FLATSQUAD

Small squad. Long war. Remember them.

Cannon Fodder, the early nineties: a little squad marching single file across a top-down map, and names you never forgot. FLATSQUAD marches again. Point, go, fire: one hit and a soldier falls, and every one who falls gets a stone on the hill. Lead them up the valley alone, or take a squad each from the two ends of the table and shout for cover.

1–2 playersSquad actionCo-opVersus

Pre-order FlatboyTwo squads, two cursors, one at each end, and somebody always yelling "cover me".

Up the road, single file.

A phase from the valley: the squad in single file, the crosshair finding Greys, a grenade into a hut. Soldiers fall, and every one of them gets a stone on the hill. Somebody at the table will be shouting for cover.

Pointthe crosshair, and the whole squad fires

Loba grenade through a hut door

Rememberevery name on the hill

Real gameplay, straight off the table's screen.

Lindhaug, at dawn. The young ones queue on the hill road.

Lindhaug is a village at the bottom of the valley of Lind. The Grey Directorate has taken the coast, and its radio tower at Grå Nes says, every day, that the war must go on. The village sends its volunteers up the road, every one with a name. Nobody asked them to.

You lead up to eight of them up the valley: the meadows, the river, the snow pass, the salt flats, the marsh, the harbour town of Brennvik, the ridge, and the tower. Put the crosshair where you want them and they go; put it on a Grey and they fire. One hit kills, on both sides, so a careless step costs a person. The orders come as telegrams typed on buff paper, every line ending in STOP.

Three ways up the road.

The long one

Campaign

Eight operations and 24 phases, from the meadows above Lindhaug to the radio tower at Grå Nes. Choose RECRUIT, SOLDIER or VETERAN, put your initials on the hill, and pick up where you left off. Saved as you go. The war is lost when the queue and the veterans are both gone.

Side by side

Two squads

The campaign together: the squad is dealt into two teams, one for each end, each with its own crosshair and strip facing its player. Playing alone and someone sits down? They press fire twice at their end and take team two on the spot.

Across the table

FACE-OFF

One screen, four arenas, a bunker and four soldiers each, three grenades and a rocket. Crates drop in the middle every 20 seconds. Wipe out the other squad or blow up its bunker. Best of five, and the loser of a round gets one more soldier. Alone, the computer takes the other end. No stones here: it's sport.

24phases up the valley

8operations, meadows to Grå Nes

8volunteers in a squad, at most

9ranks, private to general

4FACE-OFF arenas

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