Musings on ... Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy

Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy is a simultaneous turn-based strategy (using the WeGo system) and is the seventh title in the Combat Mission series. It returns to World War II, after its predecessor went to modern day combat. It also has a real-time mode, but nobody plays it because then you may as well be playing a better World War II RTS (and there are many better than this).

Yes I stole the screenshots, but it was incredibly impractical to take my own

CM:BN is a bit of an oddity. Yes, it’s a semi-obscure fairly hard-core turn-based hyphen inducing strategy game set in World War II, and as such it should be right up my alley. There just seems to be something a little off about it though. At a very basic level the presentation leaves much to be desired. It’s often very difficult to discern different heights on the battlefield from the birds-eye camera you spend most of your time in, which can cause some frustrations. There also seems to be a little feature creep in the system, such as having both a ‘Fast’ and ‘Quick’ option for movement. The menu-driven UI can also lead to annoyances, as you search through different menus trying to find a specific command, or oddities like not being able to set up a machine gun in the same turn as you tell it to move (that may just be me not understanding how to).

That may be another issue in the game, that it isn’t hugely user friendly. Objectives aren’t clearly defined, and I do fear that anybody new to the series could struggle to get to grips with it. That being said, there is a 200 page manual to trawl through if you’re really stuck. Other than the whole issue with the terrain levels, everything else is portrayed quite nicely. Every soldier is an individual, and it’s pretty cool to watch them take cover behind walls or bocage. The icons representing suspected enemy movements are always useful, and always ominous. Seeing a large question mark move slowly from one flank to the other is often a tense moment. Is it a tank? Or just a lone scout unit probing your defences?

Just imagine a bunch of icons all over the screen with some menus and stuff

The battles themselves are usually enjoyable affairs, and the WeGo system is still brilliant. For those who don’t know, each player has unlimited time to set out troop waypoints and the like, but once you click the button your orders are locked. The next one minute then plays out, and you’re allowed to review it to your heart’s desire. Unfortunately you can’t have any more input, so watching a tank column walk into an anti-tank trap is a despair inducing sight. It does serve to make the game much more strategic though. The game isn’t about who has the quickest reaction time or actions per minute, but more about who can outthink their opponent, and recognise opportunities when they present themselves.

The modelling and simulation is something to behold. As I said, every soldier is present on the battlefield, and each is simulated with their own weaponry and ammunition. Each squad (or equivalent) is also modelled for morale via influences such as proximity to leader units or the amount of fire they’re under. What this leads to is a battlefield which is constantly shifting, and where you’re forced to constantly keep an eye on everything lest your attack or defence completely collapses.

Now, this game is definitely not for everyone. I enjoy it, but then I’ve grown up playing games like this. If you wanted to break into more detailed war games, you could do a lot worse than this. If you were more just after a decent World War II strategy game, get something like Company of Heroes instead.