I have finished my first actual HoI IV game. This time I went for Poland instead of Germany because apparently I have to have control of my own state or else it breaks down in the most amazing way possible (pretty realistic, tbh).
I spent some time becoming fascist and creating Międzymorze, building up some sweet techs and divisions that don't suck and not giving a shit about navy for most part.
The war started in 1939 with Soviet union invading me and failing miserably, though they did force Estonia to capitulate. In mid 1940 Germany "invaded", but funilly enough whole Balkan states (either as Allies or as part of my own faction) was at war with Axis and apparently Greece and Great Britain already started invading in Normandy, so there was laughable amount of German units and I steamrolled (most memorable thing of the game - one of my tanks knocking down Brandenburg gate, hue) straight over all of it. In meantime I staged a Fascist coup in Russia, proceeded to steamroll them and war was basically over by 1942, and all that was left was hunting down remaining Vichy France in Madagascar and Indonesia and finishing off Japan. There was also Finland which joined Axis in 1943 but they got quickly removed too. At the end Soviets lost somewhere next to 8M people I think, and Axis lost 4-5M maybe, while I lost under 1M with my allies accounting for maybe another 1M.
And of course after the peace conference Allied Yugoslavia claimed nearly whole fucking Western Europe, including most of the Germany, all of France, all of Austria, and so on. Fucking Yugoslavia.