The American firm Sharp's Inc, based in Mechanicsville, Virginia has released in the UK, via TK Computerware, four new strategy wargames. I have to admit that Sharps is not one of the American wargames publishers that I've come across before, but I'm glad I've had the chance to look at some of their products.

Three of the games are based on historical campaigns which took place during the Second World War. They are War in the East, which recreates Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on Russia in 1941; Ardennes, based on the last major German offensive of the war, in late 1944, and Fall of the Third Reich, which simulates the last few months of the Nazi empire and ends in the fall of Berlin. The other program, Britain Invaded, is based on the proposed German seaborne invasion of England.

All four games share certain elements and, judging by the name of the first program which loads in each case, War, I suspect they've all been written using the same basic authoring system. Because of this I'll explain the general game system first before looking at the individual programs.

All four are one-player wargames. All of the games use a square grid overlayed on the map - you can't actually see it, but it regulates movement and combat. Units have to be next to each other to attack, and move across the map square by square, using up their allotment of movement points for each turn. Diagonal movement, I'm afraid, you'll find is not allowed.

The exact type of unit differs from game to game, but falls into two basic categories, infantry or armour. The combat mechanism in each of the four games is the same. Units have to stop when they enter a square next to an enemy unit, and the player can then decide whether or not to engage in combat. Units vary in strength, but what you're trying to do is get as many strength points as you can attacking the same enemy formation. The more you outnumber the enemy by, the better the chance of destroying the target unit without loss to your o w n troops.

Combat can be affected by terrain - defenders in towns, woods, mountains, swamps or fortresses will be stronger. The computer calculates the odds and the plusses then generates a random number from one to six. Depending on a the final score, the attacker or defender of both might have to retreat, one or the other might be totally destroyed, or a unit from each side might be eliminated.

This underlying game system then, is fairly simplistic, but it plays remarkably well nonetheless.

The computer 'opponent' seems to be a reasonably tough challenge, although there is only the one level of difficulty.

My main complaint about the game system is that if a unit is next to an enemy unit, it can't move, so it's easy for your units in to be pinned down. One enemy formation could hold up three or four of your units in this way. Of course, the reverse is true, and you could try doing the same. I would have preferred some way of disengaging your troops, perhaps at the risk of losing some men. Tactically, though, this means that you have to keep some sort of reserve well back from the front line, ready to plug any gaps which appear.

Another point that annoyed me was the movement system. Like a lot of computer wargames, these four programs cycle through your units one by one: when a unit flashes, you can give it orders. Unfortunately, you have to move them in the same order every time: you can't skip over a unit and return to it later. This means that units can easily get trapped behind other units, and you can't move them where you wanted to.

You also have to be aware of the simplistic nature of the combat system. Often you will lose valuable units to an exchange, so make sure you get the best odds possible. Don't worry too much if one of your units gets bogged down in a slogging match with the enemy - a result where both sides have to retreat will effectively disengage for you.

Overall the four titles are not great games, but they would be worth having a go at if it weren't for the price which is quite frankly ludicrous - £9.95 is too much for what you get. They are better though than some recent wargames. What the Americans would call 'beer and pretzels games' - good for a few hours.

ARDENNES
Label: TK Computerware
Author: Sharps Inc
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Gary Rook

Subtitled 'The Battle of the Bulge', which doesn't mean that it's got anything to do with weight loss. Towards the end of 1944, the Allied armies in the West were pushing the German forces out of France and into Germany. The front had stabilised roughly where it had been during the phony war of 1940, before the Blitzkrieg overwhelmed Holland. Belgium and France. The Germans effectively tried to recreate the success that led to the Fall of France and the evacuation at Dunkirk, by driving through the Ardennes forest and cutting the Allied armies in two.

After initial success, the attack collapsed, largely due to almost total Allied control of the air.

Now you have the chance to take command of the German force and see if you can succeed where Hitler's generals failed. At your command you have various formations, including infantry and armour. Against you is a similar force. You have to punch through the Allied armies and capture as many of the towns to the west of their lines as you can.

While such an idea should lead to a very fluid, mobile game, in this case it doesn't. Because of the combat system, one allied unit can easily hold down three or four if not more German formations. And the map is just too full of rough terrain for any real Blitzkrieg to develop.

Historically accurate, perhaps, but dull nonetheless.

It's helped by the fact that it's very difficult to tell the units apart, rather than give each type a letter designation, the author has chosen to identify them by number.

For some reason, it's far easier to remember that I means infantry brigade than that 4 does. I kept on thinking that the numbers referred to the actual strengths of the units concerned, which led to a number of mistakes.