Producer: CCS
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: R T Smith

There are a lot of readers of FRONTLINE who will need no introduction to the name of RT Smith. He has become one of the few strategy game writers to carry the burden of a reputation, something which I think has worked against game designers in other computer genres. One admired release creates an expectation of something the same only better next time, and if it is different because the author is trying to experiment, the reception can be puzzlement and disappointment.

Vulcan: The Tunisian Campaign is not different. In presentation and game mechanics, it follows quite unashamedly in the tradition of Arnhem and Desert Rats. The format is identical and the system has been refined, rather than changed in any significant way. In his previous two releases, RT Smith developed a 'look' for a computer wargame which is extremely viable and, as he's proving, pretty extendable. Some quibbles I had with the system as used in Desert Rats have been cured, most satisfyingly; it's now possible, for instance, to survey all your own units, including those stacked together, before giving orders to any of them.

To those familiar with Desert Rats that is all the technical introduction this wargame needs, but for the uninitiated, Vulcan is based firmly on the board games that some of us love. Units are represented by cardboard counters electronically coded - and orders are given to each by means of a menu of options, whether to move, assault, hold, 'travel' or fortify. A report can easily be called up for each unit, detailing factors such as strength, supply and attack modifier. When units from each side come into contact, combat automatically occurs. After all the orders have been given by the player, movement on both sides is carried out simultaneously by the computer.

To these basics, air attacks and hidden movement have been added. Air attacks are not always possible, and the choice of using any air strength for reconnaissance instead is available. If the player is too far away from a friendly airfield, the squadron has a good chance of being shot down. Hidden movement is infuriating, but adds greatly to the atmosphere of confusion and tension. When playing against the computer, you are simply unable to see the computer's 'counters' until one of yours makes contact with it. Fortunately, intelligence is limited on both sides; the computer opponent cannot see your counters either, or so the author claims...

The Tunisian Campaign itself is not, as the author admits, one of the best-known of World War II; but as the final objective of the grand-scale scenario makes clear, the ultimate goal is control of Bizerta and Tunis. French Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia belonged to France and fell with her occupation in 1940. The campaign by the Allies to regain the territory began in 1942 and succeeded in 1943. This entire historical campaign can be played through, given a spare fortnight, in the obligatory 'big scenario' lasting 183 turns from 12 November 1942 to 13 May 1943. The playing time of The Tunisian Campaign is estimated at 8-16 hours! Alternatively, the game is divided into four shorter scenarios, from 12 to 23 turns. A save game option is provided, of necessity. In the 128K version the entire game is present in memory; 48K owners have to reload data for each scenario when starting a new game.

Five nations take part, and are distinguished by colour. There are ten different types of unit, each with individually-described capabilities and weaknesses. The brigades and divisions are actually named in play, and correspond to historical forces. The supply rules for brigades, divisions and battalions differ, something which I found mildly confusing, particularly so because supply, as in Desert Rats, plays a vital role in attack and defence. Supply is a portable commodity which is used up continually, but at different rates depending on the activity pursued by the unit. Supplies can be replenished by HQ units, which themselves must be near a road with a clear path back to a friendly source. A unit attacking without supplies is at a disadvantage, as, naturally, cutting off an enemy supply source is a very good tactic.

The map is extremely big, far larger than the map of Desert Rats, and has a crisp, functional, attractive appearance. There are 11 terrain symbols listed in the manual, all reasonably clear on the screen, though on my black and white monitor (which is all I can afford on my £1.99 a year grant) I had difficulty distinguishing between 'rough' and 'mountain'. This is important because the manual explains at some length that choice of terrain for the battle can have a significant effect on the outcome. I found it difficult to decide exactly which 'square' individual units were on anyway. Because the counters are large and the terrain detailed, this is a perpetual problem.

Combat is hair-raising because of the aural representation of the duration and strength of damage inflicted, one familiar, no doubt, to players of Desert Rats. The 128K version sounds chilling realistic as machine guns rattle and bombs drop somewhere with a whine. Defeated units retreat automatically, but combat is quite often not conclusive in a single round; the damage one, to your own side at least, can be checked in the next round.

The 128K version - which is, incidentally, provided on the reverse side of the same tape as the 48K - includes options to vary the historical situation in each scenario, effectively giving an advantage to one side or the other. The 48K version doesn't have any skill levels, but this is probably one of the few games which can stand that. It means there's no easy way in.

