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The earlier SSI game Combat Leader gave the player command of a company of infantry with tank support in a fast-moving real time game. Battalion Commander is the next level up.

The game is real-time, which means that the player must look everywhere at once and respond to a series of messages all asking for help. There are four basic scenarios - the "meeting engagement" of equal forces, and the "defence" game, in which your battalion will be attacked by about double its number of enemy, are straightforward.

But in the "attack" and "pursuit" options, the player commands one battalion on the western side of the map while the computer runs a second battalion moving in parallel with him.

The duties of a battalion commander in combat are not, in modern war, very different from those of a company commander.

To this extent, Battalion Commander is rather more limited than Combat Leader and less good in terms of playability.