I was part of the beta test, and I can provide my opinion here:
This is a great game. If you enjoy turn-based strategy, I would say it is absolutely worth the pricetag. I find the graphics and interface to be clean and accessible. Every aspect of the game is either directly displayed all the time, or is one click or mouse tool tip away. In spite of this, once you've learned the interface, it does not feel cluttered in my opinion.
The game play emphasizes using the proper units for the proper roles. Although there are only a few basic unit types, they are modified by nationality, experience, and attached specialists. For example, the difference in combat effectiveness between a veteran German SS division with armor support and a green motorized Italian infantry division is vast. However, your veteran SS division will get butchered just as readily as the Italians if they get cut off and cornered on the wrong side of a river. The scenarios often do a very good job of presenting you with a variety of units, many of which are only suitable for certain roles. Not all your troops are going to be able to lead a flanking maneuver or defend that critical river crossing. The AI is very good, and will ruthlessly exploit any unit mismatches it can find. That being said, the scenarios are designed to be completable with the troops you have, although the method for doing this is not always immediately apparent. That's where the fun bit is- You have to devise a strategy to utilize what you have to achieve your goals. Its quite fun, and some of the smaller scenarios can play out almost like a puzzle. In the larger scenarios, the slightly randomized nature of combat and weather mean that no two playthroughs will come out the same.
Gameplay also emphasizes the role of suppply. Having troops in supply increases their combat effectiveness and movement rate. Units that are cut off from supply for too many turns become an easy target. Preserving your own supply is critical for victory, and cutting off the enemy supply is often very helpful. Supply is modified by terrain and weather, in a manner that makes sense to me and provides some added complexity. For instance, rivers will limit your ability to resupply troops, unless you build a bridge across them. Rain will diminish the range over which you are able to resupply. The weather changes randomly, so its hard to predict how much it will influence your operations in any given scenario. The supply mechanic in the game provides a great opportunities for piercing or flanking, encirclement, and threatening of supply lines. As I understand, this was a big part of the real Eastern Front of WWII, and I think it is modeled nicely here.
So. I would say the interesting variations in units and the supply mechanic are two of the best things about the gameplay. Other points to make: 1) The AI is almost always excellent, 2) the Russian and German sides play quite differently, 3)terrain provides a neat mechanic without dominating the gameplay, 4)there is a nice range of scenarios, and 5) the most desirable victory conditions are difficult to achieve, and this helps make scenario replayability quite high.
Things are not entirely rosy, however. A few gripes: 1) There is, currently, no Undo button. Sometimes, you just wish you had one! During the beta this was brought up, and it sounds like the Developers are thinking about adding it. 2) I find the gameplay slightly Over-Destructive. To explain: at the beginning of a scenario, the map might be covered in units. But by the end, almost all of these units will have been completely destroyed- at least on my opponents side, if I am winning
The simplest path to victory is often to destroy everything in sight. This is somewhat unrealistic, in my opinion. Destroying divisions entirely is perhaps too easy. 3) As a related problem- the campaigns lack any carryover of unit experience, casualties, or specialist attachments. This is unfortunate, but I can understand why it is difficult to implement.
To conclude this long and ramble-y post: There is a lot about this game that is great. I recommend that you purchase it. Fundamentally, the gameplay mechanics and interface are very solid. The game has been thoughtfully produced, to a high degree of polish, and with an eye for both playability and historical fidelity. There is room to add more options, and more scenarios, but hopefully these things will be added if the game sells well.
And yeah, the bit about destructability and empty battlefields by the end is true. Then again, if there was some way for troops to recover. The battlefield might get cluttered and the flow of the game lost. But i suppose i could imagine a system of cohesion were some divisions might find their way together or more Ad-hoc formations could be formed in the form of March battalions or kampfgruppen i suppose.
