Warlords II Scenario Review

       File: TYROR.ZIP (182,973 bytes)            Author: R.Sekmistrz & J.Boerner   
       Name: Ancient Tyror                   Terrain Set: default
    Players: 8                                  Army Set: Armies of Tyror
     Cities: 90                                 City Set: Cities of Tyror
      Ruins: 36                               Shield Set: default
    Temples: 4                                 Text File: yes
Description: 


Reviewed By: Bob Heeter
             bob@heeter.net
             19-Nov-96

Rating summary, scale of 1 to 10:
Wt Area                 Score   Summary of Comments
10 Army set                 7   Reasonably balanced and original, but some flaws
 7 Map design               9   Well-designed; each side is interesting
 5 Army pics                8   Good original graphics, but sometimes hard to see
 5 City pics                9   Nicely done!
 3 Background info          #   ...must fit on this line...
 2 Cities/ruins/signs       8   All original; signs could be more interesting
 2 Items/heros             10   All original; heroes suited to each side
   OVERALL RATING         254+
   Adds to scenario designer's toolbox: yes

Text Comments:

	Unlike many scenarios based on history or well-known fantasy realms, Ancient
Tyror is an original creation, and very well done.  Rich Sekmistrz translated
J. Boerner's world into Warlords, and they have created a world with a unique
character and great gameplay, particularly for intermediate-level players.

< need to insert more general comments, explain the premise of the scenario >

The army set is very playable, with a number of interesting and unique units.
Except for a trio of medium-strength units with hills movement and combat
bonuses, each of the non-ally units is unique in some way.  Bonuses are
plentiful but not given excessively to any single unit; I found myself building
most of the units in the army set for one reason or another.  Unit costs are
not always in line with unit capabilities, though, and I often found it better
not to purchase the most powerful builds unless they had a particular bonus
I needed.  Another interesting feature is that heroes start at strength 4,
so it takes more time to build them into killer commanders.  It is easy 
to put together strong stacks with this set, since there are inexpensive
units with -1 enemy and +1 fortified bonuses.  Since the AI is not good 
at making stacks, this gives an advantage to human players, and makes 
the scenario great for intermediate-level warlords, although advanced 
players may find that victory comes a bit too easily.  In general this 
is a solid army set with only a few flaws - far better than the default
Erythea army set - and it gave me some insights which I'm happy to take
away and use in designing my own army sets!

The map is very well done, with each side starting in a region with a unique
flavor, both in terms of terrain and starting builds.  This is a great
scenario to play a hidden-map game on, since the terrain is full of 
interesting surprises.  The map regions vary from the demonic Argus Spawn 
in fiendish mountainous terrain, through the island-cities of Central Isles,
to the lizard-men in the marshy forests of the Silictians.  The terrain is
quite broken, which tends to slow the AI down more than human players, 
and again this makes Ancient Tyror a great intermediate-level scenario.
Temples and cities are well-distributed, and the eight sides are rather
evenly matched.  Thar Krull (Green), Central Isles (Dark Blue), and 
Anacreon (Light Blue) have perhaps the more difficult positions, while
the Silictian Empire (Yellow) has perhaps the easiest.  Argus Spawn (Red)
has a really difficult start, but is very isolated and has time to expand
before bumping into any neighbors; they actually won the all-AI game I ran,
edging out the Silictian Empire after a much slower start.  I was able to
win fairly easily on "I am the Greatest" as White, Red, and Dark Blue, but
your mileage may vary. :)

The graphics in this scenario are quite good; the cities are superb
and the armies are creative, interesting, and generally easy to distinguish.
I did sometimes have trouble distinguishing dwarves (with a short icon)
from the background terrain, and occasionally I found myself looking
through the unit types only to realize that the unit I was looking at was
a hero.  It's great that each side has a different hero icon, but it was
sometimes hard to distinguish the heroes from the regular units.

The information provided with the scenario explains the army set and
the character of the different sides, but 

In summary, this is a solid scenario with few serious flaws and a lot
of interesting features, so I have no qualms recommending it, especially
to intermediate-level players who wish to learn how to build strong
stacks and navigate over difficult terrain.

	Topics: 
		Introduce the scenario; any truly unique features?
		Internal and Background Info, and Scenario Completeness
		Summary