Legend Wars: The Return of the Shadow

More than a century ago, it was the humans king - Phinneas - who brought peace to the war ridden continent Nas Morte - the continent of fog.
Under his supervision the leaders of orcs, elves and humans met and signed a peace contract: They divided the continent into three pieced - each inhabited by one race. That was the plan - and somehow it worked.
Phinneas - who was from now on called the Wise King - got another name by influential members of the army: The Weak King.

But these times are over now. The dark clouds of war once more begin to cover the lands. The peace - paid with blood and pain - is about to break. A dark force is again about to take reign over this world...

General Mallorn got news about orcs being seen in the Southern Kingdom - the kingdom belonging to the elves. He is very nervous about it - why are the orcs about to break the peace contract signed so long ago? He decides to investigate the case.

In the role of a young officer, you'll follow General Mallorn. Find out what's going on and be ready to defend your peoples realm against the dark forces!

DownloadDownload

Download

Here you find the download links and installation instructions for Legend Wars: The Return of the Shadow. The current version of Legend Wars is 0.5.0.1.

Legend Wars is released under the terms of the GNU GPL v.3 (source code) and Creative Commons "by-sa" (game contents). By downloading and installing it, you agree to the terms of these licenses.

Table of Contents

  1. Download overview
  2. Installation: Windows NT 5
  3. Installation: Linux 32/64 bit
  4. Installation: Compiling Legend Wars from the sources

Download overview

You can find a overview over all downloads here.

Installation: Windows NT 5

This is for users of Windows XP and (probably) 2000. Legend Wars has only be tested on XP. If you are using another version of Windows, please let us know.

  • Step 1: Download the Legend Wars installer.
  • Step 2: Start the installer. It will guide you through the installation steps.
  • Step 3: Now you can start the game!

Notice for Windows Vista users and users of Windows machines with tightened security settings
If you use Windows Vista or if you have a user account with limited privileges, you have to do a little workaround. For more infos, consult the game manual.

Installation: Linux 32/64 bit

This is for users of Linux 32bit or Linux 64bit systems. Legend Wars runs in X. You will also need the following additional libraries to be installed on your system:

  • libSDL-1.2.so
  • libSDL_mixer-1.2.so

Installation steps:

  • Step 1: Download the Legend Wars pre-compiled packages for your system. Legend Wars is available as a 32bit and a 64bit version. Please make sure that you choose the appropriate version for your system.
  • Step 2: Unpack the file:
    tar -xf legendwars-foc-YOURARCH-linux-VERSION.tar.gz
  • Step 3: Now go into the archive and run the install script there:
    cd legendwars
    sh install.sh
    #an alternative would be...
    su -c "sh install.sh"

    This will install Legend Wars either in your home directory (~/bin/NoManGames-Legend_Wars) or in /usr/local/games/NoManGames-Legend_Wars.
  • Step 4: Now you can start Legend Wars. The script will attempt to create a link in your program menu. The script will also create startup scripts, so that you can start the game in a console by typing "legendwars".

Installation: Compiling Legend Wars from the sources

Will follow soon.

Gameplay

Legend Wars: The Return of the Shadow is a 2D, round based, fantasy strategy game. It takes place in a world inhabited by elves, orcs, humans and other races.

Legend Wars: The Return of the Shadow -- Screenshot: First mission: This is a shot from the very first mission.Legend Wars: The Return of the Shadow -- Screenshot: First mission: This is a shot from the very first mission.
Basic gameplay
After you started a mission you find yourself on a 2D map. On this map you'll do everything needed to win: Selecting troops, let them move and attack the enemy, take over "cities" of the enemy or neutral ones and ordering new troops.

The level system
In Legend Wars, every troop has an own level. Every troop starts with level 1. Always, when a troop is in a battle and an enemy is destroyed, it gains experience points (EXP). When a troop has enough EXP, it's level increases by one, resulting in more Health Points (HP) and improved status values.

The status values
Every troop is characterized by a set of values. The probably most important is the HP value. If the HP value goes down to zero (by being attacked by the enemy) the troop is destroyed. But there are also some other important values:
Every troop has an attack and a defence value for close combat and distant attacks. These values influence how much damage a troop can do upon an enemy and also how much HP damage it takes by an enemy's attack. At last, there are two values determining how far a troop can travel per round (way points per day) and (if it is able to attack from distance) how far away an enemy can be to be attackable.

Legend Wars: The Return of the Shadow -- Screenshot: Story: This is a screenshot from the story screen.Legend Wars: The Return of the Shadow -- Screenshot: Story: This is a screenshot from the story screen.

Other useful infos for strategists
Beneath the core status of a troop, there are also some other points to consider. For example the landscape! On grass or sand your troops can travel very fast, but are also a good target for the enemy. On the other side, in forests or mountains your troops will be slow and spend a lot of their way points; however they'll take much less damage on enemy's attacks.
You should also consider the weapon types used by the different troop types. For example footmen are pretty effective against each other, but they'll be lost if commanded to fight alone against tanks and jets. In Legend Wars there are three types of "effectiveness": Very Effective, Effective and Not Effective. You'll see the level of effectiveness either in a troops status popup menu (by moving the cursor right over the troop and holding it there for a second) or by the color of the damage numbers over the attacked troops head.
At last you should consider the current HP value of your troops and their levels. Loosing a troop with a high level is much worse than loosing a troop at level one or two. To rescue a hurt troop, you can redraw it from the front lines and command it to go to a city. Whenever a troop is stationed in a city, it gains 10% of it's maximal HP per round. So, after 10 days a troop is fully healed. Also, a troop is fully healed whenever it's level increases.