War of the Lance (video game)
War of the Lance is a turn based strategy game of the American computer game manufacturer SSI. It plays in the campaign world of the Dragonlance role-playing rules Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and was released in 1989 for Apple II and in 1990 for Commodore 64 and MS -DOS.
Plot and gameplay
The gameplay is shown from a bird's perspective. It rivals two fractions, Whitestone (good) and High Lord (evil ), for supremacy in the game world Ansalon. In single player, the player takes control of Whitestone in the fight against computer opponents, as a couple takes in a game the players the opposite side. A distinction is made between a campaign and a scenario mode.
In campaign mode, the game begins in the year 348, when the Whitestone Alliance has not yet been established and High Lord reigns only over its capital Neraka. The Whitestone player must be based only, to lead them into battle against HighLord the alliance. The scenario mode begins in the year 349, when both factions already control some areas.
The game play takes place in three areas. On a tactical overview map of the game world, the player sends his units on the game world to conquer the strategically important areas. Furthermore, heroes can be sent out to find magic artifacts, which strengthen the combat power of their own troops. Furthermore, there is the possibility to move neutral fractions by threat, intimidation and the like to form an alliance using a diplomacy screen. Each round is divided into several consecutive phases:
- Message phase: report of recent events
- Quest: playing the hero quests
- Champion Status: Verification of hero status
- Reinforcement / Replacement: acquisition and / or replacement of the remaining free troops
- Subversion: attempts to block the opponent's artifact search
- Diplomatic: attempt to draw the different nations on its side with the aid of diplomacy points; on a scale of 1-9, the tendency to Whitestone (1 ) or High Lord (9 ) is indicated, the more inclined the opposing faction, the higher the necessary number of points diplomacy.
- Country Status: overview of the individual nations and their current status
- Victory: Overview of the armed forces, the gains and losses and the current score
- Initiative: This specifies the program which side is the first initiative in the next round
- Recovery: Units receive their unused "operation points" for the following phases well written.
- Movement: Units can be moved
- Combat: Battles are discharged and it then starts the Message phase from the front
The goal is to have conquered until the year 354, the capital of the enemy. Each year consists of five rounds. If it is possible either side to achieve this wins the group with the most points. These are calculated from the strength of the armed forces, the number of allies and the military successes.
Reception
The role-playing game Dragon Magazine awarded in his test in 1990, four out of five stars. Uwe Winkelkötter awarded in the journal Current software market for the C64 version 7 of 12 points. He criticized the lack of an acoustic accompaniment and of beeps, and the non-existent ability to give his troops in combat instructions. The graphics he described as practical, but not outstanding.
"All in all, a proud addition to SSI 's legacy, War of the Lance is quiet fun to play today. "
"Overall, it is a great contribution to SSI's legacy, even today it is more fun to play War of the Lance. "