The accompanying booklet is as substantial and excellent as its predecessors. The playing sequence is methodically laid out and arranged under subtitles for ease of reference, terrain and unit symbols are illustrated - I wish other writers would realise what a help this is when their idea of a light tank looks like a misshapen fried egg - and the historical background to each scenario is described extensively, with photographs and diagrams to go with it. There's a print-out of the map in the centre pages, which is helpful when only a small portion of it can be on the screen at one time. This is the kind of documentation which inspires rather than merely tells how to play the game, and I wish more game designers would emulate it.

The same can be said of Vulcan itself. This is Spectrum wargaming at its very best; complex in operation, wide in scope, and easy to use. There's hours of play in it and I would regard it as an essential purchase for every wargamer.

CCS
£9.95

CCS has redeemed itself after Gallipoli, which was court-martialed for failing to reach the wargame specialist's usual high standards. No silly arcade sequences in this one. RT Smith, who's already brought us Arnhem and Desert Rats, has produced yet another good, solid simulation.

The Tunisian campaign of 1942/3, from the first dramatic dash to control Tunis by the Allies to the defeat of the Axis armies, presents some classic problems for the Spectrum commander. Many of these are concerned with terrain. Taking to the roads is the quickest way to travel, but leaves your forces vulnerable. If you choose a mountainous route, you can dig in when attacked, but the trek across Africa will take forever!

There's also the question of supply. If an enemy unit interrupts the lines between a unit and its HQ, it will quickly run out of equipment, and soon after, strength! As all units exert a zone of control, through which a line of supply cannot be traced, you have to guard your rear while trying to cut off the Nazis.

The other major landscape-related problem is that in this rough terrain, it's difficult to identify enemy units. In fact, unless you choose otherwise, you won't see any Axis forces until they're right next to you! The only way to avoid this sort of shock is to use your airpower wisely. If you don't actually need them for an attack, sending planes up will give you a reconnaissance report. That way you can be prepared for the ambush that lies ahead.

The control system is elegant, but with one or two minor loose ends. Units are commanded via a cursor and menu, moving over a large, scrolling map. The rough edges appear where some menu prompts aren't quite as helpful as they could be, but a proper reading of the 32 page rule booklet first should answer any problems.

There are the usual one or two player options, plus a save game feature, and the chance to turn a two player battle into a solo venture, with the computer taking either side. This is particularly useful as the estimated playing time for the whole campaign is eight to 16 hours! Don't worry though - there are mini-scenarios which can be played in under an hour and still provide a stiff challenge.

In addition, 128 owners get an expanded Vulcan on side two, which includes an optional debriefing report at the end of each turn. This is a useful way of keeping up with how successful your strategies have been. You also have the chance to indulge in the military historian's favourite pastime - what if... What if the Axis had controlled Malta, for example? This is a chance to put those imponderables to the test.

Vulcan is probably not a program for wargame novices, but anybody who enjoys tough tactical problems should find it something to get their teeth into.

Label: CCS
Author: R.T. Smith
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K/128K (enhanced)
Reviewer: Gary Rook

Vulcan - The Tunisian Campaign is the latest wargame from CCS.

Like two previous CCS releases, Arnhem and Desert Rats, it's been programmed by R T Smith.

I don't know whether R T Smith is a him, a her or an it, but Vulcan is another winner. An excellent wargame offering substantial challenge for the strategy gamer.

The setting is North Africa during the Second World War. The allies have recently conducted Operation Torch and have landed units along the coast. Now the joint American, British and Free French forces are driving on Tunis. Meanwhile, to the east, the remnants of Rommel's Afrika Korps are fighting a rearguard action agains Montgomery and his Eighth Army.

The screen is divided into three parts. Most of it is taken up with the map window, which shows a small part of the total map, about 15 units square. To the left of the map is a menu window, where the various options the player can choose from are displayed.

If you are playing one-player, then the computer will take either the Allies or the Axis forces, whichever you want. The scenarios are: The race for Tunis; Kasserine; Eighth Army; Operation Vulcan; and The Tunisian Campaign.

Giving units orders is remarkably simple. One of your units flashes: the menu lists the orders you can give to that unit. These include things like Move, Assault, Hold, or Move by road. You pick the one you want, then move the cursor to where you want the unit to go. Once you've finished ordering that unit, you progress to the next.

