Warlords is a video game series created by Steve Fawkner, in which role-playing elements are combined with turn-based strategy in a fantasy setting.
Gameplay centers around key elements such as units, heroes, cities, and diplomacy, with players managing resources, engaging in combat, and navigating political relationships.
Over time, the series introduced new mechanics like hero recruitment, city conquest, and advanced diplomatic systems.
Units come in different types such as light infantry, archers, elephants, and even mythological creatures such as minotaurs and unicorns.
All units in Warlords have several standard properties: strength, distance of movement per turn, cost, and upkeep.
Some have additional special abilities such as flying, bonuses to defense or combat, or traversing difficult terrain without hindrances.
Allies are relatively powerful compared to regular units, do not require upkeep, and often include one or more special abilities.
Some versions of the game, such as Warlords II, have an option to allow cities to produce allies like regular units.
Unlike other units, additional heroes cannot be produced by cities or discovered in ruins or hidden tombs.
The production may be forwarded from one city to another, allowing the player to concentrate armies on the borderline or in another location of strategic interest.
[4][5] The games are set in the fantasy world of Etheria, and tend to be based around the traditional premise of good versus evil, with neutrality in between.
Heroes on the side of good are the Sirian Knights, the mercantile Empires of Men, the elves and the dwarves.
Also, the third game opens with the human Empire pillaging and exploiting the newly discovered lands of the peaceful Srrathi snakemen, in an obvious nod to the historical European conquest of the Americas.
Each clan could either be controlled by the computer or by a human player, allowing up to eight participants taking turns in hot seat play.
The game was released for Microsoft Windows and used new system capabilities to dramatically improve graphics:[4] The heroes acquired the ability to cast spells to receive the temporary benefit.
Another diplomacy-related feature introduced in Reign of Heroes was the ability to bribe enemies, thus influencing their diplomatic decisions.
[6] Shortly after releasing Reign of Heroes, SSG followed with Warlords III: Darklords Rising — a stand-alone expansion pack.
It featured the new maps and units and contained the sample graphics to facilitate development of alternative tile, army and city sets.
The player's character in this game was personified as a special unit which only involved in battles over the capital city and could not move around the map.