Best WW2 Strategy Game?

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for a good WW2 "grand strategy" game to play on my PC. My one requirement is that it has online play of some sort -- I want to be able to play it with my cousin. I've never tried this stuff out, but I'm guessing Play-by-email is what we'd do, as we're in seperate time zones.

Now, I though it'd be easy to pick, but I've found a flood of choices. Gary Grigsby's War in the East, Commander - Europe at War Gold, and Hearts of Iron II & III all look good. I am slightly iffy on War in the East due to its scale, but if its highly suggested I'll go for it.

Since I'm unsure, I'm going to give you some background on what type of games I've played. Recently, I've played TONS of Axis and Allies with my cousin. We started with Axis and Allies Europe, then Anniversary Edition and now the 1940 Europe and Japan editions. With each step up, we'd always wished for a bigger, more detailed map with more complex rules. We thought it'd be cool to display German armor superiority or have uboats the enemy couldn't see. While we love playing Axis and Allies, the fact that its a board game ruins some of the fun. My cousin knows where all my uboats are, its hard to produce natural maps all the time (Kursk salient can be hard to make), and we know the exact compositions of enemy troops. Most of our issues would be solved if we jumped into a computer game version of this.

So, which games do you suggest? Gary Grigsby's game was the first to catch my interest, but I'm a bit worried about the learning curve. There is a huge jump from Axis and Allies (even 1940) to THAT complex of a game. In addition, not having the other fronts was disapointing. We dont care much about the Pacific War, but it'd be nice to have all of Europe...

I'm open to any and all questions and suggestions. Price is not a major issue, nor is PC performance. (we're both running modern, high-end PCs)

I'd say skip War in the East for now. The leap from AA to this or War in the Pacific is vast.

You might want to have a look at Advanced Tactics: WWII

or WWII: Time of Wrath.

These are both fairly accessable operational level WWII games that let you command the "big picture".

YOu might also want to have a look at BBC Battlefield Academy from Sliterine Studios. It's a tactical level game that's very easy to learn and quick to play. The cartoony art ****might be a bit of a turn off, but the game's a lot of fun in multiplayer.

It's easily Company of heroes. It might be from 2006 but it's still the best looking RTS game ever made.

It's easily Company of heroes. It might be from 2006 but it's still the best looking RTS game ever made.

zaku101

I think he's looking for something much more true to WWII.

I would check out the Theatre of War and the Men of War series.

Older game (1997) but:

and you can get it on Gog.com to run seamlessly on todays systems.

It's easily Company of heroes. It might be from 2006 but it's still the best looking RTS game ever made.

zaku101

He's most certainly looking for a game with a more... "in-depth" focus.

Yeah, Company of Heroes is totally a differant ball game. Dont get me wrong, I love the game when you have the Blitzkrieg Mod installed, but its still commanding individual units and squads. I'm looking for a "big picture" game, a la Axis and Allies or Risk.

I took a look at battlefield academy and I found the scale too small for my liking (as well as the cartoony graphics). Company of Heroes is already perfect for my tactical needs. (I tried Men at War but found it was too much micromanagement, especially with infantry). I'm looking for something with a much larger scale.

I looked at the other 2 games, and to be honest, couldn't see the differance. I agree, War in the East is probably too complex for me at the moment. The thing is, Advanced Tactics, WW2 Time of Wrath, Commander-Europe and to a lesser degree Heart of Iron III all seem very similar. Even the reviews of the games are similar!

Currently I'm leaning towards Heart of Iron III because of the improved engine, recognition of HoI II and that its the most recent game, but I'm still not sure. Why do you suggest Advanted Tactics or WW2 Time of Wrath over the other games?

Well, the thing with HOI is that it's continuous time, so it doesn't lend itself to PBEM. It does have multiplayer, but it sucks.

WW2: Time of Wrath might be your best bet. You could also have a look at Gary Grigsby's World at War: A World Divided. It's got a similar map to AA but it offers up more depth. Personally, I didn't care for it as it focussed too much on economics and industry. My preference is for tactical level wargames. I'm more into lines of sight than lines of supply.

