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War games are starting to become more popular and in the wake of last month's Gold Medal game comes another excellent battle simulation.

You command a reinforced infantry battalion and have to cross a scrolling battlefield and take control of a town. Pitted against you are hidden enemy units and the problems of the terrain.

The battle area is shown on-screen through a scrolling 'window', the overall size being over three times the window's width and twice its depth. You start on the left hand side with the town to be captured in the bottom right. On the map are woods, roads, buildings, streams and clear ground.

Your battalion is split into 31 groups, each with a different rating for movement, firepower, range and strength. You have to control all of these and try to eliminate the enemy forces.

There are four levels of game and in each one you have to take the city in 35 turns. These turns are made up of five phases of action.

The first phase is the "Command Phase" where you can decide whether a unit should dig in to regain strength or be combat ready to advance and fight. Second is the "Movement Phase" where you can move any units that aren't digging in until you want to stop or your activity points are depleted. Be careful though since a depleted unit cannot fight in the third phase.

The Combat Phase is where you can attack any enemy units that have revealed themselves although you may come under artillery fire yourself. Some units have stronger firepower than others and their range also varies.

Next come the "Assault Order" and "Assault Phases" where you can order units to try to overrun adjacent enemy units. However enemy units may also move at this stage and fire again on you.

Your objective is to control the town, which is particularly difficult to take and on later levels you may even have to defend it against a counter-attack. Another problem on the higher levels are mines which can halt a unit in its tracks and end its movement phase.

This is good for a war game: nice scenario, reasonable graphics and a multi-level challenge made it stand out from most. I quite enjoyed playing this one as the game was quite fast and was easier to use than some of the wargames I've seen.

This is another fab war game and I liked the ease with which it is joystick controlled and the complexity of the battle situations. Unlike Theatre Europe, it doesn't have universal appeal but will provide wargamers with hours of pleasure. The game variations are endless and each new battle will provide different situations.

The more war games I play, the more I seem to enjoy and understand them. This struck me as a sort of cross between Combat Leader and Battle For Normandy and proved just as fascinating, compulsive and lengthy to play.

The units you control all have different characteristics.

Battalion HQ:
Crucial unit, do not lose it. Scores big points if in town at end of game.

Reconnaissance Unit:
Moves fast to draw out enemy units.

Infantry Company:
Slow and limited range but great for mopping up and assaults.

Engineer Company:
Excellent fire-power close in and essential as they repair the blown bridges over the streams.

Light Tank Platoon:
Fast with good range, an excellent vanguard.

Heavy tank platoon:
Again fast and great range, essential forward unit with big firepower.

Artillery Battery:
Massive range and firepower but susceptible to enemy fire, hold back behind lines.

Enemy Infantry Company:
Similar to yours but very dogged.

Enemy Tank Or Assault Gun Platoons:
Outgunned by your armour but also very persistent.

Presentation 83%
P. Excellent instruction booklet plus choice of difficulty level.

Graphics 35%
P. A nice scrolling map with character square graphics.

Sound 21%
N. Bangs, crashes and warning noises.

Originality 59%
P. Original mix of strategy and real time war games.

Hookability 78%
P. Enormous challenge to take the town and master the battlefield tactics.

Lastability 71%
P. Increasing difficulty and levels of victory.

Value For Money 76%
P. Great value for a war game and easy to play.