- by MadMax
The Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Day of Reckoning team just revealed some major updates, showing the Palace town screen, creature evolution charts and some very beautiful map screenshots. I'll share parts of the update, but I highly recommend reading the full post.
"Day of Reckoning – Project Update #1
The holidays are over, and many of us are back to our usual routines and hobbies. The same goes for the Day of Reckoning team, and this means that it is time for an update. The past several months saw substantial development in areas like visuals and music, and while the final product is still not there yet, we would like to share some of our recent progress with you. We also want to discuss some overdue matters which were not previously covered, such as the subtleties of Palace’s design, some of the mod’s other features, our design philosophy, as well as the Grotto and Forge. Of course, while still making sure to not spoil too much, and to keep surprises for future updates, too. Lastly, we will talk a bit about the prospects of joining the team."
This YouTube video shares some previews, but the full post can be read in our very own forums, or in Polish at Acid Cave.
The Kirin in full display.
Forge battle!
Another very interesting piece of text from the forum post:
"A question which might arise from reviewing Palace’s lineup posted above is that of whether the town will feature two alternate creatures or not. That is indeed the case. The aim of alternate creatures is not to cause a lack of balance, but to add more flavor to the towns and expand upon their aspects, as well as buff weaker towns and cover gameplay niches. And that is certainly the case in Palace.
Regarding new spells and skills, we still wish to keep a certain secrecy around them. But I can say that there is one “campaign” skill which will be introduced in DoR 1.0, besides the faction skills of Palace and Grotto, Initiative and Vitality. For those who are not aware, Initiative is a counterpart of Tactics: while Tactics allows you to manipulate the creatures’ “movement”, Initiative allows you to boost the “initiative” (turn order) of one of your creatures, in the first turn. Vitality, on the other hand, is a Health-boosting skill. While not better than Armorer against creature attacks, it is also effective against spells, as opposed to Armorer, which is not."
So, what do you think of this latest update? The Heroes of Might and Magic community really has been given a lot of treats lately, haven't we?
- by Pol
Perfect Evening for All Heroes Fans
Hello everyone
today we have a special announcement: "We'll be guests at the event organised by CD-Action Magazine in the H40S Club in Warsaw, Poland on March 1st!"
The party starts at 12:00 PM CET (Noon) and ends at 6:00 PM CET (afterparty available right after the event), and you'll be able to have fun with the following:
- A chance to try Olden Era and other HoMM games on a few prepared stations!
- Q&A with @(CM) Etharil and @Katya
- Arena showmatch between two best players at the event;
- And more! See you there!
What: Perfect Evening for All Heroes Fans, chance to play Heroes Olden Era and meet Etharil and Katya from Unfrozen Team
Where: Poland, PC Club H40S, Marszałkowska 64, Warszawa
When: Sat, March 1st 12:00 PM (CET)
source: (CM) Etharil, Unfrozen Discord
- by Pol
SIM TURNS
One of our developers, Niklas, spent his Christmas working on it, and we’re proud to say that it's now ready for testing. It’s not fully done yet, but it’s close. There might still be a few small hiccups, but internal playtesting has been very promising (and fun). Now, we’re opening it up on the Public Test Realm right now, for everyone to enjoy, and if you find bugs, let us know by using our in-game bug report tool.
We plan to test this for about a month before rolling out a major update to improve Songs of Conquest for everyone. We promised multiplayer updates on our Roadmap, and this is a big one.
More hills, more water and elevation!
We’ve also made improvements to our random maps—most notably, they now have elevation, something they didn’t have before! It’s more than just a visual upgrade, though that part matters too. We’ve also tweaked the gameplay in ways we think you’ll enjoy. We made sure that not just the terrain is more varied but that pick-ups, buildings, and artifacts are more varied.
- Mines and settlements now spawn more randomly
- Guard worth adjusted
- Amount of troops in starting area lowered
- Amount of exotics in starting area lowered
- Experience entities increased
- Gold sources more varied
- Artifact entities increased
- Water now appears more making the map look more varied
- High ground now is a thing making the maps more beautiful
- Woods and mountain areas now look more varied
- Ground textures are now more varied and blending better
- Player starting area is now themed to the players faction
For now, jump into that Public Test Realm, try Sim-battles with a friend, and surprise them with your latest Vanir strategy. One that, for some reason, just involves a lot of pigs.
You can read the full breaking annoucement here.
