Warlords (video game series)
Turn-based strategy with heroes, cities, and diplomacy.
Steve Fawkner created the Warlords series, which blends role-playing and turn-based strategy within a fantasy setting. The first game launched in 1990, followed by three sequels, two expansions, and several spin-offs. Core gameplay revolves around units, heroes, cities, and diplomacy, where players manage resources, fight battles, and handle political relations. Later installments added features like hiring heroes, capturing cities, and more complex diplomacy. Notable spin-offs include *Warlords Battlecry* and *Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords*.
**Gameplay** The series focuses on four main elements: units, heroes, cities, and diplomacy.
**Units** Units are a disposable resource, produced or bought in active cities. Types range from light infantry and archers to elephants and mythical creatures like minotaurs and unicorns. Each unit has standard stats: strength, movement per turn, cost, and upkeep. Some have special abilities, such as flying, combat bonuses, or ignoring difficult terrain. Starting with *Warlords III*, units also have hit points. Allies are a special unit type found only by exploring ruins or hidden temples. They are stronger than regular units, require no upkeep, and often have special abilities—examples include wizards, dragons, devils, and archons. In some versions, like *Warlords II*, cities can produce allies as normal units, but then they require upkeep and a production cost.
**Heroes** Heroes are unique units with distinct traits and abilities. They can pick up items from ruins or hidden tombs, which boost combat, income, or spellcasting (in *Warlords III*). Heroes can also search ruins to fight a special enemy, earning money, items, or allies if successful. They may receive quests from temples, with one hero per quest at a time, and completing a quest yields rewards. Starting with *Warlords III*, heroes can learn spells. Only heroes gain experience points—by killing enemies, conquering cities, or finishing quests. Higher experience raises their level, up to a cap of level 5 (except in *Warlords IV*), improving combat and movement per level. In *Warlords IV*, players can keep three units from each battle as a personal retinue, allowing very high levels and increasing replayability. Each player starts with a level 1 hero. Additional heroes cannot be produced or found; they can only be hired for money, often arriving
- created_by
- Steve Fawkner
- first_release
- 1990
- genre
- Turn-based strategy with role-playing elements
- setting
- Fantasy world of Etheria
- notable_spin_offs
- Warlords Battlecry, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Lore & Background
The series is set in the fantasy world of Etheria, where the central conflict is good versus evil, with neutrality in between. Good-aligned factions include the Sirian Knights, the Empires of Men, elves, and dwarves; evil is represented by demonic horsemen such as the Lord of Plague, Lord of Famine, Lord of War, and Lord Bane. Politics are more complex than they first appear, especially in the third installment, where the human Empire pillages the lands of the peaceful Srrathi snakemen, and a hero's moral alignment is determined by class rather than race.
Gameplay centers on units, heroes, cities, and diplomacy. Units are expendable resources produced in cities, with types ranging from light infantry to mythological creatures like minotaurs and unicorns. Heroes are special units that can possess items, search ruins, complete quests, cast spells (starting with Warlords III), and gain experience points. Cities serve as the main source of units and provide defensive bonuses. Diplomacy regulates relations between players, requiring declarations of war before engaging in battle.
Reader's Guide
The Warlords series is significant for its early integration of role-playing elements into turn-based strategy, influencing later hybrid genres. Its strong artificial intelligence and deep gameplay mechanics, including hero progression, city management, and diplomatic systems, set a standard for strategy games of the 1990s. The series spawned notable spin-offs such as Warlords Battlecry and Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, expanding its reach into real-time strategy and puzzle genres. The release of Warlords II Deluxe in 1995, with its map editor and support for user-created content, fostered a lasting community and extended the series' lifespan. The legacy of Warlords lies in its blend of strategic depth and fantasy storytelling, which continues to be referenced in discussions of classic strategy game design.
Did You Know?
- The series began with Warlords in 1990, created by Steve Fawkner.
- Heroes are the only units that gain experience points, up to a maximum of level 5 except in Warlords IV.
- Allies are special units found only by searching ruins or hidden temples, and do not require upkeep.
- The default winning condition is to conquer most of the cities on the map.
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