Of course its abstractions and simplifications are not to everyone's liking, but it may be a sui generis gateway wargame.
While we were waiting for you to get back on line, we talked about C&C games being a beer & pretzels type game. All agreed that a) it's nice to sometimes sit down and play a quick easy game. b) C&C games may have a pretty simple rule set, but they offer a lot of challenges. c) sometimes in the middle of a busy workweek, it's nice to have a quick fun game.