Combat Mission is the name of two series of computer games simulating tactical battles. CMX1 refers to a set of games using the original game engine, set in the Second World War (World War II). CMX2 was released in July 2007 and features a new game engine featuring tactical combat from a greater variety of historical eras. The Combat Mission games are a unique mixture of turn-based strategy and simultaneous real-time execution. The game environment is fully three-dimensional, with a "Wego" style of play wherein each player enters their orders into the computer simultaneously during pauses in the action, and then are powerless to intervene during the action phase. More familiar turn-based games use an "I-go/You-go" system of play.
Charles Moylan worked on several of Avalon Hill's computer projects, including Flight Commander 2, Achtung Spitfire, and Over the Reich. In 1997 he was unofficially working on a computer adaptation of the famous Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) board game. Moylan came to realize, however, that the game would be difficult or impossible to adapt successfully to a computerized version. Atomic Games had also attempted to produce a "Computer Squad Leader" game, but abandoned the tie-in to ASL and eventually marketed the game (successfully) as Close Combat.
Battlefront produced the first game in the Combat Mission (CM) series, Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord, in 2000. The game was successful and spawned two additional titles, as well as a second generation game engine with plans for many new titles and modules bearing the Combat Mission name. Big Time Software eventually became known as Battlefront.com, with additional members being hired, including Martin van Balkom, Dan Olding, and Fernando Julio Carrera Buil and Matt Faller, who handle the company website, graphics and sound design, and organizing beta testing of new products. Combat Mission, as of 2007, remains the flagship series of the Battlefront.com line.
Three titles using the original game engine have been released by producer www.battlefront.com :
Finally, an operational layer was planned for CMBB with the announcement of Combat Mission: Campaign, which will allow players to order maneuver elements from platoon to battalion size on an operational grid and generate realistic battles to be fought out in CMBB. It was expected to be released in 2006; www.battlefront.com (BFC) had announced this title would be released before CM:SF. This game was officially cancelled on February 26, 2009 due to lack of funding and irresolvable bugs.
The series also offers a "quick battle" option. Player(s) can only edit some general parameters (mission type, year, region) and then the computer creates a random map. Units can be selected by the computer or can be bought using points. Each unit has a value in points depending on type, for example a tank costs more than a squad of riflemen. Optionally, for added realism, when buying units the rarity of the unit can be taken into account. This keeps the battles true to the time period, as players trying to use rarer units are penalized. Additionally, scenario designers often carefully research a battle to create accurate historical battles.
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