Warhammer: Dark Omen
Encyclopedia
Warhammer: Dark Omen is a real-time tactical wargame and the sequel to Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
. It is a seminal exemplar of a game of the real-time tactics
genre. First released for PC, it was later released for the Sony
PlayStation. An expansion was scheduled and advertised but never released.
Rendered entirely in a freely rotatable- and zoomable isometric
3D
overhead perspective, the game features terrain, terrain features and buildings, and support for the first-generation Voodoo 3dfx 3D accelerator card effects. The 3D terrain and features are combined with 2D
sprites
("billboarding") to render the hundreds of individual units simultaneously on-screen on the limited hardware of 1998. Dark Omen is based on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle
miniature tabletop wargame rules and situated in the Old World in the Warhammer Fantasy world
and makes use of the vast background, creating a storyline that develops over the course of the game through illustrations and voice-acted conversations.
is unit-oriented battle
field tactics
with infantry
, cavalry
, and archer
squad
s and artillery
pieces as well as supporting hero and wizard units. The game freely mixes cannons, flintlock pistols and steam-powered tanks with bows, cavalry and magic
.
Units vary in size from individual wizards or monsters to regiments of up to 32 members, and cannot be split up or combined. Units can suffer from psychological effects and can be routed, and individuals in units may be lost but can be replaced between missions unless the entire unit is lost. Units advance in experience as the game progresses, and between battles the player's forces can be brought up to strength, replacing losses, and upgraded by adding armour and equipment using money gained by killing enemies and accomplishing objectives within the mission. New units, including allied Elven and Dwarf units, can also be added at certain points in the campaign, often as rewards for successful completion of critical missions.
While the army can consist of many units, only ten may be employed simultaneously in one battle.
Players may choose the initial disposition, arrangement and position objectives for the army as well as unit formation. Terrain and elevation must be taken into consideration for attack and defence. Most real-world medieval
or Napoleonic
tactics can be employed, including ambush
ing and flank
ing (see list of military tactics). Movement likewise reflects historical reality in that units must rotate or "wheel" from the centre or edges when changing facing.
Dark Omen also has a multiplayer component, where both players 'purchase' an army with a predefined amount of money before facing each other in battle, and can choose to play as the Imperial, Orcish or Undead forces.
.
The game's introduction shows the resurrection of an evil undead
King in lands far to the South of the Empire. Meanwhile to the North, the player (as mercenary
commander Morgan Bernhardt, the main character from Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
) is defending a small trading post from attack by goblin
s. The army is soon recalled to Altdorf
where they are told that Orcs are invading the Empire from the South.
After fighting a number of battles against the orcs, it becomes clear that something is making them flee into the Empire. The player returns to Altdorf to make his report, and is assigned to a series of expeditions to fight the imminent undead threat. These campaigns consist of several battles each, and there are a number of occasions where the player is required to choose between alternative paths, with consequences in the battles ahead.
Eventually, after defeating undead incursions in Kislev
, Bretonnia
and within the Empire itself, the location of the Undead king is discovered and the final battle is pitched. Throughout the game, the player character Bernhardt changes from a mercenary who only cares about money to a hero willing to lay down his life to save others.
Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat is a real-time tactics computer game published by Games Workshop in 1995...
. It is a seminal exemplar of a game of the real-time tactics
Real-time tactics
Real-time tactics or RTT is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics...
genre. First released for PC, it was later released for the Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation. An expansion was scheduled and advertised but never released.
Rendered entirely in a freely rotatable- and zoomable isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
overhead perspective, the game features terrain, terrain features and buildings, and support for the first-generation Voodoo 3dfx 3D accelerator card effects. The 3D terrain and features are combined with 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
sprites
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
("billboarding") to render the hundreds of individual units simultaneously on-screen on the limited hardware of 1998. Dark Omen is based on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
miniature tabletop wargame rules and situated in the Old World in the Warhammer Fantasy world
Warhammer Fantasy (setting)
Warhammer Fantasy is a fantasy setting, created by Games Workshop, which is used by many of the company's games. Some of the best-known games set in this world are: the table top wargame Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay pen-and-paper role-playing game, and the MMORPG...
and makes use of the vast background, creating a storyline that develops over the course of the game through illustrations and voice-acted conversations.
Gameplay
The gameplayGameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
is unit-oriented battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
field tactics
Military tactics
Military tactics, the science and art of organizing an army or an air force, are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics. In...
with infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
, cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
, and archer
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
squad
Squad
In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...
s and artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
pieces as well as supporting hero and wizard units. The game freely mixes cannons, flintlock pistols and steam-powered tanks with bows, cavalry and magic
Magic (gaming)
Some role-playing games or game systems can include a set of rules that are used to portray magic in the paranormal sense. These rules simulate the effects that magic would have within the game context, according to how the game designer intended the magic to be portrayed...
