Producer: MC Lothlorien
Retail Price: £9.95

This is the first offering from Lothlorien for some time and is a follow up to one of their oldest and most successful titles. Based on the American Civil War, Johnny Reb II is a one or two player strategy presenting the player(s) with a 'typical' action rather than a recreation of one of the many historic battles such as Bull Run or Gettysburg.

For those in need of a quick history lesson, the ACW was the result of differences between the Northern and Southern states of the USA mainly (but not entirely) over legalised slavery. Neither side actually wanted the confrontation which lasted from 1861-65 but both were caught up in unavoidable conflict in a war so bitter and complex, it literally set brother against brother. It holds interest from the strategists' point of view because it has been called the first 'modern' war.

This terminology is used more in the context of new weaponry than anything else. Repeating rifles were rare during the war, but gained in numbers towards the end. Gattling guns, the forunners of the modern machine gun were also used occasionally and cavalry, whilst still maintaining an effective role in combat was armed more with slug throwing weapons than swords. The war was further complicated by the fact that whilst the North possessed the industrial might and numerical superiority, the South was better organised and trained and had fewer commitments. All this explained Lothlorien's first foray into this era. Their excuse this time was increased sophistication and better gameplay. So, how have they done?

Well, the most obviously notable feature of the new game is that it is apparently 100% machine code (something unheard of in the pre-Cambrian days of the earlier version's release) and it loads very quickly indeed. A passable title screen is then succeeded by a menu that allows limited modification of the game's parameters. Just about everything is user definable from the control keys for Kempston joystick option) to the balance of forces, the terrain features of the battlefield, where and when the various reinforcements arrive, game strength (on the one player version) and screen colours.

I was most impressed with the choices available to the player. When playing solitaire, the player may choose either side thanks to a flexible computer opponent (though I later discovered that the opponent is not actually that hard to beat on the first two levels). Safety features ensure that you cannot after the force played by the computer to make things easier on yourself. It's possible to have hidden movement on the single player game but all units are always visible in two player mode.

Once the game begins, play is very straightforward. Again this is due to attention to detail in presentation. Under joystick control, a cursor is simply placed over the unit to be ordered before pressing the fire button. Information about the unit is then presented on the screen in a colour code to show levels of ammunition, morale, strength and efficiency. This display appears below the 'action' screen. To the right of the screen, a series of icons appear, each indicating a possible action such as dig in, advance, charge or fire (not all these options are available to all units, as you will see). Joystick movement allows selection of the required order with confirmation coming from a second press of the fire button. Some orders may be elaborated upon. For instance, when advancing, you are asked whether the unit is to advance firing or not. As units carry out their orders on the main screen at the end of a turn, the unit symbols themselves will change to show the current status of those units.

Limited sound effects are employed during combat. This is normally ranged combat though melee is possible between adjacent units. Units may retreat, become routed or be destroyed depending on their performance in combat. The unit types are infantry, cavalry, artillery and supply (these units cannot fight). The exact scale of the units is never really explained throughout the game or manual but by the nature of movement. I would suspect it lies somewhere between platoon and company level.

There is a standard scenario. A Confederate force is approaching a vastly outnumbered Union outfit which must defend its side of the map while reinforcements arrive during the course of the game. It's a basic but flexible arrangement which should present plenty of challenge in a two player game. The one player version only really comes into its own on the hardest level. The on screen presentation is both logical and clear but the tiny instruction booklet is both cramped and badly laid out. There is no key reference so setting up can be slow until you become accustomed to the procedures.

Johnny Reb II is definitely a worthy successor to the original but at £9.95, I can't say I'm overly impressed, especially considering Rebelstar was only £1.99 and that was a better game. The best advice is to buy Rebelstar first. If you have that and are looking for a flexible, well presented and interesting game... get this.

Lothlorien
£9.95

D'you know, I didn't know there was a sequel to the American Civil War... shows ya what ya can miss if ya don't pay attention. Once again, that wargaming specialist Lothlorien serves up a generous helping of death, doom and destruction in the shadowy figure of its newest wargame strategy/simulation.

The premise is simple. You are a general in the Union or Confederate army (the choice is yours). It's down to you to out-think the opposing army's general and win the war. It's a story as old as time itself, innit?

