Across the Rubicon is the first of a series low res graphics based war game simulations put out by Ark Royal Games, and is the main genre of game that they specialized in (although they did later expand to other game styles). As with all of their war games, Across the Rubicon is based on real events (this one on the Battle for the Huertgen Forest, from World War II). In it, you control a mixture of different troop types (you get to pick the number of each, within a certain range, when you begin the game). You control the troop movements (each "turn" is approximately 3 days of time based on the original, real battles). It features four levels of difficulty, and also shows a low resolution map of the playfield. The manual was 15 pages, and quite detailed.
Title: Across the Rubicon Author: Phil Keller Publisher: Ark Royal Games Released: August 6, 1982 (original 16K version) Requires: Color Computer 1,2,3, 16K (first version) or 32K RAM (later versions), Extended BASIC, tape or disk.
It should be noted - the 32K version was originally released as Rubicon II, but was renamed within a year to Across the Rubicon (32K). This expanded version also added game save/load for the first time.
Click to see the history of Ark Royal Games.