Fantasy Warlord
| Mass Combat Rules | |
|---|---|
Fantasy Warlord rulebook cover
|
|
| Designer(s) | Ian Bailey, Gary Chalk |
| Illustrator(s) | Gary Chalk |
| Publisher(s) | Folio Works Ltd. |
| Players | 2–4 |
| Age range | 10+ |
| Setup time | 10 minutes |
| Playing time | 90+ minutes |
| Random chance | Medium (Dice) |
| Skill(s) required | Strategy |
Fantasy Warlord is a fantasy miniatures game released in 1990 by Folio Works. It was written by Ian Bailey and Gary Chalk who also did the illustrations.
The game was designed and published by two ex-Games Workshop (GW) employees who disagreed with the much more commercial direction that company was taking. It was supposed to rival the Warhammer Fantasy Battle game that GW published.
Fantasy Warlord featured some unusual game mechanics such as simultaneous movement, an original command and control system (units are organised into brigades commanded by characters) and fog of war rules. It also featured balanced magic and troop choice systems. However the balance within the combat system reduced the opportunity to generate dramatic victories.
Much like Warhammer, the game had its own fantasy world, called Vortimax, in which the battles were imagined to take place. There was also a related range of Fantasy Warlord miniatures cast by Alternative Armies, and a magazine called Red Giant.
The game went out of print 18 months after first publication. Some supplements were expected, such as Armies of Vortimax (expected in 1992)Besieged or Fantasy Warlord Command Pack, but none were released. Only two issues of Red Giant magazine were released. Folio Works Ltd. was dissolved on 11 February 1993.
Fantasy Warlord is a single softback book of 192-pages mostly printed in black and white with a Gary Chalk front cover. The book is divided in two parts: the first one covers the game's rules and the second part describes the fantasy world of Vortimax, where the battles take place. 16 pull-out soft cards are attached at the back of the book, one for each racial type plus templates and orders counters.
The book contains many illustrations from Gary Chalk and photographs that illustrate troop's formations, movements, etc.
Determining the abilities of troop is easy: you choose their morale class (A = veterans, B = trained or C = militia) weapons and armour from 11 different races (Human, Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs...). Monsters (flying or not), pack animals and daemons were also available. More races were expected in the supplement Armies of Vortimax.
...
Wikipedia