TL;DR: It's awesome if you know what you're getting and if you're into this kind of game. To know what you get I guess you have to read the rest of this wall of text. I promise it will be a nice and informative read while covering most of what you'd want to know before you buy the game or one of the two DLC's.
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Unity of Command is an excellent game that manages to achieve a thing rarely achieved by wargames that deal with WWII on the operational level: It's accessible to newcomers and easy to learn, it's simple on the surface and in its gameplay but it still has enough depth and complexity to offer interesting decisions for veteran wargamers, because almost every decision you make carries some weight when it comes to the end result. There are other wargames comparably excellent to this one, but they make most newcomers want to vomit blood out of their eyes - because the developers place their confidence in you being willing to read a 100 page manual alongside playing their game and they assume you will look past the hideous and needlessly overcomplicated user interface. (I'm looking at you Korsun Pocket - excellent game, terrible learning experience).

None of these things are an issue in Unity of Command. The user interface is excellent and very user-friendly. You don't have to click on a unit to get information about whether it can still attack or move, you see it at a glance because each unit has tiny icons below and around it, that tell you everything you could possibly want to know about your or your enemies' unit at a glance without wasting your time and clicking every unit to check manually.

Another point where this game shines is its "realism". I know this word is hard to swallow if you're a "serious" wargamer and you look at Unity of Command. But this game basically models the higher-level essential things of what war in the eastern front at the operational level was all about. For the Germans it was about advancing as fast and as far as you can to take key objectives without outrunning your own supply or your supply lines being cut off by the enemy. The flipside of this naturally means encircling your enemy and cutting of their supply to weaken them and eventually starve them out completely. Also it's about breaking through (sometimes multiple) defensive lines of your enemy. Pick the weakest link in their line, punch a hole with a massed attack at that point, and then squeeze through everything that has wheels to advance as fast as possible towards your objectives, while your slower infantry divisions advance behind your motorized divisions and worry about securing the supply line for those advancing units, whilst simultaneously trying to encircle and destroy the enemy. The deceptively simple game mechanics of movement and attack (whilst also considering rivers, terrain features and weather effects on your movement and attacks) are excellent at modelling all of the above - and in the end I think the gameplay mechanics really model everything truly relevant in the context of this large scale warfare level.

Each of the units you'll see in the game represents several thousand, if not ten-thousand men and each single single hex represents 20 kilometers. Almost all you ever do in this game is move and attack with your divisions, move and attack. But where to move? What to attack? What to attack first and what with? Where to break the enemy line? How do you cut off their supply lines to starve them out? You also make important decisions in the form of "theatre assets" (air raids, building or blowing up bridges, extending the range of your supply depots etc.) Also you have to decide about reinforcements as the game progresses over turns (each turn represents 4 days), so new reinforcements may come into play - on your side as well as on the side of your enemy. Sometimes you need to take a specific area at the edge of the map so your own reinforcements may enter from there, at other times you just replace some losses that your divisions in play suffered already (which sensibly you can only do if they are in supply).

So yes at first glance your options seem somewhat limited but they always make perfect sense in the context of modelling the war in the east. You could bomb a city where an enemy infantry division has entrenched itself, but each air attack you launch on that city has a chance of turning the city into ruins, giving any enemy division within it even more defense as fighting on a pile of rubble increases their chances to hide and ambush if you launch an attack into that city. Some divisions have artillery attached, but if you move that unit its artillery attachment ("step") won't contribute to your attack value, it will only contribute in your defense and attack after you end your current turn and they have set up. This game is just full of gameplay details like this which make absolute sense. If you enjoy pondering these kinds of decisions with a feeling that virtually each small decision matters for the outcome, then this is a game for you. You can also play this game okay without paying much attention to the deeper details - you won't excel at it but you could still play very competently and there aren't that many details to know either, the complexity of your options and decisions arises from the interaction of the gameplay mechanics and the finer details.