Using a skilful combination of a joystick controlled cursor and a few keys on the squishboard, you place and mobilise troops and order them to do various things. Using a blend of strategy and sadism you beat the opposing forces into the ground and emerge from the battlefield bloody but victorious... Well, actually, it's not as easy as that.

The computer is a superb strategist, and quite a lot of the time can out-think you at your every turn. As a spot of mental press-ups this kind of activity has a lot to recommend it.

The presentation of the game is a bit bland, it's not a pretty game to watch, but on reflection certain games I could mention suffer from being pretty but pointless, so p'raps that's not so bad after all. Very good, I would imagine, if you're into wargaming and you can't find anyone to pit your lead soldiers against!

Label: Lothlorien
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Gary Rook

If you're a wargames fan, then I can wholeheartedly recommended Lothlorien's latest - Johnny Reb II. It's a great little game.

I admit I approached this particular program with some trepidation. Lothlorien games have never particularly appealed to me in the past. It turns out, though, to be uncomplicated and challenging, with enough options to provide a considerable playtime. Play is either against the computer or a human opponent.

To begin with, the historical background. It's the beginning of the American Civil War. Everybody's got nice shiny uniforms and guns, and they're raring to try them out. The Confederate forces are advancing on Washington and a smaller Union force is deployed at Bull Run to stop them.

The actual battle was a disaster for the over-confident Union forces - now it's your turn to try to rewrite history.

Ignoring the set-up menu for now and on to the game proper. The screen is divided into two parts. On the left is a window which scrolls around the battlefield giving you detailed information on where troops are, what the terrain is like and so on. The map graphics are good. If you shift the window about the battlefield you can see that the Union forces are defending a bridge over a river. The river runs top to bottom of the battlefield, and a road runs from left to right. The Confederate player scores by leaving the battlefield on the right; the Union player scores by halting the opposition. Also on the map are woods, hills and houses. Houses and woods are good for hiding in. Hills mean you can fire over people.

Finally, you can also see various unit icons: black figures drawn on fairly large squares, about four characters to a side, grey for the Confederates, blue for the Union. The figures depict what type a unit is - man with a musket for infantry, man on horse for cavalry, wagon for supply train, cannon or artillery - and also what the unit is doing at the moment. For example a man with a levelled musket means the unit is firing. Musket at high port means the unit is advancing, etc.

When you've moved the on-screen cursor over a unit, either using keyboard or joystick, you can get details about it. Below the map window, you get the name of the unit, and then a list of categories - type, strength, ammunition, morale and experience. How high a unit rates in each of these categories is effectively shown by a colour code; green is usually good, grading down through yellow to red.

When you've got the cursor over a unit icon, you can give orders. Hit the Order Key/Fire button and, to the left of the map window, you get information on what that unit is doing now. Hit it again, and you get the various different icons for the actions that unit is allowed to perform. Now use the joystick to choose the one you want it to do next, and hit fire. If you order an advance or charge, the game will ask you to show on the tactical map, using the cursor, where you want the unit to advance or charge to. Likewise, if you tell it to fire at something, you have to move the cursor to show where.

The units will actually perform their orders on screen. One which is firing will fire (little bangs from the Spectrum), then reload (the icon changes to show a figure reloading a musket), then fire again. Rather a nice effect. Obviously, if you fire at something you hope to cause casualties. You can only give orders to your own troops of course, and if you put the cursor over an enemy unit you can only get the most basic information.

You can also access a strategic map, which is two screens wide: this shows you where all the units are on the battlefield, although you can only see what side they're on, not what they are.

I played with the basic default game against the computer as the Union commander responsible for the defence of Washington against the Rebs. The computer took the role of the Confederates.

I didn't have any idea at the beginning of the game what the control keys were so my outlying pickets were overwhelmed before I could give any orders. But let me tell you, once I'd assumed the reins of command I gave those Rebs a talking to! it wasn't long before I had them running off the battlefield. OK, so they were running towards Washington and the Confederates had managed to score well over 300 to my 126, but those are minor details!

