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Hello fine folk of Strategic Command WW2!

I've recently picked up Strategic Command WW2 World at War and I'm quite hooked and have spent an unhealthy amount of hours learning this game during the past week. I was sick off work and suffice to say had a lot of freetime...

I'm currently playing the normal 1939 scenario as Axis, my first game ever, against an unbuffed AI Allies opponent. Things are going quite decent I'd say despite the learning process of the game and almost non-existent optimization. I also played the Rostov 1941 scenario as the Germans once and won handily. I checked the Soviet start in that scenario also to see why I did so well, considering that perhaps Soviets had reserves for counter-attack or a defense in depth... Well they did not and I did not give it a shot but merely saw that the Soviet situation in the scenario is extremely dire and I will have to challenge myself at some point to try beat it. It seems very difficult to not get encircled and destroyed by a powerful German panzer + bomber thrust through the virtually empty soviet middle. This then leads to the northern and southern armies becoming under threat of encirclement and forces them to retreat. Anyhow the Rostov scenario is not my biggest concern. Reading through some AARs the Axis seems to do very well in most games with the US becoming active very late and the soviets struggling incredibly to make any potent dent in the Axis advance. How do experienced players feel about the game balance? Is it skewed towards one faction or another? If so are there any attempt to rebalance via custom scenarios? It should not be overly difficult to hand the allies a few extra units or for example strengthen the polish units marginally to make the invasion more costly and time consuming on the germans. Glad to hear any opinions.

Also if there are players interested in giving me a lesson so to speak I am open to playing PBEM games as either side

Hi Jomppexx. Welcome to World at War. I'm glad you could join us. You'll find the World at War group to be friendly and helpful. And it's pretty easy to find an opponent.

World at War is one of my favorite games. It feels simple at first but the more you know about the game, the more you know you don't know, haha. Overall, the sides seem pretty even to me. However, many people feel that the Allies have a slight advantage.

Viewing AARs is a great start. I think that's one of the best ways to learn the game, other than just playing it. Taifun and Wevilc are posting two current AARs. Feel free to join the AARs and post questions. Both Taifun and Wevilc provide excellent commentary on their strategy and the results of their campaigns.

I recommend that you join the ELO Tournament. It's not really a tournament. Just a rating system, like chess. The idea is to help people match up with an equally skilled opponent. Don't worry about being a beginner. We've all been there. Most players are really helpful and will provide advice during the game. Just go into the Multiplayer section of this forum and post a request for an ELO opponent. You'll probably get a response within a couple days.

A lot of the Russian reserves are in Unit scripts (i.e. NOT the build queue), usually triggered by Axis units getting close to specific objectives (tho other triggers exist), so you won't see them anywhere in the game exe interface until they suddenly show up.