Blue Byte · Strategy
Battle Isle: The Desert
The Desert is the first expansion for Blue Byte's Battle Isle (1992), for DOS and Amiga. It adds desert maps to its turn-based strategy.
Strategy game by Blue Byte (1992) for MS-DOS (in English) and Amiga. Playable in your browser (MS-DOS and Amiga) or downloadable.
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THE CLABA ARCHIVE
Inside the game.
Its history, its ideas and the reasons to come back.
Battle Isle: The Desert is the first expansion for Battle Isle, also released as Scenario Disk Volume One and Data Disk I. Blue Byte kept the hex-based battles and added desert and icy scenarios. The original box of this expansion carries a 1992 copyright. Here you can play the English DOS copy.
The change of scenery matters when you have to find a route for your whole army. The first single-player mission, BLOCK, pits two sides against each other across islands, roads and passes surrounded by water. An air unit and a ground unit don't solve the same problem: check the range the game draws before deciding where you want each one to end up.
Plan the turn before you see the result
The two views of the battlefield and the alternation between movement and action are preserved. You program orders while the other side prepares theirs. Marking a destination doesn't complete the move yet: you have to confirm the route and move on to the next phase. Factories, depots and the headquarters remain part of the strategy, along with the troops that can capture them.
If you're coming from the original Battle Isle, pay attention to the first code: in this expansion it is BLOCK. CONRA belongs to the base game. The collection's DOS copy includes the program and the data needed to start The Desert; the original commercial package of the expansion required Battle Isle.
ONE GAME, 2 PLATFORMS
Versions.
2 platforms19922 playable online
Pick a platform: the screenshots, downloads and online game on this page switch with it.
- Year
- 1992
- Developer
- Blue Byte
- Downloads
- 1
- Screenshots
- 2
The MS-DOS version is the one this page covers: the information, review and main screenshots are from this platform.
- Year
- 1992
- Port by
- Blue Byte
- Downloads
- 2
- Screenshots
- 2
The Desert for Amiga is the first expansion to Battle Isle, published by Blue Byte in 1992. It also appears as Scenario Disk Volume One or Data Disk I: Air-Land-Sea. Its desert scenarios keep the original's two panels and require you to watch roads, water, and mountain passes. This copy shows the menus in English.
BLOCK opens the solo campaign. CLOCK belongs to the two-player maps. The original download keeps the collection's additional disk; the WHDLoad package includes the base game data needed to open this expansion.
Starting a solo game
When you open the player, you go straight to the start of BLOCK, before giving orders to your troops. Your forces hold the left half; the other half belongs to the computer. Click inside the game to activate the keyboard. The arrow keys move the cursor across the hexes. Check the unit's name in the bottom strip before giving it an order.
Moving a unit and changing phase
Place the cursor over a friendly unit. Hold down X, press the up arrow, and release X before releasing the arrow. The game will show the squares it can reach. Choose a destination with the arrow keys and press X to see the route. Press X again on that destination to confirm the order. The message UNIT MOVED indicates the order has been registered.
When you finish, find a hex with no building or transport. Hold X, press left, and release X before releasing the arrow. The double arrow of the phase change will appear. When both sides are ready, press A: it is equivalent to the Amiga space bar and confirms SPACE: CHANGE MODE. Wait for the computer's response to finish before continuing.
Amiga keyboard and menus
V opens and closes the on-screen Amiga keyboard. Its arrow keys move across the keys and X presses the selected one; Enter lets you confirm the text when that keyboard is open. It is useful, for example, for entering map codes. In the game menus, the arrow keys choose and a short tap of X confirms. Holding a button may repeat the selection.
What each download contains
The WHDLoad package was prepared from the disks in the collection, using Wepl's installer. To use it outside the site you need an Amiga emulator compatible with WHDLoad and your own Kickstart. The ZIP files marked Original keep the IPF images of the floppy disks; they require an emulator that supports that format. The game is already set up in your browser.
Orders and phases are explained on pages 22–36 of Blue Byte's original manual. The general guides on this game page also describe the DOS edition; use the keys in these notes when you choose Amiga.
EVERY PIXEL COUNTS
The game in pictures.
Explore the screenshots and open every detail at full size.
GET READY FOR YOUR NEXT GAME
Choose your download.
Format, compatibility and server. All in view.
Version
SELECTED VERSIONMS-DOS1 file · also playable online
SELECTED VERSIONAmiga1992 · 2 files · also playable online
Clicking opens the CLABA loading area and, in a few seconds, your download. If a link fails, let us know via Contact or in the forum.
Your game starts here
Play in your browser.
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Version
MS-DOSIn your browser
Battle Isle: The Desert
MS-DOS version. Your next game starts here.
