Before there were Heroes of Might and Magic there was this gem: Warlords and Warlords II, which is a straightforward upgrade of the first part. It is kinda like chess, in that the rules are simple but the emergent gameplay is very complex. You get a castle, a hero and some gold and you are off to conquer the land. Usually that means 7 other players, human or AI, to defeat, and about 40 castles to take. You produce armies in your castles and you send them off to capture, pillage or raze the countyside. Meanwhile your hero can partake in the fighting or explore ruins. Ruins can give you gold, units, items or quests. Or can kill your hero if you are unlucky. Luck plays a significant part of the game, but strategic play is king. Units get terrain bonuses, some are flying to facilitate surprise attacks, some are fast, some are very strong but take long to train. Everything in a classic high fantasy setting with dragons, elves, dwarves and undead. Audio and video are dated, but get the point across. Units are easy to tell apart, landscapes look decent, castles are fancy and unique for each faction. Only the "talking head" popping with commentary every now and then feels completely out of place and unneccessary. If you have a couple of bucks and many hours to spare do yourself a favor and give Warlords a try!
Aven Colony is a classic city builder game, focused on resource and morale managemenet. It has some strong Anno 2205 vibes. It gets repetitive rather quickly, unfortunately and requires quite a lot of micromanagement. You cannot set production limits for example, while storage space is expensive. The back story is nice and helps build some immersion. Grraphics and audio are very ncie and relaxing. Overall, a solid game that could have been great, if only it was more polished.
