Scenarios
Four eras. Same engine. Different game.
NationFall ships with four full historical scenarios, spanning 1914 to the present day. Each is a complete world: real starting positions, era-appropriate technology, era-appropriate ideologies, era-appropriate alliances and rivalries.
Underneath, the same combat, espionage, civil war, and AI systems run all four. On the surface, they play almost nothing alike - a war without tanks and a war fought mostly by proxy are not the same game.
At a glance
What changes between the four scenarios.
| WW1 - 1914 | WW2 - 1939 | Cold War - 1947 | WW3 - 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start date | June 1914 | January 1, 1939 | March 1947 | Modern, 2026 baseline |
| Major powers | Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottomans, Russia, France, UK | USA, Germany, USSR, UK, Japan, France, Italy, China | USA and USSR, with UK, France and a decolonising empire map | USA, China, Russia, EU bloc, India |
| Bloc structure | Central Powers vs. Triple Entente vs. neutrals | Allies vs. Axis vs. neutrals | Western vs. Soviet bloc vs. non-aligned | NATO vs. BRICS vs. non-aligned |
| Era-locked tech | Mass infantry, heavy artillery, dreadnoughts, submarines - no armor until 1916 | Tanks, prop fighters, battleships, late-war atomic bomb | Early jets and strategic bombers, one atomic arsenal at start | F-35, T-90, hypersonic missiles, drone swarms |
| War character | Grinding - artillery and manpower against defended fronts | Tends decisive - mass armor breaks fronts | Mostly cold - proxies, coups and flashpoints over open war | Mixed - modern AD systems favor grind unless you achieve air dominance |
| Espionage value | Secondary - this is a war of production and endurance | Real but secondary to industrial mobilization | Decisive - flipping a country beats taking one | High - grey-zone is half the conflict |
| Colonial structure | Empires at maximum extent - 28 modern countries do not exist yet | British Raj, French Indochina, Dutch East Indies live | Decolonisation in progress and up for grabs | Post-colonial - flashpoints replace colonial extraction |
| How you win | Neutralise the whole enemy coalition | Conquest, or outlast the other bloc | Conquer the other superpower, or paint the map | Conquest, bloc dominance or negotiated outcome |
Pick your era
All four scenarios are in the demo. You can switch between them at any time.
World War I
Four empires on the brink. A map that no longer exists. War before the tank - artillery, manpower and fronts that move in kilometres.
See the WW1 scenario →World War II
Europe teeters on the brink. Real 1939 borders. Real industrial weights. Real flashpoints. Rewrite history or watch it unfold.
See the WW2 scenario →Cold War
The Iron Curtain descends. One atomic monopoly, two blocs, a live UN, and an empire map coming apart. Win without firing a shot - or don't.
See the Cold War scenario →World War III
Modern geopolitics. Current alliances. Contemporary arsenals. Hypersonic missiles. Drone swarms. What happens next?
See the WW3 scenario →New here? Start with a primer
Two short guided scenarios ship alongside the campaigns, six turns each and no way to lose them.
- →Tutorial - First Steps. The core loop, played as Portugal.
- →Politics Primer - The Recognition Question. Worldview, recognition, factions and crisis decisions, played as India, with no economy to manage and no war to win.
How to choose
No wrong answer - all four ship in the demo, and the saves don't conflict. But one might fit better depending on what you want from a campaign.
Pick WW1 if…
- →You want to play a map that hasn't existed for a century
- →You like attritional war where logistics and endurance beat manoeuvre
- →You want to hold a multi-ethnic empire together under pressure
- →You want terrain - rivers, bridges, passes - to decide campaigns
Pick Cold War if…
- →You want to win by influence rather than invasion
- →You enjoy espionage, proxies, coups and deniability as primary tools
- →You want UN votes and recognition to have real mechanical weight
- →You want the longest campaign arc in the game - 1947 to 1991
Pick WW2 if…
- →You want classic grand strategy with industrial mobilization races
- →You like decisive armor warfare and mass production
- →You want to play the historical "what if" - or run it straight
- →You enjoy the late-war atomic race as an endgame
Pick WW3 if…
- →You want a modern simulation with hypersonics and drones
- →You enjoy magazine logistics and multi-doctrine strikes
- →You want grey-zone conflict - espionage and ideology pressure matter as much as guns
- →You want to wargame current geopolitics, not refight history
All four are in the demo
Free browser demo. Pick a scenario from the start menu. Switch any time.
Play Free DemoOr read more: how combat works · how the AI plays