With all these strengths, it does have some weaknesses. Proctor is a control freak and it can be very hectic trying to issue orders to all the units in a brigade sized game while the clock is running. Of course, the pause feature allows you to think about your moves and issue orders without the pressure of watching your units getting shot up. He also provides several SOP items to assist you in the control of your widespread forces: Fire Control Options, Hide on contact, engage on contact, march speed (mentioned above), bypass obstacles, and dismount on contact. These can save you valuable time when your units are getting cut to pieces.

Fig. 5. The game status report that appears at the end of the game showing the OPFOR losses.

Another problem is there is not a single database for the game. Instead, each scenario has its own small database. While this does enable different forces using the same equipment to have different proficiency levels reflected in such statistics as rate of fire, probability of hit, and probability of kill, it is frustrating because the performance of a piece of equipment can vary markedly from game to game. For instance, the M1A2 has rates of fire from 15 to 45 seconds. This can make a big difference in winning or losing the game when you have a battalion trying to take out an OPFOR Regiment across the sands of the NTC. Fortunately, PROSIM is correcting the problems a little at a time and the upcoming release of a scenario editor should allow the user to adjust these values to his satisfaction. A vehicle specifications menu item lets you examine their attributes in detail.

The game's basic black maps make it difficult to see some icons, particularly destroyed vehicles (marked by an 'X') or indirect fire (marked by 'o') and sometimes it is hard to find and issue orders to vehicles stuck in mines or forest, but the color maps mitigate these problems. Finally, the game does not respect the start bar, does not have a minimize buttons, and some windows - the clock and the Overview Map - appear on top of any other applications, even when you switch to say, Microsoft Word to write a review.

As a game that is downloaded from the Internet, embedded documentation is a little weak. Making up for that is an extensive Internet help section at the company web site, as well as a downloadable set of documentation from http://www.prosimco.com/. Finally, Captain Proctor is quite active on the Internet, and can be counted onto provide timely and accurate answers to queries, sometimes even when in the field or on leave. PROSIM is defiantly devoted to customer service.

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  This game is very much like Harpoon 2 on land and has a similar steep learning curve. To assist in play balance, the player can select one of three proficiency levels (green, veteran, and elite) for each side. After you reach a certain level of expertise, however, the game is quite enjoyable and can be played many times without losing its excitement. There are many nuances to the game, not the least is going through and ensuring that all the menu items are set to reflect your style of play and to take advantage of every feature you can. The game, upgrades, and patches, can be downloaded from http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ at a reasonable price in a few minutes. Highly recommended.

About the Author

Mike Robel is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, with 16 years of active duty as an Armor Officer. He served in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment as a tank and cavalry platoon leader and a cavalry troop executive officer patrolling the very edge of the free world along the border between East and West Germany. His other service was in the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) (The Big Red One) in Fort Riley, Stuttgart Germany, and the Persian Gulf, where he commanded companies in all three brigades of the division and served as a battalion maintenance officer, Battalion Supply Officer, Battalion Assistant Operations Officer, Division Armor Training Officer, Division Assistant Operations Officer, and as the Brigade Supply Officer.

After leaving the Army he worked for Logicon Advanced Technology as a database manager for the 87th Exercise Division in Birmingham, AL, managed the 2nd ACR's simulation center in Fort Polk, LA, where he used the Army's Corps Battle Simulation, Battalion-Brigade Battle Simulation, and JANUS. He is now a Knowledge Acquisition and System Test Engineer working on WARSIM 2000, which is the Army's next battle simulation.

He has played board wargames since he was 8 years old (Avalon Hill's U-Boat), and computer wargames since Avalon Hill's Midway for the TRS-80 Computer. He worked for Intracorp/360 for a year as the 360 Product Manager and was involved in the final production of Harpoon 2 Admiral's Edition. He has play tested and developed scenarios for a plethora of Wargames including Harpoon Classic, Harpoon II, V for Victory, Steel Panthers, Great Naval Battles, the Ultimate Military Simulator II, Patriot, Tanks!, and High Command as well as Army simulations.

He has been published in a variety of publications including Strategy Plus, cdmag.com, Command Magazine, Armor, Infantry, Military Review, and Army Times on a variety of computer games and various historical and contemporary military and history topics as well as a strategy guide for Tanks! He now lives on Merritt Island, Florida where he has a front row seat for space shuttle launches and the beach.

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