Laser Squad

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Laser Squad

Developer(s)	Julian Gollop et. al.
Publisher(s)	Codo Technologies
Release date(s)	1988
Genre(s)	Turn-based strategy
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum

Laser Squad is a classic computer game, originally released for the ZX Spectrum and later for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST and Commodore 64 computers, as well as PC computers. It was designed by Julian Gollop and his team at Mythos Games (Now Codo Technologies), published by Target, expanding on the ideas applied in their previous Rebelstar series of games.

Laser Squad is a turn based strategy war game where the player completes objectives such as rescue or retrieval operations, or simply eliminating all of the enemy, by manoeuvering the squad's team members around a map one at a time, taking actions such as move, turn, shoot, pick up and so on that would use up the unit's Action Points. By taking advantage of cover, squad level military tactics, and careful use of weaponry, the cunning player could complete their objectives before their opponent. More heavily laden units would tire more easily, and would have to rest to avoid running out of Action Points more quickly in subsequent turns. Morale also played a factor; a unit witnessing the deaths of all his teammates could panic and run out of the player's control.

The game originally came with five scenarios to play. For the 8-bit versions of the game two additional scenarios were available via mail order on an additional tape cassette or diskette.

Rebelstar and Laser Squad are among the earliest examples of turn based unit level computer wargames, later examples being Sabre Team, X-COM (on the Amiga and PC) and more recently Pathway to Glory on the N-Gage. Its influence and influences are also apparent in miniature based war games such as Space Hulk.

[edit] Later games

Mythos later released a similar game called Lords of Chaos, which had many similarities to Laser Squad but was set in a fantasy genre of wizards, dragons and spell-casting. This game was a follow-up to Mythos' earlier ZX Spectrum game Chaos.

Many of the Laser Squad mechanics were re-used in the later X-COM series of games, by the same authors (but published by Microprose). In this case however the missions formed part of a larger campaign and storyline, unlike the Laser Squad scenarios which were largely self contained, at least in the sense that the results of one mission did not affect any other.

Each of these games shares some or all of attributes such as action point and morale systems, "line of sight" and "fog of war", overwatch (or "snap fire") and the ability to equip your squad from a selection of ballistic, energy, grenade and hand-to-hand combat weapons.

More recently, the Laser Squad franchise has been revived by Codo Technologies with both the play-by-email game Laser Squad Nemesis (although this departs from the turn based action point system and does not have customisable weaponry), and with the Game Boy Advance title Rebelstar: Tactical Command. There is also a Java MIDP remake of the original game, designed for mobile phones, although it is not clear if this an officially licensed title, and an unofficial Java J2SE version called L.Squad by Tim Stridmann.

Some of the name choices for characters and organisations in the games of Mythos and Codo are a thread connecting all the Laser Squad and Rebelstar games. Examples include the recurring character Corporal Jonlan and the arms manufacturer Marsec (Mars Security).