Fantasy strategy games - recommendations?

[econ21]

Anyone care to recommend any decent fantasy strategy games?

I've played Homm3 a lot and quite liked it, although the gameplay was a little divorced from that of a genuine wargame to really grab me. (There seemed to be too much unpredictability in whether an enemy stack would appear out of nowhere and squish you).

I also really like the hero system in Homm4, but unfortunately the gameplay was slow and the strategic AI braindead.

I enjoyed Fantasy General (loved the Panzer General series generally), although it is aging now.

What I am looking for is a game with RPG elements in terms of hero-building, a decent strategic layer and good tactical combat (kinda like MTW...).

Looking at more recent games, I've noticed a few that look interesting:

Dominions 2 - gets rave reviews from some fans, although I can't quite make out what sort of game it is (seems you have only 7 big figures in a battle).

[Edit: I realise I was confused here, conflating Dominions with Disciples.]

Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic - seems promising; like Homm3 but perhaps more wargame-like elements?

Warlords Battlecry III - has just come out and seems interesting, although I don't like the RTS sound to it.

Can anyone compare these games or recommend them? Cheers.

[chunkynut]

Theres a Wheel of Time mod in development for MTW that i'm quite looking forward to but i'm not sure on the progress of that.

Other than that i dont know http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

And call me stupid but whats HOMM, and i've not played fantasy general so info on that would be cool http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Crandaeolon]

Quote[/b] ]Dominions 2 - gets rave reviews from some fans, although I can't quite make out what sort of game it is (seems you have only 7 big figures in a battle).



I'll just copy-paste here what I told my clanmates about the game...

Dominions 2 is a turn-based, PBEM oriented game. You can play it against AI opponents, but the AI is not particularly good. It does its job, but the game has so many features that only human beings can fully utilize them.

The theoretical maximum number of troops per side (2 sides per battle) is about 3000 AFAIK. In practice, major armies typically reach 200+ living units (that consume supplies) plus magical and undead units on top of that.

The troop dynamics change heavily from early to mid to late game, early game being dominated by normal units and late game by strong individuals (supercombatants) and summoned units. By late games, conventional armies typically get delegated to a supporting role.

You can't control the units directly in combat, but you can pre-plan their locations and initial actions on the battlefield. The actual battle is a fairly detailed simulation, taking into account factors like morale, fatigue, weapon length plus the usual attack, defense, protection (=armour) and movement factors, among others.

There are well over 1000 different units in the game, and of course not all of them are usable in practice... but the game _is_ surprisingly well balanced, perhaps because there are so many available strategies to pursue.

The down sides are rather antiquated graphics and sound, a steep learning curve, no diplomacy with AI opponents, very bare-bones empire building and of course it's a fantasy game, so it won't appeal to those who want a historically accurate game. That being said, I don't think the simplistic empire management is a weakness because that allows the game to focus more on armies and the magical aspect, which is the heart of the game.

EDIT: That seems you have only 7 big figures in a battle -bit sounds like Disciples 2. It's very much different from either Dom2 or AoW2, and the battles indeed do have only 6 figures per side. I've never been a fan of the Disciples series, but a friend of mine swears by it.


Quote[/b] ]Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic - seems promising; like Homm3 but perhaps more wargame-like elements?


AoW2: SM is a very good game IMO. It has a story-driven campaign (though the story is rather run-of-the-mill) plus the usual skirmish modes. It also has a random map generator.

It has less spells, items and monsters, as well as smaller-scale battles than Dominions 2, but it is much more pleasing to the eye and ear. It's easier to learn, but equally time-consuming to play. The battles are turn-based conflicts of a few dozen units at max, and the system is a quite detailed one with action points, attacks of opportunity, lots of special skills for units and suchlike.

Hope this helps

[Sir Chauncy]

I agree, Age of Wonders really is awesome. So time consuming and likely to take quite a few of your evenings to complete. Loads of depths to it as well, assulting a fully defended city is very hard unless you have a tooled up hero. You can get some really decent spells and units slugging it out as well...

[econ21]

Quote[/b] (chunkynut @ May 20 2004,06:39)]And call me stupid but whats HOMM, and i've not played fantasy general so info on that would be cool http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Chunkynut - Homm3 is Heroes of Might and Magic 3. It's a very fine game, well supported on the net with lots of user-made scenarios. You can buy it now for a very good price as Homm3 Complete, with 2 expansion packs bundled in. Pound for pound, it would be hard to find better game value. It is a typical expand, explore, research, build type game but thankfully turn-based. The AI is pretty good both strategically and in the tactical battles. There is a lot of variety of stuff in the game - buildings, units, spells, heroes, loot etc - that makes it fun too.

Fantasy General is an older (MS-DOS) game, a spin-off of the classic wargame lite Panzer General. The emphasis is on correct implementation of combined arms tactics on a hexagonal map and again the AI puts up a good fight. Has quite remarkable music, although in other respects, it has dramatically less chrome than Homm3. I believe it is abandonware now and can be DL'd from the internet, not that I would advocate such activity.

Both are very good games, but inevitably a little retro compared to MTW.

To the other posters - sounds like AoW:SM is ahead for me at the moment as I will be mainly playing solo and with my 8 year old (he's playing AoW1 right now, but I can't stomach the graphics ... it's sad when the aged father is the graphics whore...)

[Fragony]

Kohan is pretty damn good, dated graphics but very good gameplay.

[chunkynut]

Quote[/b] (Fragony @ May 20 2004,14:23)]Kohan is pretty damn good, dated graphics but very good gameplay.
I thought that i'd get it as it was cheap and i had a recommendation that it was good and saw some people here that liked it. It didn't work the graphics would initialise, so if anyone wants a dvd cased copy of kohan, PM me or i'll ebay it http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Ser Clegane]

Simon, I would agree with the others - AOW:SM is definitely a game you should get - pretty much the same one more turn addiction as HOMM3.

You might also want to try Disciples 2 - although the battles seem to be somewhat simplistic from a tactical point of view the overall fantasy setting and design is very atmospheric.


Ahhh ... Fantasy General ... my personal favourite of SSI's 5-star series. I still play it from time to time and wish they woould make a sequel http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[hrvojej]

Quote[/b] (Simon Appleton @ May 20 2004,07:32)]Dominions 2 - gets rave reviews from some fans, although I can't quite make out what sort of game it is
The demo is pretty generous; it may be worth your while to check it out to see whether you like it. It's more geared towards MP, but you can get a decent SP experience nevertheless. It's definitely something quite unique in the gaming market, and if it happens to strike your fancy, there's a whole lot to love in it. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif