                 Readme File for Fantasy Realms Scenario 
                                   by 
                            Matt Caspermeyer 
 
 
My background 

This is my first attempt at a scenario.  I am an Aerospace Engineering 
student attending Arizona State University and have been working on 
this scenario off and on since September, 1994. 

 
My Intentions 

I've tried to create a totally new army set and city set.  I hope that you 
will enjoy using these with my scenario and scenarios that you create.  
All of the city pictures are of my design and some of the army pictures 
were created by me.  I'll try to give credit for each of the army pictures 
that I used and were not my creation.  I do not know how to create shield 
pictures and so the default shield set is used with this scenario. 

 
Scenario Specifics 

The Fantasy Realms scenario uses 100 cities and 40 ruins.  I've 
discovered that this is a vast undertaking and have tweaked it to help 
increase the perceived size of the map.  Creating a scenario that uses
the full compliment of cities and ruins is hard to do, given the map size,
however, I believe I've endeavored to create a well structured scenario
that uses the unique features of Warlords II terrain to enhance the
effectiveness of locations of the 8 sides and strategic deployment of
armies.

 
Scenario Background 

The Fantasy Realm is a place of age-old legend.  Many cities are rich 
with legend and contain mystery.  This realm has been the site of many 
struggles recorded by scholars of ages past.  Enjoy the fantastic 
discoveries lodged within the mysterious ruins strune throughout the 
land.

 
The Sides 

All 8 sides are used in this scenario, they are:

Dread Knights (white) - Knights of death and destruction.  Dread Knights are 
evil knights that want to enslave all others.
Standard:  Knight Standard

Lightning Bolts (yellow) - Creatures that hail from the elemental planes.
They employ elemental powers to capture the material plane and return all
opponents to their respective planes. 
Standard:  Elemental Standard

Flesh Feeders (orange) - Horrible butchers and carnivors.  Flesh Feeders will
eat anything and love to eat their food while it is still alive. 
Standard:  Standard of Torment

Phase Devils (red) - The depths of Hell being their home, these devils need 
more slaves to satisfy their need to "phase" in more devils. 
Standard:  Devil Standard

Mystic Magis (green) - Magical beings created by a long dead Arch-Mage.  They
want to employ their magics to enslave the land. 
Standard:  Standard of Magis

Mega Dragons (blue) - From the Dragon Realms these creatures wish to drive
all non-flyers out of the land. 
Standard:  Dragon Standard

Demon Lords (cyan) - Hailing from the depths of Tarturus these chaotic
creatures wish to capture corpses so that the may enchant it with the soul
of an evil Demon. 
Standard:  Demon Standard

Demi-Liches (black) - Hailing from the Planes of Death these hideous
creatures of death and disease want to turn all into undead minions. 
Standard:  Skull Standard
 
 
The Map 

The map was designed to facilitate certain regions of influence.  Plus 3 
sides start out in mountains which helps protect them from invaders 
once the fighting begins.  Also another side is encompassed by a forest 
and hills where armies with these movement bonuses should be employed
to help move groups through this kind of terrain.  Since even some of the
most powerful armies can't fly, the influence of numerous flying armies
is helpful, but does not render the functionality of the map useless.  All
the cities and ruins can be reached by non-flying armies.  Also certain
sides can protect some of their inner cities by strategicly placing armies
to block access to certain mountain passes.  This should make it more
interesting for humans who want to keep the cost of army upkeep down by
having their outer cities heavily defended and their inner cities with only
a few armies left behind to protect them.  This is still not perfect because
powerful flying stacks are able to circumvent these defenses and attack
weaker inner cities but it still adds another dimension to the defense of
playing certain sides.  Also some cities have been purposely located just
inside of the shore to protect them from attack from the sea while others
would appear to not have access to water, but through clever travel can be
attacked by seafarers.  Ports come in two different styles, the traditional
anchor and a pier going out into the water (bridge).  There is a limit to
the number of convenient ports, so some places that would be easily reached
by a flying army in 1 or 2 turns may not be able to be reached for several
turns by a non-flyer.  So not only are flying units important, but strategy
must be employed when moving troops and helps some sides decrease garrison
size in some cities enabling them to increase these garrison sizes in their
front-line cities.  All in all, I believe that the map will be very interesting
to uncover if you play with Hidden Map set to on.

 
The City Set 

To get the nature of each side I decided to build a city set that matched 
each side: 

Dread Knights - A magnificient castle with solid walls perfect for 
protecting weary knights.

Lightning Bolts - Hailing from the Elemental planes I created a city with 
great columns and elemental force fields between the columns to protect 
the elemental inhabitants.  The globes on top of the columns are orbs from 
the elemental planes.

Mystic Magis - A magical citadel with runic writing is the home of 
magical and mystical creatures.

Mega Dragons - A magnificient dragon carving adorns the high towers 
of this sanctuary - perfect for dragons.

Flesh Feeders - A towering pedastal of torment adorned with all kinds 
of weapons of butchery to strike fear in all enemies.

Demon Lords - A castle with fire hewn walls and towers channeling 
fire from the depths of Hell to keep the demons happy.

Phase Devils - A carving hewn from lava rock of a horned visage 
surrounded by a triumvirate of volcanoes makes this home for devils.

Demi-Liches - Obsidian stones embued with dark evils and enchanted 
bones strewn throughout makes this a perfect home for all undead .

 
The Army Set 

Due to the vastness of this map, the armies' speeds are about 4 to 6 
movement points (mp) faster than the default army set.  The average speed
is 22mp compared to 18mp for the default.  Here is a list of the army 
pictures used and their source:

Orcs - Used the Goblins picture from the Maze Army set 

Skeletons - Used the Skeleton picture from the Maze Army set 

Knights - Used the New Orcs picture from the Specta Army set and
slightly modified it by placing a feathered display upon the helm

Ogres - Used the Ogres picture from the Army set Specta as a template
to create this picture

Cockatrice - Used the Cocatrice picture from the Conq Army set and
slightly modified it

Wraiths - Used the Shadow picture from the Elemnt Army set and
slightly modified it

Wolfweres - Used the Werewolf picture from the Specta Army set and
slightly modified it

Driders - Used the Spider picture from the Maze Army set and then
added the human torso 

Minotaurs - Used the Minotaur picture from the Default Army set and
modified it by giving it a mean looking two-handed axe 

Trolls - Used the Morphite picture from the Specta Army set 

Thri-Kreen - Drawn from scratch 

Griffons - Used the Griffin picture from the Default Army set 

Manticores - Used the Manticore picture from the Jungl Army set 

Medusas - Used the Elemental Picture from the Default Army set and modified
the face by removing the aura and replacing it with writhing snakes and
gave it glaring eyes that can turn to stone!

