Douse the Jack-o’-lanterns! The Plague Doctor returns to the frontlines this Halloween, bringing with him a game sale, SDK updates and a spooky new friend to reign terror upon the battlefield.

Be sure to take a read till the end as alongside these additions we will also be taking a look at what the Holdfast modding community has been up to recently and discussing the ‘Big Update’ coming to Holdfast: Nations At War in the near future.

Game Sale

From October 28th until November 1st, Holdfast: Nations At War will be on sale for a massive 45% off!

With the games ever growing public, regiment and modding communities and plenty of future content still to come, now is the perfect moment to fire in volley, storm walls, rain artillery fire and charge on horseback this Halloween sale.

So what are you waiting for? The generals of the British, Prussian, Russian, French and Italian armies call for your enlistment!

A Chatty Friend

Why didn’t the skeleton go to the party? Because he was too busy being fired out of a Napoleonic cannon!

Lonely artillery men fear no more as coming with this Halloween update is a new friend to keep you company through the nights. Not only will the plague doctor be returning this spooky season but with him comes a new foe to the battlefield… Monsieur Fred.



For the duration of the Halloween update Monsieur Fred, a talking skull, will replace round-shot ammunition bringing terrible jokes and catchphrases with him. Monsieur Fred is the perfect ammunition to decrease the morale of the enemy by bombarding them with the talking fellow.

Hop into Holdfast and simply pick up a round shot to awaken him at your own risk…



Credit goes to ApexPhantom for the zombified 3e regiment mod.

Holdfast SDK V3. Bots

The Holdfast SDK has opened many opportunities for the community to create their own custom content and experiences. For over a year now players have been able to create some very impressive custom maps, uniforms and scripts which is why we’ve continued to update and improve the Holdfast SDK.

This update improves upon Holdfast’s bots by allowing them to be targeted by rc commands, opening up a treasure-trove of opportunities to create bot oriented game modes and events.

Be sure to take a look at the community spotlight section of this blog to see some of the impressive work already done by members of the community with these new additions. You don't have to update existing modifications with the release of this update - Its backwards compatible.

The Big Update. Signups

For the past months we have been teasing the ‘Big Update’ coming to Holdfast: Nations at War, and as we approach closer to its release we are now able to reveal more information about what is to come.

The ‘Big Update’ has been in the works for over a year now and will bring something completely fresh and new to Holdfast, featuring new gameplay mechanics, features and much more. It is the most ambitious update to date!

The continued support of the community has allowed us to bring a new experience to Holdfast and as such we would now like to open Closed-BETA signups for the ‘Big Update’. Signups will be available to all Holdfast: Nations At War players but do keep in mind that spots are limited and you may not be accepted to this wave of tests. It is also subject to a non-disclosure agreement.

The Big Update - Signup Here!

Don’t be too disheartened however if you are not picked as the update will be coming to all of the Holdfast community in the coming year. While you wait though, you could help us put this letter back together. Rycon found it while he was out fishing just off-shore from here in our office in Malta. We tried our best to dry it off but we could still use some extra hands piecing it back together and making it readable. Be careful with it though, it looks rather old.

Community Spotlight

As mentioned, the support from the community over the years has been integral to the games success and our ability to work on bigger and greater updates for the game. It is because of this that we’d like to showcase some of the brilliant work of our modding community and regiments of the game.

With the SDK scripting update release we’ve already seen some incredible work from the community. One mod that has recently risen to popularity amongst the Holdfast community is C0reDump3r’s Commander mod. The mod allows players to take command of a line of bots and compete against other players in glorious large-scale linebattles. We caught up with C0reDump3r to find out more about their brilliant mod. Anvil Game Studios will be aiding the growing team working on this modification in their conquests by exposing modding-related features and functions present in this update to bring this brilliant idea to fruition.

“It was my friends in my regiment who said commander battle will be fun , then I just decided to make it happen. Recently, I'm planning to add a melee system for bots. I really like the idea of making cavalry bots, so I will definitely try to implement this.” - C0reDump3r



We also chatted with Davwado who has been kind enough to host a public commander battle server so all of the community can command at will!. We asked Davwado why they decided to help out.

“I decided to host the commander battle server purely out of curiosity at first, I was sent a mysterious video showing off some gameplay and was amazed. From this first test server a full community has spawned around it with an almost constant player base only typically seen on the official servers. Mods which alter the gameplay such as this one provide a whole new experience to players, ordinarily you may need 40+ players to play most maps now you can do the same with 4. It fundamentally changes the dynamic of the game. Already we've had close to 600 man battles with a fraction of the people required for a normal linebattle. Hopefully in the future we can have more development leading to more and more unique game modes.” - Davwado



The regiment community has been just as integral in keeping a constant stream of new experiences for players over the past years, their custom events, tournaments and many other activities have been key for players looking to get more out of the standard Holdfast experience. We decided to ask a few regiments members and leaders what brought them to making a regiment in the first place, starting with Jev from the 7.Fuß.

“I first made the regiment to be able to play with my friends and lead a group of people in a manner that was fair and focused on player experience more than anything else. To this day it is still my main drive to continue pushing on and putting the work in, especially during the pandemic. Providing a place for people to unwind, make friends and have a good time has proven and keeps proving to be a great boon not just to those people's fun but often also to their mental health.” - Jev



We asked the same question to Meal of the 21st Jägers.

“I joined my regiment thanks to an older member who loved to be loud and RP in public servers. This drew my attention when I was new to the game, and when he linked his discord I was hooked. As for why I've stayed, what started as a regiment, a couple weekly gatherings to play a specific game for an hour, eventually turned into something I'd be willing to call my second family. I whole-heartedly view the regulars within my regiment as I would a brother or sister. There hasn't been a week in years that we don't laugh until we're in tears during the course of an event, either because of the game itself or the company we share it with. This is something I wouldn't throw away for the world.” - Meal



Whether you’re interested in modding Holdfast, hosting your own community events or just wanting to get involved deeper within our great community, the Holdfast official Discord server is the place to be. It is your central hub for all things Holdfast and houses a plethora of channels dedicated to event and game announcements, regiment recruitment, game support, suggestions, history discussion and more.

Click below to join today!

discord.gg/holdfastgame







Changelog 71 - Game Version v1.20.7970.28120


Halloween Event

● The Plague Doctor returns! Bring gruelling disease with this class this Halloween.

● Monsieur Fred rattles his way through Holdfast this Halloween.

● Many more goodies from previous events.


Holdfast SDK V3

● Bots are now smarter and can perform their actions more human-like.
» They are able to perform melee actions, pitch their weapon, block as well as fire.

● Introduced several rc commands allowing great control over several other actions to complement the above.
» Switching weapons.
» Rotation.
» Play a voice phrase.
» Equipping a carriable object.
» Switch from walking to running.
» Movement and interaction relative to cavalry mechanics.
» Heal.
» Play an instrument.
» Order commands.
» Interact with in-game objects including artillery pieces and chairs.
» Build defences.

● Go to our Wiki for a full list of commands to use during your modding ventures.
» Modding Wiki - Shared Methods 2
» Modding Wiki - RC Commands
» Modding Wiki - Server Config Enums


Misc

● Updated the server browser list in the 'Join Custom Server' panel accessible through the game's server browser.


Look forward to what more we have in store for Holdfast: Nations At War. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for making this community an ever-welcoming place filled with wholesome individuals. :rheartr:

You're more than welcome to give us a follow on our new Steam Developer Page.

Until next time, may good health be yours.





- Anvil Game Studios

Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Wrexial, Walki, Cameron, Jackson, Rejenorst, Harper & Storey