DIGITAL HANDS

Fredrik Ekman: Ryds Allé 3:106, S-582 51 Linköping, Sweden ([email protected])

©1996 Fredrik Ekman; first published in Other Hands 14.

Even under normal circumstances, Digital Hands deals with a borderzone of role-playing. In this article, I will move yet one step further away from traditional role-playing and into the world of strategic war-games.

There have been very few computer strategy games set in Middle-earth, at least compared with the number of text adventures and RPGs. The most well-known are War in Middle Earth (Melbourne House) and Riders of Rohan (Mirrorsoft).

The main problem with these and other games is that they are for one player only, and anyone with normal intelligence will soon tire of the stupid computer adversary. This kind of game is usually much more enjoyable when two or more human players can play against each other. This is possible in the two games to which I will devote the rest of this article: Xconq and Warlords II.

Warlords II is based on the concept of cities which produce army units. Each player (with a maximum of eight) starts with one city and one army unit. Each player also has one hero, which can be used to find treasure and allies and as a military leader in the game. The computer can play any number of sides.

It is a commercial game for PC and Mac released by SSG and its normal setup is a standard fantasy world, clearly inspired by Tolkien. Many players have used the Scenario Builder (which can be bought separately) to create scenarios set in Middle-earth. So far as I know, no less than nine exist, three of which can be played on Warlords II Deluxe, a more advanced version of the game. They can unfortunately not be played on the Mac.

These scenarios differ in terms of quality. Some of them have crude maps, strange political divisions and weird military units. Every single one of them also suffers from the fact that Warlords II was not written with Middle-earth in mind to begin with. Thus, it feels very strange to play Gondor and be forced to start by conquering all the cities of Gondor (which initially are neutral). Also, all sides are of more or less equal strength to begin with. In fact, the strongest side is often The Shire, since there are few potential enemies (and in Warlords II, anyone is a potential enemy) nearby. It should perhaps be mentioned that I have not played the Warlords II Deluxe scenarios, and so cannot comment on them.

At first glance, there would seem to be many similarities between Warlords II and Xconq. Xconq is a Freeware game written by Stanley Shebs which is played in real-time over a network. The latest version, 7.1, is available for Unix and Mac (although the Mac version is one-player only).

Just like in Warlords II there are cities and other places where new army units can be produced. As one plays on, however, it soon becomes clear that Xconq is many times more advanced than Warlords II. It is played on a hex map and the limitations in number of sides, what units each player starts with, the technology level and many other things depend on what game the player chooses to play. Xconq is delivered with a wide range of different games, from the Middle Ages to outer space. One of these, titled Middle Earth and written by Massimo Campostrini from Italy, allows players to take different sides in the War of the Ring. Unfortunately, Middle Earth does not take advantage of many of Xconq's features.

I would highly recommend these two games to anyone who enjoys strategy games. Both Xconq and Warlords II are very good, the latter perhaps being more of a beginner's game. With all the scenarios that have been made for them and the multiplayer option, they will last for a very long time. The Middle-earth scenarios may not be the best things about them, but are still well worth a look.

Xconq on the Internet
(home page): http://www.cygnus.com/~shebs/xconq.html

Warlords II on the Internet
(official home page): http://www.ssg.com.au/index_files/warlords_ii_home.html
(players' web site): http://www.princeton.edu/~rfheeter/w2home.html
(Middle-earth scenarios): http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/warlords2.html

News flash!
Just as I am finishing this article, word reaches me that at least three Middle-earth scenarios are being developed for Civilization II, which is a strategy game with more emphasis on socio-economic factors, and yet another for Warcraft II.