Pegasi - Used the Pegasi picture from the Default Army set 

Ghosts - Used the Ghosts picture from the Jungl Army set 

Siege Engines - Used the Catapult picture from the Default Army set and
slightly modified it 

Demons - Used the Demon picture from the Default Army set and removed its
wings and gave it a mace to bash with

Elementals - All Ten pictures were created from scratch.  Each side gets 
a different picture:  
  Dread Knights - Air Elemental
  Lightning Bolts - Water Elemental
  Flesh Feeders - Ooze Elemental
  Phase Devils - Fire Elemental
  Mystic Magis - Earth Elemental
  Mega Dragons - Magma Elemental
  Demon Lords - Ice Elemental
  Demi-Liches - Smoke Elemental
  Neutral - Magic Elemental
  Shadow - shows all nine of the other elementals in a very small
  shadowed picture 
  
Wizards - Used the Wizard picture from the Default Army set and modified
the staff 

Liches - Used the Death Motes picture from the Specta Army set and solidifed
the picture 

Ki-rin - Used the Unicorn picture from the Jungl Army set and gave it a 
golden coat 

Archons - Used the Archon picture from the Default Army set and gave 
it a sword and Hero bonus cancelling magical aura 

Devils - Used the Devil picture from the Default Army set and gave it a
nifty looking trident 

Dragons - Used the Dragon picture from the Default Army set and 
made it breath fire 

Draco Liches - Used the Dragon picture from the Default Army set as a 
template and turned it into a skeletal remains 

Hero - Used the Hero picture from the Default Army set and modified 
each side so that they looked like the belonged to their particular side:  
  Dread Knights - Hero with Enchanted Sword
  Lightning Bolts - Hero with Lightning Sword and Adorned Helm
  Flesh Feeders - Hero with Jagged Butcher's Axe and Horned Helm
  Phase Devils - Hero with Devil head and trident
  Mystic Magis - Hero with Magical Staff
  Mega Dragons - Hero with Fire Sword and Jeweled Helm
  Demon Lords - Hero with Demon head and Mace
  Demi-Liches - Undead Hero with Bone Sword
  
Navy (Sea Serpent) - Used the Worm picture from the Default Army set 
 
Description of Armies for Fantasy Realms Scenario 
 
ORCS - STR:1    TIME:1    MOVE:16    COST:2    ESTAB:40
Bonuses:  Woods/Hills movement
Hints:  Orcs are essentially useless!  They are in the game to facilitate
the use of the first army slot as a very weak character as per scenario
commandments.  Use them to keep cities occupied early to dissuade computer
players from treachering you and for scouting before you are able to
purchase Cockatrices.
Description:  Orcs are small weak creatures that live in woods and hills,
hence their movement bonus.  They use wooden clubs and shields giving them
a low strength. 
 
SKELETONS - STR:1    TIME:1    MOVE:14    COST:3    ESTAB:50
Bonuses:  +1 open strength
Hints:  Skeletons, like Orcs are worthless.  Use them like Orcs to keep a
stray Cockatrice from performing acts of treachery.
Description:  Skeletons are magically animated undead creatures, typically
human-like.  They use swords in battle.
 
KNIGHTS - STR:3    TIME:1    MOVE:14    COST:4    ESTAB:160
Bonuses:  +1 city strength bonus
Hints:  guard, Guard, GUARD!  Also good for attacking weakly defended cities
that are fairly close and can be reached by roads.  Avoid traveling through
woods/hills unless an army that has that kind of move bonus is present.
Pairing them up with a bonus army or two can make them effective fighters in
cities.  
Description:  Knights are armoured human-like creatures with swords.  They
learn to fight in cities, hence their +1 City bonus.  Clad in heavy armor
makes them slow. 
 
OGRES - STR:3    TIME:1    MOVE:16    COST:5    ESTAB:200
Bonuses:  +1 hill strength, hills movement
Hints:  use them early to fight invaders in hills and maybe do a little bit
of exploring in hilly regions.  Don't purchase this army type because it is
effectively useless after the first 20 turns or so.
Description:  Ogres are tall dumb creatures, but they normally live in hills,
hence their +1 Hills strength bonus and movement bonus.  They resemble small
giants and usually carry big clubs. 
 
CENTAURS - STR:3    TIME:1    MOVE:20    COST:5    ESTAB:240
Bonuses:  +1 forest strength, forest movement
Hints:  use them early to fight invaders in the forest and maybe to do a
little bit of exploring.  Don't purchase this army type because it is
effectively useless after the first 20 turns or so.
Description:  Centaurs have the lower body of a horse and torso and upper
body of a human-like creature.  They use a bow and arrow and live in the 
woods giving them a +1 Woods strength bonus and movement bonus. 
 
COCKATRICE - STR:2    TIME:1    MOVE:30    COST:6    ESTAB:260
Bonuses:  Flight, fast
Hints:  Cockatrice are to be used to explore hidden maps.  Try to avoid
acts of treachery when you don't know if a Hero or other mighty creature
is nearby.  If you hit all 4 temples you can turn them into 6 strength,
with their speed this should be easy to do.  If you really want an effective
9, put them with a Hero group and make them high on the fight order menu.
Then hope they get 4 medals so that the can becomes 9's.  Hard to do but a
blazing 9 nonetheless.  Realistically, hit a couple of temples to make
them 3's or 4's and then attack weakly guarded citites deep within enemy
territory to cut off enemy's army supply.  Cockatrice are only good for
capturing undefended or weak cities within range in games where hidden 
map is off.  Use their speed as your advantage.
Description:  Cockatrices are weak creatures that can only inflict minor
wounds with their beaks, hence strength 2.  They have powerful wings for
their small bodies, though, giving them great speed.  They have the neck and
tail of a serpent and body of a bird. 
 
