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"In the year 1096, knights in shining armour set out on the first Crusade, marching across Asia Minor to reach the Holy City of Jerusalem and free it from the invading Turks. Nearly a millenium later, in 1941, a similar scenario would be played out. This time, Crusader tanks of Great Britain rolled across the broiling sands of North Africa to repel invaders of a different sort - the armoured forces of Nazi Germany."

In an unusual wargame from the States (unusual not only because of the tripe on the cover sleeve but also as the Americans aren't involved!) you play Rommel as the German forces try to take North Africa from the British forces.

Confused? You will be when you try and read the instructions which are tough going even for an avid wargamer. This one is definitely not for beginners!

The game itself is an excellent simulation of the battle in North Africa, particularly around Tobruk, and includes incredible detail, not only in the units involved, but also the problems of supply and logistics.

In an easier game, such as Tigers In The Snow, a unit must have a clear line of hexes to their home base to be supplied (have enough ammo etc to fight). In this game you have to maintain this line of supply to all units by means of a network of supply depots strung across the landscape.

Unfortunately, these depots add a few more problems as they move a lot slower than the other units and are vulnerable to attack so you have to ensure that you don't push ahead too fast and outrun them.

Another major headache that a commander will have to contend with is reinforcements. This may sound a little odd as everyone likes more troops. The problem comes when deciding where to put them as every unit seems to develop a desperate need.

Knights In The Desert is a complex game as highlighted by the units themselves. They are represented on the screen by symbols (as in board wargames) which illustrate the units type (panzer, infantry, armour, mechanised, non-mobile), size (regiment, battalion, division, brigade or garrison) and nationality. For example, the Allied side actually contains British, Australian, Indian, South African, New Zealand, French and Polish forces as well as some units that contained more than one nationality!

All this data produces numerical factors that determines the unit's combat strength, maximum number of reinforcements the unit can take, morale, the amount of supply it can carry with it, whether it is supplied or not, its fortification level (how well it has dug in to defend itself) and the number of operation points it has. These operation points determine how much a unit can do in a single turn as points are subtracted every time it moves or attacks.

This all provides a highly sophisticated wargame simulation so it's just as well that the program allows you to save it every turn as well as printing out the position of the units so that you can plan your next move on the train or bus.

Seasoned wargamers will revel in this depth and complexity but it will naturally deter beginners who would be better off playing a game like Tigers In The Snow before tackling this one.