Dan Bunten's Modem Wars is a real-time tactics game developed by Ozark Softscape and published by Electronic Arts in 1988 for the Commodore 64.

Features such as fog of war, varied unit types, terrain, and formations, all now standards in the genre, are included.

A separate utility allows replays to be uploaded to bulletin board systems for sharing.

A second line is three quarters of the way up the screen; crossing it with units gives additional points.

Most of the space is clear, but there are also woods, which slow movement and reduce visibility, and hills, which slow movement and allow units atop them to have a small range and damage bonus, while those climbing have a small damage penalty.

It has a limited number of missiles for self-defense, heavy armor, and a radar screen which is capable of spotting enemy spies.

If it uses its missiles, it becomes visible on the main map and enemy radar screen for several seconds.

The drones are remotely piloted bombs (similar in concept to a cruise missile) and had limited fuel before they would explode.

A player losing on points could in effect, throw a "Hail Mary" by piloting remaining drones to the enemy ComCen to knock it out.

That is, Modem Wars is a fast moving game that does not get bogged down in the minutiae of detail so often associated with wargames.

[6] In 2004, Scott Sharkey of 1up.com compared Modem Wars to the Sega Genesis real-time strategy game Herzog Zwei, saying it was perhaps "the closest predecessor".