WRAITHS - STR:4    TIME:2    MOVE:20    COST:6    ESTAB:500
Bonuses:  +1 forest strength, forest movement
Hints:  use Wraiths to lead groups into battle in the forest.  Also useful 
in giving a stack a forest movement bonus.  They are useful for the first
half of the game, but as the game proceeds into the latter stages, other
armies should be utilized.
Description:  Wraiths prefer deep dark forests, hence their +1 Forest Stack
bonus and forest movement bonus.  They derive their energies from the
Negative Material plane.  Wraiths wear cloaks that hide their horrid undead
form. 
 
WOLFWERES - STR:4    TIME:2    MOVE:22    COST:6    ESTAB:600
Bonuses:  +1 hill strength, hills movement
Hints:  use to form groups that will repel invaders traveling through hills
or form groups that will travel through hills to attack enemy cities.
Wolfweres are fairly effective throughout the first half of the game, but
should be replaced with more powerful armies as the game proceeds into the
second half to the end of the game.
Description:  Wolfweres are similar to werewolves and are at home in hills,
hence their +1 Hills Stack bonus and hills movement bonus.  Although they
are similar to werewolves they despise them and humans.

DRIDERS - STR:5    TIME:2    MOVE:20    COST:7    ESTAB:700
Bonuses:  none
Hints:  Driders are solid combat troops and are non-specialized making them
effective fighting troops for any purpose.  Use them to swell groups led by
leader armies.  A good army to purchase.
Description:  Driders have the upper torso of a dark elf and lower body of
a spider.  It is said that they are the creation of the Demoness Lolth.
Dark elves that fail her tests are said to be transformed into this creature.
They carry bows with poison dipped arrows, making them fierce opponents. 
 
MINOTAURS - STR:5    TIME:2     MOVE:20     COST:7    ESTAB:800
Bonuses:  +2 city strength
Hints:  use to defend and attack cities.  Group with Griffons and other City
Bonus creatures to increase their effectiveness.  A good army to purchase.  
Description:  Minotaurs are at home in the labyrinth-like streets of a city,
hence their +2 City bonus.  They use a massive 2-handed axe and have the head
of a bull.  They are quite tall and don't tire easily, making them fairly fast. 
 
TROLLS - STR:4    TIME:2    MOVE:22    COST:8    ESTAB:900
Bonuses:  +3 everywhere strength
Hints:  to paraphrase the talking advisior:  Attack! is the best means of 
defense!  use these guys to attack your enemy.  Since they are fast to 
produce use them to keep your stacks at full complement.  Try to avoid
attacking stacks with armies that have a negative bonus because that strength
of 7 can be turned into a 4 with a -3 modifier.  At 900gp Trolls will make a 
good addition to a city without any good army types.
Description:  Trolls are fearless carnivores and hideously ugly creatures.
The have a regenerative capability, hence their +3 bonus everywhere.  They
are strong and can travel far distances without tiring, which makes them 
fast. 
Note:  Trolls show up as +3 str in hills in the View - Army Bonus and View - 
Stack screens.
 
THRI-KREEN - STR:5    TIME:2    MOVE:24    COST:9    ESTAB:1100
Bonuses:  +2 open, forest, hill stength; forest/hills movement
Hints:  use Thri-Kreen to attack stacks of armies out in the 
open.  Don't use
them to defend cities because Minotaurs and Trolls can be used for that
purpose.  Since they have woods/hills movement bonus they make excellent
additions to stacks travelling through those types of terrain and should be
used in place of Wraiths/Wolfweres later in the game.  Although they gain no
city bonus they are still fairly good additions to stacks attacking cities.
If you need a good army to give you a woods/hills move bonus, or need to
attack groups before they get to your cities the purchase of Thri-Kreen at
1100gp is still a good bet.  If you are on the defensive, buy Minotaurs or
Trolls rather than Thri-Kreen.
Description:  Thri-Kreen are carnivorous insect creatures.  They use a
specialized pole-arm and shuriken-like weapon that have magical properties
outside of man-made objects (cities), hence a +2 bonus everywhere else.
Thri-Kreen are strong and agile and have great leaping ability which gives 
them their fast speed and woods/hills movement bonus. 
Note:  Thri-Kreen show up as +2 str in hills in the View - Army Bonus and
View Stack screens.
 
MANTICORES - STR:5    TIME:3    MOVE:24    COST:10    ESTAB:1200
Bonuses:  +2 open, forest, hill stack; flight
Hints:  use Manticores in conjunction with Thri-Kreen or Trolls to make
awesome groups for fighting away from cities.  A Manticore can turn 7's
into 9's which can be used to attack groups before they get to your cities.
Like Thri-Kreen, don't use Manticores to defend cities and try to avoid
attacking cities unless they are part of a more powerful group.  Again like 
Thri-Kreen, don't purchase them unless you're going on the offensive but buy
Griffons instead.
Description:  Manticores have a human head, lion's body, and wings of a bat.
Manticores are at ease in the wilderness hence their +2 Stack bonus outside
of cities.
Note:  Manticores show up as +2 stack in hills in the View - Army Bonus and
View - Stack screens.

GHOSTS - STR:7    TIME:4    MOVE:24    COST:11    ESTAB:1400
Bonuses:  +1 all stack, forest/hills movement
Hints:  since they add +1 to a stack, they make great stack leaders.  Also 
since they move well through woods/hills they are great guides for leading
stacks through these kinds of terrain.  Since they take 4 turns to produce,
don't waste them on lost causes.  If you need an army that has a stack bonus
everywhere, this is a good army to purchase.
Description:  Ghosts are powerful undead creatures hence their +1 Stack bonus 
and are at home in woods or hills hence their move bonus.  Since they are
undead the never tire and so are quite fast.
 
MEDUSAS - STR:7    TIME:3    MOVE:20    COST:10    ESTAB:1500
Bonuses:  -1 enemy stack
Hints:  use to strengthen any group.  Since they only take 3 turns to produce,
try to get one in all of your attacking groups.  If you don't have any cities
that produce Medusas try to buy one as soon as you can.  
Description:  Medusas were once beautiful females who were punished by gods
for being vain.  Now they are horrid sights - grotesque visages with vile
serpents for hair.  Their gaze is said to turn stone, hence their -1 Enemy
Stack bonus.
 
