[1][4] The player selects a faction (e.g. Soviets, Germans, or Allied forces) and gains control of many varied units such as infantry, tanks and artillery.

The games focus primarily on tactics, eschewing traditional real-time strategy resource gathering and base development.

[6] Sudden Strike helped pioneer the real-time tactics genre, building upon concepts established by Counter Action for DOS, which was published by Mindscape in 1996.

Reboot,[12] a spin-off of the series set in the modern day with the Russian Federation fighting both the USA and Taliban in a fictional 10-day conflict.

[13] While the developers hoped to remain true to the spirit of other games in the series, new skill trees and commander roles were introduced as features.