Warlords (1978) - the wargame in which you never whose turn it is!
Warlords is probably going to be the earliest MP game we play, as it was released in 1978 in Canada. Fully in BASIC, it features 4 players ducking it out on a 7x7 map: in this case that's Warlord Scribe, Condotierre Dayyalu, War Baron Rastignak and Morpheus Kitami
Warlord is still special in one way: the turn order is random. Each player has the same number of impulses between two "buying troops" phases, but they can come and go in any order, including being able to move several times in a row.
The map is fairly easy to read:
- The first character is the terrain: [C]astle. T[own], [F]orest, [S]wamp and, err, "L" which is not in the manual so I have no idea. No letter means open terrain.
- The second character is the population. Swamps, Forest and L have none. Population = Taxes!
- The third character, is any, is the owner. For instance, I am player #1.
- Finally, the number below are the forces located in the region.
May the best one mean, particularly if the best one is me.
I am going to guess "L" indicates a "lake". Or maybe "lowland".
Those sure are some interesting starting positions. Knowing my luck I'll be the first to go.
What's the X stand for? Or does it just mark the spot everyone wants to be in? (Since it is X9)
Don't be daft. X obviously stands for Xity. X are always associated with 9 in population.
So I checked, L stands for Lake, and it's blocked. There is somewhat of a wall between Dayyalu and myself.
3 points for LanHawk.
Turn 1
So after some emulator versioning woes, we're back. The first turn only lasted one pulse, so the map hasn't changed much:
Also, given I decided to represent lakes to show some colour on the map, I turned Rastignak green.
This short first turn really played in favour of Rast'. In one turn, he could reach the Xity without having to fight Dayyalu to keep it, so all Dayyalu gets for his efforts is a worthless swamp. Rasst can immediately recruit, and now he has the strongest army in the region. As for me, I am unable to reach the town...
Population:
- Rastignak: 17
- Morpheus: 14
- Scribe: 9
- Dayyalu: 8
The theme for the next couple of turns will probably be Dayyalu and I having our tête-à-tête in the corner. I was incredibly lucky to grab the Xity and immediately use its income, but my position dead in the middle makes me a natural target for a King of the Xhill party
Turn 3
Dayyalu's dead baby, here's the new lay of the land:
Rastignak and Dayyalu's tete-a-tete has had quite fatal results. Now Rastignak has put himself in quite the awkward position. Can he capitalize on this, or will he fall victim to the piranhas after a taste of shark?
Population:
- Rastignak: 24
- Morpheus: 24
- Scribe: 22
- Dayyalu: 0
Thanks MK :).
My own notes:
Turn 2
Given Rastignak's central position and economic advantage, Dayyalu and myself agree on an alliance according to which we both converge on Rastignak. The alliance never materializes: Rastignak moves first and attack a swamp South of Dayyalu's castle!
Dayyalu gathers his force for a last ditch defence on his castle. Meanwhile, I beeline toward Xity: Rastignak will have to either abandon his attack on Dayyalu or leave it (relatively) defenseless.
He chooses the former, and overrun Dayyalu's castle:
Well then, maybe I will be able to take the Xity? No! The random turn order favours Rastignak, who can reinforce the Xity. I don't want to attack at 9 vs 6, and just take a poor territory.
Meanwhile, Dayyalu has attempted a desperate attack on his castle and failed - he is eliminated from the game.
It's the end of turn. It's time to recruit:
Morpheus was a bit off on the population count:
- Rastignak: 25
- Morpheus: 18
- Scribe: 17
It takes 2 in population to recruit 1 soldier, so while Rastignak has a significant advantage, it's not decisive yet.
Question: Do you prefer Morpheus or my visualization of the map. I actually prefer Morpheus'! I am asking for the article, when I will write it.
I suggest taking the best of two worlds: Morpheus territory coloring, with your arrows and colored Lava Lakes
I'd say alternate the visualization styles. Your style shows better the action and what players are attempting to do on their turns, like showing that battle for Dayyalu's castle. Visualization by Morpheus shows faster the overall situation of the game, like a snapshot of the end-of-turn status. And I also like the colouring of lakes, it does really emphasise the nature of them as impassable obstacles.
Without knowing the rules it does seem that the most obvious approach for Rastignak is to concentrate on defending the Xity and exploiting the economical advantage. Looking forward to see what his approach will be.
Turn 4:
It's another alliance. Myself and Scribe against Rastignak and the RNG. I prepare my troops to charge after Rastignak's castle and...he just gets two turns in a row. My forces are wiped out, and he grabs one of my towns. I attempt to retake it...which ends well, since as you can see, we're in a stalemate in the southeast.
Scribe, meanwhile, makes no progress against the Xity, and it starts to look less like a chaotic battle and more like trench warfare, with the battle lines drawn and no meaningful changes. An event that's unlikely to change anytime soon. At least until Rastignak finally puts me in a grave.
Population:
- Rastignak - 31
- Scribe - 22
- Morpheus - 15
And Rastignak played before me once again. I haven't opened the turn yet, but I can only suppose he garrisoned the Xity before I could take it at 8:2 ratio.
Quote from Operative Lynx on 15 June 2025, 13h29I'd say alternate the visualization styles. Your style shows better the action and what players are attempting to do on their turns, like showing that battle for Dayyalu's castle. Visualization by Morpheus shows faster the overall situation of the game, like a snapshot of the end-of-turn status. And I also like the colouring of lakes, it does really emphasise the nature of them as impassable obstacles.
Without knowing the rules it does seem that the most obvious approach for Rastignak is to concentrate on defending the Xity and exploiting the economical advantage. Looking forward to see what his approach will be.
I agree with you, but Rast' went for a quick kill against Morpheus, which did not pan out.
Turn 4 (following Morpheus' description of Turn 3)
It was only 2 impulses long. Rastignak moved first, allowing him to immediately garrison the city, and I had to retreat again. On the second impulse, I moved in the North, toward Dayyalu's former castle.
Morpheus inflicts an eleventh hour surprise upset to Rastignak and destroy his force near his castle, retaking a fairly important town on the way.
Rast' is still in the lead, but the tempo is now on our side after the defection of his RNG ally.
Edit: Someone (possibly myself) skipped one of my impulses Turn 3; you guys had 3 and I had 2. I had a purpose for it so pay attention folks :). It may also be a random events, so don't skip the final phase of the turn too fast (play at 100% emulator speed).
Turn 3:
I'm genuinely surprised how tense this seemingly primitive ancient game can become. Random move order is fun, it can turn everything upside down in a single turn!