Close Combat

A line of excellent battle simulation computer games. Orignially put out by Microsoft, but SSI bought the rights for the latest release. All games center around famous European campaigns in World War II:

1. Close Combat: Allied push from Omaha beach to St. Lo.
2. Close Combat II: A Bridge Too Far: The disasterous allied campaign in the netherlands
3. Close Combat III: The Russian Front: Selected battles throughout the war between Germany and the USSR.
4. Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge
5. Close Combat V: Invasion Normandy

Each version offers a higher level of management than the previous one: In CC1, you had to fight with the equipement you were given, and had a fixed route. In CC4, you can choose your battles and supply lines as you wish.

All games stand out in the fact that the AI is excellent. Unlike in most real-time strategy games, your squads will actually behave like squads, your soldiers will cower and break when being shot at by a tank, and your machine-gun nests will wait a nice long time for the enemy to approach over open ground before opening fire and cutting them down.

Highly recommended. I bought CC1 when I was in grad school. Big mistake, since I played it every day for 3 months.

Ed. note - Close Combat V added above by mkb

A revolutionary wargame series, where morale is very important, meaning your troops won't charge a tank, or some such thing, of course that always goes for your enemy. The games are set in World War 2, and you play as both the Nazis or the Alies.

There have been five Close Combat games:
Close Combat, the first one is set in the Battle of Normandy.
Close Combat 2:A Brige too Far, is based on Operation Market Gardenthis is only one I own, but I've played the others.
Close Combat 3:The Russian Front, is based on exactly what it sounds like, the campain where the Germans attack Russia, this game provides a more expansive game than Close Combat 1 or 2.
Close Combat 4:Battle of the Bulge is based on the Battle of the Bulge, the last great German offensive.
Close Combat:Normandy is the newest, and is basicly an updated Close Combat.
The Close Combat series, as the last noder has said, has great AI, and is very fun, it camptures the horrors of battle well, and I like its squad based combat better than say Panzer General. Close Combat is a great series, pick up any of the games.