Does anybody here play this game? I got it for Christmas and it kicks serious ass! Its like Squad Leader for the PC. I have become addicted to it in two days. Now I have to get CM: Beyond Overlord and CM: Afrika Corp.

It's a beautiful looking game from the screenshots I have seen.  If I remember right, it is based on individual vehicles and squads.

obershutze916, to test if your theory is correct, I would like to see if you could play the Iraqi side in the first Persian Gulf War and win in Steel Panthers 3.  

You can fight on a squad/platoon level all the way up to battalion. Multi battalion battles are possible but its a handful trying to keep track of everything. The russians also like to use "human wave" assaults when the situation warrents, they also use massive artillery strikes when you least expect them.  The AI is damn good in this game, of course I only play the German side, because for some reason playing the Russains leaves me feeling dirty. I will try and post some screen shots.

I love it and have the other two, Beyond the Beach and Afrika Korps. I would like to move beyond AI and play another person, but I'm too computer stoopid to figure out how.

I have played these games for 5 years, starting with Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord (CMBO), and now into CMBB and CMAK.  All are worthwhile to play, but there is a big jump in realism for CMBB and CMAK.  BB covers the eastern front and AK is Africa and most of the western front.  The good thing about these games is that while turn based, they use simultaneuous action for each side.  You give orders to your troops, and then the game decides what happens in the next minute of play as your units try to do what you tell them.  It evolves like a movie where you can give new orders every minute.  No I-go, You-go crap here.

There are several competative ladders around.  I am in a club that has alot of tournaments and campaigns.  For the campaigns (usually) a operational- or strategic-level boardgame will be used, but instead of rolling dice to resolve combat, two players will fight it out in the Combat Mission game.

M38, playing other people is very easy and much more fun than the AI.  For play by email (PBEM), just start a game as usual, but select PBEM where it asks which type.  When you are done with the turn, it will ask for a filename to save.  It generates a text file with that name in the PBEM directory.  Email that txt file to your opponent.  When you get a txt file, save it in the PBEM directory and open it from the Multiplayer menu option.  It uses 3 emails per turn so that you don't see the results of your turn right after you plot your orders.  This prevents cheaters from rerunning the turn multiple times to perfect their moves.

Live play by TCP/IP is also supported, both players will be plotting moves at the same time, then the turn will be generated and watched.  You can set time limits for the orders phase if you want, so it becomes like a timed chess match.  

M38, playing other people is very easy and much more fun than the AI. For play by email (PBEM), just start a game as usual, but select PBEM where it asks which type. When you are done with the turn, it will ask for a filename to save. It generates a text file with that name in the PBEM directory. Email that txt file to your opponent. When you get a txt file, save it in the PBEM directory and open it from the Multiplayer menu option. It uses 3 emails per turn so that you don't see the results of your turn right after you plot your orders. This prevents cheaters from rerunning the turn multiple times to perfect their moves.

Thanks!

For anyone who might be curious, the below is a screenshot from the first of the Combat Mission series.  This screenshot suffers from jpg compression, and the later versions of the program had incrementally better graphics.  Of course, the main pull the is game play, graphics is very secondary to a game like this

This is a scene from a tournament based on fighting in cities.  There are dead vehicles everywhere, including Shermans, a halftrack, and a jeep on the US side, and StuGs and PzIV on the German side.  All the vehicles without bases are dead.  The live vehicles are the US (something) with the green base in the street on the right, and the German PzIV with the gray base on the left.  



More screenshots on other sites, hopefully these direct links will work:
German troops and AC in a city
British troops outside a house
T34