blsessex: So what's generally recognized as the best turn-based war strategy game out right now? I don't mean something like the Combat Mission series...
It's extremely difficult to even try to answer this question, as there are a lot of fine games of different scale, complexity, timeline etc. I second Crassmaster's suggestion to try Matrixgames. They have a number of experienced developers on board, including SSG (my all time favorite), 2by3 and AGEOD just to name few. Just go to their site, pick some games to your liking and wander around proper forums. It's a very mature and demanding community, so you'll for sure be informed about all cons of each game. The downside is that those games rarely have a demo (you can try reading some AARs instead) and are very expensive, even years after release, so gathering intel is crucial. Good luck!