Now I'm that rare kind of gamer who actually reads manuals, generally from cover to cover, before I even run the game, but in a moment of madness I decided to go against type and jump straight into this game, without even bothering with the tutorial first.

With all the gusto of a Warlock's "I've played a few strategy games in my time" attitude, I figured that nothing could be as baffling as my first taste of Europa Universalis IV yesterday, so I decided to simply dive in, start playing and figure it out as I went along (a technique that I gather is popular with many gamers, but one not generally recommended for wargames).

I chose to play Germany of course, 1939 scenario, and after a bit of random clicking the moving and combat seemed simple enough. I was quickly wiping out the Poles, without bothering with all that production and reinforcement nonsense, when an option popped up to honour my pact with the Russians or break it. Obviously it made sense to honour it, but I was curious as to what would happen if I broke it.

So I broke it...

And so began my instant demise. That was my first and last mistake. I didn't need to make any more. Germany's fate was sealed from that point on.

I broke the pact and Russia attacked. My panzers evaporated instantly on contact with the Russian's T34s (did they have them that early in the war?).
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246456271
Not being a complete idiot, I quickly withdrew to Warsaw and figured out how to build some of those reinforcement thingies. I figured they might come in handy.
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246743727
Warsaw was crushed in one turn, my defenders disappearing as if they weren't even there as the red onslaught moved unstoppably forward. Meanwhile, I noticed some blue units in the west moving into my lands. I'd been so preoccupied with the Russians that I'd actually forgotten I was at war with France too!
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246744960
Although I was churning out reinforcements, they were dropping like flies, many destroyed before I even had a chance to use them. Amazingly the French reached Berlin, and I wasn't able to protect my western flank since the few units I did have were trying to hold back the unstoppable Russian hordes to the east. I'd figured out that adding commanders to units increased their strength, but even with with Rommel, Guderian and von Manstein helping out, it was clearly a lost cause.
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246745673
Then the French captured Berlin as all my units evaporated in a sea of red. Who'd have thought eh? The French beating Germany in WW2?
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246746036
But it wasn't over yet. To my surprise the game continued. I still had one city left, Vienna. Of course, I had so little production at this time I could only afford three really weak units to defend it, with Guderian commanding (somehow he managed to escape from the debacle at Berlin). It was December, and it seemed like it would all be over by Christmas. Hungary and Romania joined my cause at this point, which seemed like an incredibly stupid thing to do under the circumstances, but it was a nice gesture.
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246747033
Amazingly I held out until April 1941. Apparently the Russians had seen how feeble my defences were and decided to continue celebrating Christmas for four months before bothering to finish me off. This time the French didn't quite beat them to it, although they tried.
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246747923
Now the game was definitely over. It said so. I'd lost. I was told to press escape to exit the game. But the game still didn't end. Instead, Finland became the new leader of the Axis cause and I suddenly inherited their country. So I could still continue playing! Hmm... what shall I do first I wonder? Invade Russia?
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=246748543
At this point I decided to stop. It had been an interesting experience and in just over 2 hours I'd familiarised myself with most of the game mechanics (well the obvious ones anyway). Compared to Hearts of Iron, I'd had a feeling that this would be a pretty quick way to play World War Two, although I hadn't expected to finish it quite this quickly.

I think I'll play the tutorial and read the manual before my next game...