History VideoGame / KingArthurTheRolePlayingWargame

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games (later the creators of ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleAdventuresOfVanHelsing'') based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in a Britain divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]] The gameplay of the main campaign more strongly favors the real-time battles with its units' varied capabilities and heroes' magic compared to ''VideoGame/TotalWar'''s empire management, with the gameplay following hard-coded plot quests that your armies undergo rather than players going about their conquering goals entirely of their own accord. However, the 2 [=DLC=] campaigns (featuring the Saxons and the Welsh respectively) offer a "sand-box" experience.

* ForcedTutorial: The main campaign of the first game has this; you cannot even ''recruit troops'' until you [[spoiler:meet the Lady of the Lake and restore Excalibur]], and you cannot build new structures or conduct research until you [[spoiler: establish a stronghold]].

* BribingYourWayToVictory: Downplayed, but there are [=DLC=] for the main campaign of the first game which allows you to recruit additional troop types and heroes once you reach certain thresholds.

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games (later the creators of ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleAdventuresOfVanHelsing'') based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in a Britain divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]] The gameplay of the main campaign more strongly favors the real-time battles with its units' varied capabilities and heroes' magic compared to ''VideoGame/TotalWar'''s empire management, with the gameplay following hard-coded plot quests that your armies undergo rather than players going about their conquering goals entirely of their own accord. However, the 2 [=DLC=] campaigns (featuring the Saxons and the Welsh) offer a "sand-box" experience.

While obviously based on Arthurian mythology it diverges fairly widely from versions of the myths. It also features a morality axis that tracks the player's decisions and whether they tend toward [[TheParagon Rightful]] or [[AntiHero Tyrant]] and Christianity or [[Myth/CelticMythology The Old Faith]], unlocking new units and hero abilities based on these leanings.

It has a sequel, which has Arthur becoming gravely wounded in a magical attack, and his son-cum-heir has to re-unite the kingdoms and deal with supernatural threats, the Fomorians.

* AnachronismStew: Good grief, yes. Apart from the usual Arthurian tradition of medieval equipment, terms and attitudes in just post Roman Britain we have units called "Crusaders" centuries before the First Crusade, Irish gods being worshiped in Britain, Christian Saxons long before their widespread conversion and Viking raiders.
** In particular, religion, as the game has the Welsh as the pagans and the invading Saxons as the Christians, in complete reversal of what was the case historically.

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games (later the creators of ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleAdventuresOfVanHelsing'') based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in a Britain divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]] The gameplay of the main campaign more strongly favors the real-time battles with its units' varied capabilities and heroes' magic compared to ''VideoGame/TotalWar'''s empire management, with the gameplay following hard-coded plot quests that your armies undergo rather than players going about their conquering goals entirely of their own accord. However, the 2 [=DLC=] campaigns offer a "sand-box" experience.

* GeoEffects: Anything aside from flat ground affect the troops standing on them. Difficult terrain like forests or water slow units down, consume more stamina to run through, and afflict their combat stats (though more to heavy infantry and cavalry than light infantry). The usual logic of what happens when you run up or down a hill applies, with cavalry gaining momentum faster from going down a hill or losing from going up one. If hidden in a forest for at least minute, units will gain an ambush bonus when the enemy sees them (and the units hopefully start to attack).

It has a sequel, which has Arthur becoming gravely wounded in a magical attack, and his son-cum-heir has to re-unite the kingdoms and deal with supernatural threats.

* TheMagicComesBack: What happened when Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, which caused the Seidhe to come back, and various weird things happen all over Britain. This is part of the reason things are so chaotic.

* NonEntityGeneral: Sort of. The armies are supposedly led by whichever knight is in command. However overall command belongs to Arthur, who never appears in person in any battle.

* KillEmAll: Not normally neeeded. Battles continue until one army's morale meter reaches zero. While heavy causalties is the quickest way to acheive this, other options exist and the morale usually breaks before the entire army is dead anyway.

* OppositesAttract: [[AvertedTrope No they do not.]] Troop types that have an opposing morality in the same army will lower that army's morale rating and thus make it easier to defeat.

* SavageWolves: Wargs are a not uncommen troop type to face in the Orkney/Viking armies.

It has a sequel.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The sequel.