As a final nice touch you can add new units, defining strength, type, morale and placing them on the battlefield or defining where they come on and when. You can also add new features to the battlefield; fences, stone walls, and extra houses. These all make it easier for the Union forces to defend: to compensate for this the Confederates get bonus points.

Johnny Reb II is one of the best three wargames I've seen for the Spectrum (the other two are Arnhem and Desert Rats by CCS).

It's well presented, and terrific fun to play. I hope whoever wrote it had the sense to create an authoring system, because I'm going to be clamouring for more.

Spectrum, £9.95cs
C64/128, £9.95cs
Amstrad, £9.95cs

This one or two player wargame makes a greater attempt to capture the flavour of the American Civil war, rather than accurately re-create a battle. The player is allowed to alter a variety of the game's parameters including which side you control, when reinforcements should arrive, the battlefield terrain and more.

Johnny Reb II is definitely a worthy successor to the original Lothlorien game and is certainly deserving of a closer examination.

MACHINE: Spectrum/Amstrad/CBM64
SUPPLIER: Lothlorien
PRICE: £9.95 (Cass), £12.95 (disk)

I've never met the original Johnny Reb, but its successor is a good, interesting game of minor tactics in the American Civil War, for one or two players.

The scenario offered is of a small Union force (numbers and sizes are not given, but it seems to be about eight regiments) defending a bridge and two fords against considerably larger forces of Confederates (either another player or the computer) while reinforcements come to their rescue.

The terrain and forces are pre-programmed, but the Union player can add further field defences and upgrade the morale and weapons of his force. (He cannot however, downgrade the enemy - the designer thought of that one!)

Unfortunately this defence-strengthening, which takes up a large part of the program, isn't really needed as the Union forces can win against the computer as they stand.

The computerised Confederates always attack in the same three places one unit at a time, rather than employing sensible tactics.

If there was surplus memory available, it should have gone into correcting this, which for serious players really makes Johnny Reb II a two-player game only.

The playing mechanism is a very straightforward icon-based system, easy to use at high speed. The game can be set for real-time, in which it genuinely takes the infantry of both sides about half a minute to load and fire their muzzle-loading muskets.

The graphics, which are very impressive, actually show this happening, allowing the player to judge the slate of his troops.

The morale system seems simple, but responds very well to recreating the behaviour of Civil War troops in running. rallying, and coming back to fight several times.

A player needs patience, persistance, and a determination not to be defeated in getting his men to stand before the enemy - all good qualities for a general.

Occasional oddities in the equipment of both sides can be traced to a remarkable error in the instruction booklet, "the Confederate Army had a better industrial base than the Union force". This is a bit like saying that in Viet-Nam the Viet Cong had a better industrial base than the Americans!

Lothlorien
£9.95

This is an American Civil war simulation that is both easy to play and offers a lot of variation even though it is concerned with only a small scale skirmish.

It's a one or two player game that centres on a strategically important bridge. You can opt to control the superior Confederate forces trying to capture the bridge or take the smaller Union force desperately trying to defend it.

Although by the standard of some war games the overall map is quite small, the emphasis in this game is in the effective marshalling of your forces and the scenario offers more than enough opportunity to show your leadership skills or alternatively show up the lack of them.

A major feature that makes this a wargame you will want to play again and again is that the basics of the game con be changed from the start of a new campaign. Landscape features such as houses fences and walls can be placed anywhere you want them and the type and number of your forces can be altered. The units you choose to lead can also be changed according to the strength, weapons and experience you require.

There are three levels. Level one gives you a 30 turn game and has "invisible enemy units" when you play a one player game, that is, you can only see the opposing forces when they come into viewing range. Levels 2 and 3 take 35 and 40 turns respectively.

Giving orders to your units is easy using a cursor and icon arrangement that allows you options such as advance, dig in, charge or fire. As you are furiously running around the battlefield with your cursor you can watch the progress of your units. Retreating units of infantry will not respond to cursor control, the message "Broken - cannot rally" flashes up in time however morale may be raised and they can be thrown back into the fray. The simple command system makes Johnny Reb II a joy to play and the very vivid graphics allow you to keep a tab on exactly what is happening.

Johnny Reb II is the sort of game that may persuade those who up till now have been left cold by the idea of wargames to think again. For those who are already avid wargamers this one is a must.

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