Frans Harvey

Do not purchase this game. It is virtually impossible at the harder settings. I have enjoyed Panzer General one and two, Panzer Corps one and two, Panzers Phase one and two, The Total War series. And more. The Strategic Mind series is for die hard grand masters. I had serious difficulties with some aspects of both SM Blizkrieg, and SM Spectre of Communism. Aerial action comes with a stupendous risk of losing the aircrafts. And any scenario where you have to transport troops in naval action is lethal. Like for example Malta in SM Blitzkrieg, or Stalingrad in SM Spectre of Communism. By the way, how come in Spectre of Communism, the Stalingrad scenario is a naval engagement? In reality, the Red Army won it by a land based pincer movement. Then there is the endless secondary objectives. In many scenarios, you have no chance getting it right the first two times you try, if playing anything harder than in storytelling mode. Even on “reasonable”, the game series seems unreasonable. But idiosyncratically, in half of the scenarios, anything below reasonable is a walkthrough. Furthermore, the gameplay is to slow. You will spend hours and hours getting it right for each scenario. Even if you are accustomed to turn based strategy games, most likely you will struggle with this one. On the lowest setting, it is way too easy. On any higher settings, you will lose your heros and prime units in the naval scenarios. Aircraft, paratroopers and naval transports are particularly vulnerable in any scenario. Conclusion: This is a game for people like the world champion of chess, Magnus Carlson, but pretty unavailable for the average Joe. Best regards to you, from the average Joe🤠