Each scenario begins with players being able to select a couple squads of men, equip them as necessary and then the game plays out in only a relative handful of turns in an attempt to meet the main mission objectives. All of the individual soldiers will have unique bios and skills and it is up to the would-be squad leader to select the best men for the job. Throughout the overall campaign those men who survive will gain experience but replacements will obviously be a little on the green side.

While the previewable beta only had individual scenarios for the American forces, the campaigns for the American, British and German were included and offered a taste of things to come. Like the included scenarios, the American campaign focuses on the Normandy invasion and the early days when the Allied forces “broke out” of Northern France – basically this could be considered the Saving Private Ryan portion of the game. The British campaign will focus on Operation Market Garden, the “Bridge Too Far” campaign while the German's will attempt to change the outcome of The Battle of the Bulge.

Ironically, all of these campaigns were also the focus of the three of the four Close Combat titles, but that does make sense considering that they were three of the hardest fought engagements on the Western Front and it is hard not to include them. What it does make apparent however is that the game is sorely missing the inclusion of the Soviet forces, which were always a staple of the board game, and made the combat on the Western Front seem downright civilized in comparison. Hopefully this title will be successful enough that a follow-up expansion pack, along the lines of the board game's original expansion Cross of Iron, will be released in the not too distant future.

The game will feature all of the proper equipment and vehicles of the era and players will also have the option of having specialized units, like two man sniper teams and heavy machine guns. Squad Leader will include paratrooper drops, amphibious landings and even armor assaults, while all the terrain will also be appropriate to the real world locations.

The game features a lot of detail and the scale is much bigger than Close Combat, but players are still provided with an overhead isometric view, and they can zoom in and out of the action. The individual soldiers don't have a lot of uniqueness at this point and the animations are somewhat underwhelming but still in keeping with the turn-based style of play. The current build has some issues to address, namely the British and German campaigns need to be switched – calling up the British one launches the German's missions for example. The German units in their campaign (once you find it that is) seem to be placeholders because their uniform colors are clearly all wrong.