Warlords (1990)

The first Warlords was created in 1989 by Steven Fawkner, and published by SSG. It featured 8 different clans battling for the control of a mythical land called Illuria: Sirians (white), Storm Giants (yellow), Grey Dwarves (orange), Orcs of Kor (red), Elvallie (green), Horse Lords (light blue), Selentines (dark blue) and Lord Bane (black), which could either be played partly by the computer or by eight different people taking turns in what is known as hot seat play. Gameplay consisted of moving units, checking and adjusting production in cities and moving heroes to explore ruins, temples and libraries, and discover allies, relics and other items. The goal of this game was to rule the land of Illuria by defeating the other 7 opponents and capturing or razing at least two thirds of the cities in the land (initially 80, but cities could be razed upon capture). The winning player could show no mercy to his opponents, in which case the battle went on until one side won all the remaining cities.

Players would have to make (informal) alliances and adjust their production to react to various occurrences in the game. Many of the cities in the game are references to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and other fantasy writers.

Warlords leaves its legacy as one of the progenitors of the strategy and turn-based game market. As games sometimes took many hours to complete, many players are able to recount marathon sessions of playing the game.

An average game with eight real people playing would take nearly twelve hours or more to play, but not many such games have probably been played: individual turns can become over fifteen minutes long, and so the 'downtime' between one player's turns can be over an hour.