The beauty of the system is that everything is done by simultaneous movement, of both sides - you and either the second player or the computer. The result is your plans can very easily be upset by the enemy's actions you don't know.

Various types of unit are available to each side, including armour, infantry, paratroops, motorised infantry and headquarters units. The latter are vitally important, as they distribute supplies.

There are also aircraft, which can be used either to support ground attacks or to fly reconnaissance missions. The latter are necessary because, to complicate matters still further, there is an option to have hidden movement. This is absolutely murderous, as you haven't the faintest idea where the enemy are. I tried it, and kept losing units to Allied armoured divisions which popped up all over the place. Finally I discovered how to fly recce missions with my aircraft and discovered that most of the Allied army was about five miles outside Tunis, so I surrendered gracefully.

This is also one of the first programs to make me wish I had a 128K +2. With the 128K version of the game, you get a number of added features, including a debriefing option, which is like a sort of post match post mortem, listing the units on each side and what happened. The best bits, though, are the Historical 'what ifs' menu, which allows you to alter the game to reflect what might have happened had various events taken place. What if Malta had fallen to the Axis, for example - or what if the Deutsches Afrika Korps had been totally destroyed by the Eighth Army?

Spectrum, £9.95cs
Amstrad, £9.95cs

The latest game from R.T. Smith, following firmly in the footsteps of Desert Rats. Vulcan covers the Tunisian campaign from November 1942 to the end of May 1943. Again the same ordering system is employed, but this game boasts a much larger playing area than the other two games, allowing greater scope for the player.

Also, an air attack phase has been added to drive home the importance that car cover played during the real campaign. With the computer or a friend playing one side (either Allied or Axis) the game is no pushover and will keep you absorbed for a long time.

MACHINES: Spectrum/128K Spectrum/Amstrad
SUPPLIER: CCS
PRICE: £9.95 (cass)
VERSION TESTED: Spectrum

Most people have heard of the battle of Alamein, But not enough have heard of what came after Rommel had been driven from the western desert in Tunisia, where the Axis forces were still capable of holding in Africa.

In a remarkable campaign between November 1942 and May 1943 British, American and French forces inflicted on the Axis its first major defeat in the west by destroying the Panzerarmee Afrika and opening the way for the invasion of southern Europe. What makes this campaign, operation Vulcan, exciting is the constant arrival of fresh forces on both sides, producing wild swings in the balance of strength, with the Germans trying to hold onto Tunis and the Allies to break through to the coast.

R. T. Smith's game features four short scenarios (the 128K version includes a further scenario and some "what if?" variants) including the initial "race for Tunis" after the Allied landings in north Africa, in which the campaign could have been ended in a month; and, most interesting of all, the battle of Kasserine Pass, the first encounter of the war between the Americans and the Germans.

If anything, his morale and fighting power ratings are over-generous to the Americans, but stopping the German drive is, on either the one-player or two-player option, difficult enough. The whole Tunisian campaign takes anything up to eight hours to play against the computer, or 16 against a human opponent, but there is a simple save-to-tape mechanism and the actual game plays quite quickly.

The heart of the game is the order system. This allows the player to input a broad objective order to the divisions under his command, receive some information as to their strength, and then allow them to carry out the order over a long period rather than needing to issue fresh orders every move. The subordinate formations move and light with the division, and need only be accessed if the player wishes to give them specific orders. An additional refinement on previous R. T. Smith games is the use of hidden movement, plus the use of a very simple system of providing air power for reconnaissance and ground attack chief value of which is to demonstrate just how poor air support was for both sides in the campaign.

Some program re-writing has also allowed for an extremely large campaign map of Tunisia to be included in the display, with perhaps a sixth of the full map visible on the screen at any one time. Manoeuvring a single tank regiment around so much empty space, unable to locate the enemy, can easily make the most aggressive table-top player very cautious indeed.

This is the best of the three wargame programs written by R. T. Smith, and probably the last for a while. Although the computer is - unlike that of Desert Rats - a worthy opponent. I find it works better as a two-player game, and should satisfy even the most critical of wargamers.

