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The Wargame Construction Set is the strategic game equivalent of The Quill adventure creator. From this single disk, Commodore users can build battles ranging from small scale skirmishes with stormtroopers to fantasy duels, galactic wars and historical simulations.

Each of the 31 units that face each other over a map that you design using a joystick can be fully defined by setting fourteen variables and assigned to one of 74 icon symbols. If that wasn't enough, the excellent instruction book contains an easy-to-follow, worked example, that builds a fantasy battle and the reverse side of the disk contains eight sample scenarios that show the versatility of the program and includes a siege of a medieval castle and the clash between the Union and Confederates in the American Civil War.

The best way to learn to use the WGC is to play the sample scenarios that use the same gameplay (alternating move, fire, observation phases) as seen in the authors' other games Vietnam, Panzer Grenadier and Field Of Fire and then change them. Ater the maps the units fight on, or the number and strengths of the opposing sides to create new scenarios. Sooner or later you'll want to construct your own conflict.

There are three vital stages to building a battle. Don't make straight for the joystick. First work out your scenario on paper. Although most of the fine detail can be worked out through trial and error, you will need at least a vague idea about what you're trying to create. I set about recreating Napoleon's last stand at the battle of Waterloo.

The next stage is to draw a scrolling map that's actually four times the size of the computer screen and fill it with roads, trees, mountains, hill slopes, rivers and buildings that can have a decisive effect on a battle. You should be able to build the map you want as there's 10 different bendss and straight for rivers and roads, top, bottom, left, right and middle sections of woods as well as individual trees that can be added to the green grass background. However, you can also change the colours of any of these to set seasons or to turn the green of the grass into a grey lunar background or the black of space.

Finally, you must assign values to the fourteen different variables that define the characteristics of your units and the scale of your battle. Each unit could represent a single man or monster, brigade of troops or a whole army in a simulation of global conflict. By a flick of your joystick you determine the assault and defence values of a unit as well as its movement capability, firepower, the hits it can take, range of its weapons, and its fire and unity type that imposes further restrictions on the terrain it can move or fire through. You can also set the turn the unit enters the game (for example the Prussian reinforcements in Waterloo arrive late in the day) and allow the unit to dig in for extra defence.

With a bit of improvisation you should be able to make your idea work within the framework of the game, for example, by applying the dig-in factor out of context you can increase a unit's defence factor that could represent a starship with its shields up or an effective formation such as the infantry squares at Waterloo.

As with any construction set, WGS has its limitations. Thirty-one units a side fighting on a 60 x 60 square map may not suit all your needs and personally I found the unit icons too small. Undoubtedly, you will be able to buy better wargames but as a system to experiment with wargames ideas, build scenarios for your friends or challenge yourself to an enging series of battles it can't be beaten.