Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade

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Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade
Cover art.
Developer(s) New World Computing
Publisher(s) The 3DO Company
Designer(s) Jon Van Caneghem (creator)
Jeff Blattner (producer)
David Mullich (director)
Greg Fulton (designer)
Latest version 2.2
Release date(s) United States September 30, 1999
Genre(s) Turn-based strategy
Mode(s) Single player, single-system multiplayer, or network play
Rating(s) ESRB: Everyone
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Macintosh ("Heroes III Complete" only)
Media 1 CD-ROM
System requirements 133 MHz CPU, 32 MB RAM, 100 MB available hard disk space, DirectX 7.0, Windows 95 or higher, an installed copy of Heroes of Might and Magic III
Input Keyboard and mouse

Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade is the first of two expansion packs for the turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic III. It was developed by New World Computing for Microsoft Windows and released by the 3DO Company in 1999.

Contents

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Armageddon's Blade serves as a sequel to the events of The Restoration of Erathia. As the kingdom of Erathia struggles to rebuild following the restoration wars, the Kreegans of Eeofol launch a surprise invasion. Already war-weary, the forces of Queen Catherine are no match for the formidable Kreegan army, and defeat seems certain until a mysterious new ally appears in the form of the Conflux towns.

Unlike The Restoration of Erathia or The Shadow of Death (the second expansion pack), only one of the six new campaigns available in Armageddon's Blade directly concerns the new storyline. The other campaigns are standalone stories which take place in the same game world.

  • Armageddon's Blade tells the story of Queen Catherine Ironfist, her husband Roland Ironfist, and their loyal elven warrior Gelu as they seek the Armageddon's Blade – a powerful weapon created by the demon king Lucifer Kreegan in order to set the world on fire. Following the defeat of Lucifer, the Blade is passed to Gelu.
  • Dragon's Blood tells the story of Mutare, a dungeon overlord, and her acension to the throne of the dungeon kingdom.
  • Dragon Slayer tells the story of Dracon, a dragon slayer, as he goes about his daily life of exterminating dragons. This campaign is probably the most difficult one of the game.
  • Festival of Life tells of Kilgor's struggle for the position of barbarian chieftain of the kingdom of Krewlod.
  • Playing with Fire tells the story of Adrienne, a witch, who returns to her home to find it under assault by the forces of the undead Lord Haart.
  • Foolhardy Waywardness is a bonus campaign that becomes accessible only after all of the other campaigns have been completed. It tells the story of Christian, an Erathian knight shipwrecked on an unfamiliar island. Foolhardy Waywardness may be loosely based on a campaign from Heroes II that had a similar story.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Campaigns

[edit] Armageddon's Blade

  • Catherine's Charge
  • Shadows of the Forest
  • Seeking Armageddon
  • Maker of Sorrows
  • Return of the King
  • A Blade in the Back
  • To Kill A Hero
  • Oblivion's Edge

[edit] Dragon's Blood

  • Culling the Weak
  • Savaging the Scavengers
  • Blood of the Dragon Father
  • Blood Thirsty

[edit] Dragon Slayer

  • Crystal Dragons
  • Rust Dragons
  • Faerie Dragons
  • Azure Dragons

[edit] Festival of Life

  • Razor Claw
  • Taming of the wild
  • Clan War
  • For the Throne

[edit] Playing with Fire

  • Farming Towns
  • March of the Undead
  • Burning of Tatalia

[edit] Foolhardy Waywardness

  • Lost at Sea
  • Their End at the Bargain
  • Here There Be Pirates
  • Hurry Up and Wait

[edit] Gameplay changes

The biggest addition to Armageddon's Blade is the introduction of the Conflux alignment. This is a full alignment with an associated town, two classes of heroes - the planeswalkers (the might hero) and the elementalists (the magic hero), and 14 monsters. The town is themed around various elements present in the game: fire, water, air and earth. Each of the elements has two corresponding monsters in the alignment (some of them were also present in The Restoration of Erathia). The creatures are pixie, air elemental, water elemental, fire elemental, earth elemental, psychic elemental and firebird. The upgrade creatures are sprite, storm elemental, ice elemental, energy elemental, magma elemental, magic elemental, phoenix.

Also new were several "neutral" (that is, unaligned with any of the eight playable factions) monsters, many of which, such as peasants, boars, and halflings, had first appeared in Heroes of Might and Magic II. Eleven new heroes and two new artifacts – the Armageddon's Blade and the Vial of Dragonblood – are introduced, both of which play a major role in the new campaigns. Several new map objects, including special quest towers that only allow passage if the hero meets certain criteria defined by the author of the map, also appear here for the first time.

A customizable random map generator included with the expansion allows players to automatically create random scenario maps using a variety of templates and settings. The random map generator has proven very popular in multiplayer games. Finally, a standalone campaign editor packaged with the game allows for the composition of new campaigns from individual scenario maps.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Might and Magic franchise
Might and Magic I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX
Heroes of Might and Magic I:ASQ | II:TSW | II:TPoL | III:TRoE | III:AB | III:TSoD | Heroes Chronicles | IV | IV:TGS | IV:WoW | V | V:HoF
Spinoffs and related titles Arcomage | King's Bounty | Quest for the DragonBone Staff | Crusaders | Warriors | Legends | Dark Messiah | MM Mobile | HoMM Online
Fanmade titles Swords of Xeen
CCGs Heroes IV
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