Kaiser Versus Unicorns - Toy Soldiers: War Chest

With a game box bordering the battlefield, dead soldiers toppling over as lifeless plastic, wind-up keys turning in tanks, and glimpses of the bedroom beyond when flying planes, Toy Soldiers charmingly pulled off the idea that it was all just kids mucking about. It went a bit wacky with this idea before in DLC, shaking a bucket of knights and wind-up robots over the World War I battlefield, but the third in the tower defence series was announced yesterday and crumbs, it's really going for it.

Toy Soldiers: War Chest introduces Starbright and her legions of unicorns, pixies, and non-copyright-infringing Carebears to blow bubbles and rainbows at the German troops.

Toy Soldiers isn't just a tower defence, mind. Sure, you plonk down various turrets and upgrade them and whatnot, but it's unwinnable if you don't jump onto the battlefield yourself. Turrets, planes, tanks (and their faerie equivalents) can all be controlled directly, and each faction also has a hero unit you can rampage as. Speaking of, two yet-unannounced factions will be joining the Starbright and the Kaiser sides. Come on, non-copyright-infringing Space Marines!

This announcement feels a mite premature seeing as the PC port of the second game is still in Early Access. War Chest isn't due until "early 2015" so developers Signal Studios should have plenty of time to finish Cold War, and these are the realities of ports and publishers and multiplatform development, but it's still a bit grody.