what are the combat mission games like? I have only ever seen a little bit of them on these forums? how's the game play, tactics etc

The first 3 classic ones are some of the greatest WEGO type tactical combat games ever. imo...

The modern ones are nice, but due to modern weapon ranges just don't play the same.

But of course those classic ones are really showing there age, but can be played on this work laptop... which is great.

I went to the bay area preview of the game. Even though they are still on my hard drive, it has been a long time since I've played any of the CMx1 titles, they pale in comparison to CMx2, IMHO. While I too prefer WW2 combat to modern, I have also been amazed at some of the stuff I've seen in CMSF and it has really opened my eyes to what modern weaponry is capable of. CMBN still has a CMx2 feel to it, so if you didn't like the interface or 1to1 infantry modeling and its limitations you probably won't like CMBN either. A lot of the development time went into fixing/restoring/improving the CMSF Quick Battle generator. My impression from the preview is that when I get the game I will mess around with the QB force selector prior to playing any scenarios (I'm mostly a pvp player so I'll probably save the scenarios for pbems too). For me the single player aspect of the game is the least attractive part which means I'm underwhelmed with the Campaigns too. There is also the CMx2 option to play either RT or turn based. To sum CMBN up, I am unaware of any game on the market that can provide what CMBN is going to provide (just as there is no game on the market to directly compete with CMSF), so if you're looking for a tactical wargame that can be played on the scale of Battalions down to squads and teams you should download the demo once it is released and check it out.

If you want to know about gameplay and tactics without waiting for CMBN release you can go to Battlefront and download the CMSF demos and get an idea of the general mechanics of CMx2 games.