War of the Lance
Description official descriptions
Command armies, heroes, and special units against the evil Highlord Dragonarmies. Have your heroes quest for magic to help in your battles, use diplomats to gather nations to your side, and send armies out to the field to do battle or hunt down enemy heroes. Play against a human opponent, or against the computer controlled Highlord Dragonarmies.
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Apple II version)
14 People
Game Design | |
Programming | |
Initial Game Design | |
Graphics | |
Game Development | |
Manual | |
Playtesters | |
Customized Disk Operating System | |
Art & Graphic Design |
|
Desktop Publishing |
|
Printing |
|
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 71% (based on 8 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 15 ratings with 3 reviews)
A comprehensive fantasy war game that captures the struggle of good and evil.
The Good
For a strategy game written in 1989 this game has it all. It has diplomacy, tactics, heroes, and good old fashioned war gaming. The computer poses a good challenge and you really gain a sense of desperation as the Highlord Dragonarmies begin picking off your allies one by one.
The Bad
The controls are completely keyboard driven and require some getting used to. I experienced one bug in the game where my Whitestone armies could not sack the enemy capital because a small force was not engagable.
The Bottom Line
If you like AD&D and strategy then this game is for you. It is a classic game set in the rich fantasy world of Krynn.
DOS · by Zen Gamer (75) · 2000
The first mass-combat AD&D war game. This is history boys & girls.
The Good
2nd Update.
This was a something new in its time. A turn-based strategy war game based of AD&D - Heroes of the Lance. Back than AD&D games were basicalyl all RPGs, at least those I could get my hands on. Mostly everything AD&D was a standard first person perspective RPG dungeon crawler. So I really wasn't expecting anything different.
How I managed to understand how to play this game is beyond my current comprehension. I tried to play it again and I couldn't understand how to play the dang game. Apparently my IQ has gotten lower in the past decade or I just lost patience. But speaking from memory, this is one hell of a cool strategy game.
The game is 100% based on the Dragonlance TM Saga. Knights, Dragons, Flying Citadels...you name it, they got it. For a AD&D what more could you want? They've even got the Heroes of the Dragonlance in small section of the game. They don't do much, but what they do really matters in the game.
The game itself is divided into 3 parts, although the screen is the same. And note I (always) play the most difficult - difficulty of the game.
**The Bad**
Those enemy dragons can get kinda frustrating...but I guess they deserve that respect of being somewhat invincible. That is until the flying citadels show up. I still don't know how to defeat those oversided pile of rocks. The game is quite difficult to learn the first time around so you'd probably have to play the game 4-5 times to finally understand the overall strategy of the game. But I suppose the best strategy games out there are the one you don't understand the first several times around.
**The Bottom Line**
Well if your a AD&D lover, then I shouldn't remind you the importance of this gem. But an old school strategy gamer should find this game quite entertaining. In deed 'tis Medieval Art of War. With a touch of dragons.
DOS · by Indra was here (20747) · 2006
It's one of the Great Classics of the Past
The Good
The challenge is excellent. The Highlord AI is one of the best I've ever played against. It uses tactics most gamers wished modern day game ai's used. The Diplomacy system in this is excellent and I wished other games would copy it. For EGA graphics it's not really bad on the eyes. I like it.
The Bad
Some might be turned away by the UI since you must use the keyboard arrow keys and the number pad to play it. It's not hard really just a different form of playing.
The Bottom Line
A beer & pretzels quality game that ranks up there with Empire Deluxe and Panzer General for fun, entertainment and challenge that doesn't take a lifetime to play out one game of it.
DOS · by willie sanderson (1) · 2009
Trivia
The game box's cover features a painting by artist Jeff Easley, earlier used as the front cover to Douglas Niles and Tracy Hickman's 1985 RPG module "Dragons of Glory".
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings and price history! (when applicable)
Related Sites +
-
War of the Lance
Wikipedia entry on the war in the DragonLance setting.
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Zen Gamer.
Commodore 64 added by Rebound Boy. Apple II added by Terok Nor.
Additional contributors: Pseudo_Intellectual, FatherJack.
Game added May 25, 2000. Last modified January 18, 2024.