This is a "like/recommend" with conditions...

1. buy it in a bundle (bundle stars is currently selling the series for $2.99)
2. Know that there is zero support for any of the games in the series
3. Expect problems, and don't expect the fixes to be easy. The patches and fixes for the retail hard copy of the game do NOT work for the Steam version
4. Win7 onward hates these games; high end graphics cards hate these games as well
5. It's a great series of games when they work

Verry Good Game! I picked it up because I had some money left in a prepaid card and was verry surprised! I play it now with some friends and it is great!

+ VERY CHEAP!
+ Game focused on strategy and tactics.
+ Historically Accurate.
+ Artstyle still looks good in my opinion.
+- Slow Paced ( Good in my opinion)
- Needs more team maps.
- Not much players online.. so bring your friends!

A great little known classic with many unique RTS featrues not seen in other RTS games up until recently.
Ahead of it's time but still a little buggy. An ambitious game that for the most part is a winner.
For those who like napoleonic warfare, this is a fun game that has Russian devs that come from the napoleonic re-enactment capital of the world, Russia. A lot of detail to be had here, glorious uniforms and many nations are represented.

While a nice addition to the Cossacks series, if you're looking for the arcady feel of the old cossacks game this game is not for you. This game is great, but has a very distinctively different feel to the older games, so it's best not to go with too many preconcieved notions on how it should be.

That being said once you reach a certain mass you will still get the classic "realism" feel and the combat has a lot of nice touches to it even though the extremely "mechanical" aspect to it does kind of make it less fluid.

Both PRO & CON
+/- food and resources are based on strategic resource points
+/- there is a little more realism to the combat
Cons:
- combat is a little more stiff then the older games (by design)
- the added weight to the combat doesn't seem to add too much depth to it over long games
Pros:
+ buildings and towns look more realisticly proportioned (especially compared to the first games)
+ units are more realistic
+ campaign felt more interesting (from what I played of it)
+ the new combat mechanics creates nice situations sometimes

Better than Cossacks 3

Underrated game

Game works perfectly on windows 8.1 1920x1080 5/5 :)

Great game! A lot of stalemates online, good gameplay, and I like the way you have to get the resources for your troops, very good game.

Hello! Here in Poland we can play games that dont work. I have Win 10. Don't worry przyjaciele i can help ya! I could launch this game but it was in window... Really smal window i didn't even see the options. So i installed dxwnd. You need to start the program, click "edit" and "add". In the "path" and "launch" select your Cossacks "Engine.exe". Next under this select "hook all DLLs", "Hook Enabled", "fullscreen only". Then change options to the "VIdeo". Here select "Set16BPP RGB565 enconding", "SVGA modes". Select 1024x768 resolution and select "Limit resolution". Done. Now just click RMB on your engine.exe in this program and select Run. If it still dont work install "start_engine.exe" http://cossacksworld.ucoz.co.uk/load/c_ii_patches/napoleonic_wars/c_ii_3d_patch_for_high_end_graphic_cards/51-1-0-142 and try to use dxwnd once more. If it still dont work or game is crashing install this. {LINK REMOVED}http://www.mediafire.com/download/z4fn4zsyxthq2f9/C2_BfE_Steam_fix.rar
This is all what i need to do to play this game. But some people don't. Here in Poland you can do everything only if You want it really hard! God Bless ya Przyjaciele! And remeber. You need to use dxwnd everytime if You want to play! Or i just have to... That would be sad...

Cossacks II is one of the best strategy games depicting the French revolutionary wars. I always seem to come back to this game after some time. I especially recommend the mode Battle for Europe which allows you to choose a faction to conquer Europe. There are only two little issues: The steam overlay doesn't work and it is better to disable it altogether and there should be a French translation for the extra immersion.