As a new player to the entire series, not having played any previous titles and coming from the same old RTS games you mentioned, this game is a breath of fresh air. I love CMBN, blows everything else right outta the water. I was a bit taken back by the price when I first started looking into these games, but now that I have seen what a community they have here, and what a really niche market the general RTS market is, the price kinda fits the product. Its a niche product in a niche market, what are the chances of that lol! I probably should have bought the package but I was chomping at the bit to get into the action, so now I have CMBN and CW, and even tho I spent a little more than I should have because I plan on buying MG too...I don't feel that bad about the price because it looks like it is going to a good company that specializes in a very specific kind of game that really isn't any where else on the market in this level of attention to detail. There is only one other game I know of that even comes close to this level of realism/simulation and that is the Achtung panzer series, but it just doesn't seem as in depth and as user friendly and to be honest, not as interesting, because it is only the eastern front, where as with the CM series you get a lot more theaters of war, including the eastern front. And the gameplay is better, and I have to say after installing a few mods, which was really really easy, I think this even looks better...except I am still getting used to the whole edge of the map thing. But when you are ground level at least the horizons look cool that way, not breaking the "immersion" until you go get a birds eye view which really breaks immersion by itself. But yea, no buyers remorse here lol, in fact I would urge you to get the package deal because you will probably kick yourself when you want the modules!