Hi all,
My two pence:
TacOps: This is a modern combat simulation, with a very intelligent use of SOP (Standard Operation Procedure?) where you give all the orders with conditions, -ie. go there, but pop smoke if you're fired at, or stay there and fire when certain type of units are at 500mts- so you never run into situations like a unit advancing under heavy fire and being decimated senseless, if you know what I mean.
But the best thing about TacOps is the possibility to CPX/Kriegspiele or whatever you want to call it. Basically, it allows you to play a game with several participants on each side and an umpire, who can alter the lenght of the turns according to the situation, throw unexpected (but realistic) events -like activation of a civilian faction suddenly hostile to you- and other things that an umpire can think of to make the game very, very interesting. The turn system is, like CM, WEGO, you plot your orders and the computer calculates one minute of game with everyone's orders. Another important thing about TacOps is the amazing care they put on the interface, everything is suposed to be very user-friendly, very few things require more than two clicks to get there.
Another option is HTTR. Everybody is saying that this is the future of computer wargaming. I've only played the demo but the way the AI control your units is indeed the way to go. You can micrmanage if the fancy takes you, but this game is about grand tactics. it's a real time game. You design your strategy and tell your units what to do. And that's about all you can do, cahnging orders in the middle of the battle is bad news and very disrupting. I recomend to have a look at the game. This could be a fantastic engine for a napoleonic game.
Intoxicated Man