Although saying C.o.H is "gimmicky and shallow" borders on pretentiousness I thank you for this review. I will give this a shot. Always on the lookout for new WWII RTS/strategy games.
Will try the Eastern Front mod for C.o.H. first simply because it was on my To Do list first. ;-)
And all hail the skirmish fans. I never liked multiplayer RTS's (or any other gametype except shooters like FH2). It's too fast, chaotic and I found out that I'm simply not the competitive type. I hardly pay attention to the game anymore and am too busy keeping up (yes, in RTS games I am what could be described as a "turtler"). So I too am more of a skirmish/SP fan when it comes to games.