Close Combat - Wacht am Rhein

Winter 1944, the Last Blitzkrieg. This is Close Combat, You are in Command!

Based on Atomic Games’ award-winning Close Combat series, Close Combat: Wacht am Rhein brings together the classic top-down tactical gameplay from the original series and plenty of new features, expansions, and improvements! This remake based on Close Combat: Battle of the Bulge gives newcomers and veterans to the series alike a vastly improved and expanded version of the original experience. The Wacht am Rhein remake comes with a brand new Grand Campaign including a new strategic map with 64 gorgeous hand-drawn tactical maps, over 70 scenarios, tons of new interface and unit graphics, countless engine improvements, and much more!

In Close Combat: Wacht am Rhein, you take command of US or German forces and either retrace the last steps of Hitler’s army in one desperate attempt to turn the tide of the impending allied victory or ride to the rescue with General Patton and push back the German offensive to reclaim Bastogne.

Also included is a bonus “classic” version of the original Close Combat IV.

Things didn't look good for the German Army in late 1944. The allies had advanced as far as the West Wall and had taken back most of the conquests of the Blitzkrieg. Although the Montgomery's plan to end the war, Operation Market Garden, had failed there was still a palpable sense that the Allies were on the verge of a major victory. With things not looking good on the Eastern front either, Hitler decided to make one last gamble and attempt to cut off a significant portion of the Allied army. Throwing in what remained of his feared Panzer divisions and his last reserves, he drove through Belgium to Antwerp in what would be called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (translated as Operation The Guard on the Rhine or Operation Watch on the Rhine).

At first it looked as though Hitler’s plan had a chance of succeeding. Early in the operation the advance was reminiscent of the Blitzkrieg across Europe early in the war. Although undersupplied and under trained, US troops still fought valiantly and in many spots offered pockets of stiff resistance which despite the rapid German advance. The German advance was quick, but as the days wore on, the advance out-paced its own supply and stockpiles began to run low. The situation was made worse with poor roads throughout the Ardennes and difficult winter weather. Almost as quickly as the attack had started, the advance ground to a halt.

To add insult to injury, the 101st Airborne earned the nickname the “battered bastards of Bastogne” by putting up a unrelenting defense for this strategic point while vastly outnumbered and surrounded by heavily armored German forces. Refusing to back down, they prevented the Germans from occupying the important Belgium crossroads town and scored a major strategic and psychological victory for the Allies. Later, as the weather cleared, Allied air support was able to decimate German supply columns and advancing armor. This bought enough time for Patton’s armor and other reinforcements to arrive and begin the long slow reduction of the Bulge the Germans had created in the Allied line.

Now in this classic top down real time tactical simulation, you take command of either US or German forces to retrace these fateful days of the war. Attempt to turn the tide of the impending Allied victory or desperately defend Bastogne while riding to the rescue with General Patton’s 3rd Army. In this vastly improved rebuild based on the critically acclaimed and award winning Close Combat series, You are in command!

Game Features:

• An easy-to-use but powerful Scenario Editor - Create your own "what if" Scenarios.
• Largely expanded moddability: all strategic layer features, all campaign details including weather, turns per day, scoring, support mission (artillery, airstrike) capabilities for both Germans and Americans, battlegroup recycling, battlegroup retreat/disband, supply and much more!
• Further improvements have been made to the AI to enhance most, if not all, performance issues: vehicle pathing, infantry tactics, team and unit morale, overall AI aggressiveness and decision-making in general.
• Accurately depicts World War II tactical warfare and its challenges
• Realistic soldier psychological profiles during combat

... and many more!

Game Data:

Complexity: Basic to Moderate
Field of Play: Tactical
Historical Period: World War II
Theater: European
Unit Scale: Individual Soldier to Squad Level
Turn Play: Real Time Strategy
Players: 1 - 2
AI: Yes
TCP/IP: Yes
PBEM: No
Game Editor: Yes
Manual: PDF (Download) & B/W printed(Physical), 92 pages
Display Resolution: 1024x768 or higher

Requirements:

• OS: 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista
• CPU: Pentium 133 MHz (300 MHz recommended) or fully compatible
• RAM: 256 MB (512 MB / 1 GB for Windows Vista recommended)
• Video/Graphics: 1MB 16-bit Vided Graphic card (8MB recommended)
• Sound: 16bit DirectX 9.0 compatible soundcard
• CD-ROM Drive: Yes, for boxed version installation
• Hard Drive: 1.5GB