Well, over 18 months since the last post, I have returned to CoH2 in earnest. After the British Forces DLC was bought (ironically, my least favourite and least played faction of the original game) - I fired up CoH2 and got stuck into the Ardennes campaign, along with the occasional skirmish.
I don't know if Windows 10 has helped, or if the game has been patched a lot over the last year-and-a-half - but it runs considerably smoother than it did previously. The game feels more like CoH1 revamped now - rather than the botched mess that CoH2 was on release. The Ardennes campaign is also
massively more enjoyable than the default Russian one that CoH2 comes with. I actually finished that Eastern Front storyline just yesterday and I didn't really get a sense of achievement at all. The criticism that CoH2 came with about it's ingrained attitude to the Russian forces of WW2 was partly justified, but in the same way, was based on a lot of historical fact. Sending waves upon waves of infantry into capture a single objective might nod towards the truth of the early-to-mid 1940s - but it doesn't necessarily make for a good RTS game. Especially when if the commissar is loitering at the base, you retreat your troops to get reinforced - and the poor b******s get shot!
I will therefore reverse my previous criticisms of the game - so long as you don't purchase just the core game itself. This game needs the DLCs to come alive - to give you the choice of units and offerings in order to take on the objectives. There are many improvements over the original - not just graphically, but with the number of keyboard shortcuts you can use as well as issuing orders through the mini-map in the lower left. That alone is a god-send.
If you see the complete edition knocking about for a cheap price - then I'd strongly suggest that you take a look. But it takes the Western Front armies, the Ardennes campaign and the British forces in order to make this game shine.