Warlords II
1993
- strategy
- single player
- multiplayer
The story
Warlords is a strategic war game, fought out by eight different players, for the domination of the Kingdom of Illuria. It can be played by one to eight people, with the computer taking the remaining positions. The Kingdom of Illuria, after some severe internal disputes, has seethed under a sullen and uneasy peace. This truce has now disappeared, along with the arch-mage who imposed it. The eight empires of Illuria realize that this is their chance for total domination, a very unstable situation. Forces are being mobilized for conquest, and only one Supreme Warlord will prevail. Your objectives in Warlords are brutally simple: to eliminate all organized opposition to your rule. To do this, you will have to control all eighty cities in the lands of Illuria, and thereby eliminate all seven opponents. There are many ways to achieve this, and brute force is just one of them. you might ally with dragons or wizards, or have your Heroes search out and wield magical swords that will tip the battle in your favor. Clever military tactics and even economic warfare are possibilities too. Warlords II brought more continents to the game along with many new features and better graphics.
What it’s like
Pixel-sprite fantasy kingdoms laid out as a chunky, colour-blocked map, with small armies crawling between walled cities under flat, even light. The mood is a studious, tabletop calm: long stretches of quiet planning, a turn ticking over, then a sharp little clash of unit icons and a banner shifting across the land. Pacing is unhurried and self-directed, the kind of game that rewards a single evening spent on one more turn or a rainy weekend given over to a slow campaign. Tone is wry and low-pressure rather than grim, with mischief from dragons, wizards and magic swords adding small surprises. The violence is cartoonish and abstract, mostly a matter of numbers and unit tokens, so it sits lightly next to the strategy. It suits players who enjoy empire-building, weighing alliances and economic gambles, and who like a game that asks them to think ahead rather than react fast.
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