GRIFFONS - STR:7    TIME:3    MOVE:24    COST:10    ESTAB:1500
Bonuses:  +2 city stack, flight
Hints:  use Griffons to defend and attack cities.  Groups of Minotaurs and
Trolls can be turned into awesome city attacking/defending groups with the
addition of a Griffon.  Try to purchase them at your earliest convenience
if you don't have a Griffon city so that they can defend your cities with
Minotaurs and Trolls.  Also pair them up with Medusas to enhance your stacks
even more.
Description:  Griffons have the rear body of a lion and a frontal body of an
eagle.  The are fierce and loyal, hence their +2 City Stack bonus.  Their
powerful eagle wings make them quite agile.

PEGASI - STR:6    TIME:3    MOVE:24    COST:10    ESTAB:1600
Bonuses:  Fortify (does not show up in View Army Bonus Menu)
Hints:  Pegasi are a specialized army so use them to protect and attack key
strategic cities or groups in the game.  Since they take only 3 turns to
produce it should be fairly easy to add them to most of your attacking groups.
If you can afford them, they are a good army purchase.
Description:  Pegasi are magical creatures hence their special Fortify bonus.
They have wings that enable them to fly.  
Note:  Pegasi show up as a dash (-) in the View - Army Bonus and View - Stack
screens.

SEIGE ENGINES - STR:8    TIME:4    MOVE:24    COST:12    ESTAB:1800
Bonuses:  Cancel City
Hints:  use them to attack cities with armies that have City bonuses, namely 
Griffins, and any + stack creature.  A Seige Engine in a defending city will
also cancel the City bonus of attacking armies, so use them secondarily for
defending important cities.  Cancelling City bonuses is a very important
capability to have in any Warlords II game, so if you don't have any Seige
Engine producing cities, try to purchase one before you go on the offensive.
Siege Engines with their special capability and speed are an ideal addition
to a Hero group.
Description:  Siege Engines are magical mechanized machines hence their fast
speed.  Their ability to hurl flaming boulders over walls cancels City bonuses
and makes them strong armies. 
 
DEMONS - STR:7    TIME:4    MOVE:28    COST:13    SACK:950
Bonuses:  Fortify, ally, fast
Hints:  if you don't have a Demon city then make sure that you use the Demons
you get with intelligence.  Although a Pegasus can fill the role of a Demon
for a Fortify bonus, the 7 strength that a Demon has makes them harder to kill.
Plus good Hero groups benefit from armies that are as close to strength 9 as
possible.  Hitting a couple of temples is easy with a Demon so turning them
into 9's is not that difficult.  Use Demons to provide groups with a tough
backbone army so that in case the Demon has to fight it may be the difference
between losing and winning a battle where a Pegasus might not do.  A Demon is 
a great addition to any Hero group.
Description:  Demons are evil creatures hailing from the Planes of Tarterus,
Hades, or Pandemonium.  Their innate magical abilities endow them with a
special bonus - the Fortify bonus.
Note:  Demons show up as +0 special in the View - Army Bonus and View - Stack
screens.
 
ELEMENTALS - STR:8    TIME:4    MOVE:30    COST:14    SACK:1000
Bonuses:  Ally, +1 all stack, forest/hills movement, fast
Hints:  hit a temple to turn them into 9's.  Use them like Wizards to protect
weak cities, but use them mostly on offense.  Since they are 9's (or 10's if
they hit a temple) use them to attack non-ally groups or groups with weak
allies.  Try to avoid attacking more powerful ally groups.
Description:  Elementals hail from the planes of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire
and the Para-Elemental planes of Smoke, Ooze, Ice, and Magma hence their +1
Stack bonus.  The Elemental planes give them great strength and enable them
move through the Prime Material plane with ease, hence their forest/hills
movement bonus.  Because an elemental can hail from a different plane I
decided to make them look different for each side:
  Dread Knights - Air Elementals
  Lightning Bolts - Water Elementals
  Flesh Feeders - Ooze Elementals
  Phase Devils - Fire Elementals
  Mystic Magis - Earth Elementals
  Mega Dragons - Magma Elementals
  Demon Lords - Ice Elementals
  Demi-Liches - Smoke Elementals
  Neutral - Magic Elemental
 
WIZARDS - STR:7    TIME:4    MOVE:50    COST:15    SACK:1250
Bonuses:  Ally, +1 all stack, very fast
Hints:  use Wizards to run to protect weak strategic cities or attack weak
enemy cities far behind the battle lines (sack and/or raze, too).  Wizards are
good fighters/defenders and make good leaders for stacks attacking enemy
cities.  Try to avoid using Wizards when their bonus will be redundant.  Hit
the temples to turn them into 9's so that they may be more effective armies.
Avoid attacking more powerful ally groups, or groups that have good bonuses
(i.e. Manticore/Thri-Kreen groups away from cities).
Description:  Wizards are powerful magicians hence their +1 Stack bonus.  
They use their magics to cast teleportation spells to enable them to travel
very quickly from one point to another. 
 
DEVILS - STR:8    TIME:4    MOVE:28    COST:16    SACK:1500
Bonuses:  Ally, Cancel Non-Hero/City, +1 all stack, hills movement, fast
Hints:  use Devils to attack stack bonus groups away from cities.  Devils can
dessimate groups that rely heavily on bonuses for their strength.  Avoid
attacking city groups and strong Hero groups unless accompanied by powerful
allies.  Devils are one of the best additions you can make to a Hero group.
Grouping Devils with +/- stack groups can make awesome stacks that will lose
few armies through several battles.  Also making Siege Engine/Archon/Devil
groups will ensure that opposing stacks get no bonuses.
Description:  Devils are hideously evil creatures and therefore project a
radius of evil that cancels non-Hero, non-City bonuses.  They never tire
making them fast and since the plane that the come from is very mountainous
and hilly they have no problems moving through hills, hence their hills
movement bonus.
 
LICHES - STR:8    TIME:4    MOVE:24    COST:17     SACK:1750
Bonuses:  Ally, -2 enemy stack, forest/hills movement
Hints:  an addition of a Lich will make an ordinary group much more
effective.  Use them to swell the ranks of specialty groups so that they will
inflict more damage upon the enemy.  Use them to weaken strongly defended
cities or defeat ally groups.  Group them with a stack bonus army to enhance 
that stack's effectiveness.  Also hit a temple to turn them into 9's.
Description:  Liches were once powerful Wizards but somehow through their own
evil magic have been transformed into hideous undead creatures where only the
skull has survived.  The mere sight of a Lich strikes fear into the hearts of
its enemies hence a -2 Enemy Stack bonus.  Liches are at home moving through
woods/hills and since they are magical, quite fast. 
Note:  Liches show up as +0 special in the View - Army Bonus and View - Stack
screens.
 
