The first book of the four is called Spectrum Wargaming, by Owen and Audrey Bishop and is published by Collins.

Wargames concentrate on tactics and the disposal and control of forces. Wargaming can be played either on a board, as in the usual board games, or more often a table, with models representing houses, soldiers, guns, etc. You can achieve a high level of realism and accuracy in setting up the wargaming table, and this I am told, is half the fun of wargaming to its dedicated followers.

With a computer, it is possible, if you are not interested that much in converting the dining room into a battlefield, to play the complete war game on the TV screen, although this method does lack the realism that most wargamers enjoy.

The book explains the principles of wargaming, from the setting of the scene to the complex rules system. The book initially introduces wargaming, and then delves into the 'computer wargame', with a number of wargames listings.

It is possible, using the book to get the wargames up and running without any prior knowledge of computing. Four wargames are included in the book, so without any delay, apart from the laborious keying in, you can turn your Spectrum immediately into a war machine.

If you want a little bit more than just to play a war game, then this book is definitely for you. The authors have written routines that allow wargames to be tailor-made, depending on the data that is entered for the game. Basically, the wargame program is very short, and is used as the controller of all the computer data. This data is the bulk of the game.

The wargame is moulded together by using various utilities, i.e. TABLEMAKER, ARMYMAKER and MAPMAKER. These utilities set up all the necessary wargaming data. The TABLEMAKER utility is used to set up the CRT's (Not Cathode Ray Tubes but Combat Resolution Tables) which are basically the standard rules of the game, e.g. number of turns per side, weapon usage, etc. ARMYMAKER is used to detail information about each side and MAPMAKER to describe the terrain in all areas of the battlefield. All these details amount to a vast amount of data, and because of this, the information is directly compressed into the bytes of the RAM instead of using Basic variables. Variables take up on average 6 bytes, where we need only one or less, by directly accessing the RAM. DATASTORER is used to compress all the data entered from the various utilities into the RAM, so it is easily accessed by a wargaming controller module.

The remainder of the book consists of the wargames. The first game is used only for example and does not make use of the ARMYMAKER utility, but only the TABLEMAKER. This is to give the reader a feel for wargaming, before jumping into it straight away. After doing this, the reader may enter the fully computerised version of the same battle, including maps of the terrain and German and French armies fighting against each other.

The other games included are a Napoleonic Campaign, a medieval battle and a conflict in outer space.

The authors have taken great lengths so that this book is adaptable to all aspects of wargaming, as well as using the full potential of the computer. Wargaming can be played between two Spectrums on an Interface connection, and details on how to achieve this are included.

The book is an excellent opener for anyone who wants to get into wargaming or even for the experienced 'manual' wargamer. The book is well written and takes the reader carefully through each section, so that by the end of the book, he or she will be writing their own war games, or at least adapting the ones in the book.

A very intelligent book, well thought out and enough to keep anyone occupied over the winter months. Any wargame has the capability to be programmed, and this book provides you with the information you need. At £9.95 you may feel it is a bit expensive, but for the information inside, I would rather have this book than two games tapes any day.