Fall Weiss covers the German invasion of Poland. Starting September 1 1939 the game allows players to control the Germans, Polish or the Russian forces. Players have 122 turns (each representing one day) to either conquer Poland or hold against the invaders. Each of the three factions has its own victory conditions:
German: Defeat Poland and Peace with/or defeat Russia
Poland: Hold against the Germans
Russia Defeat of Poland and Peace with Russia

(NOTE the following has been fixed by the developers and custom games are now working)
There also appears to be the option of playing a custom game. Which gives the player the ability to decide which of the 10 countries they control and to set difficulty levels for each. NOTE I have not gotten this option to work, getting a scenario is not compatible error. But it makes no real difference since most of the other countries play little role in the game

While I like the game it is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. The biggest concern is lack of manual or tutorial; (NOTE THERE IS A MANUAL IN THE GAMES INSTALL FOLDER) why the developers did not include even a short description of some of the mechanics for the game is beyond me. Luckily for those who (like myself) have played other Wasteland games the basics are easy to get. of course I still have no idea the effects of HQs and supply depots

Game play
The game takes place on a huge (141 x 133) hex map. Players are also greeted with a large number of units; one example can be seen in the German army starting with 178 infantry regiments. With such a huge map and so many units it is a bit over whelming. And this is where I think the game is turning a lot of people off.

I personally like the game but it clearly is not for everyone. You go into this game with the knowledge that you got to have a plan. Now that can be said for any game of this type but Fall Weiss takes it to a whole new level. A good part of the game is about encircling your enemies and to do this you got to know what troops you are planning to head in each direction. Without the ability to buy new units (only re-enforce losses from starting units) planning becomes all that more important.

You got to plan your breakthroughs, decide which units will go through the gaps and where they will hook up with others units (from other gaps) to encircle and cut off the enemy supplies. I am not going to lie and say it is all fun and easy but it can be rewarding to see your plans come together

CONS
No tutorial or manual
UPDATE: ANother player pointed out there is a manual in the games folding. It gives a little information on the use of HQs and suooly

If you play as Russia you spend the first 17 turns watching the Germans and the Polish fight while you wait to be allowed to cross the border

Pros
get to play all three sides. Of course there is probably little possibility of the Poles winning
developer talking about mod support

Is it worth it
That depends, if you do not want to try your luck at planning the battles of an entire theater of operations I say walk away now. I believe the German campaign will take around 6 hours, let's assume the Poles and Russians take four hours each; that is 14 hours of game play. Not mentioning the changing some settings like French attacking in the west. In the terms of game play time it is worth the $20 dollars

For those who may already own Panzer Corps and its DLC, feel this games a little too deep or looking for a bit more, I would suggest waiting till it goes on sale.

I've tried and failed many times to stick my thick skull into this unbelieveably dense game. That in and of itself is not a criticism, but I finally sat down today to really take a full collective processing of this game to decide wether it be worth my time. I've come away a bit more wise for my struggles. For all its overwhelming scales and options, it's more or less a classic hexagonal strategy game, albeit with a lot of bizzare, unpolished choices mixed in. It's also an incomprehensive mess. Also trash. Here goes.

The first time I booted FW up, I was stunned and confused, not entirely sure what was going on or what I was doing as the AI took its sweet time slaughtering my units. If there is a fast forward button, I couldn't find it. This continual, sluggish bombardment coupled with absolutely no context or control made me back out quickly. I exited to desktop so quickly, in fact that my haste led to Weiss locking up my entire computer leading to an intense struggle for control in which I learned to not play this in fullscreen for future reference. That was the most thrilling experience I will ever have with this game.

Daunted but not defeated, I took some time away to arm myself before the war. Coming back with a knowledge that a single campaign can last upwards of 10 hours depending on your faction and settings, I settled in for the long haul, and for the first turn I really got into the whole thing. Yeah, I'll admit, I could've used just a most infinitely basic tutorial, or even a bit of context outside of a lame quote from the past, but beggars can't be choosers. Yeah, couldn't really understand why my panzers were taking more damage from infantrymen than against other tanks on a completely flat plain, or why oh why were so many unit names overlapping. Is that a photoshop of a Model T Ford? How big is this map? Is Fall Weiss really just a massive scale garbage looking and sounding Advance Wars?

