Close Combat 3 Official Strategies & Secrets

Though it wins the "worst cover design of the year" award by a mile, Close Combat III from Microsoft is an outstanding real-time war game of squad-level combat in World War II. This top-shelf guide from Sybex (though cursed with the same lousy cover art) can help novices and veterans alike with the many intricacies of gameplay and the challenging historical missions, operations, and campaigns the game provides. You'll find plenty of information to help you master the arts of troop deployment and morale management. The book also provides detailed (but open-ended) guidelines for fighting and winning each battle from both sides of the map (German and Russian). Extensive tables at the back of the book provide hard data on tanks, artillery and handheld weapons, while a well-written section on multiplayer combat can help you get a leg up on your human opponents. Throughout the book, large, detailed, and often well-annotated screen shots help illustrate key strategies and mission elements. Basically, this is a quality guide to a quality game. If you plan to wage a little war along the Russian Front, make sure you have this battle manual handy.