- 854 KB · downloads on click
- Save the game's files
- Keyboard, controller or touch
Controls
Click the game to use the keyboardOn mobile, play with the on-screen controller- ↑←↓→
- cursor
- F1
- confirm phase change
Hold Space + arrow key and release Space first: order. Campaign: Options, code BLOCK, OK, Start.
- Full screen
Use the button on the bar. Esc returns to the game page; “Exit” closes the game.
- Saves
Save keeps the files the game creates, not the exact moment. Save inside the game, then press Save.
- Mobile and tablet
Press Controls during the game to show buttons and keyboard. Gamepad support depends on the browser.
Saves live in this browser and device. Clearing the site data deletes them too.
AmigaIn your browser
Battle Isle: The Desert
Amiga version. Your next game starts here.
- 2 MB · downloads on click
- Save states in this browser
- Controller, keyboard or touch
Controls
Click the game to use the keyboardOn mobile, play with the on-screen controller- ↑←↓→
- move the cursor
- X
- move with the up arrow, releasing X first
- X
- press twice to set a destination
- X
- request a phase with the left arrow
- A
- confirm the phase
- V
- Amiga keyboard
Amiga.
- Full screen
Use the button on the bar. Esc returns to the game page; “Exit” closes the game.
- Saves
Save State, in the game's menu, keeps the exact moment. Load brings it back when you return.
- Mobile and tablet
Press Controls during the game to show buttons and keyboard. Gamepad support depends on the browser.
Saves live in this browser and device. Clearing the site data deletes them too.
THE SECRET SIDE OF THE GAME
Tips, tricks and secrets.
A hint at the right time. A code that changes everything.
Tip: check the range before choosing your route
Select a unit and open its movement order. The outline of the hexagons shows the available destinations. Check that outline before trying to cross water or go around a terrain formation.
Tip: coordinate units that move differently
A route that works for an air unit may leave your ground troops behind. Review each type of unit and look for rally points where they can support one another after the phase change.
Tip: don't leave your conquest without infantry
Keep the troops that can occupy buildings. The objective may be to conquer the enemy headquarters, and reaching its surroundings with units that can't take it is not enough.
Tip: review your orders before pressing F1
The destination is set before the turn is resolved. Check that you have confirmed the routes and that the necessary units have orders before accepting CHANGE MODE.
No matches. Try another effect or code.
THE NEXT STEP, CLEARER
Guides to move forward.
From the first installation to that mission that won't give in.
Starting the BLOCK campaign
Wait for the main menu and select Options with the arrow keys and Enter. On the first line, press Enter, type BLOCK and confirm with Enter. Select OK and then Start. The first single-player map shows a desert archipelago with roads and two headquarters.
If you were already in a mission, Esc opens the confirmation to return to the menu; in this copy, Z confirms that exit. Change the code before starting another game.
Keyboard and movement orders
The arrow keys move the cursor. Hold Space, press an arrow key and release Space before the arrow key to choose an order. On one of your units, up opens movement or attack depending on the phase. Right shows the overview; down opens information; left lets you check a building or transport.
When moving, choose a destination within the marked range. Press Space to show the route and press it again on the same square to confirm it. If the destination is occupied or not valid for that unit, the game won't accept the order.
Resolving orders and changing phase
Place the cursor on a square with no building or transport. Hold Space, press left and release Space first: the double arrow appears. Wait for the other side to finish its orders. When F1: CHANGE MODE appears, press F1 to resolve the phase.
The player bar lets you pause, mute, go full screen, restart and exit. Restarting begins a new run of the game.
The DOS download and DOSBox
The download preserves the files of the collection's DOS copy. Extract the ZIP into a folder, mount that folder as drive C in DOSBox and run DESERT.EXE. Keep DESERT.EX2 and the ANIM, LIB and MAP folders next to the launcher.
For an initial setup you can use 16 MB of memory and 12,000 CPU cycles, as in the online game. The tutorial DOSBox from scratch explains how to mount the folder and run a program.
Original rules and provenance of this edition
The original Battle Isle manual describes the orders, the buildings and the phase-based resolution. The Data Disk I identity and the new landscapes were also checked against the expansion's original box, whose back cover shows a 1992 Blue Byte copyright. The cover image comes from the Amiga box of the same expansion.
The gameplay, screenshots and controls on this page correspond to DOS. The BLOCK code and the phase change with F1 were verified in this copy from the collection.
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ARCHIVE SECRETS
Did you know?
- The Desert, Scenario Disk Volume One and Data Disk I are names for the same first Battle Isle expansion.
- The new scenery includes desert and icy terrain, as shown by the images on its original box.
- The single-player start code is BLOCK. The CONRA code belongs to the original Battle Isle campaign.
- This copy starts with DESERT.EXE. The accompanying DESERT.EX2 file is also part of the program and must be kept alongside it.
