Play Company of Heroes 2's New Expansion for Free Before It's Released

Company of Heroes 2's forthcoming standalone expansion, The British Forces, arrives in a few weeks' time. Before it hits, Sega is offering the chance for a select group of fans to play the full thing for free.

A trial of The British Forces will be available from August 31 at 10 AM PDT until September 2 at 2 PM. To access it, you'll need a code, which will be offered to no more than 55,000 players. Sega hasn't detailed the manner in which it will offer them; right now, it's simply telling fans to pay attention to the Company of Heroes Twitter account for details on how and when codes are being handed out.

Those who do get their hands on a code will have unrestricted access to the expansion. That means getting to try out the British Army with 15 new units, six new commanders (three of which are only available as loot drops), and eight new maps. The trial also offers access to the factions and commanders available in the existing versions of Company of Heroes 2.

The British Forces is due out for PC on September 3, a day after the trial ends. It's priced at $13, though you can currently preorder it on Steam for 10 percent off ($11.69), or 20 percent off ($10.39) if you own any past Company of Heroes game. Being a standalone expansion, you don't need to own any games in order to play; you can just pick this up and have access to the British Army and all new and existing maps in auto-match. These can be played against other players online or versus the AI.