Warlords II

Lead armies of soldiers, dragons, and heroes to conquer a fantasy world in this deep, addictive turn-based strategy classic. Warlords 2 online costs nothing here, installs nothing, and signs you into nothing — the DOS build just appears in the frame. SSG's acclaimed 1993 fantasy strategy game loads in seconds and delivers the "just one more turn" empire-building that made it a favorite. A touchscreen can get you through a turn, but the map is wider than a phone and the city production panel expects a cursor you can place exactly.

How to Play Warlords 2 Online

Your first turn is five steps away:

1. Start it with the Play button and give the DOS build of Warlords II a moment to come up.
2. Wait for the SSG title screen — from there on, everything happens in this browser tab.
3. One click inside the frame hands it focus, so the click after that lands on the fantasy map and not the page behind it.
4. Choose a scenario and your side, then begin.
5. Build armies, capture cities, and conquer the map turn by turn.

Warlords II rewards expansion — capture cities to produce more and stronger units, and use heroes and powerful creatures to break through enemy defenses.

Controls

Warlords II is played with the mouse, on a fantasy map:

Capture cities to expand your production of units, and send your heroes — who grow stronger and can find magic items and allies — to lead your armies and seize key strongholds.

What Is Warlords II?

Warlords II is a turn-based fantasy strategy game developed by Strategic Studies Group (SSG) and released in 1993 for MS-DOS. The sequel to the original Warlords, it has you take control of one of several fantasy empires competing to conquer a world divided into cities and territories. You build and move armies of varied units — light and heavy infantry, cavalry, flying creatures, dragons, and more — capture cities to fuel your production, recruit and develop heroes, and battle rival warlords for total domination of the map.

Warlords II is celebrated as a deep, accessible, and hugely addictive strategy classic. Its turn-based conquest is easy to learn but rich in strategy: you balance expansion, economy (via captured cities), army composition, and the use of powerful heroes who can gain levels, find magical items, and recruit special allies. Different unit types have different strengths, terrain affects movement and combat, and managing many armies across a large map creates engrossing, "one more turn" gameplay. With multiple scenarios, customizable maps, and strong multiplayer (including hotseat play), it offered enormous replayability and earned a devoted following as one of the best fantasy strategy games of its era.

How the Game Works / Gameplay Basics

The game is played in turns on a fantasy map dotted with cities and varied terrain. Cities are the key to power: capturing them expands your empire and lets you produce military units — the more and better cities you hold, the stronger the armies you can field. Each turn you move your armies across the map (terrain affects movement and combat), attack enemy armies and cities, and produce new units to reinforce your forces. Combat is resolved when armies clash, with unit types, numbers, terrain, and bonuses determining the outcome.

A central element is your heroes. These special characters lead your armies, can gain experience and grow more powerful, find or buy magic items that boost their abilities, and recruit special allied units (like dragons and other powerful creatures). Using heroes wisely to spearhead attacks and defend key cities is often decisive. Strategically, you must balance aggressive expansion (grabbing cities for production) with defense (holding your territory against rivals), manage your growing collection of armies, and exploit unit strengths and terrain. The goal is to conquer the map, eliminating or subjugating the rival warlords. With its blend of accessible rules and deep strategy, varied units and heroes, and the constant pull to take just one more city, Warlords II delivers richly satisfying conquest.

Beginner Tips

• Capture cities. They expand your empire and produce more and stronger units.
• Use your heroes. Lead armies with heroes, who grow powerful and find items and allies.
• Mind the terrain. Terrain affects movement and combat, so use it to your advantage.
• Build strong stacks. Group units into powerful armies to break enemy defenses.
• Balance attack and defense. Expand aggressively but don't leave your cities undefended.
• Recruit special units. Dragons and other powerful creatures can turn the tide.

Why Play Warlords 2 Online?

A browser is the shortest route back to SSG's most quietly ruinous time-sink. No install, no floppies to shuffle, no directory claimed on your drive — the 1993 release simply opens. Whether you last played it on a beige tower or have never heard of it, the pull of one more city works the same way.

Any machine with a browser will do, too, which suits a game you dip into for a turn or two while something else is compiling. For fantasy conquest with this much depth under it, the cost of entry is hard to argue with.

Troubleshooting

• Game won't start? Warlords II is tiny by DOS standards, so a stalled boot nearly always means the first load was cut short; reload and let the SSG title screen arrive on its own before you touch anything.
• Mouse or keyboard not responding? Click once inside the game frame; Warlords II is driven almost entirely by mouse clicks, so nothing at all responds until the frame has focus.
• Text hard to read? Use fullscreen mode — the city production and hero screens pack a lot of small type into a narrow panel, and scaling up makes the army numbers legible.
• Running slowly? Close other tabs if the computer players start taking a long time; with several rival warlords moving dozens of stacks, the end of a turn is the heaviest moment in the game.
• No sound? Combat sounds are often your cue that a battle has resolved while you were studying another part of the map.
• Losing ground? Defend your key cities, build stronger armies, and use your heroes to lead attacks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Warlords 2 free to play online? Yes. In 1993 this was a boxed game you paid retail for at a computer store; here the whole thing runs at no cost.

Do I need DOSBox or a copy of Warlords II? No. The emulation happens on this page, so you need neither a DOSBox setup of your own nor the game's original disks.

Can I play Warlords 2 on mobile? You can, but shuffling stacks around a large map is a lot of precise clicking, and the production and hero panels use small type that a phone screen shrinks further.

Is this the original 1993 Warlords II? It is: SSG's turn-based fantasy sequel, as it shipped for DOS.

What kind of game is Warlords II? It's a turn-based fantasy strategy game of building armies, capturing cities, using heroes, and conquering the map.

Can I save my progress? Yes. Warlords II saves from its own menu, which matters in a game where one scenario can outlast the evening you set aside for it.

A fantasy world of cities and rival warlords awaits. Load it up and begin your conquest.