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games (later the creators of ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleAdventuresOfVanHelsing'') based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in a Britain divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]] The gameplay more strongly favors the real-time battles with its units' varied capabilities and heroes' magic compared to ''VideoGame/TotalWar'''s empire management, with the gameplay following hard-coded plot quests that your armies undergo rather than players going about their conquering goals entirely of their own accord.

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games (later the creators of ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleAdventuresOfVanHelsing'') based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in an England divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]] The gameplay more strongly favors the real-time battles with its units' varied capabilities and heroes' magic compared to ''VideoGame/TotalWar'''s empire management, with the gameplay following hard-coded plot quests that your armies undergo rather than players going about their conquering goals entirely of their own accord.

* SituationalSword: The Excalibur. It can't be used as a weapon and its sole power is to bless a site of arcane power and allow you to build a base for government there. There's less than a handful of these sites, so the Excalibur is essentially worthless

* ScrewYouElves: Whichever ending you reach you'll be defeating at least one of the course of the Sidhe and possibly both.

* TheMagicComesBack: What happened when Arthur pulled the sword from the stone.

* AnnoyingArrows: Brutally averted, other than heroes and Giants, nothing matches the hitting power of the various archer classes. Both nonhuman archers are especially devastating and can wipe out even the most heavily armoured armies off the map without much effort. An tickbox to weaken archers was patched into the game.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Morale for an army plummets if the units have incompatible alignment and religion. If you mix enough of these units, your morale can fall so low that the death of a single soldier will cause your army

* WeAreStrugglingTogther: Morale for an army plummets if the units have incompatible alignment and religion. If you mix enough of these units, your morale can fall so low that the death of a single soldier will cause your army

** Unfortunately, knights are only reliably in the front and therefore immediately in combat of Wedge formations. For the other ones...be sure to take a close look at your knight's unit to make sure they'll be fighting whenever you activate skills that are based around themselves.

** Actually all the Knights are this trope. In the logbook, it explains that all the Knights were normal people but either by prayer, studying magic, finding a magical item or creature they have been touched by the supernatural and empowered according to their talents. That's why the Knights have such incredible stats and powers, not CharlesAtlasSuperpower.

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in an England divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]] The gameplay more strongly favours the

It now has a sequel.

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in an England divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]]

* FoeTossingCharge: Cavalry can gain momentum as they gallop, consumed as they reach an enemy unit to immediately cause damage (though also to themselves) and potentially kill lighter infantry.
* GeoEffects: Anything aside from flat ground affect the troops standing on them. Difficult terrain like forests or water slow units down, consume more stamina to run through, and afflict their combat stats (though more to heavy infantry and cavalry than light infantry). The usual logic of what happens when you run up or down a hill applies, with cavalry gaining momentum faster from going down a hill or losing from going up one.

* ScrewYouElves: Whichever ending you reach you'll be defeating at least one of the courst of the Sidhe and possibly both.
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Archers beat light infantry and spearmen (well, with "Weaken archers" on at least), spearmen counter heavy infantry and cavalry, light infantry counter spearmen, heavy infantry and knights rather conflate to counter light infantry, archers and light cavalry (with heavy infantry being more effective against lighter forms of infantry while knights are faster and better at catching archers but lose terribly against spearmen), and light cavalry counters archers but is most useful for their speed to capture victory points or provide sight as needed. Lighter units are less affected by difficult or rough terrain while heavier units' sheer stats do best in open terrain (The scale goes from light infantry, spearmen, light cavalry, heavy infantry, knights by the degree they get hampered by terrain). Scrubland or forests provide cover against archers' fire.

''King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame'' is a video game by Neocore Games based on the exploits of KingArthur himself, chronicling his rise to power in an England divided by bickering kingdoms. The game itself is a mix of strategy (in the vein of the ''Total War'' series) and role-playing (which is reminiscent of text-based adventure games). It also features hero characters that lead the armies and level up [[RPGElements in a manner similar to RPGs.]]

* AnachronismStew: Good grief, yes. Apart from the usual Arthurian tradition of medieval equipment, terms and attitudes in just post Roman Britain we have units called "Crusaders" centuries before the First Crusade, Irish gods being worshipped in Britain, Christian Saxons long before their widespread conversion and Viking raiders.

* AnnoyingArrows: Brutally averted, other than heroes and Giants, nothing matches the hitting power of the various archer classes. Both nonhuman archers are especially devastating and can wipe out even the most heavily armoured armies off the map without much effort.

