100 players, three teams, one control zone. The tactical all-out-warfare FPS that has become PapaKow's best content — loadouts, clips and answers here.
WARDOGS is a tactical all-out-warfare shooter from Bulkhead (the Battalion 1944 crew), published by Team17. Up to 100 players split across three teams fight over a randomised 2 × 2 km control zone carved out of a huge, destructible sandbox set in derelict industrial mountains in Eastern Europe. The team with the most people in the zone scores; stand in the hot zone and you count double. First team to 100 points wins.
The bit that makes it different is the cash system. Every account starts with $10,000 and you buy your loadout — weapons, armour, gadgets, even vehicles — before you spawn. Cash persists between matches and you earn it by fighting, reviving, driving people to the zone and running logistics. Lose expensive kit and you feel it. There's no battle pass and no microtransactions; it's a $39.99 USD game (Supporter Edition $49.99) that went into Steam Early Access on 10 September 2026 after a closed beta in August. It's Windows-only on Steam for now, built on Unreal Engine 5, with proximity voice chat that makes the whole thing feel like the Arma 3 King of the Hill servers it was inspired by.
Because it rewards the way Karl already plays: talk to your squad, hold ground, make the clutch when it's three-on-one in the zone. Every fight matters because every death costs money, and three teams means the match is never a straight line — the leader gets sandwiched, the underdogs team up. It's been PapaKow's best-performing content since the beta, and it's the main game on Thursday nights and the Saturday marathon.
Squad-first. Karl runs viewer squads from The Clutch Club — first in, first served, members' spots held — and plays the objective rather than farming kills. Chat votes on his next loadout live on papakow.com, so the builds below are a starting point, not gospel.
PapaKow's picks (beta, will change). WARDOGS is in Early Access and the economy, weapons and maps are still moving. These loadouts are what Karl was running in the beta and launch week; he updates them from the Command Center as things change.
These are the builds Karl actually runs on stream. Chat votes on the next loadout live on papakow.com, so they change — last updated 17 September 2026.
The bread-and-butter build for actually winning the zone. Spend on armour and meds before fancy guns; smoke lets the squad push the hot zone and count double without eating a sniper.
Hold the high ground over the zone and call targets on proximity chat. Karl runs this when the squad has enough bodies inside — an overwatch that wanders into the zone is just an expensive death.
The bank-builder. Transport, revives and logistics all pay, so ferrying the squad in and picking them up prints cash while everyone else bleeds it. Run this after a bad night to rebuild the balance.
Under $2,000 all in. Die cheap, loot the field for kit and money, and get back to the zone. Surprisingly strong in buildings and around the hot zone where fights are close.
If you like tactical shooters with actual stakes — Arma-style King of the Hill, Squad, Hell Let Loose, or the sweatier side of Battlefield — yes. The three-team control-zone fights and the persistent cash economy make every death matter, and there's no battle pass or microtransactions in the $39.99 price. It is Early Access (since 10 September 2026), so expect balance changes and bugs. Watch a stream first: PapaKow plays it live on papakow.com Thursday nights and Saturdays, so you can see what a real match looks like before you buy.
WARDOGS is a 100-player tactical FPS by Bulkhead, published by Team17, built on Unreal Engine 5. Three teams fight over a randomised 2 × 2 km control zone inside a large destructible map set in Eastern Europe; the team with the most players in the zone scores, and the first to 100 points wins. You buy your loadout — guns, armour, gadgets, vehicles — with in-game cash that persists between matches and is earned through combat, revives, transport and logistics. It's on Steam for Windows.
Early on, the best WARDOGS loadout is the one you can afford to lose. PapaKow's beta picks are a Zone Anchor (assault rifle, armour, medkit, smokes) for holding the objective, a Ridge Overwatch (DMR or bolt-action) for the squad's spotter, a Payroll Driver (cheap carbine plus a vehicle and repair kit) to earn cash from transport and revives, and a Budget Rat (cheapest SMG, bandages, one grenade) for when the bank is empty. The full cards with notes are on this page and get updated as the game changes; chat votes on the next loadout live during the stream.
WARDOGS is the Thursday-night game (6–10 pm) and the main event of the Saturday marathon (from 10:30 am until late), both Brisbane time (AEST, UTC+10). PapaKow streams Thursday 6–10 pm, Friday 6 pm until late, and Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 am until late (Brisbane time, AEST — no daylight saving). The schedule page on papakow.com converts the times to your timezone and counts down to the next stream.
Watch ad-free on papakow.com, or on Twitch (twitch.tv/papakow), Kick (kick.com/papakow) and YouTube (@papakoww). It's the same stream everywhere; papakow.com is the ad-free one with site chat, loadout votes and music requests.
Both. PapaKow streams to Twitch (twitch.tv/papakow), Kick (kick.com/papakow) and YouTube (youtube.com/@papakoww) at the same time, and the main stream lives on his own site, papakow.com, with no ads. Chat from every platform shows up in one place on the site.
Yes — The Clutch Club. The Clutch Club Discord is free to join from papakow.com/community. It's where WARDOGS squads get organised (first in, first served; members' spots are held), where stream alerts go out, and where you run /link so your ClutchPoints count across Twitch, Kick, YouTube and the site.
Yes. Viewer squads run through the LFG channel in The Clutch Club Discord while the stream is live — first in, first served, with members' spots held. Own the game on Steam, have a working mic, keep it clean and play the objective. Cheaters are removed from the Club.
WARDOGS entered Steam Early Access on 10 September 2026 (closed beta ran 21–23 August 2026). It's $39.99 USD for the standard edition and $49.99 USD for the Supporter Edition, with no battle pass or microtransactions. It's Windows-only via Steam; the developers have said they're working on Proton/Linux support. No console version has been confirmed.
I've put a lot of weekend hours into the WARDOGS beta. Here's what stands out, what needs work, who it's for, and the loadout I keep coming back to.
All times are Australia/Brisbane (AEST, UTC+10, no daylight saving). The full schedule converts them to your timezone and counts down to the next stream.