Question about good historical theme games

[S.R. Krol]

Originally Posted by dpendery

I want to ask your opinion on some of the best and most realistic such games. These games would have to have real historical figures, but they could also have unreal and made-up characters in the narratives about actual historical events.

Are you looking for computer games or board/miniature games?

The requirement of having historical figures can be an issue. Many games do have historical leaders represented, but for the most part these are nothing more than another unit with different bonuses. Essentially, it's up to the player to create a narrative around that figure, otherwise he's just another stat on the board. The majority of games don't tend to go down to that level though. For example, most strategic level games don't worry about actual generals or such, you're just pushing stacks of armies/corps around the map.

Off hand the PC series Hearts of Iron is the only game I can think of that really includes a lot of historical figures, though gameplay falls way into the counterfactual history.