Fantasy Empires

Fantasy Empires is a 1993 MS-DOS title that blends role-playing and wargaming, developed by Silicon Knights and published by Strategic Simulations. It operates under the Dungeons & Dragons license and takes place in the world of Mystara. Players begin by creating a character based on classic D&D classes, who acts as an army commander but never directly fights.

The core gameplay unfolds on a strategic map, where the player expands territory by invading neutral or enemy provinces, constructs buildings on owned land, and recruits troops—only possible once the necessary structures are built. Beyond human units, provinces can produce orc, dwarf, elf, halfling, and shadow elf soldiers. The game offers two map visibility modes: full view, which reveals the entire world, and fog of war, which limits sight to adjacent kingdoms. Its AI is powered by a neural net.

Additional features include making truces (breaking them may shift lawful or neutral characters toward chaotic alignment), creating hero types such as fighter, dwarf, elf, magic user, and cleric, adjusting battle scale from 20:1 to 1:1, and casting spells using points from magic user, clerical, and druidic heroes. Troops that survive multiple battles against 50 or more opponents can advance to veteran or elite ranks. Several NPC opponents are included, some reaching the 36th level and posing a significant challenge.

In 1994, Computer Gaming World praised the game, stating it "succeeds at all levels," highlighting its randomized countries and the "seamless integration" of human and computer players. Sandy Petersen reviewed it in Dragon #207 that same year, awarding 3 out of 5 stars. The German magazine POWERPLAY gave the original 1993 floppy disk version a 61% rating in its December 1993 issue. GameSpy later described Fantasy Empires as "a solid and fun strategy game, as well as an oddly forgotten credit for an excellent developer."