Hello everyone!

Today we’re taking a look at how classes work in Gallipoli, as well as the classes you can expect to see!

Gallipoli has a new class system, with each class having a perk and “Kits”, or subclasses, to choose from that give you various advantages and equipment options tailored to a specific role you’re looking to fill.

Each class has two kits to pick from. A kit comes with a perk, equipment, a choice of a primary weapon and sometimes a choice of a secondary weapon as well. Based on everything you’ll be carrying around, each kit also has a set weight and ammo count.

To illustrate the new class system, let’s look at an example: the Ottoman Engineer. Do keep in mind that Gallipoli is a work in progress and everything mentioned in this blog can still be subject to change, especially when it comes to balancing.

In general, your kit options include a more offensive option that provides mobility, better weapon handling or capture weight, as well as a support or defensive option, granting buildables and improved suppressive abilities. You can tell what role each kit fills by the name and the ‘task’ next to it.

Looking back at the example above, the Saboteur Kit with the task “Search and Destroy” is great for a more offensive role, with passive equipment spotting, a water bottle for stamina and a pistol primary weapon to keep you lightweight. Frontline Builder is generally better to “Fortify the line!”, with defensive structures and rifles to choose from.

When you’re in a match or the barracks and wish to select your class and kit, the progress is largely the same as in Isonzo. Once you’ve picked a class, you can select a kit right next to the class button. Here, you’ll see all the same details from the table above. If you select a class, it will default to the last kit you’ve used.

Your weapon selection will be saved within the kit, just like with classes in Isonzo. The same thing goes for cosmetics, so you can dress the part for each kit!

With the explanation out of the way, let’s see what the classes of Gallipoli are! A couple return from Isonzo, but there’s a bunch of new ones we’d like to highlight!

We won’t give you all the details quite yet, we do want to keep some surprises for launch, but we’ll give you a general description of each.

From Isonzo, you’ll also recognise:

• Officer

• Rifleman

• Engineer

• Light Machine Gunner (similar to Assault)

• Spotter (previously Mountaineer)

• Sniper (previously Marksman)

They’ll fill the same or similar roles in Gallipoli, but with new perks, equipment and buildables from their kits that better suit the Ottoman Fronts.

That’s all the classes! The abilities and equipment provided by subclasses are mirrored between the British and Ottomans, except for Light Machine Gunners, which are exclusive to the British Empire. Of course, your weapon options do depend on your faction.

We'll see you again soon with more Gallipoli information!

Hello everyone!

Today is a very exciting day, as we have a brand new trailer in store for you. This brand new look at Gallipoli focuses on the Siege of Kut, where the Ottomans attacked the British Army holed up in the town of Kut Al Amara in lower Mesopotamia.

The Indian Expeditionary Force (IEF) captured the Mesopotamian town of Kut al-Amara in September 1915. Situated in a horseshoe bend of the River Tigris it provided a base of operations for the British to consider a further advance towards Baghdad. However, after a defeat by Ottoman defenders at Ctesiphon in November of the same year, Major General Charles Townshend’s 6th (Poona) Division retreated back to Kut, where the Ottomans laid siege. 

Aerial view of Kut Al Amara, IWM (Q 107237)[www.iwm.org.uk]

The British built trench lines out across the horseshoe and incorporated an old fortification - what the British referred to as the ‘Mud Fort’ - into their defensive lines. The Ottomans, commanded by Khalil Pasha, made numerous attacks on the outer defenses but could not break through. With the town besieged - and enough rations for around 60 days - the only hope for the British was for a relief force to be dispatched from Basra to break through the Ottoman lines. In order to accelerate this intervention, Townshend misrepresented his supply stores in messages back to Basra, claiming he had less food than he did. As a result, an ill-prepared British force was defeated by the Ottomans at El Hanna.

Charles Townshend and Khalil Pasha after the surrender of Kut, IWM (Q 79344)[www.iwm.org.uk]

With no prospect of relief, the supply situation became desperate and some defenders began to eat the animals within Kut. Townshend attempted to negotiate with Enver Pasha - then Minister for War - but he refused any terms. Townshend then surrendered the town after 147 days of siege and was taken to Constantinople. However, his army underwent a series of forced marches to prisoner of war camps where an estimated 70% of the British-Indian rank and file soldiers died during their captivity. The Siege of Kut was one of the worst defeats for the Entente of the entire war.

