14 DAY TRIAL // What will it take for a militarized but not fascist Finland to meet the challenge of Soviet Russia in the Winter War and win? Historically, the Finns put up a solid fight but were unable to deal with the amount of troops their opponents could throw into the grinder. Something similar is happening in my Hearts of Iron IV campaigns.
It might be a better idea to move towards democracy and ally with the Allies, although they might be a little busy to offer a lot of help, considering how quickly France tends to fall to a Axis assault. Germany, as the rising power of the moment, might offer more support, but that requires a big political swing to the extreme right, with starting moves in 1936. Finland and its fellow Nordic countries face difficult choices.
Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny was developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. The downloadable content pack adds historical and alternate focus trees for Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway. An international weapons market and military-industrial organizations are added for everyone.
The new national trees for the four featured countries are big, filled with a mix of 35 and 70-day focuses, and offer a lot of options and plenty of bespoke systems. Finland, threatened by Soviet Russia, can try to face the behemoth in battle with a range of ideologies and leaders in charge. But their agendas can be hard to satisfy, leading to loss of popular support. Sweden seems to have the highest potential to become a major power even if it didn’t fight in World War II in the real world.
Denmark, small and quickly targeted by Germany, is the least interesting option although exploring its focus tree shows some interesting possibilities. Meanwhile, Norway seems like the trickiest to manage. I tried to turn it into the shipping and naval escort powerhouse for the Allies and had a fun game before the Soviets invaded when World War III started.
Arms Against Tyranny changes the design company system. For infantry equipment, tanks, ships, and airplanes, they have morphed into military-industrial organizations, country-specific and complete with upgrade trees and policies. You pay them a small amount of political points to use them to enhance research and they can also be attached to production lines (this time for free) to provide bonuses.
They will change strategy, especially when it comes to PP investment, regardless of the chosen country (some MIOs have special nation-specific bonuses). The new international weapons market gives minors a way to get equipment that they cannot or will not produce domestically.
Paradox has also worked with the biggest mod markers for Hearts of Iron IV to make sure their creations are compatible with the new DLC on launch. It’s a great initiative and will ensure that gamers have something new to try out as soon as they get too familiar with the new countries.
Arms Against Tyranny adds new visual touches for Nordic countries, including models for their units. The interface is busier than ever. Veterans will know how to get to the information they need but newcomers might have trouble with it for a while. The soundtrack continues to be very good, making Hearts of Iron IV one of the few strategy titles where I feel no need to bring in historical podcasts as an alternative.
Conclusion
The free patch coming alongside the DLC tweaks many systems, with the historical Finish path also offered for free to all base game owners. I’ve spent many hours trying to lead Finland to victory in the Winter War and had fun even when the run ended in failure. Hearts of Iron IV is a solid grand strategy game and Arms Against Tyranny adds both variety and depth.
Review key provided by the publisher.