KI-RIN - STR:8    TIME:4    MOVE:30    COST:18    SACK:2000
Bonuses:  Temple ally, +2 all stack, flight, fast
Hints:  Ki-rin make great additions to Hero stacks.  Also great leaders in
their own right with a +2 stack bonus, use them with Liches to create a +4
total bonus (-2 to the enemy and +2 to you).  Ki-rin/Lich combination groups
are a formidable city capturing duo and should be used when fighting tough
opponents.  Fly to a temple and bless them to turn them into 9's.  Avoid
fighting Devil/-Enemy Stack groups because your bonus will be nullified and
so will your Ki-rin.
Description:  Ki-rin look very similar to Unicorns except they have a golden
body.  With innate magical abilities they are able to produce a +2 Stack bonus.
Although they don't have wings, they use their magical abilities to fly great
distances. 
 
ARCHONS - STR:9    TIME:4    MOVE:24    COST:19    SACK:2250
Bonuses:  Temple ally, Cancel Hero, +1 all stack, flight
Hints:  attack Hero groups.  Always save Archons to attack powerful Hero
groups.  Unstoppable Hero groups can be effectively attacked with powerful
Archon groups.  Try to avoid entanglements with non-Hero groups to avoid
possible loss of your Archons.  An Archon is an effective addition to any
Hero group and should be used with Heroes to destroy enemy Hero groups.
Description:  Archons are mysterious magical human-like creatures.  They
carry a strange sword that projects a mystic aura that cancels Hero bonuses.
They have wings that enable them to fly.

DRAGONS - STR:9    TIME:4    MOVE:26    COST:20    SACK:2500
Bonuses:  Temple ally, +3 all stack, flight
Hints:  Dragons are fighting armies.  Use Griffons to stay behind and defend
your cities while your Dragon armies go forward and lead stacks to crush
enemy cities.  Avoid attacking Devil groups or combination Devil/- Enemy
Stack bonus groups because they will spell death for your Dragons.  Attack
Hero and strong ally groups with strong Dragon groups and combine them with
other flying units so that they can ignore terrain when travelling to other
cities.  Adding a Pegasus or Demon to your Dragon stacks can give you a +4
bonus without a Hero!
Description:  Dragons are powerful magical creatures with great charisma,
hence their +3 Stack bonus.  Their strong wings enable them to travel vast
distances. 
 
DRACO LICHES - STR:9    TIME:4    MOVE:26    COST:22    SACK:2500
Bonuses:  Temple ally, -3 enemy stack, flight
Hints:  use Draco Liches to attack strong groups.  No Hero group should be
without a Draco Lich.  Draco Liches are good at leading strong groups into
battle, especially groups with bonuses.  Draco Liches combined with Siege 
Engines, Archons, or Devils may be able to turn groups that are totally
awesome into pushovers.  Avoid combining Medusas or Liches with Draco Liches
because their - Enemy Stack bonuses will be useless.  Avoid being overconfident
with Draco Liches.  Don't attack powerful groups with just Draco Liches as the
backbone, but make sure their is another bonus army with them.  Dragon/Draco 
Lich groups are +6 overall (-3 Enemy Stack, +3 your Stack) and are effective
against all but the most powerful Hero/Ally groups.  Toss in a Pegasus or
Demon to make them +7.  
Description:  Draco Liches are undead dragons and project a Cone of Fear which
gives them their -3 Enemy Stack bonus and high strength.  Also their powerful
wings enable them to fly great distances.
Note:  Draco Liches show up as +0 special in the View - Army Bonus and View -
Stack screens.

HERO / HEROIN - STR:4    MOVE:20
Bonuses:  Hero
Hints:  Use Heroes intelligently (unlike the computer) like grouping them
with more powerful groups or adding them to a good - enemy stack group to
give them a + stack bonus to make that group even better.  Avoid searching
ruins by yourself (see Ruin Monsters below) because the guardians are mean
monsters and can give your heroes fits at ruins.  Keep track of how many
items your hero is carrying and if the bonuses they have makes a group have
higher than +5 stack bonus then leave the extra items with other heroes or
if you don't have a hero close leave it at a well guarded city halfway
between you and the other hero.  Don't let your artifacts fall into enemy
hands and use your Standard to send troops to swell your hero group if he
or she is far from any of your cities.  Also use the standard to send
troops deep within enemy territory and perform "sneak" attacks on their
weakly defended out of the way cities.  Don't ever leave a Standard
unguarded because another hero can come along and pick it up, in fact build
a tower on it (defend) so that you can send units that are good at defending
cities to it to protect it.
Description:  Heroes and Heroins are great champions of their cause and
through exploring have gained fame and a reputation, hence their ability to
attract awesome allies when being hired.

NAVY (SEA SERPENTS) - STR:4    MOVE:20
Bonuses:  Water movement
Hints:  Use navies to explore water terrain and also to turn 1's and 2's
(Orcs and Skeletons) into 4's out on the water.  These navies then become
what I like to call pirates and are good at protecting against sea attacks.
Also the computer players like to send awesome land troops out on the water
and you can use your pirates to dessimate those awesome groups at sea.
Counter to this, avoid sending your best troops out to sea, but use land
if practical or fly your hero with your Standard close to the city you
want to attack, plant your Standard, and vector troops to your hero rather
than risking a treacherous boat ride and having your group of 1 Devil, 1
Lich, 1 Siege Engine, and 5 Trolls smeared by a bunch of Orcs and Skeletons
(pirates) out at sea.  Or use Manticores as front runners (they get a +2
stack bonus everywhere but cities) to naval groups in order to take out
a few pesky 4's before they can get at your 7's and 8's that have been
turned into 4's, or even add a Pegasus with the Manticores (+3 overall) so
that you have Manticores that are 8's and Pegasi that are 9's to take care
of those darn pirates.  Of course Dragons can kick some pirate butt . . .
you get the idea.
Description:  Actually navies in my scenario are sea serpents that are called
to give armies rides to and from their destinations.  These sea serpents have
some kind of binding agreement to each side to ferry troops across water, but
do not fight and hence if you lose in a sea battle the sea serpent is not
killed, but rather slips back into the depths of the oceans.  At every pier
and anchor there is located a horn that an army uses to call a mighty sea
serpent to carry them across water!


