Strategic Command: European Theater Preview

These past few years have been a dream come true for gamers fascinated by World War II. We've been treated to award-winning WWII shooters, flight sims, and tactical wargames. World War II buffs are eagerly gearing up for forthcoming games like Battlefield 1942 and Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin, too. Something that's been conspicuously absent from this great mix has been sophisticated games of grand strategy. You don't need to look far to find good tactical- or operational-level wargames about WWII. But what about a game that lets you control the fate of entire nations, maneuver whole armies across vast spaces, and delve into some of the political and economic aspects of war along with the combat itself? Thanks to Fury Software, this gap may be filled very soon with a promising-looking game called Strategic Command: European Theater.

A campaign editor will let you play "what if" with history.

Strategic Command will portray the conflict in the European theater on a massive scale. A single map hex will represent about 50 miles, or 80 kilometers. You'll wage war across spaces stretching from the East Coast of North America to the Ural Mountains of the Soviet Union, and from the sands of northern Africa up to just below the Arctic Circle. The game's time scale will be equally large. The exact amount of time represented by each turn will vary according to the season. During the militarily favorable months of summer, for example, turns will cover one week of action. During winter months, where harsh weather can wreak havoc on operations, turns will represent a whole month of time.

In Strategic Command, you'll get to lead six major powers: the UK, France, the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Italy. Minor allies of these great nations will also play a role. You'll get to fight for ultimate supremacy beginning from several crucial junctures in the history of the war. The game's six campaigns will start as early as the invasion of Poland in 1939 or of France and the Low Countries in 1940. Events in the epic conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union will form the basis of three other campaigns: the launch of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the conflicts around the Volga and Crimea in 1942, and the enormous Kursk offensive in 1943. The last campaign will begin with the well-known Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. Strategic Command will also ship with a campaign editor that will let you change initial control of hexes, add units where you choose, set production levels, and tweak other factors using a simple interface.

A host of options will let you customize each game.

You'll get to determine just how close to history the game's campaigns play out, thanks to the inclusion of political stance options. You can elect to have nations enter the war at the same time they did historically, or you can have them remain neutral throughout the game. The latter should hopefully provide for some fascinating "what if" scenarios, with historically major powers sitting out on the sidelines, for example. You can also let nations enter the fray randomly, though their allegiances and the dates when they begin fighting will depend on how aggressively you play and whom you decide to attack. Invade the wrong nation or grab too much land too quickly, and you may turn potential allies against you.

Whatever campaign you decide on, you'll have the option to play against either the computer or another human. If you decide to challenge a friend, you'll get to play in either hotseat or play-by-e-mail modes. Fury Software promises free future support for LAN and TCP/IP play, too. When playing against the AI, you'll be able set the difficulty level and give enemy units an experience bonus for an added challenge. Fury is touting the game's AI as a sophisticated, proactive competitor. It won't merely go after obvious strategic targets you inadvertently leave undefended; it should also mount major offensive operations when you're not expecting them. In the preview build we got to play, the AI seems to act logically and stay on its toes, providing a solid challenge.