Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade

Forge Town

During the development phase of Armageddon's Blade, New World Computing unveiled a ninth town - the Heavenly Forge, with a cyberpunk/dieselpunk theme. Despite hints to the Heavenly Forge existing in Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor, a part of the community reacted very negatively to the idea (especially some concepts, like the infamous bare-breasted Naga Tank). The developers also received death threats via mail, so they scrapped the Forge town in favour of the Conflux, which was initially meant for a later expansion. Despite all this, several fan modifications over the years attempted to recreate the Forge town.

Several assets made it to the final version, however:

• the box art still shows the Forge blacksmith in the background
• the portrait of the campaign-only Stronghold hero Boragus is an edit of the Forge Stinger unit's concept art
• one of the menu screens shows Gelu over a defeated Stinger unit, while another shows a laser designator pointing at Mutare (obscured by other interface elements)

Finally, in the Hurry Up and Wait scenario (last mission of the Foolhardy Waywardness campaign), a disabled trigger on day 120 displays a poem which refers to the expansion's development problems in a humorous tone:

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,

a tale of a sci-fi trip,

that started in Agoura Hills,

aboard the New World ship.

Big Mike was a mighty tired dad,

and Ryan made us stuffed.

Five others worked upon the game

for five long months. (for five long months.)

Thunder Clap!!!!

The fans they started getting rough,

the Forge Town it was tossed,

if not for the courage of the design crew

the Expansion would be lost. (the Expansion would be lost)

The expansion got setup to ship

in August summer time,

with Ryan Den,

and Michael too,

the miser Dave,

and old Walt.

The designer, Greg,

Marcus and,

Jen's tough hand,

It's Armageddon's Blade!

Cast:

Professor..................................Greg Fulton

Mr. Howell................................David Botan

Mrs. Howell (a.k.a. Lovey)........Walter Johnson

Ginger.......................................Marcus Pregent

Mary Ann..................................Jennifer Bullard

Skipper.....................................Michael Wolf

Gilligan......................................Ryan Den

References

• The cheat codes in this expansion are all references to Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
• One of the new single scenarios is called Dungeon Keeper, and has the player attack Pleasantville. This is a reference to the 1997 Dungeon Keeper and likely its first level - Eversmile.