Hearts of Iron II

...is a game about World War II.

I have just got it ...and think it is amazing. Although it has a steep learning curve ...patience creates vast results.

Basically there's a series of "Grand Campaigns" and some other "Battle Campaigns" - firstly, the battle campaigns are one of many battles in World War II ...(There's a Spanish Civil War one too) and basically you command the divisions (...the lowest command you'll get in the game...), as well as the airforces ...and naval forces ...to conduct the battle how you wanted it.

Think the Germans could have beaten the Allies back on D-Day? Be Germany and try it.

Think the Republicans could have won in the Spanish Civil War? Be 'em, and try it.

The grand campaigns ...now ...they're awesome. The best one starts on 1st Jan. 1936 and ends Dec. 30 1947 - you are one of 180 countries in the world - from Yunnan to U.S.A ...and you control the industy, the technology and the diplomacy of your country. You also control it's armies, fleets and airforces. And ...do what you want. Be the U.S and don't get involved ...be Britain and invade Germany in 1936! ...be Germany and win the war. Although the major historical events normally happen - like Germany will invade Poland ...depending on your actions they might not invade on Sept. 1st 1939 etc. etc.

My first game ...I jumped right in with little clue how to play the game as the U.K. Despite my complete lack of knowledge on the industry sector (didn't build factories - big mistake ...need 'em for conducting a war...) I managed to have the Spitfire Mk.IX by 1940 - and the Typhoon by 1939 ...because I pumped all my money into Supermarine and Hawker. I kicked Italy out of Africa by 1939 ...and a combined French and Anglo assault on Italy pushed them down beyond Rome! However ...I also didn't know how to command my fleets properly and lost all my carrier fleets ....which sucked. So I stopped that game.

I decided to be someone that wasn't too small but didn't have a massively hectic time in World War II nor did they have a massive empire which takes a lot of looking after ...who am I? Finland!

Oh yes ...Finland the nation that the Soviet Union invaded - did they invade? Did they hell as like ...I managed to scare them into stopping their invasion - with a little fleet (Three CAs, three DD flotillas and a Sub flotilla), no air force but 23 infantry divisions (one of which is moutain) I managed to scare them.

Germany invaded the Soviet Union in May 1941 ...and I got bored ...so just as Germany was near Leningrad ...I pounced and took Leningrad, took Murmansk and destroyed all Soviet armies near the white sea. A combined Finnish, German, Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian and Italian assault on Moscow surrounded and destroyed it. ...now we're advancing at a rapid pace and when I last left it, the U.S had just joined the war - and I'd just taken Archangel'sk ...a little further east and the Ural factories shall be mine!

I'll share some pictures of my Finnish empire when I have Cheblaysink - if I take it.

Where do we get this game?

Amazon.com would be your best bet ...I got it off e-bay, naturally.

I didn't take 'Tankograd' - the Wehrmacht beat me to it! Damn them and their motorised infantry. But the Soviet Union is crushed ...it started with near 400 industrial capacity and it now has 120 - it's armies are reeling as the Wehrmacht just rolls further and further east. They're passed the Urals now ...and I'm not even wasting time 'cos they're just plain faster than me. I lost my navy to the USN ...but all my divisions are back home, safe and sound ...rest and re-fit for them...then it's building up of industry after capturing resources in Russia. See, you can only build your industry up to the levels that your natural resources will allow - like real life!

Sounds fun! I would like to play with Panzer divisions and destroy the Soviets!

It is a great game. I have owned Hearts of Iron for several years now an bought Hearts of Iron II about 4 months ago and have been playing it since. I am going to try and play all the major powers and see how I can do. I am currently in 1944 Germany and have counqured England, France, Russia and most of N. Afrika. My allies Brazil have conqured all of S. Amarica and are currently fighting the US in Mexico. Great game though. I love it. Next I will play with England and then Japan.

It's Jan. 1945 and my Finnish Empire is no larger. However, I have rebuilt my fleet but now it only has three DD flotillas. And I built myself a semi-motorised cavalry division for mobile reserve near the coast, just in case.

I can't kick the U.S out of the Baltic Sea though, they have a CV in there - I don't know how it managed to get there. I'm not very good at it as I've only played it about three times because I'm working all the time these days.

On the global scale, the Soviet Union is crushed, the Wehrmacht has reached the Sea of Japan! And the Soviets only have a few minor pockets left. Japan and Germany have met in China, and Germany have even moved down into India and are fighting the British, who are putting up a great fight.

The U.S has taken Korea and Manchuria, and the Axis are fighting them there. The Germans have turbojet aircraft though and I don't think the Allies stand a chance. Admittedly, I'm probably the weak spot in the empire.

I'm going to keep taking minor countries to get a better hang of it then be the U.K.

It is crazy though how things work in my game in which I am playing as Germany I am not even the Aggressor. When the whole Sudetenland thing happened Poland declared war on me and then everyone else followed and I had to fight them out of Germany.

Plan_D:

Heard about the game but never seen it being played though. I must say sounds like quite a great game.

If you have sometime, and the interest, do what I pointed out in some thread around here. First a couple of questions:

Is it possible to commence the game following the historical facts, as they took place? In case "Yes" would be the answer, then it could be possible to begin playing a game with the actual scenario the ETO observed during mid/late 1943, right?

