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The Strategic Studies Group (Roger Keating, Ian Trout and now Eric Baker) from Australia have now, after two previously successful strategy games, taken on the problem of air combat in Europe in the Second World War.

The program offers three basic scenarios, the Battle of Britain, the British-led bomber offensive of 1943, and the American-led day offensive a year later, plus the now usual scenario-building package.

You can take Bomber Command in 1943 and cope with a commander in chief who just doesn't understand as well as allies who won't co-operate.

Or you can become Hermann Goering in 1940 and plan the doctine which will force Fighter Command to waste its aircraft against you.

In theory, up to twelve people can play using one computer, but a fairly high level of knowledge of the actual events is assumed, and this is not a game for the beginner.

The commander in chief can only set basic doctrine - what kind of targets should be hit, priority.

All he can then do is watch the screen for the day-by-day battle, with the option of changing doctrine every 24 hours.

Unless the commander asks, he is not even told which targets his force has attacked, and he is never told the condition of his subordinate formations.

The subordinate commander, on the other hand, has too much to do in each of his twelve-hour moves. He must organise reconnaissance flights, select diversionary targets, check up on his own squadrons and those of his allies and plot the fight-paths of the main raids.

This level of complication reaches a high point when commanding the British defences in the Battle of Britain.

With the game running in five-minute (game time) segments the group commander has to control all the intercepting forces himself.

Even with one player acting as both commander and one subordinate - which gives the most interesting game - it takes more than an hour to play through a game "day".

Altogether, trying to play this way seems to reach the point of diminishing returns when it is better to switch off the computer and use a pencil and map instead.