STRATEGIC THINKING

Spectrum, Amstrad CPC
Publisher: CCS

Do you dream or world domination? This is your chance to control the destiny of the entire known world. O.K. so back in 273BC the known world wasn't all that big, but there's enough to be getting along with. The Annals of Home puts you in the driving seat of one of the most successful imperial powers ever. The Romans controlled the entire coast of the Mediterranean and a great deal of Europe into the bargain for hundreds of years. It makes the British Empire seem a bit of a storm in a teacup.

At the start of the game, Rome consists of Italy surrounded by bigger nations with bigger armies. Your aim is to conquer as much territory as possible and hold it. Each turn is a random number of years long and no matter what the length, consists of a number of phases. The economics phase is largely automatic; the player can only choose the tax rate. The higher this is, the more money rolls into the old coffers, but harsh taxation will also decrease your popularity rating, inflation will rise and population growth may be stunted due to hardships. The computer works out which player controls which areas, population changes, revenue and armies for all the nations - Rome and the other races controlled by the computer.

LOYALTY

After this, the player can redistribute his 21 Senators and Commanders. Each of these has a military ability, loyalty and age. They can be moved around and given command of the various Roman forces dotted about. However, the older a commander is, and the lower his loyally rating, the more likely he is to rebel and try to use his army to depose the current leadership. This is especially dangerous if you give him a large army. But, if there's enough money in the coffers, you can try to bribe the legionnaires to ignore their commander and remain loyal.

If you have failed, the Civil War phase comes next. There can, if the present regime is particularly unpopular, be several different rebel factions. The computer controls all the rebel factions and you control the remaining loyal legions. If the rebels take Italy then they overthrow the government and install a new man.

Finally we come to the important bit - beating up the Barbarians. There are no less than 37 races of people intent on upsetting the Pax Romana. Fortunately, the 18 page rule book tells you where and when they are due to turn up. The map consists of 28 separate areas. If an area is controlled by Barbarians, the computer begins the attack. If it is a Roman controlled area, the computer checks that the Roman force has a commander assigned to it and then asks the player to select a neighbouring area to be attacked.

After all areas have had the chance to attack, play moves on to the next round. To score as many points as possible you must take areas and hold them.

I found this an absorbing, if rather long-winded game. Playing the whole thing right through to the bitter end is a truly mammoth undertaking. Some conversions play faster than others, but in just about all versions, the combat phase is irritatingly slow. If you are patient, the game amply rewards perseverance: there are so many factors to be finely judged. Particularly critical is the popularity rating.

Popularity takes a nose dive if the Barbarians successfully conquer a Roman controlled area or if too many Roman commanders or legions bite the bullet. It pays to be cautious - especially in the early years when the Carthaginians can really hurl the Romans (ie the 2nd Punic War). Rebellions are very annoying. At the very least, your legions will end up in the wrong positions, at the very worst, the army can very nearly tear itself apart.

REBELLION

If popularity drops below zero (on a scale of five to minus five) the player can no longer move commanders around. But the good thing about rebellions is that no matter who wins, the player controls the new regime. It is often a good idea to foment rebellion. This is easy; simply demote a commander and put someone really unpopular in charge in Rome. After a successful rebellion, the new regime will have a popularity rating between zero and five. On the other hand, if the old emperor simply kicks the bucket then the new regime will have a completely random popularity.

Once the whole map is under Roman control, the only two problems are invasions and rebellions. If a Barbarian race's home area (ie Gaul for the Gauls) is conquered - and their population level is not zero, then there may he a rebellion so it pays to garrison such areas securely. In time, an occupied race will die out; but it is not unusual to have people from three or four races living in an area. Invasions are similar except these come from outside the area of the map.

Things go relatively smoothly until the Goths, Vandals and Huns turn up around 400AD. Not only are there a lot of them, but they are also high quality troops. From this point the Roman player is just postponing the inevitable. Rome will eventually fall, although the Roman player can relocate his capital - usually to Turkey (representing the founding of Byzantium and the largely Independent Eastern Roman Empire which was formed in 300AD to ease administration). It is then a question of trying to defend this area and hoping the other nations get stuck into each other rather than attacking you. If you are interested in this period of history you may well find this a very absorbing game. However, its lack of speed means that it probably will not appeal to the casual game player who is not prepared to devote hours toil.

