As much as I appreciate a Good Game (TM), I've played so many of 'em at this point that I'm getting choosy about what to invest my time in. Several factors have to align to attract my interest — and The Last Train Home has enough of 'em, I guess, because I've wanted to play it from the moment I laid eyes on the trailer.

For one, there's the premise. A volunteer army (the Czechoslovak Legion) fights World War 1 on behalf of the Entente (Allies) because they hope to establish their own country on lands claimed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and need Entente's backing to do it. They take part in several successful battles, World War 1 ends and – before they can get back home – the Russian Civil War erupts and reels 'em right back in.

They are a capable fighting force, have their own armored trains and control several cities in Siberia as well as pretty much the entire length of the Trans-Siberian railway, but can't do the one thing they want (go home) because the way west runs through Austro-Hungarian lands – and those guys (anticipating losing territory upon the Legion's return) want the Legion kept as far away as possible.

So the Legion flips the scenario on its head and decides to run the gauntlet east — to the Trans-Siberian railway's conclusion in the port city of Vladivostok. From there, they'll board troop transports and simply sail around their obstacles (crossing the Pacific, the continental United States and the Atlantic in the process). Simple, right?

If it was fiction, it'd be a hell of a tale. The fact it actually happened makes it that much more fascinating and intriguing (the Czechoslovak Legion evacuated 67,739 people from Vladivostok in September of 1920, having lost 4,112 troops during World War 1 and the Russian Civil War).

For another, there's the gameplay. The Last Train Home is an improvement of the Company of Heroes tactical engine paired with a medium-complexity management game that sees you maintain and upgrade your train, schedule work shifts to keep all wagons running at peak efficiency, care for the health and well-being of your troops and forage or trade for much needed supplies.

The management aspect of the game is pure Goldie Locks: complex enough to pose a challenge, but not so much as to be unfair or annoying – with overarching difficulty adjustment that lets you tailor the experience to your own liking. It's my favorite approach to game difficulty (i.e. one that lets the player determine how steep of a challenge it will be); and one I wish more games implemented.

As for the tactical aspect, it's got everything CoH had (hard/soft cover system, ballistics that account for physical obstructions, dynamic fog of war, troop classes that gain experience); and a couple things Relic should have thought of (stealth and sneak attacks, melee combat, stat-based unit performance, RPG-lite leveling, the ability to mix and match troop classes on a single unit and – hey – a pause button to let you, y'know, plan). It's a system that's very easy to pick up and gives you plenty of time to strategize, but still requires actual skill to master, which – in my opinion – is the best of both worlds.

Mission design deserves a shout-out as maps are uniformly well-thought-out and – to date – no two outings have been the same. With dynamic developments, varied secondary objectives and a sandbox-y approach that lets you decide whether you'll storm that chattering Maxim or sneak up behind it, knock out its gunner and put it to better use, Last Train Home gives the player a lot of agency in how to accomplish objectives without limiting their approach. Want to hide in the grass and patiently knock-out stragglers one by one? Prefer to set up cross-fire from three machine-gunners and throw some grenades into the mix? Like to charge, headlong, and poke people with bayonets? Or snipe from the comfort of heavy cover? All are valid and, executed properly, all can work.

Lastly, there's the execution. I've said it plenty of times already, but – since it's an ongoing phenomenon – I guess I'll have to keep saying it: nobody makes a prettier game than a Czech developer. From an inspiring orchestral score, painterly loading screens, filmed inserts and neatly-written, individual bios for every single Legionnaire under your command; to a busy-but-clean UI, solid writing and downright pretty 3D assets and animations, every single aspect of The Last Train Home is polished to a blinding sheen that is a genuine pleasure to behold.

Like an album with nothing but good songs on it, there wasn't a single aspect of the game that had me thinking "eh, they could have done this better", which – nowadays? – is no small feat.

As of today, I'm only 2,198km into my ride to Vladivostok (with about 7,061km left to go) and haven't even gotten to the standalone Legion Tales DLC, but I can already tell it's going to be one hell of a ride: my wee locomotive is undergoing some much-needed upgrades, my Legionnaires have just gotten over a bout of scabies and are regaining morale inside newly-heated wagons; and the mixture of fear and anticipation that used to precede every battle is starting to resemble the cozy warmth of routine... I'm not sure what else The Last Train Home has in store for me, but – for the first time in a long, long while – I can't wait to find out.

If you liked Company of Heroes, but weren't crazy about Rangers being unable to hit Stormtroopers they were standing on top of; enjoy the middle ground between entertainment and challenge in a management game; want to learn a bit of history from 104 years ago or simply need a reminder that Great Games continue to be made, The Last Train Home is one of those rare gems I can recommend without reservation.

Once I trundle the Legionnaires home and have a chance to finish the Legion Tales DLC, I'll tack on my impressions here. There was one aspect of the DLC that I was really looking forward to (the battles being described by an unreliable narrator). We'll see if it's as much fun as I thought.

Pig (Does Not) Recommend

• -playing the Legion Tales DLC; while the core game is far from historically accurate (as entertainment is wont to be), it is still respectful of the story it relates: it gives you a chance to get to know the Legionnaires — to experience the unbelieavable circumstances they were placed in and to get a glimpse of the harsh choices they often had to make; in short, it humanizes their tale — goodwill the Legion Tales throws out the window right from the get go; the DLC gives you brand new characters to play as (which – after spending 43 hours and change getting to know individual Legionnaires – why would you!?) and turns the tactical element of the game into a rogue-like shambles (with gimmicky challenges, unlockables and debuffs); the production is just as slick as the core game, but the tone is about as appropriate as an on-screen kill count right in the middle of a particularly touching Band of Brothers episode; if you can get past the trivialized nature of the experience, the DLC still offers the same, solid tactical-combat-with-a-pause experience of the core game; I couldn't and lost interest two missions in;