Also there are "Zone of Control" mechanics meaning every (non-weak) unit in a hex extends a zone of control into all six hexes around it (as long as those hexes are inside the own territory), meaning enemy divisions who move into these hexes are immediately "pinned down" by the division controlling the zones around it and so the pinned unit can't move any further this turn. This leads to excellent tactics, where some of your units "clear" those zones of control and get pinned, while others advance through and past those friendly pinned divisions and thus can advance deeper into enemy territory without getting pinned themselves. You'll learn what that means and how important zones of control are soon enough, because the nothing short of excellent AI will constantly make intelligent use of this mechanic to exploit any hole and weak link in your own defensive lines which may have looked good and solid enough a second ago when you ended your turn, but proved to be as fragile as a butterflies wing a moment later. Also the AI is excellent at defending any objectives you need to take. It knows exactly what your objectives are and dynamically and competently adapts its defensive lines to hinder your progress at every turn. Good times.
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I do have some gripes about Unity of Command as well however, but they are nowhere seriously bad enough to spoil the fun and experience you can have with this game. I've come across at least two maps that are ill-conceived for 1920x1080 resolutions, because there is a limit to which point you can drag the map view around and some of your user-Interface elements can end up blocking a part at the edge of a map that isn't greyed out and where the actual gameplay still happens (though you can quickly enable and disable user interface elements with hotkeys, so the problem is merely annoying, not gamebreaking). Also there is little variety in terms of music, but the music that is there is really nice. (And it's not as if I can't mute it and play my own music anyway).

If I had to criticize gameplay I would say it's mainly this: Your performance is solely ranked based on how timely you take objectives and nothing else. Rarely this can lead to stupid outcomes where I took Stalingrad on time with two completely weakened divisions, my other forces virtually obliterated. I'd have lost on the next turn, but because I took everything on time it was a "brilliant victory". Troop loss should have been included in your performance rating. Also random outcomes and weather can prevent you from achieving the best possible rating.

This isn't a war game IMO. It's a puzzle game where you try to push your units and achieve your objectives within a certain amount of turns to win the scenario. The turn limits are so tight there's really only one solution to the problem so you have almost zero flexibility of approach. A real waste of an otherwise great game system.

If you've never played a turn-based, operational-level strategy game before, this is the best starting point. The intuitive UI and the kind of cartoony art assets make for a game that feels very inviting. However, this game is hard, but in a good way. Your onus as the player is to be clever, to examine the situation and find weak points in your enemy's defenses and assess risk and reward. You end up thinking like a World War 2 general after you play a little bit, and that's really cool.

+ Minimalist, aesthetically pleasing design and visuals; keeps the game from appearing to be daunting or intimidating
+ Soundtrack, while limited, helps one to focus adequately
+ User interface is both clean and intuitive
+ The challenge, and subsequent feeling of reward, is increased by many subtle factors; namely, these include: supply lines, weather, and terrain
+ The added features of partisans, bridge demolition, air support, and reinforcements all lend to a feeling of depth and a vital need to remain calculating
+ Much of the strategic nuances are carefully understated, making the gameplay appear simpler and more inviting
+ Reinforcements are only available from a limited pool, forcing you to utilize your existing resources carefully

- Learning curve, while not readily apparent, can prove to be somewhat steep
- Ultimately, there are fewer available campaigns that one would like
- Dramatically underwhelming tutorial
- Crippling lack of display options
- Multiplayer is direct-connect only, and has some functionality issues (although it is quite fun if you can get it working correctly)


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What got me hooked on this game was when I looked up old maps and used the historical strategies to win -- and they worked. That made this game a whole new wargame experience, it allows me to research what really happened and why, with an easy to learn, but deeply fun game.

There was something amazing that happened when I put in motion a digital battle plan that had been written over 70 years prior by brilliant strategists during the world's deadliest war. This game brings out the art of war with an elegance and subtle sophistication unlike any other game I've played. I didn't know I had been waiting for this game until I played it.


I'd like maybe a NATO counter option, and maybe some order of battle/organizational charts of my army makeup. But those things are more for vibe than gameplay. I love this game and hope this dev keeps putting out more great games like this. This game is a great gateway into operational level wargaming.