PEDIGREE

Robert Smith has been preeminent amongst Spectrum wargame authors for some time, he established his pedigree with Arnhem, confirmed it with Desert Rats and has further reinforced it with Vulcan. The game depicts the Tunisian campaign of 1942/43, which has not been exactly a popular subject for wargames; this is apparently the first time it has received attention on computers or board games. Hardly surprising, as the battle was rather one sided. The German army was bottled up around Tunis with their backs to a Mediterranean increasingly under allied control from air bases on Malta.

The terrain does little to excite the imagination; the campaign slogged through the muddy winter in the mountains with little room for manouevre. Why Mr. Smith picked such an unpromising campaign is totally beyond me. Perhaps D-Day or that perennial favourite the Ardennes campaign might have been a more fertile choice.

Despite this, I enjoyed this game. Anyone familiar with the two previous games will pick this one up very quickly. The large map scrolls in four directions showing the positions of the forces. Each player gets a chance to command each unit in turn. There are several commands: move, travel, divide, report, assault, reveal and skip. To move a unit, the joystick is moved and the fire button is pressed. The unit will then attempt to move as far as possible towards this position. A travel order is similar except that the position indicated must be on a road and the unit itself must be on a road. 'Divide' allows a unit to break down into its constituent smaller units.

The report order shows the current status of a unit. It's important to know what all the numbers on this report mean. Each unit has a basic strength which simply represents the number of men in the formation. The effectiveness rating reflects the fatigue of a unit it is reduced by combat and recovers if a unit rests. The current state of the unit's supply is shown and this reveals not only how much supply the unit is carrying with it, but also whether it is currently in a position to receive supplies.

If a unit is fortified, the status report will show how strong these fortifications are. A stacking rating shows how compact the unit is - each location of the map can take a certain value of stacking points and this number reveals how much of this allowance this unit uses up. Each unit also has an AMM rating which remains constant and reflects the unit's level of equipment and training (ie low for Italian infantry, high for the good old Afrika korps).

EXPENSIVE

The assault order is similar to a movement order, except that the unit will attack anything it meets - this is more expensive in terms of casualties and supplies. The reveal order allows the player to see what terrain is under a unit and the skip order allows the player to leave that unit where it is for the moment and come back to it later.

So far this is all old hat to Desert Rats fans. But the new bells and whistles that have been bolted on to the basic system add a new dimension to the game. An enemy unit not adjacent to a friendly unit is not displayed on the map. This allows players to spring surprises on their opponent and stops the game becoming a sluggish match. Both players will find themselves hoarding reserves. This allows them to attack suddenly and respond to enemy moves. This is emphasised by the lack of roads and the difficulty of moving units across mountains. Thus reserves sit at road junctions ready to move to the scene of the action.

The other innovation is the introduction of air units. These can either act like flying artillery or perform a recce role. While tills won't reveal the composition of enemy units, it'll reveal their location. These factors combined with weather, supply and effectiveness lead to a realistic stop-go sort of campaign. When an offensive bogs down, the wise player will stop, dig in the infantry, stick his armour in reserve, allow his units to recover effectiveness and hoard supplies. Then, through reconaissance, he will try to launch an offensive where he thinks the enemy is weakest. Part and parcel of this will be the use of feints to try and draw off enemy reserves before the main blow falls - and just hope that the good weather holds - a sudden downpour can stop a breakthrough in its tracks.

WALKOVER

The only trouble is that all this subtlety is rather lost on the poor old computer. The one player game is usually a total walkover. It's a good way to learn the game, but after you've thrashed it on every scenario, you'll be looking around for a fellow human being to practice your newly acquired skills on. Another annoying niggle is that even when you are fighting a unit, it is not identified. Some idea of its strength can be gained but that's about it.

It is not clear how hich of the four bits of terrain that a unit is sitting on actually affects combat and movement. Despite the way smooth way the supply rules work, there are times when they don't quite come off. If a unit is hopelessly surrounded there is plenty of time to get it out as stationary units do not use any supplies, unless attacked-which doesn't use up that much.

Reducing enemy pockets is a painful business, although if a unit runs out of supply altogether, it's demise is swift. The Spectrum 128 version has few added facilities. You can restart a game without reloading from tape, and there is an option to show the number of troops and tanks presently on each side and the number each side has lost.

Robert Smith is still streets ahead of the opposition in this field, and I will await his next game with eagerness - perhaps something a little less obscure next time - please?

GORDON HAMLETT REPORTS FROM THE FRONT...