Ruin Monsters

The ruin monsters have been made strong to discourage single heroes from
searching ruins and to make it more difficult to search ruins successfully.
I've never lost a hero to a creature with a strength of 6 or less so I've
made all the monsters 7 or greater.  Also if you play against computer
opponents, there is a good chance that there will still be ruins left to
search even after turn 40!  Also against creatures that are 9's I've seen
a hero get killed when stacked with 3 other armies, so be very careful when
searching ruins.  Here are the monsters and their strengths:

Monster			Strength
Ettin			7
Wyvern			8
Aurumvorax		8
Remorhaz		8
Hydra			9
Behir			9
Beholder		9
Mezzodaemon		9
Death Knight	9


Trials and Tribulations 

I have done extensive play testing on this scenario and have revised it 
many times.  Originally I had very fast armies but discovered that it was 
far too easy for a player to come upon an undefended city and sack it.  I 
had Cockatrices that moved at 40mp because I wanted a flying scout 
that could quickly uncover a hidded map.  Unfortunately computer 
players like to leave their cities undefended early in the game so I found 
that there was often several treacheries committed.  I decided to reduce 
the armies' speeds considerably for some.  For instance Cockatrice went 
down to 30mp and Draco Liches went from 34mp to 26mp.

Also unless another direction is more clearly defined the computer players
will always travel north from their cities at the start of a hidden map game.
I have tried to rectify this by placing cities, ruins or roads in places
opposite of this direction because all the computer players at the bottom of
the map have an advantage over players that are north of them.

I have cities that seem to be surrounded by mountains but are not because
roads go through the mountains.  In combat, a mountain with a road is
considered to be a flying square and so combat on a square with a mountain
road is done exactly the same as if it were over a mountain square.  This also
seems to affect the computer movement AI in hidden map games where the computer
player will act as if they are boxed in or disband armies that are received
from ruins where that square is the only square that does not contain
mountains, even if the mountains have roads going through them.  Winding roads
through mountains also give computer players fits in hidden map games.  Often
computer players will move their Hero along a road in a mountain and run out
of movement points.  The next turn they'll move back to their city and then
move back to the same area.  They'll do this over and over again, even when a
path is clearly defined, never getting anywhere.  I have therefore tried to
open up some of these spaces to give them a sense of more directions to take.
The movement AI does not like one direction movement (i.e. only one direction
forward instead of two or three) in hidden map games and so often I found
computer players sitting with their Hero in their capitol doing nothing.
By increasing the number of directions available, even when there still is 
only one way to go has helped reduce this problem.

I also toiled with 
the idea of giving the sides weaker armies at the start of
the game, but with a Hero that has only strength 4 this proves to be very
difficult for computer players to handle.  Plus the armies were originally
designed with the idea that each opponent could produce powerful allies at the
start of the game.  By giving the players much weaker armies the computer
players ended up finding powerful cities that they wanted to conquer and then
eating up turns producing groups of 8 Orcs or whatever weak army they had or
waiting until they had 260gp to buy a Cockatrice.  Instead of reinstating the
powerful ally setup I made several of the allies that could fly walk instead
and gave a few other cities weaker armies.  For instance:  Lightning Bolts had
Elementals and I made them not fly, Mystic Magis used to have Ki-rin but then
I gave them Wizards, Mega Dragons got Griffins instead of Dragons, Flesh
Feeders got Medusas instead of Archons, Demon Lords had Demons with flight
so I removed their flight, Phase Devils the same with Devils, and Demi-
Liches had Draco Liches and I gave them Ghosts.  This seems to make the
scenario much more enjoyable.  Plus, I've left other key armies flightless:  
Siege Engines, Medusas, Liches; and the major fighting units flightless as
well:  Driders, Minotaurs, Trolls, Thri-Kreen.  This means that if you use
flying armies then you won't be able to use the fastly produced (2 turn)
fighting units to fly over defenses and capture cities.  So the functionality
of the map is left intact.


General Information

Some of the army types don't show their bonuses correctly in the View - Army
Bonus menu.  In almost every case, this is because I have specially modified
them using a HEX editor.  Although the bonuses don't show up properly, they
work perfectly within the game (I've tested this).  Also Fortify bonuses NEVER
show up in the View - Army Bonus menu which must be a slight bug in the game.
There are a couple of ways to tell if an army has a Fortify bonus:
1.  If the army is by itself and you see that it is receiving a +1 bonus 
    from apparently nowhere it is a Fortify bonus army. 
2.  Use the Scenario Builder and look at the armies, it will tell you if 
    you have a Fortify bonus army. 
3.  If you have the SHOWARMY utility, it will show ALL bonuses properly.
    
Strength bonuses are not cancelled according to the Warlords II FAQ on
combat!  This actually makes a strength bonus much more important.  So in my
scenario, Skeletons, Knights, Ogres, Centaurs, Minotaurs, Trolls,
and Thri-Kreen cannot have their individual strength bonus negated. 
 
- Enemy Stack bonuses are not cancellable.  This means that a -2 army is
better than a +2 army.  This is why I have used a HEX editor to change -2 and
-3 armies (Liches and Draco Liches) into allies.  Without making them allies,
a side that had a city that produced them would have an unfair advantage
because the only way to acquire them would be to purchase them, and since
they are so powerful they would be very expensive.  By making them allies you
can get them with a Hero or by searching ruins. 
 
A Fortify army cannot be an ally.  I made the Demon Ally have a fortify
bonus by using a HEX editor.  This bonus is additive to any other bonus!
So a fortify bonus is additive with a stack bonus.  This helps reduce the
chance of redundancy for stack bonuses.  Since this is an important addition
to any army stack I felt that an Ally deserved to have such a bonus. 
 
