The story is based on the toyline of the same name produced by Palitoy, and portrayed multinational Europe-based anti-terrorist military organisation Action Force's attempts to thwart the ambitions of the Red Shadows and – later – Cobra.
"Action Force" ended when the toyline's new owners Hasbro discontinued the licence with IPC in favour of a dedicated title produced by Marvel UK.
However, for the second year of the line Palitoy decided to push the series in a more fantastical direction, devising the idea of Action Force being a European taskforce facing off on the conquest-hungry Baron Ironblood and his Red Shadows minions as a unifying fiction.
[3][7] As part of the line's promotional push they contacted IPC, paying them for a four-week strip in Battle, written by Gerry Finley-Day with art from Jim Watson and based on the toyline's background information.
The result was viewed as a success, and Palitoy asked IPC to produce a series of five promotional mini-comics, which were given away as a free gift with the publisher's boys comics (Tiger, Battle and Eagle) weekly between 16 July and 10 September 1983.
Tomlinson would later bemoan the slow process of getting Palitoy – who he described "weren't really comic people" to approve the art and scripts while keeping to the rigid weekly schedule.
Finley-Day was left with the unenviable job of trying to cope with the overnight change in the strip, coming up with the concept of Ironblood betraying the Red Shadows and taking on the identity of Cobra Commander to raise a new army.
The American company had experienced considerable success producing a comic based on the Transformers toyline with Marvel UK, and were keen to see if the process could be repeated with Action Force.
As such, Tomlinson and editor Richard Burton hurriedly came up with the copycat concept of Storm Force, which became one of the few new stories produced alongside an increasing number of reprints.
Despite several ambushes whittling down the unit, Eagle and his men were ultimately able to thwart an invasion of the Pacific seaboard, though the major Red Shadows once again eluded them.
[12] Z-Force meanwhile find themselves trapped in the middle of a coup in the central African state of Duna, but under the command of Slip help stop Major Maddi and his Gibli insurgents from overrunning the country.
[13] Baron Ironblood launched a counter-strike by attempting to incinerate SAS Force units searching the Pampas for his base, framing them as saboteurs causing wildfires.
[18] The Red Laser then framed a detachment of Q-Force in the experimental Sea Lion submarine for a terrorist attack on Singapore, but they were able to avoid their pursuers long enough to clear their names.
[19] The Red Shadows gained a victory when Action Force driver Anton Nobokov was severely injured, and agreed to undergo radical surgery at the hands of Ironblood to save his life.
A section of the recovery team attempted to mutiny but were put down by the Black Major, and the creature was cloned to provide the Baron with an underwater army, which caused heavy SAS Force casualties.
In response to the increased activity of Cobra, American intelligence officer Major Flagg is charged with recruiting a new Action Force team to deal with the threat.
[25] Led in the field by Top sergeant Duke, new units underwent rapid training, though Cobra agents such as Zartan attempted to disrupt the process.
[26] Other Cobra recruits included Austrian aristocrat and anarchist Baroness[27] while the organisation also captured the plans for Action Force's Hawk helicopter, with Destro making a superior version called the F.A.N.G.
[28] Despite these disruptions, the new Action Force team reached operational status, headquartered under the United Nations Secretariat Building, and began planning a trap for Cobra.
However their plans were complicated by the return of the Red Shadows, with the Black Major having escaped and freed a large number of prisoners to gain revenge on both Action Force and Cobra, leading to a three-way conflict.
[33] While both on separate training issues in a South American jungle, units of SAS Force and Cobra (led by Major Bludd and Baroness) were captured by hidden SS holdouts – including the still-living Adolf Hitler – which had linked up with the Red Shadows.
[35] Cobra continued to back insurgents, and an Action Force response team led by Roadblock found the latest included the expert anti-armour specialist Scrap-Iron.
[1] Steve Earles of The Quietus was even more scathing during an overview of Battle's history, feeling "it undid all the hard work thus far" and objecting to creators, " some of whom had actually been in the army, trying to breath life into stories based on moulded plastic".
[48] Luke Williams was more sympathetic in a piece for Down The Tubes, feeling it was an important gateway into comics for younger fans and speculated that without it "the title may never have lasted long enough to have published the final Pat Mills 'Charley's War' episodes".