The RPG Consoler: Game 28: Warsong (Genesis) - Dive Head First Into the Fray

Unacceptable! *reset*

Warsong has a fairly standard rule-set for combat that it throws away about halfway through the game: soldiers > archer > horseman > soldier is a staple for the first half of the game. I understand shaking it up with some variety, but when my horsemen attack enemy soldiers and get wiped out 10 - 7 the game fundamentally changed.

Like these... what are they weak against?

In the 10th scenario Garett decided to lead the charge against Pythion. On his way to Dalsis he found castle Ualk, the last stronghold before Dalsis. This map had an obvious ambush, and even though I anticipated it, I still lost Sabra to a single rogue enemy archer while she was at 8 HP. I misjudged the enemy's mobility, a factor that's not directly shown to the player. Had it been Bayard or Tiberon, I probably wouldn't have reset immediately. But, I really wanted to keep Sabra for her Dragon Knight class, which I didn't know at the time was already not an option. This time knowing exactly where they would I appear, I set a counterattack. Still nearly lost Mina. In the end I had to resort to using Garett, now the king class, to finish off some archers as soldiers just weren't cutting it.

Go wait in those mountains away from the castle. Reason? Oh, just because...

One of my biggest pet-peeves, and I think I mentioned it before, is the fact the unit AI is dumb. Beyond that though, I have to switch it to manual every single map, for each general. I really wish this setting was stored. The biggest issue with letting the AI move units around is their pattern, even if they're a damaged unit right next to their general. Also, if they happen to move directly next to an enemy, they'll initiate an attack no matter the match-up. There are four options for the AI: move, attack, defend, and manual. Every map it defaults to move, and I haven't tried the other two.

That one enemy unit just barely in range to attack Sabra... still stings

At the end of the 10th scenario Carleon joined, and I found a magic wand. At last, the army arrived at Dalsis in full force. I prepared my units anticipating a tough battle, but I hardly expected the beating I received. It was as if the enemy units were pumped up on power pills. Garett and Mina barely slipped by on the bottom left side as Lance appeared once again; at the same time flying monsters attracted by Warsong arrived. The battle consisted of holding choke points at the four corners as I slowly whittled the forces down. I had Garett and Mina climb over a wall to escape the general I knew they had no chance of defeating. Calais, with the help of Tiberon, managed to make her way to the center; the goal of the map was simply to get Garett there. I thought that meant the pool of water, but any tile on the center island seemed to end the map.

Garett arrives just before the flying units to the north descend

By the end of the 12th scenario I was dreading the difficulty would continue. This one was by far the worst (at least to the point I am now). Seeing two entrances to the castle throne room, Garett decided to split the party. The map started with four of my generals in one room surrounded by two mages capable of devastating spells, two other generals, and Pythion (who thankfully didn't move). The key to surviving that was to take the loss of potential experience and bait the mages into a situation where I could take them out next turn. Killing a commander removes all the units assigned to them. I managed to do this with Carleon's archers, on my second attempt. The first was met with severe failure as I lost Mina and Calais due to some poor planning, and would have quickly lost everyone else. Sabra gained her second class change here, and I realized I misread her path to dragon knight; it's through lord, so I made her a grand knight. Mina also finally gained a rank up to priestess, and gained access to monks, which are useful against undead (a unit type I have yet to see). In the end, I took it slow against Pythion, and retrieved Warsong and an evil axe.

No, no, I just killed you, no returning

Before ending the night I took a peek at the 13th map to make sure I wasn't blindsided by anything. When I returned to the game, I placed Calais and Mina with guardsmen to take out the two groups of slimes. This was the first map with a chest. In it was a mirror that prevented the basilisks on the map from turning the commanders to stone. I also found the setting for game speed: it only affects the speed the computer selects units to move, but setting it to fast has already had a noticeable effect. Once the mirror was retrieved, any commanders turned to stone returned to flesh, including Lance, now a dragon knight and fighting on our side. Another new monster, ants, made an appearance on this map, and bucks the trend of unit classes. At the end of the map we picked up the amulet of power. I'm really not sure if these items do anything beyond adjusting stats.

At least I got to see what the Dragon Knight class is capable of once Lance joined

Map 14 started the party in a town with a single werewolf in the middle. Killing it triggered more to appear from the forest. Strangely only six commanders were available for this map. There are two friendly generals with citizens, and despite the announcements for all citizens to retreat towards the center of town, they didn't move an inch from the corners.

This doesn't look like a trap at all~

The oppressive difficulty thankfully took a respite during the past couple maps, and continued into the 15th scenario. Even though I was again using a reduced army (only four generals allowed), and a nearly invulnerable dragon bearing down on another town of civilians, it seemed much more manageable than 11 or 12. Seems each map is limited to eight friendly generals, so I only had access to four of my own because there were three groups of citizens, and an efreet I needed to summon to defeat the dragon. A dragon knight would have been helpful to summon it right away, but I decided against it in favor of some experience for my own units. Lance is already stuck at level 9 like Baldarov (RIP).

Guess whose fire is stronger

With the dragon weakened, Garett decided it was best to hunt it down now before it had a chance to fully recover. Map 16 found the party inside the dragon's lair. With groups of monsters again, including slimes, and a burgeoning point bank thanks to my stingy unit assignments, I decided to go full force on this map. In the end, against the dragon, it came down to generals with high attack power. Even Calais with 33 attack couldn't scratch it. Bayard, still a lowly knight, opened a chest with a dragon slayer sword; however, he wasn't that strong to begin with, so I really wish Sabra or Garett would have opened the chest.

Oh, and the sword disappeared once the dragon died

The dragon was by far the hardest single unit I've faced. Multiple times I barely scratched it, at great loss to my generals HP, only to have it heal up before I could attack again. It took Bayard with the dragon slayer, Sabra just being a herself with the great sword, and Tiberon (now a knight master) with the evil axe. I'd already burned through Garett's, Mina's, and Carleon's healing, and I had to wait for Thorne to maneuver around the backside for additional healing. It took three rounds of attacks and healing to finally put the dragon down without any losses. I advanced Calais to arch mage rather than magic knight. Someone in chat mentioned a ranger class for Mina, Calais, and Sabra on that line, but I stuck to my original plan rather than following the spoiler. The ranger class is apparently like a superhero class where they don't have any units, but are extremely powerful.

Random soldiers sometimes join in the dialogue

Hidden in the dragon's roost was an ancient rune tablet. Inscribed was the story of Ganelon, a magic knight, who used evil to take control of the land. A knight of light, Galafron from Elthlead, fought the evil with his sword: Warsong. With it he sealed the evil in the land of Seneferia. Garett determined that was a good place to try to thwart this rising evil. Pretty sure I'm walking right into their hands delivering the key to their release.