Here are some observations of a long time hardcore strategy gamer...at first CMBB seemed like a dream come true. Kind of like a combination of ancient board game Squad Leader that I loved in the 80's mixed with some Close Combat and another game I used to love...Kampfgruppe for Commodore C64...ancient predecessor of Steel Panthers. All this with great 3D graphics and everything modeled so realistically that all "gamey" aspects that we're such a problem with the above mentioned games are history.
Now, I'm seriously reconsidering my position. CMBB is a tremendously cool game, but just as gamey as the ones mentioned above. The biggest problem, if you ask me, is that "spotting" does not appear to be modeled relatively. I.e. when some bastard sees my unit...all others with LOS to my unit "see" it too and start firing like hell. This does not reflect reality.
Also, Russians are modeled too favourably. The kill ratio between Germans and Russians in WWII was something like 1 German to 5-10 Russians. With Finns it was about 1 Finn to 10-20 Russians. An example: although T34 was, on paper, a very nice machine, it also lacked radio in all vehicles in the early stages. It had a small crew, without radio, that had to operate in VERY limited space. The german early AFVs were more spacious and had a bigger crew. Also the training of German tankers was far superior to that of the Russians. The Russian AFVs are far too good in CMBB. I don't see blindly moving packs of T34s, who have problems with hitting. Instead, I see T34s operating just like their German counterparts and being equally efficient. The same is true for infantry. Typical Russian infantryman of WWII was a peasant, whereas his German counterpart was far better educated, trained and more technically oriented. The Russian had a system of politruks, political officers, which lead to tremendous on-field bureacracy. If the Germans could counter-attack within a number of hours, the Russians could do the same within few days pending approval from the bureacratic machine of communist officers. Especially early in the war, Russian infantry tactics very extremely crude. They usually just "human-waved" with one unit position behind the attacking ones in order to kill any one failing to attack as ordered.
All in all, make no mistake about it. I like the game. But it's quite gamey, far from being realistic. That I can take. So are all other games too. A bigger problem is the modeling of Russians....don't know whether it's about the scenarios designers or the engine...Russian are just too good. In reality they, including their tank crews, sucked big time compared to their German and Axis counterparts. They won by outnumbering the Axis...
take care, Nikke