.
Units vary in size from individual wizards or monsters to regiments of up to 32 members, and cannot be split up or combined. Units can suffer from psychological effects and can be routed, and individuals in units may be lost but can be replaced between missions unless the entire unit is lost. Units advance in experience as the game progresses, and between battles the player's forces can be brought up to strength, replacing losses, and upgraded by adding armour and equipment using money gained by killing enemies and accomplishing objectives within the mission. New units, including allied Elven and Dwarf units, can also be added at certain points in the campaign, often as rewards for successful completion of critical missions.
While the army can consist of many units, only ten may be employed simultaneously in one battle.
Players may choose the initial disposition, arrangement and position objectives for the army as well as unit formation. Terrain and elevation must be taken into consideration for attack and defence. Most real-world medieval
Medieval warfare
Medieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. In Europe, technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery...
or Napoleonic
Gunpowder warfare
Early modern warfare is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including artillery and handguns such as the arquebus and later the musket, and for this reason the era is also summarized as the age of gunpowder...
tactics can be employed, including ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
ing and flank
Flanking maneuver
In military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force. If a flanking maneuver succeeds, the opposing force would be surrounded from two or more directions, which significantly reduces the maneuverability of the outflanked force and its...
ing (see list of military tactics). Movement likewise reflects historical reality in that units must rotate or "wheel" from the centre or edges when changing facing.
Dark Omen also has a multiplayer component, where both players 'purchase' an army with a predefined amount of money before facing each other in battle, and can choose to play as the Imperial, Orcish or Undead forces.
Original description
The game was described on its official website in March 1998 as:
Dark Omen is a real-time 3D battle game based on Warhammer, the World's best known Fantasy Battle system, by Games Workshop. The battles are depicted in a true real-time 3D environment with freedom to move, rotate and zoom the viewpoint as desired. Command regiments of cavalry, infantry and archers as well as wizards, war machines and huge monsters in your role as a mercenary army captain, tasked with wiping the hordes of darkness from the face of the map.
Story
The dialogue script was written by Stephen MarleyStephen Marley (writer)
Stephen Marley is a British author and video game designer, best known for his Chia Black Dragon series. He was born in Derby of Irish parents and was educated in Bemrose School in Derby and at Nottingham. He graduated in Social Anthropology in 1971 in London, gained an M.Sc in the Sociology of...
.
The game's introduction shows the resurrection of an evil undead
Undead (Warhammer)
The Undead of the Warhammer Fantasy Tabletop Wargame , were introduced to the game in its very earliest editions. The term itself can refer either to the undivided and all-inclusive army—ranging from ghosts and vampires to skeletons and mummies—or to the separate components which make up the two:...
King in lands far to the South of the Empire. Meanwhile to the North, the player (as mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
commander Morgan Bernhardt, the main character from Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat is a real-time tactics computer game published by Games Workshop in 1995...
) is defending a small trading post from attack by goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
s. The army is soon recalled to Altdorf
Altdorf (Warhammer)
Altdorf was the fictional capital city of the human nation called the Empire in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. It is the capital of the Reikland province of the Empire....
where they are told that Orcs are invading the Empire from the South.
After fighting a number of battles against the orcs, it becomes clear that something is making them flee into the Empire. The player returns to Altdorf to make his report, and is assigned to a series of expeditions to fight the imminent undead threat. These campaigns consist of several battles each, and there are a number of occasions where the player is required to choose between alternative paths, with consequences in the battles ahead.
Eventually, after defeating undead incursions in Kislev
Kislev (Warhammer)
In the Warhammer Fantasy setting, Kislev is the name of a Slavic/Kievan Rus'-themed fictional country that sits northeast of The Empire, between it and the Realm of Chaos. Between Kislev and Norsca lies Troll Country, while beyond that lie the magic-tainted Chaos Wastes...
, Bretonnia
Bretonnia
In Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe, Bretonnia is a country located west of the Empire, between the Grey Mountains and the Great Ocean in the lands that were once part of the domain of the Elves...
and within the Empire itself, the location of the Undead king is discovered and the final battle is pitched. Throughout the game, the player character Bernhardt changes from a mercenary who only cares about money to a hero willing to lay down his life to save others.
External links
- Review of Dark Omen at Gamespot
- Warhammer: Dark Omen online community documenting the Dark Omen binary formats and extending the game.