Kut is a map of two halves. The battle starts out of town in a no man's land of a scorching desert, dominated by the sun and heavy shelling. The other half transitions into full-on urban combat, with alleyways and doorways allowing threats to pop up from around every corner. However, let’s go back to the start of the battle and follow the Ottoman approach.

As the Ottomans begin their charge across the open dunes, their first obstacle is the lovingly nicknamed ‘Mud Fort’ and the fortified redoubt connected to its trench network, both of which make up Sector 1. It has been softened up by prior shelling already, but the British will still be able to put up a fight here; they have cover, the Ottomans have not.

Once past the fort, more opportunities for cover arise. On the left, along the river Tigris, you can ditch the sand and opt for mud instead. As the region’s lifeline, the Tigris allows for vegetation in the shape of palm trees to grow, providing you with some much needed cover to mask your approach to the objective. On the right side, the frontal assault option won’t be as punishing as before. The terrain here has a lot more trenches and prominent dunes, leading you to the kilns that mark the other objective of this sector.

Pushing past the palms & kilns, we dive into Kut proper. Entry into the town is divided into a left and a right approach by a large central building, with some sneakier options in the middle. Once beyond this building, we’re a short jog away from the objectives of Sector 3: the historical British Headquarters on the left and the Mosque on the right. Don’t get too comfortable though, as some of the rooftops are accessible and offer prime ambush opportunities. If you don’t see the enemy in front of you, you may need to look up!

As we approach Sector 4, the final sector, a perpendicular road opens up a whole lot of options. You can pick from any of 5 lanes that will take you through or past the Bazaar (or Souq) straight to the final objective, but all will bring chaos. The streets are cluttered, there are fires all over the place and the British have dug themselves in for their last stand. Some doors take you to the adjacent lanes, others are a dead end, while others still allow you to hide to reload or ambush a foe.

The long sightlines are a prime opportunity for machine gun fire, but if you manage to break through, you’ll find the final Headquarters in the warehouse at the docks of Kut.

The Martini-Henry is a breech-loading lever action rifle from 1871. As it was replaced by the Lee-Metford, all existing Martini-Henry variants were converted to .45 calibre to limit the amount of different calibres in service, creating the Martini-Henry Mk.IV. 

Even though the Lee-Metford had also already been replaced by the Lee-Enfield by WW1, the Martini-Henry Mk.IV saw service during the war, as reserves of the newer rifles started to run out – especially on the Ottoman Fronts.

As the Ottoman Empire was unable to purchase Martini-Henry rifles from the British, they bought rifles identical to the Martini Henry Mk.I from the United States. The main difference between the weapons was the lack of barrel rifling that gave the Martini-Henry the ‘Henry’ part of its name. Instead, it took the name of the Peabody action both rifles have.

Much like the Martini-Henry, the Peabody-Martini was already replaced long before WW1. However, it continued to play a role in Ottoman culture as the every man’s rifle, appearing in tales of outlaws and folk heroes like Hekimoğlu. During WW1, it reappeared on the battlefield as the Ottomans started to run out of Mauser rifles.

As we’ve established, much of Kut Al Amara provides great opportunities to dig in behind some sandbags or a low wall with a machine gun in hand. So let’s take a look at one of the options for the British Empire!

The Hotchkiss Portative is an Austrian design sold to Hotchkiss in 1893. It was improved upon by the American manager of the manufacturer and saw limited production by Springfield and Colt. Production officially began in the Hotchkiss factory in Paris, but the factory was moved to Lyon when the Germans threatened the city. The following year, Hotchkiss was invited to set up a factory in the UK, where 40,000 units were made. Quite the journey.

That’s everything for today! We hope you enjoyed the new look at the game and are excited for Kut Al Amara. If you haven’t already, add Gallipoli to your wishlist! It really helps us out by giving us more opportunities to spread the word about the new game.

We have some exciting collaborations coming up soon as well as some substantial news next month. See you soon!