Whats the appeal?

[Imp]

Been playing MBT of late & just fired up WWII for the first time in a while which got me to thinking what is the appeal of it, sure the history of it is interesting but talking in game terms.

The truth of it is there are a few things that stack up, variety, accuracy, mobility & the fact that damage results rather than kills are far more frequent due to taking marginal shots.
Variety - Sure there are some sides in MBT where you get a bit India Pakistan come to mind but the diversity is not so great as in WWII. You generally know in MBT if your tanks are outclassed or not the variety is more in troop transport than armour.
WWII is a different kettle of fish what are we up against this time? Light, medium cruiser or heavy tanks. Then theres tank destroyers & self propelled guns or even some dangerous armoured cars.
Unlike most armour in MBT they vary widely & you have to know there capabilities to extract the best from them.
Take Germanys MkIII or MkIV The mark IV is carries a bigger punch especially at range but has a weak turret. Heck just like most TD you can destroy things at greater range but its more vulnerable to.
Then theres things like the little armoured car & half tracks armed with the tapper bore, pitiful range but up close it packs a big punch for its size.
There are nasty heavies difficult to destroy & that pack a punch & mediocre ones some of the KVs for example, the guns not a worry at range but getting in close enough to inflict damage its good enough.
Then there is the the Brits with there 2 pounder & no HE capability with the CS tanks in support & thats just naming a few.
Like I said variety & you never know quite whats waiting for you, this coupled with a few other things cause more Ohh heck moments than you get in most MBT games, things can get a bit tense at times.
The lack of accuracy adds to this along with the fact there are more marginal shots taken.
Pull out to take a shot with this none to accurate hardware if moving & cringe as you miss or get a damage result instead of a kill. Will he fight back? Can he has the main gun gone?? Oh C%#$
This variety extends to the troops to, rifle LMG or SMG & varying AT capabilities from a hand grenade to pretty scary, of course they might just decide to panic & run.

Planning is far more important due to several factors, long arty call times, mobility in fact a general lack of transport unless your USA or to a lesser extent the Brits, reinforcing that flank takes time. This makes exploiting a break through or salvaging a tricky situation far harder. In fact gaining local force superiority is generally more difficult.
Getting those AT guns in place to reinforce a flank for example requires thought.
If they have move zero where can I deploy them in favourable terrain to intercept, do I need to use smoke, thats 3 turns before it arrives & can I really spare them because they are on target now. Can I get any infantry over there to support or provide the smoke etc.

The game is also more immersive due to the fact you really need to know units capabilities & can indeed get frustrating sometimes. You at least need to know if your AP capability drops off faster than your opponents (shorter range gun) so you can judge at what range to try & engage & if indeed staying in overwatch is viable.
You might be a threat at short to med range but a siting duck at anything further.

So WWII is interesting & a challenge especially if you buy fairly realistically which sort of makes me wonder what interests people with an alternative history & continuing the war on. Want to make a few changes as a what if just assume the Luftwaffe did a better job & there were not major supply issues. So more heavies are available & APCR is widely available to all. Halftracks arent the precious commodity they were & are in wide use & German air is around to cause the allies grief.
Of course then the Germans would play more like the USA with Pershings, just Panthers & panzerfausts instead of bazookas.

If you havent tried it by the way setting up a few largish games with computer purchase & human deploy is a good rule of thumb on what you should actually buy. Dont forget to do it for different theatres As well as time frames the mix varies accordingly.

Still the biggest diffrence between the 2 games is probably mobility & accuracy especialy on the move along with vision aids. Giros & decent fire control even before TI result in more fluid predictable tank battles I suppose rather than the nail biting conflicts that can occur in WWII.

So people any thoughts what else is it that makes WWII what it is.