the Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs approach one another to trade coffee, tobacco, stories... and news. While still enemies, there are many things that the soldiers in blue and gray agree about:

...that the generals on both sides are getting the enlisted men killed in futile assaults against enemy works, that the newest weapons seem take too long to reach the frontline regiments, that there's never enough information about what is going on, that the food is not that great...

...and that while the Grand Tactician's Christmas patch 0.8307 does not yet bring the end to the war, it brings a lot of fixes, improvements and requested features on the table, that will keep the men fighting.

These include, among others:

• Map Pack #1 is finished, with 10 new historical battle maps added and available during the campaign
  
• Raiding option to fleets to launch surprise attacks against blockading fleets
  
• More aggressive battle AI, if it has the numerical superiority
  
• Rebalanced numbers of volunteers and drafts, with drafts being used to fill up volunteer units and draft units reducing support in recruiting state
  
• Fixed morale loss and gain for losing or capturing cities during the campaign
  
• Poor training and low support slowing down movement of armies
  
• Armies no longer besieging enemy forts on the opposite bank of a river
  
• Option to withdraw instead of retreating, with rear guard action and only pulling away from the immediate danger
  
• New rolling text information about campaign events, like autoresolved battles including rear guard action and naval battles
  
• Improved naming convention for new armies
  

And a lot more...

Read the full patch notes here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/654890/discussions/0/2993170476553402018/

We, the Grand Tactician Team would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Also we'd like to thank all the Early Access players, who have supported us in making of this game, from providing feedback, to playtesting & bughunting, to the many friendly words of encouragement we have received while working hard to improve the game and finalizing it for the full release.

Cheers - and onwards!