Hamburger Hill Quick Play guide

Wesware has not published a full list of Quick Play options, so the exact menu may differ from this summary in your build.

• Terrain.
• Weather.
• Opposing forces, with up to three factions in one battle.
• Battle size, up to 64 soldiers.
• Preset cards and extra battle settings, added when Quick Play was reworked in update 0.2.0.

The official cap is 64 soldiers, which players describe as 32 v 32. Some players have asked for even bigger battles. Campaign fights can also get large: one player described a 60 v 60 Warlordz invasion of the port he was holding.

Our take: big battles are a good stress test for your PC. If the frame rate drops, try a smaller battle first; updates 0.2.0 and 0.7.0 both list performance improvements, so stay on the latest build.

Update 0.3.0 added the Night Assault Boats mission to both the campaign and Quick Play: stay unseen or fight your way ashore. The update notes also mention a helicopter insertion mission (0.2.0), rescue missions where you fire a flare to call extraction and defend the aircrew (0.4.0, improved in 0.7.0), patrols through villages and outposts (0.5.0), convoys and city streets. The notes do not say which of these appear in Quick Play.

Wesware has posted gameplay videos of several mission types. The descriptions give a good idea of what each one looks like:

• Airborne Invasion: "Jump through heavy flak, watch a transport go down, and fight through Riverbend’s buildings to complete the mission."
• Beach Landing: The ramp drops and the squad is ordered up the beach: "Dropping the ramp! Hit the beach! ... Up to the wall!"
• Jungle Patrol: A full first-person patrol through heavy rain, fighting enemy groups with the grenade launcher.

Play video: Hamburger Hill | Airborne Invasion Gameplay

Play video: Hamburger Hill | Beach Landing Gameplay

Play video: Hamburger Hill | Jungle Patrol Gameplay

Players praise the insertion choices: parachute, helicopter, boats and landing craft all appear in the update notes and videos. They also report the risks. Some lost the whole squad on the first parachute and boat missions, one says helicopter door gunners shot his own men, and the player guide recommends moving between campaign sectors on foot because the other methods can cause sudden losses. These are player reports from 0.4.0 to 0.7.0; Wesware improved helicopter extraction in 0.7.0.

Quick Play is a single battle on your terms. The campaign is the plan, equip, fight loop: you keep a 12-man squad between battles, make one assault per turn, and take bonus missions such as convoys and patrols between assaults. If you are new, the tutorial added in 0.2.0 covers weapons training and squad combat with a voiced drill instructor.

Squad roles guide

These are our suggestions built on the documented settings, not official modes.

• Learn one enemy at a time: Set a single opposing force so you can see how the Federate Army and the W.A.R.L.O.R.D.Z fight before meeting them in the campaign.
• Try a three-way battle: Add all three factions and watch the two enemy sides fight each other, the same idea players use on the campaign map.
• Change the weather: Rain and fog change how far you can see; update 0.4.0 improved fire, fog and rain.