A Modern Major General
June 6 (D-day!) marked the release of Paradox Studios’ Hearts of Iron 4, the venerable World War II simulator. I’ve had a long love-hate relationship with this strategy series going back a decade or so. Love, in that in captures one of the most tumultuous periods of human history and lets you jump in wherever you please – feel like playing as the Dominican Republic? Sure, go nuts. Hate, in that, the game’s complexities, though adding strategic depth, make it nightmarish to approach at times. It is a series not for the casual strategist, but more for the armchair Pattons and Eisenhowers.