If you’re a Gear head then you may have been left feeling a tad bemused today when Epic announced that the Horde Command DLC pack was delayed by an unspecified amount. But don’t panic because Epic then came back and announced the pack would actually still release today, which was its planned release date, anyway. You can go download it right now and enjoy the extra fortifications, maps, characters and weapon skins.

So, if you happen to be one of those rather pathetic people who left a rage comment on the Epic forums threatening violence then you may find yourself slightly cheered up as Epic and Microsoft have announced then you’ll be able to get your blood-encrusted hands on five free maps later this month.

The new pack is simply titled the Versus Booster Map Pack and will be release on November 24th. The choice of release, Thanksgiving Day, is intentional by Epic and is to signify that the pack is a thank you to long time fans of the Gears series At this point no actual details were released about the maps have been released, but they did see fit to tell us the names and if you have any knowledge at all of the Gears games then they should bring a smile to your face. The maps are: Swamp, Clocktower, Azura, Rustlung, and Blood Drive.

In case you hadn’t cottoned on with the names, Swamp (believed to be a remake of Bullet Marsh) and Clocktower are both from Gears of War 1, while Azura, Rustlung and Blood Drive are actually the three maps that are contained within the Horde Command Pack DLC, which is available now to download for 800MSP.

Of course that means that those who did purchase the Horde Pack are now going to be feeling a little bit pissed off after having paid 800MSP to discover that the pack’s three maps will be appearing for free later this month. So why buy the Horde Pack at all? Well, according to Microsoft the Horde pack is the only way to access the fortifications, characters and character skins, while the free pack later this month will only offer the maps. What? Really?

Anyway, look out for the pack on November 24th.