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Harwood's<br />
Hypothesis<br />
This month we have only four<br />
books appearing on this page.<br />
This could be due to the fact that<br />
publishers aren't letting us<br />
reviewers get our hands on the<br />
books and then beating them into<br />
pulp, or more likely it is<br />
because the computer book<br />
market is starting to falter. Will ii<br />
eventually collapse?<br />
The problem lies at the hands<br />
of two parties. The publishing<br />
industry and the computer<br />
owner. The former because<br />
they knew too early what a good<br />
thing was and rushed out and<br />
produced books to do this and<br />
that on all types of computer,<br />
completely flooding the market,<br />
which then slackens as<br />
everyone who wants one. has<br />
got one.<br />
Another reason for the fall in<br />
the market is that all readers<br />
who wanted a book with lists of<br />
arcade games have by now got<br />
them. Then to produce a book<br />
on the Spectrum with lists of<br />
games after games is just<br />
pointless. Who would buy a new<br />
book when there have been<br />
thousands on the market for<br />
ages already?<br />
That is why generally the<br />
books this month are starting to<br />
move away from the idea that<br />
people just want to program<br />
their machine to play space invaders.<br />
Spectrum wargaming<br />
Collins<br />
£9.95<br />
The first book of the four is call<br />
ed Spectrum Wargaming, by<br />
Owen and Audrey Bishop and is<br />
published by Collins.<br />
Wargames concentrate on<br />
tactics and the disposal and control<br />
of forces. Wargaming can be<br />
played either on a board, as in<br />
the usual board games, or more<br />
often a table, with models<br />
representing houses, soldiers,<br />
guns etc. You can achieve a high<br />
level of realism and accuracy in<br />
setting up the wargaming table.<br />
and this I am told, is half the fun<br />
of wargaming to its dedicated<br />
followers.<br />
With a computer, it is possible,<br />
if you are not interested that<br />
much in converting the dining<br />
room into a battle field, to play<br />
the complete war game on the<br />
TV screen, although this<br />
method does lack the realism<br />
that most wargamers enjoy.<br />
The book explains the principles<br />
of wargaming, from the<br />
setting of the scene, to the complex<br />
rules system. The book in<br />
itially introduces wargaming,<br />
and then delves into the 'com<br />
puter wargame', with a number<br />
of wargames listings.<br />
It is possible, using the book<br />
to get the wargames up and run<br />
ning without any prior<br />
knowledge of computing. Four<br />
wargames are included in the<br />
book, so without any delay,<br />
apart from the laborious keying<br />
in, you can turn your Spectrum<br />
immediately into a war machine.<br />
If you want a little bit more<br />
than just to play a war game,<br />
then this book is definitely for<br />
you. The authors have written<br />
routines that allow wargames to<br />
be tailor made, depending on the<br />
data that is entered for the<br />
game. Basically, the wargame<br />
program is very short, and is<br />
used as the controller of all the<br />
computer data. This data is the<br />
bulk of the game.<br />
The wargame is moulded<br />
together by using various<br />
utilities, ie TABLEMAKER,<br />
ARMYMAKER and MAP<br />
MAKER. These utiliiies set upall<br />
the necessary wargaming data.<br />
The TABLEMAKER utility is<br />
used to set up the CRT's (not<br />
Cathode Ray Tubes but Combat<br />
Resolution tables), which are<br />
basically the standard rules of<br />
the game, eg number of turns<br />
per side, weapon usage, etc.<br />
ARMYMAKER is used to detail<br />
information about each side and<br />
MAPM AKER todescribe the terrain<br />
in all areas of the battlefield.<br />
All these details amount to a<br />
vast amount of data, and<br />
because of this, the information<br />
is directly compressed into the<br />
bytes of the RAM instead of us<br />
ing BASIC variables. Variables<br />
take up on average 6 bytes,<br />
where we need use only one or<br />
less, by directly accessing the<br />
RAM. DATASTORER is used to<br />
compress all the data entered<br />
from the various utilities into the<br />
RAM, so it is easily accessed by<br />
a wargaming controller module.<br />
The remainder of the book<br />
consists of the wargames. The<br />
first game is used only for example<br />
and does not make use of the<br />
ARMYMAKER utility, but only<br />
the TABLEMAKER. This is to<br />
give the reader a feel for<br />
wargaming, before jumping into<br />
it straight away. After doing<br />
this, the reader may enter the<br />
fully computerised version of<br />
the same battle, including maps<br />
of the terrain and German and<br />
French armies fighting against<br />
each other.<br />
The other games included are<br />
a Napoleonic Campaign, a<br />
medieval battle and a conflict in<br />
outer space.<br />
The authors have taken great<br />
lengths so that this book isadap<br />
table to all aspects of wargaming,<br />
as well as using the full<br />
potential Of the computer.<br />
Wargaming can be played bet<br />
ween two Spectrums on an Interface<br />
connection, and details<br />
on how to achieve this are in<br />
eluded.<br />
The book is an excellent<br />
opener foranyone whowants to<br />
get into wargaming or even for<br />
the experienced 'manual'<br />
wargamer. The book is well<br />
written and takes the reader<br />
carefully through each section,<br />
so that by the end of the book,<br />
he or she will be writing their<br />
own war games, or at least<br />
adapting the ones in the book.<br />
A very intelligent book, well<br />
thought out and enough to keep<br />
anyone occupied over the<br />
74 ZX COMPUTING DECEMBER JANUARY 1985
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