Oh, it crashed again.

Oh, it didn't save anything.

Oh.

And that's how I came to write this review. After reading through so many on both sides, I've come to really like the idea, it's just a shame FW fails on such a basic level. I want to like it, I want to get into it, but Fall Weiss fails to live up to any expectations it places and genuinely, wholeheartedly does not care if you play it or not. I've never played a game that felt so bored with itself. Also, just found out that there is one campaign map. One. 15 dollars, man.

What might've had potential when it first came out 2 years ago, Weiss...sure doesn't anymore. If you're looking to get in to the armchair general genre of PC strategy, pass this one at ALL COSTS. There are plenty of superior titles, and really, this game isn't worth anyone's time. Go for Panzer General or the Front series from Talonsoft as some of the other reviewers suggested. I know I will.

Game for hardcore strategists that know what Panzer General series is. However, read reviews before you buy it so you can avoid disappointment. I give it thumbs up because it has potential and with some more effort it can be good.

+ detailed units (regiments of about 3000 soldiers)
+ detailed map
+ historically correct (Soviet Union in alliance with Nazi Germany; Slovak, Hungarian and Lithuanian units)

- feels hopeless if you want to play Poland, feels boring if you try to play Germany
- Slovakia with todays Russia flag is historically correct but confusing (perhaps use the Tiso flag?)
- graphics are waaaay to go (hex tiles in XXI century should use some better techniques - tile size should be larger than hex size and could use transparency on edges to blur with adjacent ones, multilayer hexes are very helpful and easy way to make graphics better, rivers should not bent with 60 deg angle and should not look like ribbons)
- map seems to be stretched in north-south dimension (typical mistake with hex maps?)
- gameplay... it could be a chapter on its own:
- learning curve, where the hell is learning curve? oh, there it starts, in the blue skies
- it takes ages before computer finishes move (anyone cares?)
- beside the one huge map and single campaign there should be some smaller, subset maps for single battles and skirmishes (game could be much more interesting at this level and it would be easier for players to start)

If, like me, you played and enjoyed Talonsoft's titles, East front, East front II and West front, and like me, you have been looking for a game that compares to those great games.......Don't get this !!! now i know the screenshots look reminiscent of the above mentioned titles and you would be forgiven for thinking it looks good, but, it's not, in my opinion, it's a sad wannabe title, i don't mind saying that i found it awkward, clunky and quite frankly boring.
Good idea, already been done and i'm certainly glad i did not pay £10 or whatever it's being sold for on Steam.

First, I would just like to say, A turn-based, World War 2 strategy game, where you can recreate specific engagements from The second world war sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, Fall Weiss, has a problem, a very big problem. It loves to crash on loadup. Checked the forums and apparently a lot of people have the same problem. Now, I get that some games have bugs. I love Fallout 3 and New Vegas and they are both bugged to hell. Fall Weiss, isn't a name brand the way fallout is, so we expect it to have less issues, especially when it comes to actually loading the game. Wastelands Interactive, who put out the title, apparently hasn't bothered to submit a hotfix to resolve this issue. After almost an hour of trying tinkering and changing settings, sifting through forums, I decided this game just isn't worth the hassle. So, for the first time ever, It gets a thumbs down, simply for being a bugged out game that doesn't want to load.

No tutorial so you need read the Fall Weiss.pdf in the game folder
There is no beginning you get thrown into the game and It feels like it take 20 min for the Computer AI to make hes first move, before you can do anything!
and then I get the feeling:
I am going to lose but it's going to take a week before that actually happen

People that buy this game probably already like Panzer General
This is not the game for beginner to Start with

its bewildering to me that people take one look at RTS games and think "ooo i want to play that!"

The game comes with a Windows security warning. I think I'll pass.

Great game for players interested in World War II and supporters of turn-based games. Reveals in the September campaign of unprecedented scale in the game. With a bit of patience is also a good history lesson for younger players.

Świetna gra dla graczy interesujących się drugą wojną światową i zwolenników gier turowych. Ukazuje kampanię wrześniową w niespotykanej dotąd skali w grze. Przy odrobinie cierpliwości jest także dobrą lekcją historii dla młodszych graczy.

Locks up at initial loading screen. Cant find solutions in the games forums.