The back story showed that Warsaw Pact forces had successfully overrun most of Western Europe by the end of August, 1986. Next, the naval and air forces of the Soviet Union needed to close the North Atlantic and sever the supply line between North America and Britain. NATO's task was to keep the sea lanes open and Britain supplied, primarily by using convoys of supply and troop ships guarded by carrier battle groups when available. Nuclear weapons were not available to either the NATO or Soviet Union commanders. Game play options allowed two human players to pick either the NATO or Soviet Union. Solo play was limited to the NATO side only as the Soviet Union was always played by the computer AI.