Age of Wonders is a 1999 turn-based strategy game co-developed by Triumph Studios and Epic MegaGames, and published by Gathering of Developers.

The game won positive reviews and was a moderate commercial success, with global sales of roughly 200,000 units by 2001.

Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy game that takes place from an isometric perspective, which consists of hexagonal tiles.

This can manifest itself in different ways; for example, an orc city is not likely to surrender to the elves, and if conquered, may revolt unless there is a strong military presence in it to oppress the population.

Units of hostile races forced to fight alongside each other in a single group will have lower morale, and are more likely to desert.

Upon reaching the next level, they get a number of skill points, which a player can then spend to improve their parameters and teach them special abilities.

Unlike common units, heroes can be brought from dead by magical means, although such experience will greatly decrease their morale.

All have different mana costs depending on how advanced they are, and some of the more powerful unit and global spells can take more than one turn to cast.

Each spell furthermore belongs to one of the eight spheres of magic: Life, Death, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Cosmos and Secret/Chaos.

If the players are at war, the attacker has the option of selecting tactical combat, where the players move individual units on a small map representing the battlefield, or automatic ("fast") combat, where the computer determines how the battle would have taken place by weighing off each side's attack, defense and movement parameters.

All ranged attacks (including some types of spells), and some melee strikes can result in friendly fire.

Trees, buildings and other obstacles scattered around combat maps also hamper ranged attacks as well as movement to various degrees, and can be used to one's advantage to great effect.

Equal values of the attacker and the defender parameters results in a 50% chance to hit, and for each point of difference this is changed by 10% (but to a minimum of 10%, or a maximum of 90%).

CNET Gamecenter's Mark Asher joked that it had "been in development ever since programming a computer was a matter of punching holes in cards".

The 21st tune called "In The Company of Elves" was included with the demo version of Age of Wonders, but not with the final release of the game.

Bates praised many of the game's features including the graphics, gameplay mechanics, editor, and online connectivity, but said the music was uninspiring and called the sound effects "serviceable but bland".

[17] AllGame's Nick Woods wrote: "If you love strategy and role playing games, Age of Wonders is worth the purchase", giving it three-and-a-half stars out of five.

[21] However, GameZone's Jason Lambert gave it 6.3 out of 10, writing: "Small flaws and annoyances made this game a little less than expected.

[22] Greg Vederman of NextGen wrote that "Age of Wonders stands tall as one of the best games of the year".

At the time, PC Player noted that Age of Wonders was "not necessarily one of the biggest sellers in gaming history", but that its commercial performance was adequate to justify a sequel.

Scenario makers (also referred to as 'mapmakers') were able to draw maps with rich stories from their own imaginations, or took inspiration from classic fantasy worlds such as that of Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, etc.

Thus, the AoWEd was largely responsible for keeping the fans of the game entertained until the release of the sequel, Age of Wonders 2.

Since the accidental release of the developer's editor (known as DevEd), many more mods have been made by the fan community (notably at HeavenGames), including the very popular "Lighthawk's Rules".