Fantasy Warlord
Encyclopedia
Fantasy Warlord is a fantasy
miniatures game released in 1990 by Folio Works. It was written by Ian Bailey and Gary Chalk who also did the illustrations.
The game was designed and published by two ex-Games Workshop
(GW) employees who disagreed with the much more commercial direction that company was taking. It was supposed to rival the Warhammer Fantasy Battle
game that GW published.
Fantasy Warlord featured some unusual game mechanics such as simultaneous movement, an original command and control system (units are organised into brigades commanded by characters) and fog of war
rules. It also featured balanced magic
and troop choice systems. However the balance within the combat system reduced the opportunity to generate dramatic victories.
Much like Warhammer, the game had its own fantasy world, called Vortimax, in which the battles were imagined to take place. There was also a related range of Fantasy Warlord miniatures cast by Alternative Armies
, and a magazine called Red Giant.
The game went out of print 18 months after first publication. Some supplements were expected, such as Armies of Vortimax (expected in 1992) Besieged or Fantasy Warlord Command Pack, but none were released. Only two issues of Red Giant magazine were released. Folio Works Ltd. was dissolved on February the 11th, 1993.
The book contains many illustrations from Gary Chalk and photographs that illustrate troop's formations, movements, etc.
Determining the abilities of troop is easy: you choose their morale class (A = veterans, B = trained or C = militia) weapons and armour from 11 different races (Human, Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs...). Monsters (flying or not), pack animals and daemons were also available. More races were expected in the supplement Armies of Vortimax.
Generation of heroes or wizards is more time consuming. There are six types of characters: Warrior Heroes, Priests, Warrior Priests, Magic-users, Thieves and Discipline Masters. Skills and attributes are determined by their level of experience: they could be Minor, Major or Master.
Nearly sixty magic artifacts or weapons and more than 100 spells are available to equip characters.
Each turn is divided into 11 phases. Unlike Warhammer Fantasy Battle
, movements are made simultaneously, the players using counters to issue orders. Units are organised into brigades which are commanded by characters. As the game progresses, characters gradually lose control of their brigades, as they would do in real battlefield.
The combat system is not based on rolling handful of dices and random results but relies on strategy and tactics, movements, balanced races, unit control in order to determine the outcome of the battle.
The book was sold $29.99 in the United States
and £13,95 in Great Britain
.
According to Gary Chalk in a recent interviewGary Chalk Interview , October 2011 - http://doggysdoings.blogspot.com/2011/10/gary-chalk-interview.html, producing Fantasy Warlord cost him a lot of money and the stress. Ian and him misjudged the market dominated by Games Workshop's products and gamers did not well receive a game that used pseudo-military tactics to determine the outcome of fantasy battles.
In addition to this, the launch coincided with the release of Grenadier's Fantasy Warriors wargame.
(WD) published by its competitor Games Workshop, Red Giant was not intend to support exclusively Fantasy Warlord or High Command games, but was a response to what Games Workshop and other editors did to the business, according to the company.
Just like White Dwarf did in early ages of its existence, Red Giant made room for many games, such as AD&D, Runequest
, Call of Cthulhu
, Warhammer Fantasy Role-play and many others.
Actually, Red Giant was a sarcastic title, the exact opposite of White Dwarf
, run by Games Workshop. In his first editorial, Tom Sage described WD as "[one of the] magazines exclusive to their product range."
The magazine went out of print after only two issues.
. Some of them have been sculpted by Bob Olley (it is confirmed that FW 8 Dwarfs, FW 5 Urucks and FW 9 Ogres have been designed by him).
Miniatures were sold in two kind of packages: a traditional blistercading and a less common skinpacking which offer a better view and protection of the miniatures during shipping. They were distributed in United States as long as in Great Britain.
The range uses two different codification: one for the characters (heroes and wizards) and troops in "classic" blister packs which consists of five digit and a second kind of code for the troops, shields and weapons prefixed with FW letters and followed by two digit, the first one designing the range (for instance: 8 for dwarfs).
Characters were sold individually with a weapon and a shield when appropriate. Troops were sold by two to five miniatures per blister, shields and weapons were cast separately to let the player chooses his troop's weapons easily. Single blisters were sold £0.80 (£1.50 for bigger miniatures such as Ogre Hero), Multipacks £2.95 and Weapon packs £1.50.
Folio Works also sold different sort of precute bases and multibases as announced in the rulebook page 8, but there is no evidence those bases have ever been released.
