Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria Impressions

We had a chance to get an up-close look at Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria in action. The turn-based strategy game is currently in development at the Australian studios Strategic Studies Group, the creator of the Warlords and Warlords Battlecry series.

Like its predecessors, Warlords IV will be a colorful game that will let you conquer vast overland maps by recruiting powerful heroes and armies of fantastic monsters. However, Warlords IV will differ considerably from its predecessors, since it will put much more emphasis on combat, and will also feature an entirely new combat system. In the new game, you'll be able to recruit a party of up to eight fantastic monsters, such as skeletons, elves, and even dragons. These groups don't need to be led by a hero character, either, though heroes can provide powerful bonuses for their armies. The combat in Warlords IV won't be resolved in a tactical view on a battlefield; instead, the game will feature an unusual system reminiscent of the popular collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. Essentially, you'll need to compose your armies in a certain order, and when you engage in battle, each of your party's creatures will square off individually against your opponent's creatures, one after another. As such, composing your party's ranks will be a critical part of your strategy. As we saw, it will generally be a good idea to make sure that your weaker, cannon-fodder troops (and your important hero characters) don't end up being overwhelmed by powerful, top-level creatures.

Warlords IV will feature 10 playable fantasy factions, which are aligned in a circle; factions that are "closer" to each other within this circle will be more likely to be friendly with each other, while diametrically opposed factions will usually always be hostile. Also, one of the most important paths to victory in Warlords IV will be capturing enemy towns and garrisons; but if you happen to capture a town belonging to a closely-aligned faction, you may be able to recruit some of that faction's units from that town. However, if you conquer a town belonging to one of your faction's most hated enemies, your options will be much more limited, and it may behoove you to simply deny your enemy the opportunity to recapture that town by razing it to the ground.

In the meantime, you'll be able to explore and conquer neutral ziggurat structures, which will always be guarded by hostile monsters of varying strengths. Conquering the guardians of the ziggurats will yield battle experience for your entire army (all units in Warlords IV gain experience points and experience levels). However, you'll often recover additional rewards from ziggurats, such as extra gold, powerful artifacts, allied units who will join your cause, and even a freelance hero unit who may join you. You'll also constantly be pursuing new territory and conquering neutral and enemy provinces to expand your holdings. Interestingly, Warlords IV will feature a random map generator that will be featured in the single-player campaign, which should increase the campaign's replay value considerably. Warlords IV is scheduled for release at the end of this year.