Warlords II Scenario Review

AMERICA: 8 players, 80 cities, 38 ruins (including 4 temples).  Available
only by buying the Warlords II Scenario Builder.  Battle for control of
North America: Union, Confederacy, Indians, the Wild West and more!

Author: SSG

Rating summary, scale of 1 to 10:
Wt Area          Score Comments
10 Army set          7 (lots of interesting unit types)
 7 Map design        8 (excellent except the roads are too good)
 5 Army pics         9 (excellent with minor flaws)
 5 City pics         8 (excellent, fitting the theme very well)
 3 Background info   1 (nothing -- read your history books)
 2 Cities/ruins      9 (THIS is how Cities/Ruins should be done!!)
 2 Items/heroes      7 (excellent hero names, items are mostly unchanged)
   OVERALL RATING  246

The map features North America -- a bit thin in Mexico in order to give
more space to Dis-United States and Canada/Quebec.  I chose to play
as the Indians, driving all the palefaces back into the sea -- but you
can play as the Union, Confederacy, Wild West (begins in Kansas), Indians
(Montana), Canadians (Pacific coast), Quebec, Mexicans, or Free State.
The map is excellent, with cities and ruins laid out for a good wargame
as well as fitting the theme.  My biggest complaint is that the roads are
set up better than the modern freeway system.  The Confederacy took San
Francisco on turn 6, starting from Richmond, Va. The roads across Canada
in this scenario are *better* than they were in real life in 1994. (Hello,
Canada, I love you anyway!)  A second problem is that there are almost no
roads between north and south, so the Union and Confederacy never meet and
declare war on each other, even though they're a rifle-shot apart.

The city pictures are wonderful: spanish missions, indian teepees, and
architecture of various types.  I wish the razed cities had matched them
for creativity, but they are all the same picture of stubble and smoke.
The whole set of "encampment" pics are just towers of the same design,
not even a miniature teepee or fort.  (These ruins and encampments are
the default when you create a new city set.)

Bonus points given for having a special shield set for the U.S. showing
U.S. and Confederate flags, and other appropriate symbols for the other
sides.  Since scenario designers aren't allowed to create their own shield
sets (yet) I can't put this in a separate category.

The pics for the army set are excellent, giving extra flavor by varying
the hero for the different sides: Indian chief, U.S. president, Yukon
muleskinner, and so on.  Variations on the standard units add flavor by
making light infantry fit the side: blue or grey uniforms, or leather
and feathers, etc.  Rather than using the names as heroes, several unit
types are named after legendary people: Geronimo, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp
(cancels hero!), Red Cloud, and of course, Custer.

The army capabilities are fairly standard, with one unit each cancelling
city, hero, non-hero, and -1 to enemy, and several more adding +1 or +2
to the stack.  Few have terrain bonuses, but many have movement bonus in
woods or hills or both (which makes the roads even more unnecessary).
The nasty combination of Cannons with Gatling Guns will almost ensure
victory against weaker units, but they're balanced by being the slowest-
moving units in the game.

*ALL* cities and *ALL* ruins are fully named and fully described, giving
amusement, enlightenment, and delight.  This scenario shows why Warlords
II allows the option to name and describe citites and ruins.  "Slavers
docked here with their cargo of lost souls.  The wind lashes like a whip!"
"Outlaws & lawmen lie heel to toe in this place where the vultures swoop!"
Scenario designers: please imitate.  It doesn't score a perfect 10 in this
area only because there are typos that proofreading should have caught.

The scenario also includes a full set of 100 heroes for all eight sides.
French names for Quebec, Spanish names for the Mexicans, Indian names for
the Indians (Crazy Horse is here), and so on.  Mark Twain, however, was
staunchly ANTI-slavery, and is probably thrashing in his grave at having
been included as a hero for the Confederacy.

Excellent replay value -- once I make it through the other 23 scenarios
included with the Scenario Builder!  Play with hidden map at first, to
gradually discover the cities and ruins.  Quests on, at least for the
first few times, leaving undiscovered ruins to surprise you later.  I'd
say Diplomacy option ON is essential in this scenario.  Quick Start would
be interesting, as well as more challenging, regardless which side you
play.  The city/army/shield sets are good for random games, if you wish
to replay it on an unknown continent.

===

This review is copyrighted by myself, but may be distributed in any
UNMODIFIED form as long as NO CHARGE is made for distribution (such
as a per-minute charge for online time) and it is not included in any
copyrighted "compilation" (such as claimed by certain online services
I will not name).  Dirk Pellett