Combat Mission: Cold War — An extremely long and drawn-out war with multiple countries involved.

Ah, Combat Mission. Even typing it gives me goosebumps. Compounding my love of the Combat Mission game(s), which started in 2000, I get to review the latest one — Combat Mission: Cold War.

Just a little background before we get too far in. When it comes to Combat Mission, I started with the first three as soon as they came out: (1) Beyond Overlord, (again 2000); Two years later it was time for II: Barbarossa to Berlin; Then, in the next year came 3: Afrika Korps. All three were produced by Battlefront games. Unfortunately, for me, during this time came the rise/onslaught of that nasty RTS game period… when all games released had to be RTS. Luckily, for us TBS players, there were a few places we could go to get our TBS fix — Matrix and Battlefront (now both owned by Slitherine), and HPS/John Tiller (even though Matrix did carry a few JT games [RIP, Mr. Tiller]). There were also a few small, independents that actually produced some pretty good wargames. Wargame Design Studio (Which was JTS for years),  Naval War Simulations, Schwertpunkt, etc. Combat Mission: Cold War slots right back in where it should, almost a quarter of a decade later.

As with all of the Combat Mission series, your first ‘turn’ is really the Setup Phase, and as in most wargames, you are given your orders.

If you look at my first screen on the left of the three setup screens, all of the recon units are gathered in essentially one spot. “Whaaaaa? Nobody does that.” That’s my first step: to divide them apart and move them into more helpful areas, across the board because I don’t need them all bumper-to-bumper — and doing surveillance — all in the same area! Lesson: like every other wargame, do not trust the initial placement of units done by the AI. I’ll go out on a limb and add, “Ever”.

A huge similarity and difference between Slitherine/Matrix and Battlefront games is the fact that all of them let you setup your participants where you want to begin. Battlefront games have always been more like a two-step process — yes, you set them up, BUT THEN, you issue each units’ first turn orders. Your placing them plus deciding your first moves into the fray… all during the setup phase.

Obviously the rest of this setup phase is my non-recon units, with my unmoved soldiers and vehicles,, of what I had already done with the recon units… keeping in mind, ofc and as always, to keep relatively close to their CO. Command and control is huge in this game.

For me, this is the most important screen in the game…

Now the coolest part, especially after comparing the way the companies make/made games. Combat Mission Cold War, as well as the previous CM games, you can start giving orders, for the first move, of each unit you have… including the very first unit placed. Of course, you can wait until they’re all in their positions, one at a time, OR anything in between.

Another one of the slickest parts of CM:CW is that each type of move has its own color! You don’t have to merely plan for one turn’s worth of moving, shooting, etc. When you trust yourself, you can plan to move your troops all across the board (if you want)… just by daisy-chaining them together! (*I* wouldn’t advise moving anything across the board —

The red on the Tank Destroyer on the left = “Hunt. The pinkish-violet is actually that vehicle shooting smoke. The violet is “Slow”, the yellow at the end of it is fast. Then, I’d probably add a ‘drop troops’ command, there, in the woods. The lone infantry on the right is: Move, Slow, Hunt.

One of my favorite WWII quotes is: “No Battle Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy”. (Helmuth von Moltke). Then, of course, the great orator Winston Churchill had two I’ve always really liked:

1. “Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential,” and

2. “He who fails to plan is planning to fail”.

I’ll end this piece in an unusual way (for me).

PRO TIP: Alt + Z in Combat Mission Cold War shows the “Visible Command Links” which is extremely important for my play-style. This is a hypothetical situation for you.

If you’re running an Nvidia card, when you hit Alt + Z, it brings up the “GeForce Experience” overlay… which takes priority over CM: CW’s “View Command Links”.

It was easier for me to change the hotkey on the GeForce, rather than trying to figure out how to change the keys on the game (if that’s even possible).

Combat Mission: Cold War is available now for PC.