The WARDOGS maps

How big is the WARDOGS map?

Each map is 256 km² — 16 × 16 km of ground. Only a randomised 4 km² Control Zone is contested at a time, so the other 252 km² is a logistics problem rather than a battlefield. The explorer above renders the full 16 km at roughly one metre per pixel.

How many maps does WARDOGS have?

Three at Early Access, each with three variations inside it, confirmed by Bulkhead in the 11 August devlog. One more is planned during Early Access; beyond that the studio has said to expect balance and fixes rather than regular content drops.Bakurani has been playable since the alpha and Ozeti joined it in Closed Beta 02; the third, Zestafona, was shown on 4 September and arrives at or after Early Access launch.

Can you explore the WARDOGS map online?

Yes — the Bakurani explorer is a full-resolution terrain layer you can pan, zoom and read grid references off, drawn from the game's own raster at about one metre per pixel. It marks 60 named locations, from Sunflower Church and the Lumberyard to the numbered towers, all clustered on the valley floor. The names are the map files' own; what each place is worth holding is what the beta settles.

Where is WARDOGS set?

Kolchia, described by Bulkhead as war-torn industrial mountains in Eastern Europe, built around the fight for PV-1 — a rare resource said to have fuelled decades of Eurasian conflict. Bakurani is the river valley in it.How WARDOGS works covers where the map sits in the wider design, and our methodology covers how every figure here is sourced.

Our WARDOGS maps cover all three Early Access battlegrounds at the resolution the game renders them — Bakurani in Kolchia is live now, with the two Early Access maps arriving after the Closed Beta. Every map is 16 × 16 km, drawn at about one metre per pixel, with a 1 km lettered grid so a position you call is a position someone else can find. Markers go on as the beta confirms them; the categories below are what they land in, and what each one decides.

Control Zone and Hot Zone objectives

The only objective markers that matter start here. A randomised 2 × 2 km Control Zone sits somewhere inside each 256 km² map, and a shifting Hot Zone moves inside that, doubling both your contribution to the zone score and the cash you earn while you hold it. First team to 100 points wins, across up to 100 players on three teams — so where the zone lands, and which approach your squad picks, is the whole match. Spawn spread and Hot Zone travel are the first things going on the map.

The towers are the part of that fight a team can steer: each capture gives a digit of a four-digit code, and the full code pulls the Hot Zone towards a tower you hold. How towers and the code work, and where every tower stands →

Overwatch positions, hard cover and chokepoints

Terrain decides engagements here more than loadout does. On Bakurani the ridges run steeply on both sides of the valley, the canopy above the treeline is dense and near continuous, and the valley floor carries the only sustained flat route across the map — which makes the climb either side of it worth the time it costs. Positions worth holding, the ground that has genuine cover, and the pinch points every route funnels through are the second layer.

Vehicle routes, bridges and landing zones

WARDOGS has no respawn countdown. You come back in the safe zone and the clock is however long it takes you to reach the fight, so the route is the mechanic —buy a vehicle, catch a lift, or walk and lose the round. Crossings matter disproportionately on maps built around rivers, and a helicopter landing zone is worth marking precisely because of what it saves. Transit markers are route planning, and they are the ones a squad uses most.

Towns, industrial sites and fortified positions

Kolchia is derelict industrial mountains, and the built-up ground is where fights concentrate — a town on a valley floor, works and outbuildings around it, outposts on the approaches. Builders change this layer during a match: Bulkhead has shown squads fortifying a POI or chokepoint, putting up bunkers, anti-air, refuel stations and radios, and deploying FOBs. Static structures get marked; what a team builds on top is the part that changes every round.

Ridgelines, treelines and open ground

The last category is the ground itself, and on a 256 km² map it is the one that decides how long everything takes. Bakurani is a forested valley where cover is continuous and movement is hidden. The North American map is arid high country where cover is agricultural and man-made and the approaches are long and exposed. Same size, completely different problem — which is exactly what terrain markers are for.

What the map explorer does

The explorer renders through WebGL at the game's native resolution, so pushing to full zoom shows individual buildings and road surfaces rather than an upscaled blur. Drag to pan, scroll or double-click to zoom, and hover anywhere for a grid reference and a distance readout in kilometres. A scale bar sizes itself to round distances as you zoom, brightness is adjustable for dark terrain, and a grayscale toggle strips colour when you want to read landforms instead of foliage. The filter rail is built for markers by category and switches between maps without leaving the page.

Worth knowing before the beta: the Control Zone is randomised every match, so no single route is ever the answer. What is worth learning in advance is the terrain — which ridges see which valleys, where the crossings are, and which approach stays hidden — because that is the part that does not reroll. The explorer above is there to be studied before 21 August rather than after it.