Historical Strategy Games

[2012 Wont Happen]

Any strategy game will be inherently at least a little bit historically inaccurate because the player decides whether a battle is lost or won.

The Total War series is fairly accurate within that limitation though.

 

[SturmDolch]

Civilization is not only historically inaccurate, it's a joke of a game anyways. Europa Universalis III is ok, but EUII is moreso. HOWEVER, I'd recommend getting EU3 and downloading the Manga Mundi mod or some other mods for better historical accuracy. Be sure to get the expansion packs.

 

[Pingieking]

Hearts of Iron 2 and 3. Might want to wait for an expansion and/or player mods to show up for HoI3. The second one has got some pretty non-realistic features like weird supply lines (running supply lines for several dozen divisions through the Sahara) and giant army stacks (attacking Kiev with 90 Soviet divisions, and defending with 65 German divisions). Also some pretty crazy amphibious assaults (the transports have a range of 3000 km).
Europa Universalis 3 is also good. It's pretty non-historical, but you can pick up a mod that makes it quite historical.
For a bit of an Asian twist, go with the two series from Koei; Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The latest ones are Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11. They're both based off the same engine and plays quite similarly. Just that one takes place in 14th century(?) Japan and the other is in 2nd century China.

 

[The Madman]

Europa Universalis 3 and Hearts of Iron 2 seem like the types of games you and your father would most enjoy. No fancy visuals, just pure strategy played from a boardgame-like perspective.

If you want to delve into the absolute most hardcore of historic PC strategy games however, you'll want to delve into the 'hex based wargames' genre. It's a rather obscure genre, but a lively one. General consensus puts 'Norm Koger's The Operational Art of War III' as reigning king of the WW2 simulation genre. Never played it myself, but I know a few people who have and they regard it highly.

Here's a link for you: http://www.matrixgames.com/products/317/details/Norm.Koger%27s.The.Operational.Art.of.War.III

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[SimuLord]

If he's complaining about supply lines, consider something like Matrix Games' entire lineup (I see I've been ninja'd on this), and games like Korsun Pocket or even the old Panzer/Allied General games might work for him. If it's more a beer-and-pretzels game he's after, consider Gary Grigsby's World at War or AGEod's body of work.

 

[YuheJi]

I would say Age of Empires. When I first played AoE I, I didn't believe that most of those civilizations existed. And I thought the battles were made up. But since then, I have learned that most of the campaigns are based on historical battles. Age of Empires II as well (I wouldn't recommend AoE III when it comes to historical accuracy). The series has had campaigns of things such as Genghis Khan's rise to power, El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar), Agincourt, Actium, Joan of Arc, etc.

 

[tsaketh]

Just wanted to pop in and thank everyone for your suggestions-- I've put together a collection of links, titles and summaries and popped off an e-mail to my pops.

The Matrix Games stuff looks like EXACTLY what he's looking for, though EU3 w/mods could be up his alley as well. Hearts of Iron 2/3 looks to be pretty up that alley as well.

All in all, excellent showing by the Escapist Community, and thanks again!

 

[Irridium]

The civilization games are excellent choices. They have many historical scenario's for you to play.

The Total War games are also good choices.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Hearts of Iron III?

 

[SimuLord]

Hearts of Iron III?

If you want to see historicity gone horribly, horribly wrong, HoI3 is a great choice. Italians in Paris, Nationalist Chinese in Pusan...

The upcoming (out tomorrow) Arsenal of Democracy (fan remake of HoI2 with the most popular mods applied and some recoding done) would be a better choice in the Hearts of Iron series (I base that more or less solely on the fact that it's designed to make HoI2 better, which can only be awesome!)

 

[e033x]

Holy mother of all necros... You realize this thread is from 2010...?

 

[L. Declis]

There is the Commander; The Great War series on iPad; very simple interface, plays like an old style tabletop game, very historically accurate.