Also I liked the idea of an army having a bonus for more than one particular
terrain.  With the Scenario Builder, it's an all or one kind of selection.
You cannot, for instance, have an army with a +1 strength bonus in both woods
and hills, you can however have that army +1 everywhere.  I wanted a few
armies that had bonuses everywhere but in a city so again I used a HEX editor
to accomplish this.  The Thri-Kreen has a +2 strength bonus everywhere but
cities and the Manticore has a +2 Stack bonus everywhere but cities.  I think
that this makes the game much more interesting.  Please note that it is 
possible to give an army different strength or stack bonuses in different
terrain, i.e. an army with a +1 strength bonus in hills and a +2 stack bonus
in the forest.  I did not implement this kind of scheme in my army set, though. 
 
I have tried to make sure that most of the armies have a use at one point
of the game or other.  Obviously as the game progresses, weaker armies
become more and more ineffective but I have managed to come up with only
5 armies that are pretty useless after the first 20 turns or so.  The
first army slot must be incredibly weak and feeble as per Scenario Building 
Commandments and so that is the case with my army set.  This army, Orcs,
is still usefull if you start out with Mystic Magis because they have both a
forest and hills movement bonus and make pretty good explorers until you get
Cockatrices.
 
Each side starts the game with a fairly powerful city that can produce 
above average armies.  However, since they usually take 4 turns to produce
(only two sides have 3 turn armies) be careful that you get someone in there
to defend it otherwise you might be subject to treachery by your opponents. 
 
To help defend against this possibility I have made a slightly expensive
flying army for doing your scouting, the Cockatrice.  It costs 260gp which
means that it will usually be a few turns before you can start producing
one, unless you have a city that produces them inherently or you get money
from a ruin. 
 
All the important bonuses are present, +1 through +3 stack; -1 through -3
enemy stack; Cancel City, Hero, Non-Hero; Strength bonuses - Open, Forest, 
Hills, City, All, and combinations; Stack bonuses - Open, Forest, Hills,
City, All, and combinations; and Fortify bonuses.  I think that this makes
the army set much more enjoyable and also gives the scenario several
identifying stages as you pass through from using just a few specialized army
types until the end where the player that most effectively utilizes their
special armies will win.  Plus it's possible to create groups that are
effective against certain stacks and weak against others so strategy must
be used to create the most effective stacks

 
Hints and tips for playing the Fantasy Realms Scenario

Before I start talking about specific sides, let me talk about the Cocatrice
unit.  The Cockatrice is a slightly expensive flyer made to map the terrain
in Hidden Map games.  However, since it costs 260gp to establish it at a city
you won't be able to purchase it right away unless you get money at a ruin.
You should be able to puchase one by turn 5 or 6 and then be able to start
mapping.  Why have I made this unit cost this much?  To help deter the amount
of treacheries at the start of the game, especially with computer opponents,
it was necessary to devise a strategy that gave players at least enough time
to build one of their 4 turn army units.  By making it unusual for a player
to get a fast flying unit within 5 turns it helps the computer players out
mostly by ensuring that they at least get another unit produced in their city
before fast flying units become prolific.  Although the Mega Dragons start
with a fairly fast flyer, it takes 3 turns just to get another one, whereas
if you could produce Cockatrices at turn 1 you could have 3 flying around at
turn 4 which makes it quite hazardous to be waiting for that 4 turn unit to
arrive on turn 5.  Take note that the computer players on I Am The Greatest
setting like to use the second unit that they get from their capitol city to
do scouting as well.  So usually it's not until turn 9 that the computer
leaves an army in their capitol city.  So instead of having 8 Cockatrices
flying around from most of the sides, there's only 3 or 4 by turn 9.  This is
actually an inherent weakness in the computer AI but it usually helps to
produce 2 or 3 very strong computer opponents as they'll have 2 capitol
cities early in the game.

Now let's talk about playing certain sides:

Relative difficulty for playing a side, where 10=toughest and 1=easiest
based on efficiency of capturing cities within the first 4 turns (which
usually determines the difference between a good and poor start) and ease
of capturing cities within the next 2 turns is shown below.

Dread Knights (white) -   3
Lighting Bolts (yellow) - 5
Flesh Feeders (orange) -  2
Phase Devils (red) -      9
Mystic Magis (green) -    7
Mega Dragons (blue) -     6
Demon Lords (cyan) -      4
Demi-Liches (black) -     8

Helping hints for playing a side.  This information is designed to help
beginning players and so if you don't want any hints you can skip this
section without any loss in game playability.  Also the easiest road is
often not the most optimal and so you may find starting this way not to be
the most strategic way to start.  These hints are designed so that they will
help if you are playing with Hidden Map on and City Strength set on Active.
If you are playing with other settings or you are not a beginner, these hints
may not be very usefull.

Dread Knights (white) - this side is located on a small island all by itself,
located in the Northwestern section of the map.  This island contains 10 cities
in which all are connected by roads.  It is fairly easy to capture 2 of these
10 with one of your starting units by themselves, however, I recommend keeping
your hero and the catapult grouped together.  If you go along the west road
from your capitol city you'll find a temple about 10 spaces to the west and
just above the road.  Bless your 2 armies and also get a quest for your hero
if you're playing with quests on.  Next keep going to the west until you reach
another city next to the road.  The normal unit here is a Minotaur and should
be fairly easy to dispatch with your group.  Next you can either go north or
south on the road.  South contains a city with a Medusa and north contains a
city with a Pegasus.  I recommend going north to capture the city with the
Pegasus.  After you've captured this city proceed east along the road until
you see a city guarded by a knight slightly south of the road.  Attack and
capture this city and you should have 4 cities within 2 or 3 turns.  The rest
of the cities on the island are harder to capture and so you should add at
least 1 or 2 more units to your hero stack to help ensure victory.  I'll
leave the remaining moves up to you.

Lightning Bolts (yellow) - this side is located in the western half of the
map around the middle of this portion of the map (both north-south and east-
west) on a huge continent.  Only 2 of the cities close to you are connected
by roads to your capitol.  Again, keep your hero and elemental grouped
together and proceed along either the north or west road.  Going along the
west road is easier because you'll encounter a city that is usually guarded
by a Centaur.  If you proceed north instead of west there may be a ruin just
to the east of the road and then a city farther north guarded by a troll, this
is the harder way, but has more reward.  I recommend going west to start with
and following the road until you see the city.  Capturing it should be fairly
easy.  If you've captured the city without a loss, place your group into the
water to the northwest of the city, otherwise wait a turn to get another army.
Next turn proceed northwest staying close to the coast.  You should find a
city about 13 sqaures to the northwest guarded by a Wolfwere.  If you are
successful at capturing this city, proceed north on your next turn on foot and
you'll find a city typically guarded by a Pegasus.  Before you capture this
city, you might want to try to add another army to your hero group.  From here
I'll leave the next course of action for you to decide.

