Warlords

Moby ID: 6845
DOS Specs
Conversion (official) Included in See Also

Description

The first in the Warlords series. Basically, your mission is world domination. This may be played between up to 8 people all on the same machine. It is a medieval type strategy game that requires the player to control 80 cities in the realm of Illuria. In order to do so you must wipe out your 7 opponents.

Gold is accrued through the ownership of cities. The gold is then used to create armies. Heroes can sometimes "find" things or be rewarded by sages (there are only 2 and it's a first come first served basis). You can choose between various human and non-human peoples, as well as the ubiquitous evil Warlord. This is a very early version of what strategy games eventually became.

Groups +

Screenshots

Credits (DOS version)

20 People

Ideas (radical and clever)
Original Design
Amiga Programming
Artificial Intelligence Design and Programming
Ibm Development and Programming
Production Co-Ordinator and Additional Development
IBM Utilities
Computer Art
Sleeve Art
Game Testing

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 76% (based on 18 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 23 ratings with 4 reviews)

Beginning of Strategy games

The Good
The fact that I loved this game growing up. I have always liked strategy games that don't have 10,000,000 things you have to keep up with. Being able to find things that aid in your strength and other attributes are also a real plus.

The Bad
It's hard to keep up with where your armies are that you are moving.

The Bottom Line
This is an essential game to play if you are interested in classic strategy games. Plus, the wolfriders are just cool.

DOS · by Leshpar Dracendor (15) · 2005

An early version of Heroes of Might and Magic!

The Good
This is a very cool turn-based fantasy-strategy game!

You decide which of the eight master cities to start in, and away you go. Each city has advantages and disadvantages, of course! Some cities are well-defended, but that just means they are difficult to get out of and conquer surrounding towns, getting them to churn out more gold and armies for you.

Other cities are poorly defended and make weak armies, but there are other cities nearby that you can quickly conquer and make your own. Still others make really tough armies, but at a slower rate, so you can't move at such a fast pace...

And then there are the ruins that can give your heroes special powers, or add demons and devils to your army of Orcs, wolf-riders, archers, or trolls... sigh I do so miss having a DOS-based Operating System.

The Bad
It was always the same dang map. And it was tough to win if you didn't start with the right town!

The Bottom Line
A very nice early fantasy-strategy game. No complaints about it at all.

DOS · by ex_navynuke! (42) · 2005

And you were there!

The Good
The strategy and difficulty levels of this game were much like that of Civilization is today. I rather enjoyed gathering with 2 or 3 friends in an apartment for an all nighter to play a game. We, of course would add our own little refinements - like alliances to be betrayed later on and restrictions.

The Bad
Turns took forever, though and if we started at 6:00 by midnight there was usually no clear cut winner. By dawn we would frequently give up or save the game and then spend weeks trying to get us all together again to play it. Also let's face it sometimes the lower res graphics were a problem (Is that an elf or a giant?) At 3 AM it was hard to tell sometimes.

The Bottom Line
This is a very early Civilization or RISK type game. The graphics were low (what do you expect for a DOS game of that age). Each player built, searched and attacked according to a preset order. The computer rarely won against multiple human players. If you have an old system around I would recommend it. Otherwise go for one of the later versions. The gameplay improved and the graphics were much clearer

DOS · by zeta thompson (50) · 2002

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
iPhone remake Rola (8486) Feb 13, 2013

Trivia

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1991 (Issue #88) – Wargame of the Year (together with Command H.Q.)

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Related Games

Winged Warlords
Released 1983 on ZX Spectrum
Stronghold: Warlords
Released 2021 on Windows
Ancient Warlords
Released 2018 on Macintosh, Windows
Warlords II
Released 1993 on DOS, 1994 on Macintosh, Windows Mobile
Warlords: Battlecry
Released 2000 on Windows
Robot Warlords
Released 2000 on PlayStation 2, 2013 on PlayStation 3
Warlords Awakening
Released 2018 on Windows
Winged Warlords
Released 1984 on BBC Micro
Warlords: Classic
Released 2012 on iPad, iPhone

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 6845
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by zeta thompson.

Amiga added by Rebound Boy. Macintosh added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Rebound Boy, Patrick Bregger.

Game added July 2, 2002. Last modified February 23, 2024.