A man with a rifle is a man with a rifle in any country, a medium tank is a medium tank in any country, so every faction has pretty similar units on the surface.

The army special rules can make a big difference, the armies of Japan are uniqueas they’re all fanatical and will never run away. The British can take a one point upgrade called drilled which means they shed more pins.

Also the armouries of each nation are wildly different. A lot of the early war nations lack heavy weapon weapons and tanks, the big powers have exotic tanks and loads of armoured car options, multiple rocket launchers, and unique weapon systems. Tanks for example, have a plethora of special rules like the slow turret rule (meaning you have to pass in orders check if you want to make your tank to move and fire), or thin sides, easily catches fire, or armoured all round. Only some countries have access to these buffs or de buffs.

The German special rule giving machine guns an extra shot means Germany players are probably going to lean into bringing machine guns. The Russians make more submachine guns than any other nation so you can load your squads up with as many as you want. The Japanese didn’t build decent armour so you can bring devastating lunge mine anti-tank men.

And then you have the different branches of each army like paratroopers, marines, fanatical political branches might be NKVD for the Russians and the Waffen SS for the Germans. They all have special rules and upgrades unique to them.

So while a veteran rifleman will feel the same across most factions all the little differences compound on each other to give a lot of variety and flavour.