When Folio Works went out of business around 1992, the rights to the miniatures were acquired by Mayhem Miniatures, and later to Kennington Miniatures when they were purchased by this company in 2000 and some of the miniatures are still available to purchase online (mainly Ogres and Urucks, also scenery packs).
That said, Alternative Armies still has the old molds and some of the miniatures, if not all, can be cast on demand.
scenery packs have been released and were cataloged in the Games Quarterly Catalog (with a typo: Barrels is spelled Varrels) and advertised and pictured in the first issue of Red Giant magazine. Some of them are also depicted in the rulebook, as long with heroes. Each pack were sold £2.95. This range is still available online.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
miniatures game released in 1990 by Folio Works. It was written by Ian Bailey and Gary Chalk who also did the illustrations.
The game was designed and published by two ex-Games Workshop
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
(GW) employees who disagreed with the much more commercial direction that company was taking. It was supposed to rival the Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
game that GW published.
Fantasy Warlord featured some unusual game mechanics such as simultaneous movement, an original command and control system (units are organised into brigades commanded by characters) and fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
rules. It also featured balanced magic
Magic (gaming)
Some role-playing games or game systems can include a set of rules that are used to portray magic in the paranormal sense. These rules simulate the effects that magic would have within the game context, according to how the game designer intended the magic to be portrayed...
and troop choice systems. However the balance within the combat system reduced the opportunity to generate dramatic victories.
Much like Warhammer, the game had its own fantasy world, called Vortimax, in which the battles were imagined to take place. There was also a related range of Fantasy Warlord miniatures cast by Alternative Armies
Alternative Armies
Alternative Armies is a miniature gaming and modeling company located in Scotland. It produces a range of different games and model ranges, the most famous of which is the game of Flintloque.-Games Based in The World Of Valon:...
, and a magazine called Red Giant.
The game went out of print 18 months after first publication. Some supplements were expected, such as Armies of Vortimax (expected in 1992) Besieged or Fantasy Warlord Command Pack, but none were released. Only two issues of Red Giant magazine were released. Folio Works Ltd. was dissolved on February the 11th, 1993.
Content
Fantasy Warlord is a single softback book of 192-pages mostly printed in black and white with a Gary Chalk front cover. The book is divided in two parts: the first one covers the game's rules and the second part describes the fantasy world of Vortimax, where the battles take place. 16 pull-out soft cards are attached at the back of the book, one for each racial type plus templates and orders counters.The book contains many illustrations from Gary Chalk and photographs that illustrate troop's formations, movements, etc.
Determining the abilities of troop is easy: you choose their morale class (A = veterans, B = trained or C = militia) weapons and armour from 11 different races (Human, Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs...). Monsters (flying or not), pack animals and daemons were also available. More races were expected in the supplement Armies of Vortimax.
Generation of heroes or wizards is more time consuming. There are six types of characters: Warrior Heroes, Priests, Warrior Priests, Magic-users, Thieves and Discipline Masters. Skills and attributes are determined by their level of experience: they could be Minor, Major or Master.
Nearly sixty magic artifacts or weapons and more than 100 spells are available to equip characters.
Each turn is divided into 11 phases. Unlike Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
, movements are made simultaneously, the players using counters to issue orders. Units are organised into brigades which are commanded by characters. As the game progresses, characters gradually lose control of their brigades, as they would do in real battlefield.
The combat system is not based on rolling handful of dices and random results but relies on strategy and tactics, movements, balanced races, unit control in order to determine the outcome of the battle.
The book was sold $29.99 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and £13,95 in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
.
Book One: The Rules
The first part of the rulebook is divided into 12 chapters:- Introduction
- Creating an army
- Army organisation
- Into battle
- Orders
- Movement
- Battlefield terrain
- Missile fire
- Combat
- Morale
- Magic
- Tactical hints & terrain generation
Book Two: The World of Vortimax
The second part of the rulebook offers a background for Fantasy Warlord and contains descriptions of geography, history and realms of Vortimax and races that could be played.Supplements
At least 3 supplements were anticipated, but none of them were printed.- Armies of Vortimax, expected in 1992
- Besieged, adding rules for war machines and siege
- Fantasy Warlord Command Pack
Critical Reaction
Fantasy Warlord was not well received by critics, citing problems ranging from the racial-types not affecting melee, movement being overly complicated, and the cover artwork being "garish".According to Gary Chalk in a recent interviewGary Chalk Interview , October 2011 - http://doggysdoings.blogspot.com/2011/10/gary-chalk-interview.html, producing Fantasy Warlord cost him a lot of money and the stress. Ian and him misjudged the market dominated by Games Workshop's products and gamers did not well receive a game that used pseudo-military tactics to determine the outcome of fantasy battles.