The world needs them.

To access your key to play:
- Right click on Unity of Command in your library
- Click Manage
- Click CD Keys
- Click on the key to copy the key to your clipboard
- Start/open up the game and copy the key
- Play

If you ever wondered "Hey, I wonder what all those hex-based, turn based, 70s board wargame-inspired are all about", this is the game for you. Also, if you love hex-based, turn based, 70s board wargame-inspired games, this is also for you.

The GUI is silky, the AI is cunning, and it looks fabulous -- which last is rare for a game of this kind. The interface makes it easy for newcomers, and it's bloody hard, making it lovely for verterans. Novices would be well served by picking up the Red Turn DLC, as it's about the Soviets curb stomping the Wehrmacht in the later years of the war, and the scenarios are a little bit easier than the ones in the base game.

I've been playing turn-based wargames like this since I was a kid in the 80s, and I can say without reservation this is the best one I have ever played. Go up and buy it.

The good:
I like the simplistic gameplay, and the focus on keeping your supply lines intact while pushing forwards. That´s what this game is about. Capturing objectives while keeping your units in supply so they don´t run out of juice on the front lines. All within a tight turn limit.
It´s an intriguing and (to me) novel concept.

The bad:
It´s frustrating beyond belief. Not because it´s hard (it is) but because it´s to damn random.
+Pushing an enemy off a tile is random.
+Getting "Overrun" results, which allow you to attack again in the same turn, is random.
+A battle can randomly turn out to not go as predicted and you don´t defeat a unit that you needed gone (the game shows you the expected outcome before you attack).
+Bad weather which heavily favours the defender (you are never the defender) may randomly show up and completely screw over your push for the objective.
+Specialists (expensive and often crucial) within your units may or may not be among the casualties when the unit fights.

The problem with that is, the game does not give you the time for this kind of randomness. The turn limits are so tight that any one of these events can screw you over. Sure you might still beat the mission but the game differentiates between normal, decisive and brilliant victories. Many follow up missions are barred behind decisive victories and some even behind brilliant victories.
So you try over and over again, without any change in strategy (once you got it down) and hope that you get enough "Overrun" results with your armoured units and you hope that your push doesn´t get stuck in bad weather until you finally beat it in time.

Due to this, I can´t really recommend it as much as I like the concept of the game.

Do not buy this thinking it is a strategy game. A strategy game lets you explore many different paths to victory against an opponent that is reacting to you. You can create your own strategy to beat the enemy. This game on the other hand, is more like a puzzle game.

The units are set up in predetermined positions. The AI is extremely passive and just reacts to the very few outcomes you can do by scripting. The AI stands absolutely no chance in a fair fight. The only reason why the campaign is so hard is because you are usually extremely outnumbered, you have a limited number of turns to get your objective and the supply line mechanic is designed so you are at a disadvantage as an attacker. Combined with the extremely closed scenarios, the AI just reacts to your predictable movements with strategies scripted by the designer. I frankly do not find any fun in that.

TL;DR This is not a strategy game. It is a puzzle game where you play against the level designer to beat a level in a few turns with an overwhelming disadvantage. If you like that and pretty graphics, try this game. Otherwise stay clear of it.

Unity of Command is a great operational and strategic simulation / wargame. As a professional in the US defense industry and former Soldier (20 years) UoC does a great job of capturing "the big picture" of war at the operational level without getting into details that add nothing to the fight but tedious "bean" counting.

Their model captures Large scale maneuver, dependency on logistics and need for support at the right place and time brilliantly even if in a discreet manner. And I can prove it, by using historical maps I was able to move units in different battles and achieve success but still using the real world plan take a loss or two. Game met reality more often than not.

Now could / should fire support play a bigger role, could there be more detailed logistics or maneuver? Sure but that's not a war game at the operational / strategic level. And that's what makes UoC great, a simplistic model that uses data which produces similar outcomes to the real world.

Hvala Vam!