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Or you could get Vicky revolutions. I got it for 6 euros off Amazon. It's not as good but I like it.
 
Depends entirely on what you want. HOI is a deep wargame. Vicky is mostly about colonization and industry and trade, far as I understand. Eagles is more of a hectic, fast-paced wargame, perhaps you could call it a small-scale HOI.

What worked for me was watching let's plays and trying out demo versions ;) .