The allied landings in Sicily, the failure of Zitadelle at Kursk...etc.

If so, why don´t you handle German production of aircraft from the second half of 1943 and on as follows:

(i) Cancel the production of the Me 210, and the toy that followed, the Me 410*

(ii) Cancel the production of all types of bombers, both twin and four engined craft (He 111, Ju 88, Ju 188, He 177s, etc.)

(iii) Have all other projects and protype works canceled.

(iv) Have all labor force and raw materials alloted to produce only the following fighters:

1. Bf 109 (G-6, G-6/AS, G-10, G-14, G-14/AS and K-4)
2. Fw 190 A; the Butcher Bird is phased out during the summer of 1944, to have it replaced with the Fw 190 D, then have the Ta 152 come. So the Doras and Tanks become available in larger numbers before the end of 1944.

3. Only jet: Me 262. Only as fighter, cancelling those fitted as jagdbombers please!

Before the end of 1944, the entire Nachtjagdgescwadern are fitted only with the Jet to greet the RAF bombers.


During 1944, Germany produced some 2,500 bombers -twin and a very few four engined-; a time when fighters were the more required item at the front.

We are talking about 5,000 engines used for bombers in 1944: laborforce, raw materials, facilities, etc.

It would have been smarter to use the tooling, equipment, machines, and facilities to produce more single engined fighters and the Me 262.

*Some 800 Me 410s were produced in 1944. 1,600 engines; also a plane with a crew of two: 1,600 men destined to fly an excellent plane, still I´d have 1,600 Bf 109 (late Gs).

It would be fun to know of the outcome of one game following this path.

My allies Brazil have conqured all of S. Amarica and are currently fighting the US in Mexico.

Click to expand...

Damn Alder! Forcing the U.S to fight near the borders of Texas and California?? You and PD both are good!

Udet you can start the game in 1936, 1939, and several other years including 1941 and 1944 I believe. I will have look at my start screen again. You can also start different scenerios such as the Battle of the Bulge and everything.

Also you can keep the game as accurate as you want. If a historical event took place in real life then it will promt you and let you decide weather to let it happen. It is a really good game, you should try it.

I think the start years on the grand campaign are 1936, 1939, 1940, 1941 and 1944.

I can't remember all the battle lists, but I just played the North Africa campaign. It was excellent, complete destruction of the Afrika Korps and the Italian forces while knocking Syria out of the fight.

Out-flanked a load of German armour and trapped it next to Tobruk, encircled and destroyed four divisions, two of which were armoured. After that, they just collapsed.

I didn't bother sending aid to help Greece, so I had the forces needed to stop kick the Axis out of Africa before more reinforcments came.

The only thing that gets my blood boiling is the fact that I go around and do all the work and then Italy comes in and annexes them before I have a chance to.

When I was Finland it was like that but with the Wehrmacht instead. The main problem was they had faster motorised infantry and panzer units where I only had infantry divisions. I came so close to taking a province in the Soviet Union that produced 96 energy! That was more than my entire country! But ...after defeating the Red Army in the province, the Wehrmacht moved in.

I'm the U.S now ...because I'm still learning the game I'm playing as 'easy' nations ...the U.S should teach me how to use navy at difficulty without much risk of being completely destroyed.

Most of my research is goin' into the industrial sector ...first time I played, I did so as the U.K and didn't build any factories ... and that was just stupid. The U.S has a 75% penalty on it's IC because of 'peace' ... I'm going to try and get involved in the war sooner so I can release that 200 or so IC that's being locked up.

I just played Operation Watch Tower; the capture of Guadalcanal. With the battle for the island raging from August 7th, 1942, playing as the Japanese I managed to secure the island and capture a few islands further south.

Playing as the U.S, I managed to conquer Guadalcanal. I fought the IJN perfectly, destroying the CVs IJN Shokaku, IJN Zuiho, IJN Ryujo and IJN Zuikaku while only losing USS Saratoga myself.

I captured Rabaul on 6th Dec. 1942, along with all New Britain. I captured New Ireland on 30th Dec. 1942 and Bougainville on 14th Feb. 1943. I had almost crushed the remaing four Japanese divisions between Guadalcanal and Bougainville. While the Japanese fleets were all but destroyed.

I have not played as the US yet but my understanding is you can not declare war on anyone because of your political standings. You have to be attacked first or someone has to declare war on you.

I'm just moving it slowly towards interventionism so I can join the U.K and join the fight.

Well build a lot of transports then, you are going to need it.

I have fourteen at the moment. Even with the penalty of 75% IC, I still have 100 + IC to play with and am producing a fair few infantry divisions. I have a cavalry division and armoured division. Not enough aircraft for my liking though. I'm trying to develop my industry so I can have the assembly lines - much quicker production times.

Here's a lame picture of the ship losses during my U.S control in Operation Watch Tower - although it's not the whole list and this picture actually makes me look bad by numbers - but look at the types of ships lost.

I sent out my high seas fleet with the Bismark, Tirpitz, Graf Zeppelin, Hindenburg, 30 ships in all and 4 wolfpacks of 6 U-Boots a piece on Naval Interdiction in the Channel and was able to make pretty good work of the Royal Navy. I eventually lost the Bismark but the Tirpitz did just fine.

Wow. This game sounds fun! I think i might get it for Christmas!