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The battle of the Somme, September 1916. A new age for the arts of war, the day of the tank has dawned. In 73 years, things have changed a bit, no more bath tubs with pop guns, now they're hunks of metal with shells big enough to scare holes in the enemy. The great tank commanders are legends: Rommel, Patton and Zhukov all combined stealth, tactics and extreme violence in perfect balance. Are you the stuff of such myth or just so much scrap metal?

Tank Attack places you in a land of four countries, who share common borders but are eternally at varying stages of war and alliance (sounds a bit like the E.E.C.!}. The nation states of Araiania and Kazaldis are long time buddies with a pathological hatred of neighbouring Sarapan and Calderon. True to form, the gutter press have been stirring it up something rotten and jingoism is rife. The people want war, the papers demand it and the politicians are rattling as many sabres as they can lay their grubby hands on. You are the Supreme Military Commander, so it's time to earn your pay. Wind up those war wagons and wage world war.

The lay of the land, towns, bases and other trivial sites such as H.Q.'s are all marked out the game board. As war looms, you can mass your forces on the borders to attack or around cities for defence. You've only a very limited amount of armour (four armoured cars and eight tank units) so the initial deployment of your forces is critical. When all your bits are on the board, then it's wartime.

This is where (at long last) the CPC puts a spanner in the works. The computer has the role of generating all the random factors of the game in the form of War News, the daily paper, moves allowed and combat. The press report how battles have gone, although they are economical with the truth at times. More importantly, they give the weather report which holds vital hints about the advisability of launching an attack. Rain it appears stops not only play, but also wars.

The amount of moves you can make are also dependent on the climatic conditions, and so when it's sunny you can take the tank out for a pretty long spin. When wet, the battlefield becomes a muddy hell. The same parameters (as well as the element of luck) guide the combat with regards visibility.

Duels between tanks, it must be said though, are not really edge of the seat material - the realism gets in the way. Tanks are naturally able to destroy their foes easily but, as is often the case, when spotted it means you're a sitting duck too. The likelihood of success in any duel is based around the range (1-4 squares), the rating of the vehicle (light armoured car to main battle tank) and good fortune. It is possible to get lucky and trash a much more powerful opponent - but this is a high risk strategy which generally results with a shell landing in your lap.

Tanks can be repaired when they've been hit, but you only have a limited amount of overhaul and rebuilding facilities at your disposal, so tactics again become important. If you have no re-building facilities available, it's time to ditch that vehicle altogether, so cautious use of both heavy tanks and servicing points becomes crucial to the game.

Having noticed the ease with which one of your shiny new Shermans gets destroyed, you'll begin to realise that the game is actually misnamed. Tank Attack should really be known as "Tanks Staying Out Of Trouble Until They Really Have To Fight (And Then Only Begrudgingly) Simulator". This is not to the game's disadvantage as the strategy suits the board game aspect, and takes away the opportunity just to charge, hell for leather, to the enemy H.Q., level it and win the game.

A few more prudent days could have been spent tidying up those grey areas that perpetually dog boardgames: the initial placing of tanks for example is a very vague process. The computer side too could use some extra embellishments, such as sound effects to underline the fact that it is not an aggrandized dice but an integral part of the game's random structure. Still, devotees of strategy games will have a great time trying to wipe our friends and relatives, with a game that not only forces you to interact with your CPC but gives you a chance to express evil thoughts and deeds to people's faces!

Risk it ain't, but playable it is. As games go, it's no classic in either its board game or CPC guise, but as a hybrid it works well. Let's hope this is the start of a new wave of traditional/computer game crossovers.

Win.

Absolutely no problem.

Graphics 58%
P. Informative screens.
N. Limited by the nature of the game.

Sonics 0%
N. What sonics?

Grab Factor 61%
P. If you like board games, great fun.
N. If you hate board games, forget it.

Staying Power 69%
P. Indefinite, as each game is always different.
P. Needs two interested players at least, but four are better.

Overall 67%
P. Good board game computer mix.
N. Could use more computer involvement.