HoI3 gives an unnerving advantage to the major players, Germany, the US, Japan, the Soviets, and Britain. Everyone else simply gets rolled over in a month.
Sadly, I've never succeeded in keeping the Germans out as the French. Even in the odd game where they don't bother going through Belgium, you can't even muster enough men for the Maginot Line.
I believe HoI2 is a bit more lenient, since you aren't limited by certain game mechanics in research.
Of course, typical of all Paradox games, they require a few hours of hair-pulling frustration, fruitless searches across their forums, and utter shock when you somehow disband half your army by not stroking your mouse wheel correctly.
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