In addition to this, the launch coincided with the release of Grenadier's Fantasy Warriors wargame.
Red Giant magazine
Red Giant was a fantasy magazine published by Folio Works Ltd. which covered historical or fantasy wargamers, role-players, computer games, play by mail, or live role-playing. Unlike White DwarfWhite Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
(WD) published by its competitor Games Workshop, Red Giant was not intend to support exclusively Fantasy Warlord or High Command games, but was a response to what Games Workshop and other editors did to the business, according to the company.
Just like White Dwarf did in early ages of its existence, Red Giant made room for many games, such as AD&D, Runequest
RuneQuest
RuneQuest is a fantasy role-playing game first published in 1978 by Chaosium, created by Steve Perrin and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. RuneQuest was notable for its original gaming system and for its verisimilitude in adhering to an original fantasy world...
, Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)
Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos.The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium.-Setting:...
, Warhammer Fantasy Role-play and many others.
Actually, Red Giant was a sarcastic title, the exact opposite of White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
, run by Games Workshop. In his first editorial, Tom Sage described WD as "[one of the] magazines exclusive to their product range."
The magazine went out of print after only two issues.
Red Giant volume 1 number 1
In this issue...- Words of Wisdom - Editorial by Tom Sage
- Brymstone - A role-playing city-setting imagined by Robert Dale with David Grice, plus stats for AD&D and Runequest
- Mummerset Revisited - Background for Call of Cthulhu by Marcus L. Rowland
- Dreams & Role-playing - John Treadway proposes new dimensions for role-playing adventure
- A Game of Chess - Fantasy Fiction by D.C. Pedgrift
- Escape to Arnesdon - A table-top or role-playing campaign by Gary Chalk
- The Silver Moon - A tavern tussle for AD&D and Warhammer Fantasy Role-play by Harold Cheese with photographs from Gary Chalk's collection
- Clash of Champions - Heroic single combat for Fantasy Warlord and other table-top rules by Ian Bailey
- Sunstroke - SF skirmish scenario with stats for Warhammer 40,000 and LaserburnLaserburnLaserburn is a set of wargaming rules written by Bryan Ansell in 1980. Written for use with 15mm sci-fi figures, but also playable with 25mm figures, the laserburn set of rules, published by Tabletop games, is set in a universe where man has reached the stars and the highest pinnacles of technology...
by Rowena Dell
Red Giant volume 1 number 2
In this issue...- The Brymstone Campaign - Robert Dale presents a series of episodes set in and around the town of Brymstone with stats for AD&D ans Runequest
- Not much Drinkin' Goin' On - Taprhum Korrespondent explains the attraction of bar room brawls
- Boo! Hurrah! Scribble, Whinge. - Tom Sage reviews your letters
- Dogs of War - Background for mercenaries in fantasy role-playing and table-top games by D.C. Pedgrift
- Treachery - A Fantasy Warlord Mercenary scenario by Ian Bailey
- Celtic Conversions - Practical tips on simple figure conversions by Mark Allen
- The Library of Altinum - An adventure for AD&D by Jon Chandler
- The Rock Shark Caper - Introducing Serb Cravatte, Cosmit-i in a solve-it-yourself investigation by D.C. Pedgrift
- Money, Money, Money - Jim Webster's template scenario offers characters quick cash but at a price
- In Depth Review - Gary Elison reviews Fantasy Warlord
Miniatures Range
Folio Works launched a full range of 28 mm metal miniatures simultaneously with the publication of the rulebook, produced under license exclusively by Alternative ArmiesAlternative Armies
Alternative Armies is a miniature gaming and modeling company located in Scotland. It produces a range of different games and model ranges, the most famous of which is the game of Flintloque.-Games Based in The World Of Valon:...
. Some of them have been sculpted by Bob Olley (it is confirmed that FW 8 Dwarfs, FW 5 Urucks and FW 9 Ogres have been designed by him).
Miniatures were sold in two kind of packages: a traditional blistercading and a less common skinpacking which offer a better view and protection of the miniatures during shipping. They were distributed in United States as long as in Great Britain.
The range uses two different codification: one for the characters (heroes and wizards) and troops in "classic" blister packs which consists of five digit and a second kind of code for the troops, shields and weapons prefixed with FW letters and followed by two digit, the first one designing the range (for instance: 8 for dwarfs).
