Heart's of Iron 2

[cillmhor]

I have it and have played it a fair bit, good fun as you can play virtually any nation (including all the minors) and you can tweak your nation's development to go ahistorical if you wish, to some degree anyway.

The game is on a grand strategical level meaning that divisions are the unit size and there is quite a bit on the diplomatic and resource side of things, with convoy managment, where applicable, an element etc. The game also has reasonable air and naval elements, though again it is war painted with broad brushstrokes. The game is time-consuming, but you can save it and return to it. As Britain I did see the German panzers roll over France and my spitfire squadrons did have a mini, and very much abstracted, Battle of Britain, and the British RN did defeat the Kreigsmarine. Convoys were harrased by u-boats and then Germany takes on the mighty Soviet Union in Barbarossa leaving Britain and the allies time to rebuild etc, etc. As you can see the game plays out like a grand strategy of WWII. As Germany I followed historical force doctrines of u-boats and blitzkrieg/combinde arms ended up invading USA after pummelling Europe. The AI has its limits once you are familiar with the game, though you can tweak the balance. I have not tried online multi-player as I do not have time for it, but I think that is when the game comes into its own.

Hope this helps, if you want any more info I'd be glad to help.

Cheers

Alasdair