Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for games with tactical hex-based combat that uses zone of control?
For example, some games I can think of are the Panzer / Fantasy General series and Battle for Wesnoth, and the boardgame Memoir 44.

I've been replaying HoMM3 and King's Bounty the Legend (before KB promptly overheated my notebook, poop), and don't quite like the combat system because units can run anywhere they like, even when they're next to opposing units.

Any recommendations for PC games with good combat systems with zone of control?

Fantasy Wars and Elven Legacy.

The creators of Legends of Eisenwald have talked about the possibility of putting in place a zone of control.

I guess bloodbowl counts, it's just very different from the games you cited.

The Panzer General (they have a fantasy version as well) board/card game (video game versions available) has some units that exert control. It's not going to be much like the games you're asking about but you still might play the demos.

According to that wiki link you posted, the Civilization series uses zones of control...

The Age of Wonders series has a hex based battlefield and zone of control mechanics in place. However, because of how large and open the maps can be, it can be awfully hard to take advantage of it.

Generally it works like the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons. If a unit moves into zone of control, they suffer no penalty. If they move out of a unit's zone of control, then a free attack is made against them.

It's also different enough from the HoMM series to be something new, while close enough to still remain familiar. Give it a look, it's here on GoG.com, even.

Battle Isle series / History Line - but then those are closer to Panzer General than either HOMM or King's Bounty: Enemy units block / limit your movement; the games take account of pincher movements and similar when calculating skirmishes.

[I dislike Battle Isle 3. Battle Isle one has the charm of being really focused - the maps are fairly small. Battle Isle 2's addition of scripted mission and story line is fairly unique in the genre. History Line is a nice gem that takes the whole thing in a different direction. Incubation, also part of the bundle (it's one of the best value things you can get on GOG ... you'll get months if not years out of all of these!), here, is a bit of a different genre - loads of people love it, I prefer the earlier Battle Isle games.]

This, but if your laptop overheats from King's Bounty it will most likely have the same problem with these.