I would recommend anyone who enjoys turn based games to give Shadow Magic a shot. It is a of game that superficially seems rather simplistic with its movements and hex board, but upon closer inspection a plethora of various elements are revealed. This game can give several tactics, such as creating an amphibious army of dwarves, a flying army of leprechauns, and explosive goblins. The balance between unit production and economic policy focus is just right. The only downside that I could say about this game is the possibility that, due to how attacks and damage rolls are done, luck can ruin your day. That and heroes are arrow and bullet magnets because of how powerful they can be if they aren't restrained. Needless to say, these do not detract from the possibility of fielding an army of flying hobbits that can rain havoc and drop flaming meteors on fiendish skeletons. If that has any sort of appeal to you, pick this game up. And do note that there is a sequel, Age of Wonders 3, in the works.

Age of Wonders Shadow Magic is a relatively unknown gem of a game. The entire game is turn-based, with the action happening at the strategic and tactical levels. As was normal for games of years past, this is a game where you will spend the vast majority of time poring over the hex-based maps; this holds true at the "world" level as well as the "battle" level.

A few things make it stand out of the pack. At it's core the Strategic level plays out VERY similar to a "civilization-lite" style game; establish cities, build and upgrade various structures, research "tech" (in this case various spells), and expand your empire across the map. On top of that, your faction leader can direclty influence gameplay through the casting of spells; some of these are "global", affecting the entirety of the map (or targetable upon an opponent), others are "permanent" (enchantments upon units), and yet others are direct-combat use (more on this later). Adding to this is a (VERY LIGHT) diplomacy and alignment component that can affect your race's interaction with other races; some races will ally with, some will tolerate, and others will outright rebel. The resoureces are limited to two; gold and mana. Both are generated through your settlements as well as from capturable nodes.

On top of a pretty good strategy-level is the tactical battle level. Rather than moving a stack of your units into a stack of enemy units and hoping you win (by the way, auto-resolve is available, but NOT recommended), the battles take place on another hex-based map. The terrain of these battlefields is directly based on the "world map" terrain as well; one of the weak points is the limited amount of maps that are available (a city map is the same for each person, with cosmetic changes based on the race of the owning city). However, environmental factors can impact the battles; for example, fire nodes will inginte all units dealing damage over time. Army stacks are limited to 8 units (8 individuals) per stack, but with proper placement (FLANKING) you can bring 2-3 stacks to bear at at time. Once the battles start, they play out very similar to a game of chess (or Final Fantasy Tactics, if you prefer). Each unit has movement allowances and various actions. Hero units up the ante on this with additional abilities, and ALL units can advance with experience earned (a couple racial units depend on levelling to "grow" into stronger units). Additionally, once engaged in battle, you can cast spells directly against units (or on your units to heal/buff/etc). Ultimately rather than relying on abstract stacks of units playing number wars, this game allows for a player with small unit tactical proficiency to shine.

The game comes with several campaigns, a couple dozen one-off scenarios, and the gem of it all; a pretty customizable random map generator. One can make an extremely large map with nothing but deserts and mountains (if so inclined), or a small forest map, or anything in between. Additionally, the random map allows for additional "layers" (underground and shadow realm) that maximize on some of the races' inherent abilites, adding more options and replayability.

AOW:SM is an older title, and one that will probably slip into obscurity. However, if you see it on-sale give it a go; for 5-10 bucks, you could do FAR worse and get MUCH less playability from a title.

Props again to my friend Red for gifting me this game. I'm actually going to make this review for Age of Wonders II, and this game as well...

The Age of Wonders series is a classic all-time favorite of mine in the case of the two, a challenging and enchanting strategy 4X game with Spells, Dragons, Warriors, armies, everything. It allows you to personalize what kind of wizard you want to play as, how hard the enemies are, the setting you want to fight in, etc.. Haven't played through the campaigns fully for either, though. Nontheless, Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne, and it's Expansion-turned-sequel, Shadow Magic, are games that Fantasy and Strategy fans alike will be spellbound by. Shadow Magic also definately took what AoWII had, and did some improving touch ups on it but still made sure not to fix what isn't broke. But still tried some different things with new additions for bonuses and tactics. Such as looping the limited production queue if you want to build an army, but the production que is overflown.

For both nostalgia and quality related reasons, an impressive 9/10 to both games.

I have to say, this game is the end all, be all for turn based strategy games for me. As a long time fan of Heroes of Might and Magic 3, as well as other less well received TBS games, this one continues to shine and take up space on my hard drive. This purchase marks the 3rd time that I've bought the game. One hard copy, once on GOG, and now the steam version, almost soley so that I can review this bad boy. First of all, forget the campaigns. Games like these were MADE for the random maps. The campaigns, while entertaining, are really just long tutorials to ready you for the random map generator, which is where this game shines. 12 races, multiple combinations of magi, and a multitude of play styles lay before you. That enemy city before you just a little too tough to take? Scorch their lands and transform them to deserts and watch their populace riot from their discontent at their new, inhospitable world. A mountainrange in your way? Level the terrain and march your troops across it, backdooring your opponent into new depths of discontent. That being said, play it with your friends to elevate this game to the height that it deserves. This is the ultimate multiplayer strategy game. Get your friends together and LAN this game. You won't regret it.
After purchasing AOW III, I have to admit, while that game IS awesome, I still make time in my day to go back to Shadow Magic. It's well worth the time. Every ♥♥♥♥ing time. Stop reading this now and go buy this game. If you're a turn based strategy person, or just a strategy gamer at all, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Good luck, and may your wizard towers provide you all the spell range you require!

Disclaimer: I have literally played hundreds (and I don't mean one or two) of hours of this game and expect to play hundreds more. Buy it. you won't regret it.

I love this series. The graphics are nice, the storyline interesting, allies, neutrals and foes have plenty to say, lots to find on each map, and at times, it can be quite hard.

Red Dragons with regeneration and heros wearing custom item forge trinkets are a bit broken, but only becomes an issue about halfway through the second level of each wizards campain.

The game shines at the start of each set, when you are out with a squishy wizard, an fragile hero, and a handful of low level units.