War of the Lance (video game)

War of the Lance is a strategy game developed by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1989, based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dragonlance campaign setting. The gameplay is based on the War of the Lance in the Dragonlance series.

Gameplay
War of the Lance is presented in a top-down view. In single player mode, the player plays the Whitestone side to fight the evil forces of the Highlord (controlled by the computer). In a two-player game, the second player will play the Highlord forces.

This game is a turn-based strategy game. The player controls various units and heroes of an army against enemy forces. The game can be won in two ways. The player can win by controlling the enemy capitals (Highlord capital is Neraka and the Whitestone capitals are the four Knight countries (Solanthus, Caergoth, Gunthar, and Northern Ergoth) plus the Clerist Tower near Palanthus. If neither side can capture the enemy capitals by the end of the game (which is Mar/Apr 354), the side with more points (calculated from the size of their forces) wins. Each game year has 5 turns.

Plot
The game can be played with two starting points. The Campaign game starts in the beginning of year 348, with the Highlord controlling Neraka only and the Whitestone alliance has not even formed yet. The Whitestone player will need to build it up from scratch.

The Scenario game starts in year 349 with each side having a few countries and the Whitestone player will start in the heat of things. In particular, one of your countries, the elven Silvanesti, will be sieged by a swarm of dragons and troops.

Reception
The game was reviewed in 1990 in Dragon #158 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.

According to GameSpy, War of the Lance is "a proud addition to SSI's legacy" and "is still fun to play today".