Warlords II Scenario Review

by Dirk Pellett
(review:
http://www.princeton.edu/~rfheeter/w2home/reviews/lilux.rev.html)
(And the game: http://www.heeter.net/warlords/)

I found in 28th April 1997 from Internet this interesting review of game. It goes like this:

This review is copyrighted by myself [i.e. Dirk Pellett], but may be destributed in any UNMODIFIED form as long as NO CHARGE is made for distribution (such as a per-minute charge for online time) and it is not included in any copyrighted "compilation" (such as claimed by certain online serices I will not name). Dirk Pellett.

Lilux.zip 23,349 bytes, based on "Fantagore", an underground comic written by Richard Corben, featuring "Razar the Unhero". 20 cities, 5 players, 12 ruins (including 2 temples). Author: Justin S. Davis.

Rating summary, scale of 1 to 10:
Wt Area / Score Comments
10 Army set / 4 (default army set, with all of its problems)
7 Map design / 5 (a bit sparse on details, but acceptable)
5 Army pics / 6 (default)
5 City pics / 9 (default)
3 Background info / 3 (some to get you started, but not enough)
2 Cities/ruins / 7 (interesting cities, mostly random ruins)
2 Items/heroes / 4 (default items and heroes, which is ok)
OVERALL RATING 181

I played this because I was curious to see what a scenario could be, packed smaller than any other scenario I'd seen. Naturally, it uses the default army set and city set, with the pictures and capabilities created by SSG, as do many of SSG's scenarios. The Lilux scenario basically consists of a map, and that's all.

In a brief explanation file, the author states: The map and its cities are taken directly from the first issue of a 1970 underground fantasy comic book called "Fantagore", written by Richard Corben. ... This scenario reproduces a map drawn as part of the "Razar the Unhero" strip which appeared in the first issue of "Fantagore".

If, like me, you have never seen the comic or the map, you may not be very impressed with this map. If you've seen the comic and want to play a game of Warlords base on it, well here you are. It's not too bad as far as maps go, except for being rated sparse in details (foothills, roadsigns, etc) and completely lacking in ports. It's very hard for land-based armies to get around, and the temples are essentially for flying armies only. It uses the mudflats terrain to represent the harsh world of Razar of Unhero. Whether the default armies and cities fit that world well, I can't say, but since the cities are all creatively described, and some of the ruins are as well, the world has some flavor to it.

This scenario makes a reasonable way to kill an hour or two. About on a par with the Donut Island scenario: not one of the best, but good for a game.