Flesh Feeders (orange) - this side is located in a very far southeastern
location of the map on a very small island that contains only 4 cities.  Keep
your hero and Medusa grouped together and proceed northwest.  You should find
a city guarded by a Wolfwere.  Go ahead and capture this city and proceed
along the road to the west.  If you still have enough movement left, attack
the next city you meet along this road guarded by a Centaur.  Next turn add
a centaur to your group and proceed back along the road to the east and
slightly north.  You'll find a city that should be guarded by a Troll.  Go
ahead and attack and if you win you've captured all 4 cities on your little
island.  Next plop into the sea and proceed westward.  You should find a
couple of Skeleton cities at about the middle of the map and about the same
height from the bottom as your capitol.  Capture these 2 cities and you should
have 6 cities within 5 or 6 turns (4 if you're really good).  The rest is left
up to you.

Phase Devils (red) - this side is located in the northeastern portion of the
map on another huge continent.  You have 2 choices, either a road to the east
or a path of hills to the west.  I recommend going west and keeping your hero
and Devil grouped together, where you'll find a city about 5 squares away
guarded by a Manticore.  After you capture this city proceed west along the
road until you hit the temple and get your stack blessed and your hero a quest.
After this it's hard to say which way to go, but I recommend going north and
following the winding road (which will wind to the east then back west then
southwest and finally back north) until you see a city to the west guarded by
a Demon.  If you are a little bold and daring attack otherwise proceed north
a few squares further and you'll find a city guarded by a Wraith.  This city
will be easier to capture then the Demon city.  Once you have this city the
rest is up to you.

Mystic Magis (green) - this side is located in the eastern half of the map
around the midpoint of this half (north-south, east-west) on a large continent.
Depending on what you want to do, you can either capture the city (guarded by
an Orc) to the southeast or proceed northwest where you'll find a temple
about 5 squares from your capitol.  Either way, after you've done these two
things proceed along the road to the south and you'll find a city guarded by
a Thri-Kreen.  After you've captured this city you can proceed southwest and
you'll find another city guarded by an Ogre.  Once you've captured this city
you can go in just about any of the available directions that are left to
travel, but I leave this decision in your hands.

Mega Dragons (blue) - this side is located about halfway between red and green
(slightly more towards red) on the same continent and very far east.  Since
you start with a Griffon that flies you don't have to worry about the mountain
interfering with your movement (let your invaders worry about it) as long as
you group your hero with your Griffon.  If you fly south about 5 squares and
west about one or two their may be a ruin located there, or if you fly
northwest from your capitol you'll find a city guarded by a Wraith about 5
squares away.  I recommend the latter.  Once you've captured this city proceed
west and slightly south and you should find another city about 10 squares away
guarded by a Drider.  After you've captured this city, you have a lot of 
decisions to make.

Demon Lords (cyan) - this side is located in the southwestern portion of the
map about a third of the map height from the bottom and about 7 squares from
the western edge.  Keep your hero and Demon grouped together and proceed east
along the road where you'll find a city 2 squares south of the road guarded
by an Ogre.  Once you've capture this city go north and then east along the
road.  If you see a ruin about 2 squares east of the road go search, otherwise
go north and back slightly west where you'll find a city guarded by a
Manticore.  Once you've captured this city go southeast and then follow the
road along the eastern portion where you'll come to a city about 10 squares
away guarded by a Thri-Kreen.  Once you've capture this city the rest is up
to you (however, I do recommend proceeding north).

Demi-Liches (black) - this side is located at about the middle of the map and
around 1/3 from the bottom on a huge continent.  Group your hero with your
Ghost and proceed east for about 5 squares where you'll see a temple - bless
and quest.  Then go back to your capitol and proceed west sticking close to
the mountains.  You should find a city guarded by a skeleton.  Once you've
captured this city follow the wooden path that goes north and then winds.  At
the fork take the eastern path and you'll find a city that is guarded by a
Wraith.  Capture this city and proceed east for about another 10 squares
where you'll come across a city that is guarded by another Wraith.  After this
city is captured you can either put out to sea or scout on land, but that
decision is left for you to decide.



Comments

I've been playing Warlords II since December of 1994 and really like the
game.  I usually play against the computer and have discovered a lot of its
"quirks".  I originally used a HEX editor to beef up the Default army set
before the Scenario Builder came out and have e-mailed this information to
Bob Heeter, who runs a Warlords II WWW site:
http://www.princeton.edu/~rfheeter/w2home.html
I hope that this scenario will be very enjoyable to play.  If you have
any comments or want to send me a message my e-mail address is:

caspermeyer.matt@asu.edu

Whether you like the scenario or not send me your comments or if you would
like to swap strategy tips or scenario building tips send me a message, and it
will be greatly appreciated.


Thanks to

Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual I, II and Fiend Folio for helping with
the creation of monsters, descriptions, and Hero / Heroin names.
All the graphics artists that have created awesome monster pictures for
army sets like Jungl, Maze, and Specta
SSG for creating an awesome game that had gotten me so enthralled that I'd
play Warlords II games for hours on end.
W2COPY for helping to transport army pictures between different sets to my
army set.
My handy dandy HEX / ASCII editor QED that came with old, old versions of
QDOS for making it easy to manipulate the army.dat file so that some of
my cooler armies could have special abilities, for helping to rearrange the
order that the armies appear in the DAT file so that they appear in ascending
cost order, and for editing the *.SCN file to add different Standard names
rather than using the regular names (like Cyan Standard) and also to change
the default artifact names (the ones that you can't edit from within the
Scenario Builder).
Microsoft Excel for helping me create a spreadsheet that computes army costs
after you put in their statistics (this should be at Bob Heeter's Warlords
II WWW site, too).
Bob Cuthbert for letting me do testing on his DX2-66 (I've got a 386-20).
George Andonyan for helping me out with the city picture for the Phase Devils
side.
Tim Fager for playing many Warlords II games with me and also for some very
interesting strategic insights.