====== 1. INTRODUCTION ====== **//"The fireball arched across the sky, glowing and spluttering through the dark clouds. Then, as the wizard lowered his hand, the fireball plummeted down onto the dwarven guards who lined the brow of Kharad Hill. A triumphant roar rose from the waiting orcs and they hammered their weapons against shields and armour. Then the crack of whips and angry commands changed the orc cries to curses, as the Discipline Masters began to drive them forward toward the shattered dwarf lines.//** **//As the orcs drew near King Dernil’s dwarven guards, they could make out the carnage wreaked by their wizard's fireball and began to smell the sweet scent of death. The battle fury, which Gorghutgave to all orcs, began to boil in their blood and with screams of anger they charged, leaping across the bodies of the slain with murder in their eyes. But even as they charged a strange rumble began to shake the ground. Suddenly, to the right a pillar of light spiralled into the sky and over the brow of the hill, swords drawn, came two regiments of Caryllian cavalry. With cries of fear, the orcs nearest the light began to flee back down the hill. But the Urucks, battle-hardened and grim, stood their ground, lowering their spears and raising blood stained shields to receive the cavalry charge."//** {{ ::tumblr_97b0ea64f94c628f083b4f6c5cca8206_e6326bef_1280.jpg?400 |}} Such is the turn of battle in the world of **FANTASY WARLORD(tm)**, where brave deeds are called for and great generals are in eternal demand. Now you can become one of those generals, and raise your troops to either sweep the forces of darkness from the face of the land, or bring fire and destruction to all who oppose the banners of darkness! FANTASY WARLORD is a system which allows you to fight great battles between fantasy armies, with anything from just ten (all characters) to over two thousand troops on each side. It contains information on all the key races from humans, elves and dwarfs to ogres, trolls, orcs and goblins. You can even have dragons and giants at your command, if that is your desire! FANTASY WARLORD offers you one of the most comprehensive and fastest fantasy combat systems available. It features two types of battle tested magic, over 100 spells and nearly sixty magic artifacts and weapons, to add colour and power to your armies. FANTASY WARLORD also contains unique command and control rules and a fast combat system that rewards good generalship and ensures that never again will you have to roll a bucketful of dice just to resolve one combat! ===== EQUIPMENT ===== To play FANTASY WARLORD you will need the following equipment, in addition to this book: * A table or floor to place your armies on * Some scenery to decorate the battlefield with * At least two fantasy armies made up of 25mm metal or plastic figures * A set of dice * At least one metric ruler ==== SCENERY ==== Scenery to place on a battlefield is not essential but does make games more interesting. If you are just starting you can use books for hills and lay a green cloth over them. Alternatively you can make hills out of polystyrene ceiling tiles or even chipboard. You can buy rubberised lichen from most model stores to use for bushes or hedges and model trees to denote woods (or you can make your own!). There is also a growing range of FANTASY WARLORD SCENERY packs which contain such things as stone walls, wooden fences, runestones, shrines etcetera. Articles on how to build and use scenery are featured regularly in the magazine RED GIANT. ===== FIGURES ===== You can build up armies out of metal or plastic figures, which are available from all good gaming stores. The best figures to use are FANTASY WARLORD MINIATURES because they tie in directly with the world of Vortimax and are carefully crafted so they can be armed with the weapons you want! Buy figures where ever possible in unit quantities, and plan your purchases in advance so you end up with a balanced army (see chapter 2 for more information on the make up of different armies). Try to build up armies in conjunction with your friends or club members, to ensure you can fight with as many different races as possible. Figures should be painted before you play with them. You will find playing with painted figures is more enjoyable and a painted army will be the envy of all your friends! Advice on how to paint figures will be featured regularly in the magazine RED GIANT. Each figure comes with its own base, but it is best to glue them onto larger card bases, so they stand up better on the wargames table and take up the correct amount of space. The size of base you should use for each figure is listed on the profile sheets, which you will find at the back of this book. Take care to use the profile sheet that matches the race of the figure you have purchased, as base sizes can vary. Characters (important figures such as heroes and generals) should always be mounted individually. But ordinary soldiers are best mounted either singly, or in twos, threes or fours. Groups of more than four figures can be made but are difficult to use when you need to form up troops on the table in columns, lines or hedgehogs! Multibases, i.e. those bases with more than one figure glued on them, ensure you can move your figures faster around the table and are less fiddly than individually based figures. As you look through the pictures in this book you will see many examples of different multibases. If you want to base your soldiers on multibases, you can either buy precut FANTASY WARLORD bases from FOLIO WORKS or gaming stores, or you can buy sheets of card and cut them up to the correct sizes. If you buy your own card, make sure it is thick or your figures will bend it. Advice on how to base figures is featured in the magazine RED GIANT. The base sizes given on the profile sheets are single base sizes only. If you want to use a multibase simply multiply the figures given on the profile sheets by the number of figures required. For instance if you want to base some goblins in a block of four, as the size of one base is 20mm x 20mm, the multibase will need to be 40mm x 40 mm. Such a base will allow you to have two goblins at the front and two at the back. ===== DICE ===== FANTASY WARLORD uses a number of different types of dice which can all be purchased from good game stores. The types of dice are as follows: **D3** - A D3 is in fact a six-sided dice marked 1 — 3 twice. If you cannot find a proper D3 you can use a D6 but each time you roll it, you must remember that a 1 or 2 = 1, a 3 or 4 = 2 and a 5 or 6 = 3. **D4** - This is usually a dice with four sides marked 1 — 4. However you can also buy eight sided dice marked 1—4 twice and these are more easy to roll and nicer to use. **D6** - This is a normal six sided die marked 1 — 6. **D8** - This is an eight sided die marked 1 — 8. **D100** - D100s are used to roll numbers between 1 and 100. 100 sided dice are available but the best thing to use are two D10 dice. These are dice marked 0—9. You will need two of these and they should be different colours. To roll a number between 1 and 100 with two D10s, you must first designate one of the dice to be the 'tens', then you roll both dice and read off your score. For instance, if you had one red and one white die, you could name the red one 'tens' and then roll them. If you got a 1 on the red and a 9 on the white your score would be 19%. If you rolled a5 on the red and a 4 on the white your score would be 54%, if you rolled a zero on the red and a 2 on the white your score would be 2%. The tenth number on a D10 is normally a zero rather than a ten. If you roll two zeros you will have scored 100%, otherwise a zero counts as exactly 0. It speeds up games if each commander has his own dice. ===== RULERS ===== All measurements in FANTASY WARLORD are given in millimetres or centimetres and you will need a ruler or better still a tape measure which features metric measurements. It speeds up a game if each commander has his own ruler. ---- [[creating-an-army|CHAPTER 2. CREATING AN ARMY]]