Classic Strategy Wargame Title
Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord offered non-tiled goodness in a time of hexagons and 2D portraits.
Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord is a fairly old game but it pretty much revolutionized the strategy wargame genre with its "amazing" (at the time, especially for a strategy wargame) 3D graphics, realistic armor penetration, and the "WEGO" turn-based system. CMBO contains almost every type of weaponry, vehicle, armor, and even soldiers who fought in World War II during the time period it covers, which is just after the D-Day landings to the end of the war in 1945 in European Theatre of Operations (excluding Russian forces). The game portrays the war in an accurate and realistic manner, CMBO succeeded in offering hardcore strategy wargamers a non-tile, 3D version of WWII. Unfortunately, that was 8 years ago.
The "WEGO" turn-based system was the primary selling point of this game. It allowed players to each take their turn moving into position, setting up ambushes, sneaking, etc. but once they finished their turn both players would have to wait 60 seconds of live play before they could start their next turn. The AI controlled reaction, targeting, etc. during these 60 seconds and for the most part, did a really good job depicting what that unit would do in real life based on the conditions surrounding or affecting it. This made each turn filled with suspense and unpredictable outcomes since you never really could directly control your units while the action is going down.
The singleplayer experience was fun and the AI proved to be a challenging opponent. The campaign, which consists of severeal linked missions, offered some decent scenarios to play through (some historical, some based off of historical battles). The real meat and potatoes of this game however was the multiplayer portion. There was no standardized way of meeting other players through a game lobby or server, you either had to have the other player's IP for direct connect, PBEM (play by email, remember those kind of games?), or pull up 2 chairs for some hotseat action (no peaking!). You could play on a set map or randomized map with custom weather settings, range of weaponry based on dates, and you could even pick your forces from a pool before the match. This allowed for some great multiplayer moments as you never really knew what your opponent was going to throw at you and what type of map you were playing on.
This game helped jumpstart Battlefront.com and paved the way for future installments of the Combat Mission series. Of course, this game is really old by now and there are better versions / alternatives out that you can play but during it's time, it truly stood out from the pack as the strategy wargame you had to have if you are into that genre.