Historical

Update: One of the fellows on the Paradox forums pointed out that you can simply copy the music from your EU II folder to the folder for For the Glory, so I can now unreservedly recommend the game.

There's an ongoing discussion in the interactive fiction community about whether or not we're well-served by our traditional reliance on second person present-tense narration -- the kind of thing that works for

You are standing in a damp cave.

or

You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

...but not so much for

You feel overwhelmed by existential angst and break down weeping.

Birth of America is a big, sprawling wargame of the American Revolution and the French and Indian Wars, with a map covering the whole eastern portion of the North American continent (including Quebec, and up to the Mississippi). Though strategic in its approach, you play at an operational level, ordering individual regiments on a detailed map of the area. Although it's turn-based, enemy units move and fight at the same time as yours, so unlike many turn-based games, there's a real sense of the fluidity of combat. (Or to put it another way, it's not an "I go, you go" game--rather, both you and the AI plan your moves, and then you watch as the results of those plans play out.)

Demo contains the tutorial and the full 1775 campaign--quite a lot of gameplay at no cost.