Warlords II Scenario Review BEARER.ZIP 123,018 bytes, 70 cities, 8 players, 30 ruins (incl 4 temples). "This scenario is based on an old role-playing campaign world." And quite a richly-detailed world it is, interesting and rewarding. This is one of my favorite scenarios. Author: Cory Ridgway. Rating summary, scale of 1 to 10: Wt Area Score Comments 10 Army set 8 (well balanced with thought given to trade-offs) 7 Map design 9 (very detailed, diverse areas, excellently done) 5 Army pics 8 (well done modifications of default army pics) 5 City pics 9 (SSG's excellent default cities fit very well) 3 Background info 9 (excellent explanation of the world, plus notes) 2 Cities/ruins 10 (all interestingly named and described) 2 Items/heroes 5 (half new items, default hero names fit well) OVERALL RATING 285 "The Nan [demon priests], Great Nhalor [knights], Thure, Arnisea, and The City States. Dwarves, elves, and Harpies (more bird-men than traditional harpies) also dwell in the Southlands. Orcs, goblins, giants and trolls can be found in the wilder areas." There's a side in this battle for just about any temperament: reclusive elves, barbarian raiders, defenders of civilization, slave traders, and so on. This scenario is rich in detail, rich in replay value. The rating I gave it edges out Norse and Dante, my two previous favorites. The army capabilities are very well balanced, with only a few unit types that are useless. There are some changes I would make, however: I don't think Raiders need the -1 to enemy strength, since their strength, speed, and production time alone make them worth their cost. It also seems very strange that heavy and light infantry are equal strength. Overall, I like an army set where armies take a bit longer to produce and move slower. It allows more room for strategy and makes for a longer and more interesting war. I also like the fact that units adding bonuses, such as Physicians, Wizards, and Harpies, are weak units by themselves and are best used WITH normal fighting units, to strengthen them, rather than being used alone to destroy any enemy troops in their path. This army set fits my ideal as close as any army set I've seen yet. (The fact that the computer AI is too stupid to count an army's bonuses when deciding what to produce and what order to send them into battle is a criticism of Warlords, not this army set; however, it does make it more important to have a human opponent when using this army set.) In addition to an excellent army set, there is an excellent map. Those who have created their own role-playing campaign universes have a head start in creating a Warlords scenario universe. This map benefits from all the earlier creative effort that went into his universe. I have no real complaints about the map, and I would call it a "perfect 10" except I'm reserving that score for a map that feels *absolutely perfect*. So maybe this one rates 9.5 or something. The map is fleshed out with full names and descriptions of all cities and ruins for a perfect 10 score in that minor, but still valuable, category. The default cities and hero names fit this world very well, so there would have been little gained by replacing them. The army pictures are small modifications to the default armies. Some of the modifications could be a bit more distinctive, since the results make it a little hard to tell some of the unit types apart unless you can see them side by side. Other than that, I like these pictures, and most are perfect for their unit type. The background information file is huge, telling about the people of this world, their lands and cultures and personalities, and about the different unit types used in the army set. He discusses options to use when playing the game, and his discussion proves that he actually took the time to test this scenario before releasing it. Thank you, Cory! The designer's notes will be useful for other scenario designers. After installing the scenario and before playing it, delete the file CITYNAME.DAT in the BEARER directory. It points to the 'Bearer' city set, which is not included. This scenario is partly to blame for my long delay in writing more reviews of other scenarios. I kept playing this one over and over from different sides. I think you'll like it. === 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 --