The number of wargames available for the home computer has escalated considerably over the last couple of years. There are several reasons why the micro version of a game is succeeding whereas its traditional 'boxed game' counterpart had only limited appeal.

The obvious benefit that a micro offers is that you don't need a second person if you want to play a game. Then, there is no need to set up thousands of counters on a board or work out combat results from a set of complicated tables. The drudgery is all handled for you. On the debit side, computer wargames are not yet as sophisticated as their original counterparts although the balance is shifting and, as I will point out later, there are certain advantages in playability to be gained on the micro.

Three games have appeared for the Spectrum in recent weeks and all three offer the budding strategist something different. The first of these games is Samurai from CRL (£9.95). This is a one player game with three different scenarios and three difficulty levels.

You take the side of a small band of warriors, trying to wipe out an enemy force of assorted temple guards. The game is icon driven and starts with you selecting your initial forces. You have so many points to 'spend' and each type of warrior costs a varying amount. There are four types to choose from - Ashigari or lightly armoured troops, the traditional Japanese warrior the Samurai, a mounted Samurai and the deadly Ninja.

The mechanics of the game are very simple and are basically move and fight, Ninjas must be carefully managed as they are the only troops who can attack from a distance and should be used very much in hit-and-run tactics.

Samurai is by far the simplest of the three games and will appeal more to the novice. Beware though! To all intents and purposes, Samurai is the same game as Swords of Bane from CCS and it is probably not worth getting both.

Moving forward a few hundred years brings us to 1940 and PSS's Battle of Britain (£8.95). Hitler had commanded Goering, his head of the Luftwaffe, to destroy the RAF prior to a planned invasion of Britain. Due to the RAF's meager resources, just about any tactic would have worked provided the Germans had maintained it. In practice, Goering decided that his methods weren't working and so switched his forces to night bombing major cities. Horrendous though the Blitz was, there was no way it was ever going to destroy the British planes for the simple reason that the Spitfires and Hurricanes never flew at night!

There are three main scenarios for you to try. The training game gets you used to commanding the forces at your disposal by simulating a light raid. In Blitzkrieg, the Germans throw everything they have at you but only for a period of one day. Finally, there is the much longer campaign which is played over thirty days. There are also optional arcade sequences in which you can try shooting down Messerschmidts from the comfort of your own mess room. If you choose this option, how well you do in your own personal combat directly affects the outcome of a particular battle. This is fine for arcade fans but those of you only interested in the strategy elements should leave well alone.

The gameplay depends on you making a lot of very fast decisions. As the German forces start to appear, you must scramble squadrons to intercept them. After combat or a prolonged patrol, a squadron must be landed in order that it can refuel and reload. Failure to monitor the status of your squadrons will result in them becoming dispersed and unavailable to you for a period of time. Airfields closing because of the weather add to your problems.

Again, a fairly simple game to play but as any one who has ever tried to juggle will tell you, it is very easy to throw a lot of balls up into the air at once. It is a different matter to keep them there.

The final game this month is Vulcan (£8.95) from CCS. This simulates the Tunisian campaign of 1942-43 and is by far the most detailed of the three games on offer. Control however remains straightforward and is all menu driven.

There are five different scenarios designed to last anywhere from half an hour to sixteen hours. You can choose to play either the Axis or the Allied forces and the game can be played against either a computer or human opponent. The 128 version offers several other options including a debriefing mode, several historical 'what-if' variations and no need to reload any data after every game (necessary on the 48K Spectrum due to memory restrictions).

One feature not available on board war games for obvious reasons is that of hidden movement by the enemy. Enemy units are only discovered literally when you bump into them. There are several ways of moving your troops. Normal movement, assault and travel. Assault means that a unit will go all out to gain its objective whereas travel is very defensive - you can move only along roads (at double speed) but are very vulnerable to attack. You can also choose to hold a position or fortify it.

Terrain plays an important part in the game. Not only does it affect the rate of movement, but also how well a unit can attack from or defend a position. Combat is decided by many factors including the strength of a unit, how well it is supplied and the weather. Supplying your units is a vital element in your strategy and you should also make good use of any air power that you have, either to deliver an air strike or reconnoiter as you try to discover the enemy's positions.

Vulcan is very well presented with an excellent instruction booklet giving players hints and the historical background to the campaign. Highly recommended to serious strategists.