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With a background setting in the relatively new AD&D campaign world of Eberron, on the continent of Xen-drik, Dragonshard follows the desperate struggle of several warring factions as they strive to lay claim to the Heart of Siberys - an artefact of supreme power.

Although we hit a snag with one chapter of the six-part tutorial (it wouldn't run, and then the downloaded patch refused to install), it is an excellent starting point – both for experienced RTS gamers and newbies. You are guided through the basics in short stages, and graduate fully prepared to take on the story-driven single player campaigns or Skirmish mode - a one-off battle against computer opponents; or either of the multiplayer options (over LAN or GameSpy).

The screen is well laid out, with two mini-maps in one corner representing the above-ground battlefield and the underworld of Khyber. A number of unobtrusive buttons and icons give one-click access to quest information and objectives, plus units, commands and items in your champion's backpack. An info bar at the bottom of the screen displays at-a-glance information on resources, population and global XP. As is usual with an RTS there are an awful lot of hot keys, but you can either take 'em or leave 'em since the point and click interface is perfectly adequate for most commands.

There are three races to choose from, with the units of each featuring a good mix of strengths and vulnerabilities. In addition to the basic units – or captains, as they are called - each race has four unique champions: a rogue, warrior, mage and priest; plus one unique 'juggernaut' unit. The Order of the Holy Flame is an alliance of humans, elves, dwarves etc. whose goal is to obtain the Heart of Siberys to further their cause. The Lizardfolk are native to the region in which Dragonshard is set. Rumoured to be descended from dragons, they have formed a coalition of tribes united in their desire to defend the Heart of Siberys from intruders. The Umbragen are descendents of dark elves, whose realm is the depths of Khyber. They seek to destroy the Heart of Sybaris in order to become powerful enough to defeat their enemies in the underworld.

Your city consists of a keep surrounded by a walled 4 x 4 square grid, giving you a total of 16 spaces on which to build structures. Each structure takes up one square, and there are two types: buildings that generate captains, and monuments, which grant bonuses to units generated from all adjacent buildings. Since each race has ten different captain types (excluding the champions and juggernauts), you can either take the 'build one of everything' approach to give yourself a greater selection, or by building multiples of the same structure, the captains produced – while fewer in variety, can advance to higher levels of experience. In addition to your main city, you can build smaller outposts should you discover an 'expansion well' on your travels.

Of course, building a city and training an army costs resources, of which the game features three: gold, experience and dragonshards. The latter are coveted crystals which hurtle from the sky during occasional but truly spectacular storms. After the fireworks have finished you simply send your troops out to mine the dragonshard deposits left behind.

Gold accumulates automatically at a steady rate, the speed of which is governed by the number of buildings you own. This can be a slow process, especially when you are trying to build up your army to fend off an invading horde. A more lucrative means of gaining riches is to defeat monsters and loot their corpses, or ransack treasure hoards in the subterranean tunnels of Khyber.

Experience points are earned for success in combat, and this is distributed amongst all units. When captains gain sufficient XP you can level up by clicking on their building of origin. This bestows them with extra hit points, improved damage capability, more soldiers to command (at no cost to your treasury or population limit), and more special abilities to use on the battlefield.

Upon entering Khyber via one of the entrances scattered around the map, the soldiers are left behind (although they reappear once your troops resurface), leaving only your captains and champion visible on the underworld map. This smaller sized group is reminiscent of the traditional adventuring party associated with RPGs, and there are many adventures to be had underground. It's all there: quests, traps, treasure, plus an assortment of horrid beasties straight out of the Monster Manual. This dungeon crawling aspect is what really sets Dragonshard apart from other RTS games.

We initially ran Dragonshard on a PC with the minimum system requirements listed on the box, but found game play to be decidedly choppy in places. For example, building a huge and glorious army, then watching it battle a similar number of enemy troops was a visual feast, however the frame rate dropped to an almost unplayable level of performance. Happily, we can confirm that playing on a slightly higher spec machine completely eliminated this problem.

While Dragonshard is not the first RTS with an AD&D setting - an achievement claimed by the rather forgettable Blood & Magic, set in the Forgotten Realms back in 1997 – it is the first game to successfully meld a high fantasy RPG with a solid, playable RTS to produce a game that should satisfy both armchair generals seeking something a little different, and RP gamers wishing to expand their horizons.