Think turn-based war game classics like Panzer General, but with elves, orcs, mages, and dragons and you'll understand.
Just to be clear, I did really only pay $5 for this game, which is less than a good 2 hour movie costs, and so far, I've invested over 20 hours in this game. I'd say that's worth the money, and if I'd known how much I'd enjoy it, I would have payed much more to obtain a copy. I may actually go back and see if I can pick up Fantasy Wars at some point (if I ever finish this one).
The strategy contained in this little gem of a game is brilliant. You have units that can fly, ride, and walk, shoot, cast spells, or charge in for melee. Each unit type has ratings for all the standard stuff: Attack, defense, movement, range, so it's pretty standard so far. Your hero units are powerful, but definitely not invulnerable, and when your success depends upon them living, you'd better play it smart when it comes to ending your turn with one exposed. Melee units, if attacked while next to a friendly ranged unit will live much longer, as once per turn, the defending ranged unit will help defend. An unwise commander will leave archers and spellcasters in the front, or a front line of melee troops unsupported. Spellcasters have the ability once per turn to cast a spell, and in most cases, can be cast anywhere on the map, and some cavalry units will charge an enemy unit if moved next to one without being told to.
Other units have special abilities, either built-in or learned as they level up. And believe me, level 3 elven archers are much more valuable than the level 0 ones you start with. Each level up of a unit means they immediately earn an additional skill or perk that will aid them in some way, increasing attack and defense ratings if in a forest, or making them better city fighters. Spellcasters will learn additional skills as well as spells, and those spells will be available immediately as well. After a few levels of keeping units alive, you may be rewarded with an upgraded version of that unit. Each type has multiple upgrade paths, so you may want your elven spearwomen to convert into cavalry as deer riders, or more defensive foot soldiers. The upgrading and leveling in this game is very well done, and I always grin when I see the upgrade chevrons rise over a unit's head as it defeats an enemy.
During battle, as a unit takes damage, its health bar shows two types of damage - dead and wounded. For attack and defense, they are really the same, but when it comes to resupply, they are completely different. if your whole unit stack health bar is half red half green, it means a single turn of camping will restore the unit to full strength. However, if your health bar contains some black as well, it means you've lost some units to the grim reaper, and if you want the stack back to full strength, you'll have to find a friendly town that you control and resupply at a cost. These rest periods are costly, as you have so few turns to complete the level with a "Gold" victory. If you manage, you are rewarded with a few of many things - first, more gold, second, usually an upgraded unit type or new unit, and third, some kind of artifact that your units may carry into battle. Heroes carry up to three such items, where regular armies only carry one. These range from temporary invisibility to additional spellcasting to added movement or defense bonuses. It is definitely worth redoing a map to achieve Gold, or at least Silver victories, because the rewards could swing the tide.
Graphics are definitely above par for a turn based strategy game, and the fluidity of scrolling down to the battlefield to witness 15 elven swordsmen charging 15 goblin archers is superbly done. You can actually choose to leave your view scrolled out the whole time so each army is represented solely by one big unit, but it is a lot of fun to see the miniature versions in action. The environment is beautifully animated, but still runs well on some of my lower computers as well, and I enjoy the way it looks even then. Sound is perhaps one area where it falls short, as some voice acting is a bit over the top, but on the whole, I've heard much worse. None of them grated on me, except perhaps the tutorial speaker in the videos, and the music is excellent and sound effects immersive.
Now be warned - it does have a few blemishes, for instance, if I walk through the tutorial lessons, there are audio tracks that play in the native foreign language of the developers (unless that was just my direct2drive copy), but they also have typed instructions in English. The missions are a bit unforgiving, and on normal difficulty, you'll be hard pressed to finish more than the first map in Gold time. I've sadly resorted to "easy" difficulty more than once, to redo a map to get just my "Silver" victory. However, just by providing that option, the developers have made the game much more replayable.
I could keep going on and on about this game, such as bonus missions unlocked with gold victories, or the variety of units, etc., but I need to leave some joy of discovery to the future players of the game. The regular price on this is currently pretty low, so do yourself a favor and pick up a copy!