Warlords

Warlords is a stratigic 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 setthed 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 Heros search out and wield magical swords that will tip the battle in your favour. Clever military tactics and even economic warfare are possibilities too.
Developed by:
S S G
Strategic Studies Group was primarily created to produce war strategy games as the title already suggests. Their focus was mostly on World War II but was not limited to it which shows for example very successful Warlords series.
Multiplayer:
Lan
Platform:
Dosbox
Rated:
18 x
Current rating:
Uploaded by:
Anonymous
Your rating:
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Screenshots

Reviews

Review by David Harding

I was totally addicted to this great game when it first came out way back when. I had found one place in all the intervening years that converted the DOS to MS. I saved it and when my computer crashed it was gone forever. Recently I found this fantastic site. You guys did a great job here. I'm playing like back in the day and it's amazing how easily it all came back. You did a wonderful service here. The game plays just like it did 37 years ago. Can you donate to this site? Anyway, great job all around. May try out other games but some are difficult without basic instructions. Dave Harding

Review by unknown author

Well, graphics and controls needing a bit of getting used to aside, the game is awesome. On current DOSBox 0.74 it works like charm, but maybe that's something of a Warlords version issue. (I have three versions laying around here, 1.01, 2.00 and 2.10, and I don't mean Warlords 2 by that, but Warlords 1 in versions 1.01, 2.00 and 2.10.) I don't think the game mechanics are too complex, that's true. But choosing your options sometimes can be quite complicated, as the combination of units in a group can lead to significant advantages, giving you opportunities to conquer even castles where you are outnumbered 2:1 by medium strength units with only one group attacking. Annoying parts: The sometimes not really properly triggering controls. If you want to know what I mean, just try and move a group not as a group but unit by unit (like to remove some weaker units from the group). It's intended to be used like that, but very often the game doesn't recognize all clicks, especially the right ones... And when the AI gets a dragon rather early in the game. So frustrating, as there is little against that in early game. Nice parts: Easy to learn, moderate to master. Feels best when played in coop against the AI. Just invite two friends, take 4-6 hours and have a lot of fun. And: Getting a dragon yourself early on. =)

Review by unknown author

For a game this old, it withstands the test of time.

It's not exactly complex and the graphics show their age, but for the time-period it was released it looks impressive.

Some people have mentioned having problems with DOSBOX and other emulators, but that's just as likely an issue with the emulator. It won't work on the NT 6.0 Kernal, so this may be a problem, especially in the future.

The AI is, well, artificial. I've seen it make decent moves, and I've seen it make bad moves. I've seen it play defensive when it should and I've seen it send a random stack of two light infantry to attempt to take a city fortified by a hero, a dragon, two demons, a stack of cavalry, and a bunch of heavy infantry for the chance to kill just one guy. It's still much better than most time period AI.

There's not much to the story because it plays out differently each time. Go figure - that's a staple of strategy games, especially from 1989.

The game interface is annoying to a first timer, but once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature.

Overall I give it a 8 out of 10.
Similar games: King's BountyWarlords 2Warlords 2 Deluxe

Comments

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12/6/2022 2:50:00 PM - Ananda777 Currently i work on a combination of a board game warlords on Game of Thrones Map with heroes for Winterfell as Eddard Stark and Robb Stark :) it will be great
11/30/2022 11:39:00 AM - Ananda777 Wow congratulations ! I didn't count in that way i am 45 years old :) i did another interesting thing ... i made a lot of hand made variants between master of magic and warlords of board games and i play without computer even :) i must calculate on my own :) i even proposed to EA Sports to make a project togather and expand to board games zone but they were not interested ... nice experience to play warlords(any variant pc or board)
11/22/2022 1:40:00 PM - depechor Hi! I'm 44yo and I still play in Warlords (SSG). My best record is 41 castles in 23 turns on maximum hard mode (7 x warlords). And You?
10/20/2022 10:14:00 AM - Ananda777 Hola everyone! My favourite game is Warlords Classic 1990 Dos version does anyone know if there are some more maps or some map editor for this game(original Dos version -now playing on dos simulators)? Thank you.
1/1/2022 1:47:00 PM - Throng Hi! Anyone knows ho to extract graphic files inside the pck archives? Thanks!
11/8/2021 8:00:00 AM - Amonra Hi Jerry, There is a "official" port for iOS of Warlords. I play it in. my iPhone SE but my old eyes has a hard work dealing with it. :D
3/31/2021 4:55:00 AM - Jerry Wow, used to have this on a 3.5 floppy for my 486. I used to LOVE this game. Considering the amount of time I have spent playing it recently I still do. I have not tried Warlords II much, but I do remember Warlords III being good (and having to turn off water animation so my computer could run it, LOL). Did some nerd take the time to remaster this on a modern engine (Unity or Something), I swear this game is awesome in its simplicity and structure. Just need some tweaks. Give you the ability to buy production in cities that produce junk units, a couple more maps (Or a map editor, but that seems like a lot to request). Either way, you want to burn an afternoon or evening, this is the game!
7/24/2020 5:25:00 AM - meower Use to sneak into the CO's office in middle of the night back when i was in the army to play this.
2/27/2016 7:53:00 AM - Warlord This is my favorite game beside Civ. Played it vs my best friends. ANy Qs, ask me... I'm the expert!
5/16/2015 9:45:00 PM - dan Anyone able to play this on android?
12/13/2014 10:02:00 PM - Guy a lot of people play on the .NET download?
12/23/2013 5:12:00 AM - John An old classic!
5/31/2013 11:40:00 PM - Mike lol
1/8/2013 3:43:00 AM - Michael D Woah, I remember my childhood friend was so addicted to this game. He got us into it as well. Could never beat the guy tho lol. Blast from the past finding this here =)
3/20/2012 6:39:00 AM - jhurd423 one of the most addictive games I have ever played
11/19/2011 5:49:00 AM - Ehud Great game, shows its age but well balanced.
3/21/2011 7:31:00 PM - Lord Bane plain awesome
9/3/2010 8:31:00 PM - kk great game ;-)
What is abandonware ?

 
The downloaded packages are prepared to be runnable with a single click. Only thing you need to do is download the zip archive, unzip to your game directory and run the game with included "Play NOW.exe" file. For more information see Download Notice
Please fill in the math result and click Download.



The downloaded packages are prepared to be runnable with a single click. Only thing you need to do is download the zip archive, unzip to your game directory and run the game with included "Play NOW.exe" file. For more information see Download Notice
Please fill in the math result and click Download.