Strategic Command Classic: Global Conflict

I love this game. I also hate this game. As a wargaming veteran, I can appreciate that this game isn't overly complex and can be played a bit more casually. In that it's kind of nice having a "Tank Group" rather than getting lost in the details of whether to choose between a Panzer II or Stug III or whatever. That's better suited for other games. There are a lot of different scenarios (more so than the newer version) making for a lot of replay. I also like the isometric map more than the flat newer version. There are some balance issues. The AI can be sadistic and the RNG at times, totally sucks. I swear that Barbarossa campaign is impossible as the Germans. I've played this scenario more than any of the others. I've tried a different strategy each time and the result is always the same. For some reason "Army Group South" (there's no designation between army groups, I'm just using that as a reference for area) has absolutely no armor. The Romanians, Bulgarians, and Italians are completely useless. I can't ever do as well as the Germans did historically. They reached Leningrad in Sept '41. Which seems totally impossible in game. I get that one would need to blitz their way straigh…

This is the best grand strategy video game on World War II that I've been able to find, by a pretty wide margin. It has everything you need for a complete experience: diplomacy, technology, terrain, weather, a flexible force pool, morale, supply, and a reasonable variety of weapons systems, from Katushya rockets to submarines and strategic bombers. There is enough realism to make the game actually feel like WW2 without so much realism that it all becomes tedious or constraining. If you want to go off in a different direction and send the Americans to land in Spain instead of Morocco, or have the Japanese aim for New Zealand instead of Burma, you absolutely can. The AI is not brilliant, and it is a little too rigid in some of its scripts, especially with respect to amphibious invasions. As Germany, for example, the AI will literally never invade the United Kingdom until the Soviet Union is completely defeated, no matter how undefended you leave London. Still, the AI plays competently and can take advantage of your errors; I once blundered away an entire season of progress because I didn't leave enough of a German garrison in northeastern Romania, and the Soviets rolled in through t…

With only a single play, I'd say the game works fairly well but a 288p rulebook can keep you searching for quite some time if you have a rules question.

It's great fun taking over the whole world, and the map isn't so huge that it takes weeks, it takes me a solid 2 days as Axis. Although it's hard to win as Axis the game has a great editor, you can edit to make whatever makes the game fun and winable for you.

I played this a lot 10+ years ago and recently found it again on Steam (it's a game from a small company that I bought direct back in the day). Not a flashy interface like some newer games, but a great way to "what if" a variety of WW2 alternatives. Want to execute OP Sealion or repudiate the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty? These and many other paths can be taken as either the Allies or Axis. Do be prepared to invest a lot of time, as you won't get through 6 years of war in one sitting. It's a lot of mouse work, and I suggest setting the animations and combats to "quick" as it speeds things up a lot. This is a turn-based game and you can play it against someone else but I've never tried it. The AI has a number of difficulty ratings and gives a decent challenge. It is definitely "strategic" as the smallest units are corps or equivalent. This is that old Third Reich board game you and your (Gen X) friends tried to play in high school, without the annoying setup or risk of the cat knocking your counters around. I'm not sure if people too young for that era of gaming will appreciate this as much, but if depth is more important to your game play this may be worth your time.

Good basic WW2 games. Its been improved in some areas, but Its still the first.