Advancing the series from the previous title published through Paradox Interactive, this is the game for anyone who played the "Close Combat" series, "Theatre of War" "Combat Mission" etc. Where it differs immediately from the first title "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943" is that you are presented with a menu screen, listing several options such as Skirmish and Campaign instead of launching straight into the one campaign. The first game was neither intuitive nor exactly 'fun' as you were struggling more with the game mechanics than tactical decision. This time, it's really only the patching process the player actually struggles with as it is non-intuitive and rather peculiar. A good read of the Forums will usually iron out any patching wrinkles.

The game itself is beautiful to behold and very detailed inn it's graphical presentation (as long as the sow-drenched battled fields and constant overcast don't get you down". The game is played in 'Turns', in that you decide your moves and place units accordingly, then press the appropriate 'end turn' button. Once there is a meeting of forces, the player then enters real time, where it becomes a 3D version of "Close Combat".

The UI is complicated if you have not played any titles from Graviteam (or Graviteam Tactics as it is now known) or similar titles from Russian developers, yet a cursory read over the manual soon fixes that and the player then is concerned only with waging war. The AI is smart and will act to exploit the player's bad decisions and geography plays a very important role as does weather.

All-in-all they don't come much better than this.

A game of incredible depth and versatility at a low price. Pick-up-and-play gamers may find the UI a tad frustrating at first. However, I have still not studied the manual, and am playing along just fine. This is not the Theatre of War Series - although I enjoy those games. This one really has a higher level of realism and a good AI. One option I'd like is to speed the game up more than 6x to get into the fight quicker.

As far as this specific DLC, I could not have justified the purchase at full price. There is just so much to do in the original game and DLCs. At $9, well worth it for me. And, most importantly, it installs and runs fine, as long as you follow the install directions. Veterans will not have any problems here.

Combat Mission 2 series is still my favorite, but APOS is a strong second and much more affordable. As Wodin says, the devs are in it for the long run and do deserve our support. Good hunting.

The game\sim just gets better and better. Graviteam are a shining example of an old school developer. They are constantly adding and expanding the game for free with patches. They also listen to their customers. Two things now I wasn't happy with after a patch and both things where worked on so we got an option to use it or not. Superb. The game next patch will chnage it's name to Graviteam Tactics. With a new game due out next year called Graviteam tactics: Muis front'43 and a DLC set around Leningrad in '42 War on the Ost front has never been so entertaining. I will also add I normally hate RTS games. I much prefer turn based or WEGO. However this and Close Combat 2 are an exception to the rule. They aren't click fest, the pace is just right and the detail amazing. The only real complaint I have at the moment is some AFV pathing issues, but it isn't game breaking. Anyway if your a tactical wargamer you must have this. The UI gets some stick, but honestly it isn't as complicated as you'd think. Highly recommended.

Another fine addition to the APOS line.Hopefully there will be more titles in the near future.I can't play this game enough and am looking foward to doing battle on new maps,with new weapons systems.I am truly addicted to this game!

Krasnaya Polyana addon for achtung panzer operation star is an excellent wargame that swings from the operational to the tactical, while it entertains, impresses and teaches history.The game is historically realistic and a blast to play. It has alot of surprises and replayability. I highly recommend it to fans of the genre, and many other gamers with a wargaming background could get a lot out of it. Bottom line is it's historically entertaining with addicting gameplay.