Author’s Note: this article has Combat Commander: Europe as its focus, but is more or less applicable to the series in general.

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Speaking in the broadest of terms, if you are thinking of playing your first-ever game of Combat Commander, you fall somewhere along a spectrum that starts with people who have never played a wargame and ends with those who are decades-long devotees of complicated hex-and-counter systems like ASL. Combat Commander has something to offer for everyone, but depending on your position on this spectrum you might want to know what mindset to have when approaching this game to help you figure out what it is all about.

For example, if you are at the starting end of the spectrum, you should be forewarned that Combat Commander comes with a learning curve. It is not a particularly difficult game, but it is a detailed game with concepts that those who are not used to playing wargames might find quite new. If this should chance to be your first foray into hobby board games (games beyond mass-market offerings such as Monopoly), then welcome! This may be a daunting first-step, but there is a whole new world to explore within this box and beyond. If you have played many hobby games but haven’t really done a wargame yet, then you will be better prepared for the rules overhead, but (depending on your gaming background) may still run into some ideas and mechanisms that are fairly unique to wargames. In either case, it may be helpful for you to keep in mind that this game, like many wargames, is more or less a simulation, and many specific rules are needed to keep the level of realism as high as possible. So, for example, since woods are harder to walk through than open ground, it will take more of your allotted movement ability to do so, and it may be downright impossible for your troops to carry heavy equipment through them. Men who have taken a lot of fire and are in a bad position might have a hard time recovering their spirits to get back into the fight. As you read through the rules, think about how they make sense in simulating a live situation—it will help you internalize them better, and might help you grasp some of the basic strategies of the game. The rest is hand management, pure and simple (you will only be able to play a certain number of cards each turn, and draw back up to a certain amount when you are done).

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the cardboard grognard. If you are one of these it is likely that you have heard of Combat Commander at some point, and you may even be familiar with how the system works. Certainly many parts of it will feel familiar if you have played a variety of wargames before (hex maps, terrain modifiers, unit stats, morale, melee, LOS, etc.). What you might not be prepared for, however, is the level of chaos that you will encounter in Combat Commander. I have a bit of a background playing wargames (though not extensive by anyone’s account), and I was aware going in that Combat Commander was supposed to simulate the fog and chaos of war. But even “knowing” this, I was not quite prepared for how much the game limits your ability to do what needs to get done. I was more used to systems that allow players to have almost complete authority over their cardboard troops, and having to wait for the right card to turn up and/or not being able to move my men where they need to go was annoying at first, until I got used to it. There are also some aspects of the system that are more “gamey” than certain other wargames, such as the hand management. But if you embrace these elements going into the game, Combat Commander has room for a lot of engaging, strategic gameplay and some truly epic moments full of story. Like when a sniper pops up out of nowhere to take out the machine gun nest that was about to mow down your squad. Just let stuff happen and go tactical—doing the best you can with what you have. Let the story sweep you up into it, and enjoy the ride.

What about people who fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum? Perhaps you have played card driven wargames before, or used to play a lot of wargames “back in the day” and are looking to either get back into the hobby or broaden your wargame horizons. I would say that such players need to be aware of both the learning curve and the chaos mentioned above, but I also think you might be the ideal target audience for this game. It is approachable, yet rewarding; familiar (to wargamers), yet different. If you try it and like it there are expansions and other modules out there, but you certainly don’t need the other “stuff” to derive a lot of enjoyment with what you get in the box.

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