Hearts of Iron 3 is a good game, covers all of the WW2 with a heavy focus on military tactics. Some micromanaging to it and takes a while to grasp but is a good game, especially if you throw a good mod on top of it though it's MP is iffy at best. Theater of War 2 and it's expansions are more about the tactical battles rather then the strategic so not a grand-strategy game but very good in terms of accuracy and realism. There's a couple of solid turn-based strategy games as well. Making History 2 has some AI problems but it's getting patched up on a fairly frequent basis. War in the Pacific: Admirals Edition is pretty good through it only focuses on the Pacific theater, same with Storm Over the Pacific. Demos are floating around the net for those three games so you can get an idea if they're for you.

This is a good site to start for grand strategy games.

Again, for clarification, I'm looking for a more broad strategy game, not tactical one. So games like Company of Heroes, Men at War or World in Conflict need not apply. I like them, but its not what I want now. I'm looking more for a game like this: http://www.critical-hits.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/Axis%20&%20Allies%2001.JPG

Currently, I've reduced my list to about 2-3 choices.

They are:

Gary Grigsby's World at War

Hearts of Iron II Arsenal of Democracy

Heart of Iron III

The 2 leaders are World at War and Arsenal of Democracy. I was asking some wargamers on another forum and they said that HoI III is rather complicated and buggy, and that the HoI II Arsenal of Democracy is better for multiplayer and simpler to learn.

My big question is on the HoI and WaW multiplayer systems. How do play-by-email and standard multiplayer work for these games? I assume in PBEM you do your turn, the game sends an email with a file showing the status, then your opponent plays etc. But how would standard multiplayer work? These games are too long to just play in 1 sitting!

I'm asking because my cousin and I live in 2 time zones with a 10 hour difference. Now, if we BOTH have to be on the PC at the same time, we could play, but we could only do so on weekends. A more ideal set-up would be something that could be played separately or appart. I.E I do my turn at 10PM, then it sends it to him and I go sleep. While I'm sleeping, he does his turn and sends it to me etc. Ideally, if we're both on at the same time (say my night and his morning on a weekend) we can play with a standard turn-by-turn basis. Is this possible? Do you need clarification? My guess is that this is PBEM, but I'm not sure.

Doesn't get better than Company of heroes.

Then you want Hearts of Iron 3. It has the biggest scope of WWII you'll ever find. If you like boardgames but want something more detailed and a bit more video game like (realtime instead of turn based), then Hearts of Iron is calling your name.

Again, for clarification, I'm looking for a more broad strategy game, not tactical one. So games like Company of Heroes, Men at War or World in Conflict need not apply. I like them, but its not what I want now. I'm looking more for a game like this: http://www.critical-hits.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/Axis%20&%20Allies%2001.JPG

Currently, I've reduced my list to about 2-3 choices.

They are:

Gary Grigsby's World at War

Hearts of Iron II Arsenal of Democracy

Heart of Iron III

The 2 leaders are World at War and Arsenal of Democracy. I was asking some wargamers on another forum and they said that HoI III is rather complicated and buggy, and that the HoI II Arsenal of Democracy is better for multiplayer and simpler to learn.

My big question is on the HoI and WaW multiplayer systems. How do play-by-email and standard multiplayer work for these games? I assume in PBEM you do your turn, the game sends an email with a file showing the status, then your opponent plays etc. But how would standard multiplayer work? These games are too long to just play in 1 sitting!

I'm asking because my cousin and I live in 2 time zones with a 10 hour difference. Now, if we BOTH have to be on the PC at the same time, we could play, but we could only do so on weekends. A more ideal set-up would be something that could be played separately or appart. I.E I do my turn at 10PM, then it sends it to him and I go sleep. While I'm sleeping, he does his turn and sends it to me etc. Ideally, if we're both on at the same time (say my night and his morning on a weekend) we can play with a standard turn-by-turn basis. Is this possible? Do you need clarification? My guess is that this is PBEM, but I'm not sure.

Fire_Zealot

company of hereos. i love the game.

Maybe RUSE is what you would like.