Characters were sold individually with a weapon and a shield when appropriate. Troops were sold by two to five miniatures per blister, shields and weapons were cast separately to let the player chooses his troop's weapons easily. Single blisters were sold £0.80 (£1.50 for bigger miniatures such as Ogre Hero), Multipacks £2.95 and Weapon packs £1.50.
Folio Works also sold different sort of precute bases and multibases as announced in the rulebook page 8, but there is no evidence those bases have ever been released.
When Folio Works went out of business around 1992, the rights to the miniatures were acquired by Mayhem Miniatures, and later to Kennington Miniatures when they were purchased by this company in 2000 and some of the miniatures are still available to purchase online (mainly Ogres and Urucks, also scenery packs).
That said, Alternative Armies still has the old molds and some of the miniatures, if not all, can be cast on demand.
Characters
- 20000 Hero of the Merchant Kingdoms
- 20400 Hero of the Scarlet Empire
- 20300 Hero of the Carylls
- 20910 Western Wizard
- 20911 Eastern Wizard
- 20940 Western Warrior Priest
- 22000 Dwarf Hero
- 22910 Dwarf Wizard
- 23000 Western Goblin Hero
- 23910 Western Goblin Wizard
- 24000 Western Orc Hero
- 24910 Western Orc Wizard
- 24901 Eastern Orc Hero
- 24950 Western Orc Discipline Master
- 21000 Elven Hero
- 26000 Ogre Hero
Weapons Pack
- 30001 Western Weapons
- 30002 Eastern Weapons
- 30003 Dwarf Weapons
- 30004 Goblin + Orc Weapons
- 30005 Elven Weapons
Multipack Troops
- 10000 Merchant Kingdoms Soldiers (5)
- 10300 Soldiers of Carylls (5)
- 10400 Scarlet Empire Soldiers (5)
- 11000 High Elves (5)
- 11500 Wood Elves (5)
- 12000 Dwarf Warriors (5)
- 13000 Western Goblins (5)
- 14000 Western Uruks (5)
- 14600 Eastern Orcs (5)
- 16100 Ogres (2)
Letters + numbers miniatures range
- FW 1/1 Western Men At Arms (3)
- FW 1/2 Northern Barbarians (3)
- FW 1/3 Men At Arms (?)
- FW 2/1 Wood Elves (3)
- FW 3/1 High Elves (3)
- FW 3/2 High Elves (?)
- FW 4/1 Eastern Orcs BS (with bows) (3)
- FW 4/2 Eastern Orcs (3)
- FW 5/1 Western Orcs BS (with bows) (3)
- FW 5/2 Uruck Command (2)
- FW 5/3 Uruck Warriors 1 (2)
- FW 5/4 Uruck Warriors 2 (2)
- FW 5/5 Uruck Warriors 3 (2)
- FW 5/6 Uruck Warriors 4 (2)
- FW 6/1 Eastern Goblin Bowmen (3)
- FW 6/2 Armoured Pigriders (2)
- FW 6/3 Unarmoured Pigriders (2)
- FW 7/1 Western Goblins BS (with bows) (3)
- FW 8/1 Dwarf Xbows (3)
- FW 8/2 Dwarf Gunners (3)
- FW 8/3 Dwarfs in Mail (3)
- FW 8/4 Dwarfs in Mail & Plate (3)
- FW 8/5 Dwarfs in Plate (3)
- FW 9/1 Ogre Hero (1)
- FW 9/2 Ogre Necromancer (1)
- FW 9/3 Ogre Hunter (1)
- FW 9/4 Ogre Warrior (1)
- FW 20/1 Small Kite Shields (Dwarf Shields) (15)
- FW 20/2 Dwarf Weapons (12)
- FW 20/3 Large Round Shields (9)
- FW 20/4 Small Round Shields (15)
Fantasy Warlord Scenery Packs
Five resinResin casting
Resin casting is a method of plastic casting where a mold is filled with a liquid synthetic resin, which then hardens. It is primarily used for small scale production like industrial prototypes and dentistry...
scenery packs have been released and were cataloged in the Games Quarterly Catalog (with a typo: Barrels is spelled Varrels) and advertised and pictured in the first issue of Red Giant magazine. Some of them are also depicted in the rulebook, as long with heroes. Each pack were sold £2.95. This range is still available online.
- 501 Stone Walls
- 502 Wooden Fences
- 503 Rune Stones
- 504 Barrels and Boxes
- 505 Shrine
