Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy faithfully recreates the experience of tactical land warfare in Western France during World War Two. The Base Game covers the three month period following the Allied D-Day landings, from Operation Overlord in June through the Cobra Breakout in August. The tough fight has become the stuff of legend and Combat Mission’s high standards for accuracy and detail means you’ll experience the fighting as realistically as can be.
Command the full array of American and German Heer formations fighting along the coast through to the interior of France. Four challenging campaigns, 21 standalone scenarios, and a plethora of Quick Battle maps will test your tactical acumen. Matching the painstakingly researched battles is the highly detailed combat equipment, including 67 vehicles and dozens of various small arms and heavy weapons.
Features
- Tactical warfare at battalion and below scale in a true 3D environment
- Command individual vehicles, teams and squads
- Expansive simulation of “soft factors” such as Morale, Experience and Leadership
- Innovative systems portraying Fog of War, Spotting, Line of Sight, Command & Control and Objectives
- Unmatched realistic physics, ballistics and battlefield effects
- Fight in a wide range of weather and lighting conditions, all of which realistically impact fighting abilities
- Unique hybrid system for RealTime and WeGo (turn based) play
- Full featured Editor for maps, scenarios, and campaigns
- Quick Battle system sets up deliberate or randomized battles based on player specifications
- Single player and head to head play, including Play By Email (PBEM+++)
- Supported for the long haul with patches, upgrades and expansions
Game Discussion
Steam User 28
This game is hardcore.
I am a military history nerd for 30 years and I know no other simulator that shows WW2 combat as realistic as this... Next to "Garviteam Tactics". They are so different that they complement each other, not compete against each other.
You need to know real military combat tactics to prevail, nothing less. You need to know the weapons capabilities and limitations. If you don't you lose.
If you make the effort, you get a very unique experience. All of a sudden, you really, really understand what it meant to be a WW2 soldier. You can relive history!
I play this game for over 10 years (outside of Steam) and it just never gets old.
About the crappy graphics and performance: this isn't a game! It never was and never will be. So gaming norms like eye-candy graphics and such don't apply. This is a simulator with just one goal: it wants to represent WW2 as realistic as possible. It exceeds at that.
Steam User 9
If you are a wargamer, and willing to look past the rather dated graphics, the tactical elements of this game truly cannot be beaten. It is the definitive platoon-to-battalion level WW-II gaming experience. I have put thousands of hours in nearly all Combat Mission products from the first iteration (no longer on Steam). To say it is my favorite computer game-- given the time investment-- would not be an understatement. Having said this, it does not run as well on AMD graphics cards as Nvidia given aged programming (I have AMD). A must have for multiplayer, turn-based gaming.
Steam User 7
Lot of content in-game and in mods (All-In-One Mod). And DLCs are good looking too. I bought this using key websites since its so expensive. I did not buy full price. Performance (this goes with any Combat Mission game) needs to be adjusted by you (you need to open NVIDIA control panel and MAKE SURE it is using your GPU when you run this game. By default it uses integrated graphics and runs poorly). But once you do that then you will be running the game just fine. Very good game. Addicting
Steam User 3
It's not for everybody but it actually still works on windows 11. It's an old boutique game, but it has it's own charm. It strives to be realistic but the engine is so old and buggy that trees block cannons and missiles. However, the infantry battles can be epic, and the sound effects are great!
Steam User 5
I bought this and its DLCs (on sale) quite some time ago. I wasn't patient enough trying to learn and understand the game. I didn't pay enough calm attention to the manual (for which I now notice a "view the manual" link on the game's Steam page. I ended up making little use of the game.
What a mistake. Long story short -- I recently tried again and this time spent some time with the manual. Suddenly, I get it. Sure, it's still a game that takes practice and needs to be taken pretty seriously. But now I understand why so many have done just that. It doesn't feel at all like an arcade game to me. It's interesting! Two old gamer's wrinkly thumbs way up.
Steam User 3
The amount of detail without being a micro-intensive game is commendable. I played many RTS games before Warno SD 2 COH2, MOW AS2; most of these games fall into the issues of microing individual unit yet the game size is macro strategy of battalion or even brigade hence it felt incredibly exhausting due to the scale if u control each singular unit/squad, this game somehow finds the hard to get balance of being able to micro without sacrificing the epic scale by letting the AI to target and shoot (have their own mind to accomplish the set upon objective by the player) which enable you to macro strategy effectively but not cripplingly hollow by being a macro focused blob fest compared to the previously mentioned title, with enough historical knowledge u can jump in and understand how units interacts within a system without being too arcadey like COH series orr just blob v blob fest like SD2 or Warno that absolutely ignore terrain or even tactical positioning, I found myself satisfied after a single squad of understrength us rifleman wiped my 2 full strength grenadier squad by running into it. 9/10 experience a niche that I find nowadays hard to find
Steam User 2
Best WWII tactical squad sim out there. The system rewards players that use the choices veteran squad/platoon leaders made to win engagements. Combat results are pretty realistic and often gruesome, if your decisions were poor or unlucky. Just like it was in real life. For the greatest realism, I recommend the Veteran/Elite game difficulty. I used the turn order style of play. I haven't tried simultaneous play but I imagine that would be very challenging and the most realistic way to experience the game. Awesome!