** Actually all the Knights are this trope. In the logbook, it explains that all the Knights were normal people but either by prayer, studying magic, finding a magical item or creature they have been touched by the supernatural and empowered according to their talents. That's why the Knights have such incredible stats and powers, not CharlesAtlasSuperpower .

* BloodKnight: Sir Caradoc.

* [[{{Druid}} Druids]]: Present and accounted for.

* [[spoiler: HellGate: The Samhain gate. Also the Formorian's gates.]]

* TheFairFolk: Lots of them, acting as antagonists, allies or recruitable troops at various points and depending on the player's choices.
* TheLegionsOfHell: The Formorians are technicaly not demons but you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.
* TheLostWoods: Bedegraine.
* TheMagicComesBack: What happened when Arthur pulled the sword from the stone.
* TheMaze: The quest in Dagonet's castle.

* TheVirus: Formorian corruption in the sequel.
* TheGoodKing: Arthur, obviously, but only if the player wants him to be.

** The sequel turns it UpToEleven, with a faction that is supposed to be a fantasy version of [[{{TheRemnant}} a Roman colony left behind after the Roman retreat from the province]], but is something more like a technologically and culturally medieval AncientGrome [[{{TheMagocracy}} controlled by wizards]], coexisting with Pictish tribes worshiping the Fomorians, Gaelic tribes worshiping the Sidhe, Christian warrior orders able to field angelic warriors and the occasional demonic beasts looking like something out ''TabletopGame/Warhammer''. Basically, in the sequel, it's an AnachronismStew prepared in a nice, spacious FantasyKitchenSink.

** The sequel turns it UpToEleven, with a faction that is supposed to be a fantasy version of [[{{TheRemnant}} a Roman colony left behind after the Roman retreat from the province, but is something more like a technologically and culturally medieval AncientGrome [[{{TheMagocracy}} controlled by wizards]], coexisting with Pictish tribes worshiping the Fomorians, Gaelic tribes worshiping the Sidhe, Christian warrior orders able to field angelic warriors and the occasional demonic beasts looking like something out ''TabletopGame/Warhammer''. Basically, in the sequel, it's an AnachronismStew prepared in a nice, spacious FantasyKitchenSink.

While obviously based on Arthurian mythology it diverges fairly widely from versions of the myths. It also features a morality axis that tracks the player's decisions and whether they tend toward [[TheParagon Rightful]] or [[AntiHero Tyrant]] and Christianity or [[CelticMythology The Old Faith]], unlocking new units and hero abilities based on these leanings.

* CelticMythology: Oddly, the Irish variety despite the game being set entirely in Britain.

* TierInducedScrappy: Rebels. They look like real badasses in their portraits, with their black longcoats and intimidating longswords, but that's just a big front. These guys are amateurs who are worse in battle than the cannonfodder Footmen and can barely outfight Bowmen in melee. You'd think for such a unit they'd be cheap. Nope at over 400 gold per season, they're one of the most expensive units around, being about 4 times more than most elite heavy infantry. In a game where balancing the budget can be difficult, hiring these guys are mostly for experimental purposes since you can only recruit them during certain quests

* AnnoyingArrows: Brutally averted, other than heroes and Giants, nothing matches the hitting power of the various archer classes. Both nonhuman archers are especially devastating and can wipe out even the most heavily armoured armies off the map without much effort
* AwesomeYetPractical: Many of the direct damage spells, particularly Lightning, Curse Of Shadows and Merlin's unique Meteor. Also many of the higher end units are distinctly impressive to look at and highly effective.

* TierInducedScrappy: Rebels. They look like real badasses in their portraits, with their black longcoats and intimidating longswords, but that's just a big front. These guys are amateurs who are worse in battle than the cannonfodder Footmen and can barely outfight Bowmen in melee. You'd think for such a unit they'd be cheap. Nope at over 400 gold per season, they're one of the most expensive units around, being about 4 times more than most elite heavy infantry. In a game where balancing the budget can be difficult, hiring these guys are mostly for experimental purposes.

* AnnoyingArrows: Brutally averted, other than heroes and Giants, nothing matches the hitting power of the various archer classes. Both nonhuman archers especially devastating and can wipe out even heavily armoured armies off the map