Independent game guide

Front 1917

Send squads across no man's land, seize trenches, call fire support, and break enemy morale across two Western Front campaigns.

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Front 1917

Every deployment changes the next decision

Front 1917 turns a line of trenches into a timing problem. Squads prepare at different rates, and sending one resets the preparation of every other unit. A rifle section may be ready now, but deploying it can delay the machine gun or tank that would make the next crossing safer.

Open ground is deliberately lethal. Units become harder to hit once they reach a trench, so attacks depend on building enough local strength, choosing when to advance, and using support before morale collapses on either side.

Two campaigns cross sixteen battles

The British campaign runs from Arras to Cambrai, while the German campaign begins at Cambrai and continues toward the Marne. Each side has eight battles, its own advantages, and access to riflemen, machine guns, shock troops, officers, snipers, tanks, anti-tank teams, and sappers as the campaign develops.

Victories award up to three stars and commander experience feeds a skill tree. Four difficulty levels range from Recruit to Legend, and progress is stored in the browser after each battle.

Orders extend beyond the unit cards

Select a trench to order its occupants forward, back, or to let reinforcements pass. Mortars, artillery, drifting gas, and anti-tank guns are aimed separately with Q, W, E, and R, while sappers can place mines at a chosen point.

Custom battles expose the wider system without requiring a full campaign. Side, front length, wire, minefields, weather, time of day, and enemy tactics can all be changed. Keyboard, mouse, touch, and landscape phone play are supported in English, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Guide

Deploy: Click a unit card or press 1–8; every deployment resets the preparation timer on the other units
Command: Select a trench, then use Space to advance everyone, S to pull back, or L to let reinforcements pass
Support: Press Q, W, E, or R and click the field to call available fire support
View: Use A/D, the arrow keys, dragging, or the mouse wheel to scroll; + and − control zoom
Campaign: Choose Britain or Germany for eight battles, or build a custom battle with your own front, weather, and tactics

Creator's description

The British campaign opened at Arras on 9 April 1917. Entering the first battle exposed the riflemen card, the morale objective, and the trench-command tutorial; clicking the card deployed the first squad from the rear.