This is a brilliant tactical RTS that takes place on the Eastern Front of WW2. There are campaigns for the major historical operations or a grand campaign that will take your units from 1941 to 1945. At the beginning of each mission you buy or upgrade your core using a pool of requisition points, and here is the first dilemma, do you buy more infantry units or just a few strong tanks? Keep in mind that no unit is invulnerable, even the most heavily armored units can be damaged or destroyed by a hidden soldier with a molotov cocktail. The maps are beautiful, you start in summer, in a rural landscape with birds chirping. But soon the sound of machineguns and the screams of wounded soldiers will be heard. You will note the map has several strategic locations, such as bridges or hilltop houses. And given the fact this is a very realistic tactical simulation, you really need mortars. In the beginning of the mission the enemy is in hiding, but do you suspect a squad of soldiers may be hiding in that house? Place a few mortar rounds on top of it. If your (commander) intuition was correct you will hear the screams and see enemy soldiers fleeing. Do you need cover for your advancing troops? Place a smoke screen using the mortars. You will notice that some tanks or vehicles are marked as equipped for winter. This is extremely important in winter scenarios. If you don't use tanks equipped for winter, be very careful where you place them during the placement phase. You may find when the battle starts that your tanks are immobilized because the engines have frozen! And if you are playing the Russian side from 1941, in the first few battles just fire a few shots and retreat. It is more important to keep your units alive to fight another day than be totally annihilated trying to stand your ground.
I have played all three titles that have the New World setting (1602, 1503 and 1701) and this one finds the best balance between atmosphere and strategy. Beautiful isometric 2D graphics (which I prefer to 3D graphics, being an old-school gamer), good music (although 1602's is better), awesome economic model and HARD battles. This title may deter casual gamers from enjoying it because of its difficulty, which skyrockets from the second scenario of the campaign, but the AI will put up a good fight unlike other strategy games where it just displays a symbolic resistance as the player usually steamrolls with superior troops. In this one, it is hard to to build an economy that sustains a large army in the first place, so the first thing to do is to keep the AI at bay with your starting troops and ships while you build up your city. And once you have a mighty army, don't expect to just walk over the enemy settlement, as by that time the AI will have enough resources to keep rebuilding that fortress or that large shipyard each time you demolish it. There are a few AI glitches that you can exploit in order to make the grind bearable (such as attacking with a single cannon from a distance may trigger no reaction from the defending troops standing nearby), but overall you will have to find the most vulnerable spots and start chewing from there. In between combat scenarios there are trade only missions to offer the player a respite. 4.5/5 stars
