Fantasy Wars

I really miss turn-based strategy games. This game does many things right - it is not too easy, you can take your units from battle to battle, there are different secondary targets with rewards... ok - the story is absolutly poor. Anyhow, though I evenhave trobbles with the sound on my system (i.e. I have none), I played it for the last three evenings. I really like it and hope for gog-releases of other classics like Demonworld and so on. The best 5 bucks I did spend in the last three months. Turn-based strategy fans: Buy it and give it a chance!

I remember when this game made first appearance - and I was charmed. Yes, it stole the game mechanics and balance completely from Fantasy General (a spin off for Panzer General). It added nice windows graphics, good tough missions and a bit of meta-game changes (research thrown away, but management kept familiar to FG veterans). And it was just what we needed! It was the only old-school hexagonal TBS on the market. And a chance to show new gamers what strategy games were (and no DOSBox required): no big numbers, no clicking skills, just pure tactical analysis and deeply planned moves.

Weird in the first few hours, but when you adapt to what the game wants from you - it becomes a blast. Adequate graphics and sound. You can safely delete the game movies from their folders - it saves you eyestrain and time. Nursing the units to keep them alive as long as possible is very important. This game was a very nice surprise for me.

First off, this game is HARD. Not unbeatable but very difficult even on normal settings. The AI is unforgiving and will gang up on your exposed archer with multiple units. The AI will also bypass your front lines with its special troops to take advantage of weaker supporting units at the back. Beyond the typical gank attacks from the AI, you must also contend with many scenarios that will have you saying "really?!". The game likes to let you almost win, then throw a fresh new horde of mobs from a random direction. That group of hills slightly off the road with no objective markers anywhere near it? Yeah, that is where a horde of goblin riders will pour out of to decimate your lines. In one mission early on in the game, you will rescue a group of knights and try to lead them to safety. After fighting through closed forest paths, dealing with catapults attacking you from islands, and beating back hidden scout troops scattered in the forests, you will finally find the knights. Only at the this point the game lobs a fresh new pack of goblins at you, and airships. Yes, airships to bomb you while you run to the exit. As you close in on escaping the map, suddenly a horde of goblin riders pours out from behind some random hills. Gee, thanks fantasy wars. You beat them back, and as the exit marker comes into view you see...ANOTHER HORDE OF HIGH LEVEL MOBS, including a hero character that was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND on the map initially. These sort of hair pulling scenarios are the mainstay of the action in this game. If you can get past the nearly unfair tactics the computer throws at you, underneath you have a very solid tactics game similar to fantasy general. This game is absolutely worth a couple of bucks, and it will keep you entertained for weeks. Highly recommended.

I picked it up on an off chance. I read the description and reviews, and it sounds like fun! I'm never one to get the speed bonuses for completing turn-based games quickly, but I do get 100% for full exploration. This game tends to reward both, which is refreshing. You do get the option to reply any level you want, with the only penalty being it erases any progression you made after that level. This can be good if you find you don't like some of your past decisions and want to change them. Re-writing history in games is rare, and that makes this game better here also. :) I'm only part way through (just a couple levels actually, keep replying the first ones >.< ) so I'll post a more in-depth review later when I've beaten it (or come closer to).