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This comes from Lothlorien's "Warmaster" series of strategy games. It is set during the American War of Independence and is for one or two players. On loading you're presented with a menu which gives you the option of creating your own battle or loading in one of five scenarios already defined.

These are re-creations of battles that actually took place and are spread over the period of the war. They present combinations of scenery and variations in the type and numbers of regiments involved. Background information on each of the five battles, as well as full playing instructions, are given in the cassette insert.

I decided to see how Lothlorien did things before attempting to make my own maps, and so I pressed L from the menu to load the first battle. When it loaded the menu was again presented. Incidentally, pressing ESCAPE at any time will bring you back to the menu - especially useful if you are getting beaten.

On pressing P you are given the option of a one or two player game, whether you want to command the British or American forces if opting for the one player game, and the difficulty level you want to play at.

Throughout the games I played I could not detect any significant differences between any of the difficulty levels. The map is quickly drawn and each side then makes a move for each of their units. There are four types of units, though the numbers of each vary with each battle. These are calvary, artillery, riflemen and musketeers. The advantages and disadvantages of each are fully explained in the cassette insert.

The musketeers and riflemen can move - in which case a direction and distance is prompted for - fire or charge. In the latter two instances the enemy unit that is nearest is the one which is attacked. The calvary also move as above but, since they only carry sabres, they cannot fire at the enemy. But they can charge and in doing so nearly always win. The artillery fires at the nearest enemy unit but then uses one turn to reload. If you want to move your artillery one turn is needed to get limbered up, one to move and then one to unlimber before it can fire again.

It's also possible to do nothing and, since I could rarely figure out what devilish plan the Electron was putting into operation, this was the command I tended to make most use of.

When planning your own battle scene the other options in the menu are used. The first thing to do is draw your map. The numeric keys are used for this and each one is programmed for a specific item, such as walls, trees and so on.

After your drawing your map you choose the composition of your armies and various factors which determine its effectiveness, like strength and morale.

You then deploy your units on the map, deciding whether they will adopt a position now or be reinforcements that will make an appearance during the course of the battle.

Once you're satisfied with the disposition of your forces you can save the scenario to tape and then play it out. If using the two player option, you will obviously need to confer on the map and deploy your armies separately. At the end of each battle, casualty figures are given and the winner gets their score.

With the Lothlorien games, General Electron usually turns out to be a wily old bird who is difficult to beat. With Redcoats, I found it fairly easy to win. The two player game proved to be more interesting and challenging and generally a lot more fun.

Overall, another good strategy game. If you haven't got one then I can recommend this one. If you have, then you know what to expect and Redcoats is up to the level of the others in the series. Recommended.

Merlin