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A worthwhile strategy game idea is deflated by an exceedingly tame format. Like Temptation's other games the graphics operate at subsistence level in this simulation, where up to four players (the solitaire version is hopelessly dull) tussle to be top baron in a feudal environment. Feed workers, hire mercenaries, plant crops or attack other holdings in scenarios that range between 5 to 50 moves according to your boredom threshold.

My threshold came in very low when I realised how soporifically functional the text was and how you have to conduct baronly affairs like Attila The Hun to inject any life into the game.

There is supposedly a threat of assassination if you mistreat your serfs but they never gave me much trouble, most games proceeding to a peaceful resolution with a points total dictating the winner.

A few more hazards or a wittier range of consequences might have enlivened a game that reminds me of Lothlorien's old strategy games to the ZX81. In this advanced age, that won't do.