Gameplay

There’s no i in team

As the manual itself suggests, what separates the Combat Mission games more from every other tactical wargame is that it has adopted the “we go” system. Drawing back to their roots as tabletop entertainment, wargames have always had the “I go you go” system. One player would move his units, one at a time. If he had a key objective or target, he could attack it in sequence until it was destroyed, always expending the minimum amount of firepower. More importantly, it created the same problem as exists in chess – the advantage for the first player to move. Given equal armies and odds, the attacker always got the first shot in and would reduce his enemy’s firepower in the next turn, so the enemy could never inflict the same damage back.

Phew

Another one bites the dust

I'd hate to be in the squad

Combat Mission solves this problem by using the “we go” philosophy. Both sides plan out their moves, the results of which are calculated by the computer then displayed in the minute long realtime phase. This means that players can’t stack their forces only as much as necessary, and are helpless before surprises. In a typical turn-based hex game if the player was moving several tanks in a side-by-side formation, but only one at a time and he encountered a minefield, then only the first tank would be affected and the rest (even though they were really all moving together) could stop and divert. In CMBB, if orders are given to an entire platoon of tanks to move up, they’ll do it together and run into the minefield. Little details like this matter significantly in the grand scheme of things.

Combat!

The game is tremendously detailed. Covering arcs of fire can be set, so a unit will only attack if another unit comes into the arc. Some have even specific armor arcs, where they’ll only attack an armored target in that arc. Infantry can run, move, advance, assault, hide and sneak. It will occupy positions in buildings and seek shelter in craters and ruins. Tanks can move fast or at ‘hunt’ speed where they’re actively looking for targets, or they can “shoot and scoot” – move forward quickly, fire, then duck back under cover.

Yes, everybody is targeting it

A great Hungarian assault gun

They had decent tanks too

All the individual unit decisions after they receive their orders are decided by the TacAI. The TacAI figures out how long it would take a unit to get the order (if it is within sight of its HQ unit, not long. If it’s isolated, it will take considerable time), and how it will try to execute it. If the unit comes across something unexpected, like an enemy that ambushed it, the TacAI will also judge how the unit reacts. This is dependent on the threat posed by the enemy, the morale (green, regular, veteran, crack or elite) of the both units and even on the possibility of either of them being fanatics.

There is really nothing quite like designing a plan of battle, seeing it dissolve into garbage when the enemy makes an unexpected move or deployment, and then having to counter that. The level of forethought needed is considerable even against the computer.