- by Pol
Fanstratics Final Newsletter #45
I hope each of you is safe and healthy. This is my last Fanstratics newsletter. Previously, (Newsletter #44), I touched upon my continuing health issues and the perpetual lack of progress. I have tried numerous approaches to alleviate my collection of conditions, with mild degrees of success, but my accumulated experience and research point to the obvious. My illness is more than likely permanent, and I will likely never again be what I was when I started this project. While my spirit is willing, my flesh is weak, and I need to be honest with myself and those of you who subscribed to this newsletter. My chances of finishing Fanstratics are remote. Thus, I am concluding development. As for the future, considering my physical and mental decline, I need to step back and figure out what I can and cannot accomplish. I have enjoyed writing the HoMM3 Recollections, and I think I could turn them into a memoir. We’ll see what happens. In my welcome email to these newsletters, I said this would be a journey. Not all excursions are successful. Take care. Greg
Read on: Fanstratics - Newsletter #45 January 2025 - Final One
Fanstratics Final Newsletter #45 as of January 2025, Fanstratics development is cancelled due to ongoing post-covid issues.
- by Pol
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2025
, wish you all folks, Celestial Heavens Team ;)
If you would like one last Vanir DLC key, you are welcomed in our Christmas Vanir Rhyme Contest. ;)
What new is out to try?
- VCMI 1.6.2
- The combination of Maw Mod and Merge Redone
- MOD: HoMM III.5 "The Days Of Silence"
- fheroes2 1.1.5
- HotA 1.7.2
- Might & Magic: Amber Island - #betatest Or you can check it in our thread.
- by Pol
The music part will be created by:
Paul Anthony Romero
Chris Velasco (Dark Messiah music)
&
Heroes Orchestra
And to this special event, here is Heroes Orchestra Christmas Concerto (with OE members at stage.. )
- by MadMax
It seems that Santa dug extra deep in his sack of gifts this year, as we have another copy of Songs of Conquest's Vanir DLC to gift our dear community! Since the first two got rewarded so fast, we'd thought we'd invite you to a little challenge this time!
To enter, give us a Songs of Conquest-related christmas rhyme in the comments or in the #contest channel over at Discord!
What is a christmas rhyme you may ask? Well, in Sweden, we have this tradition to write kind of funny and kind of bad rhymes that hint at what the present could be. An example (generated by AI of course) for a gift containing Heroes of Might and Magic 3 as an example could be:
"The clock strikes late, the fire burn,
But you’ll stay up for just one more turn.
With armies to build and foes to face,
This gift will take you to a magical place!"
or
"Time may pass as swift as flight,
When "just one turn" becomes all night.
Within this gift such joys await,
Your bedtime soon will run quite late!"
We look forward to hearing your rhymes!
- by MadMax
Recently, I had the privilege of exploring Lavapotion's latest addition to the acclaimed Songs of Conquest game: The Vanir DLC. As a fellow Swede, I may be biased, but the Vanir faction resonates deeply with me, and I absolutely love it. We get a perfect mix of Viking and Scandinavian folklore, along with a new snowy biome known as the Bleak East.
The DLC gives us five new Conquest maps and two challenge maps. It also brings with it nine new wielders with a mix of old and new special abilities. The new faction includes eight new troops, many of which undergo dramatic mechanical and playstyle changes as they’re upgraded. We also get a brand new town and exclusive artifact sets which introduce creative tactics for the new Vanir faction as well as those already in the game.
The Vanir lineup features lots of interesting characters with some very neat designs. The Berserkir and Skinshifter (4th column) make me feel like I am controlling axe-wielding maniacs; I'm glad they're on my side in battle.
The Crone/Nornor (7th column) may not look like much, but you'd better beware when you see them transform into a flock of ravens. They will turn up right next to you and inflict some wicked damage before retreating, leaving you with many fewer units than you had just moments before.
The Lykt (far left, top row) may at first seem like a small and insignificant unit, but its ability "Dance of the Vanir" will provide both ranged and melee units with a +5 offensive boost. Now, of course, that doesn't sound like much when a unit like the Chieftain (far right, top row) will grant your units +20 of the same statistics on top of inspiring friendly units within 1 tile, the Lykt are larger in number and cheaper to recruit.
However, my absolute favorite is the Troll/Grym (meaning 'Cruel' in Swedish). Not only do they look intimidating and mythical, when they pick up and toss a large rock (giving me some Heroes of Might and Magic 3 cyclops vibes) you just know right there and then that these are a great asset to your army. 
For us Swedish folks, just taking a look at the Wielders' names will produce a smile and a chuckle of pride. Wielders are just as varied as the creature lineup, featuring characters like 'Girighet' (Swedish for greed), who grants a +10% gold bonus after battles, the fierce-looking Bjorn Oakbreaker (+1 Chaos Essence) and Haemnd (hämnd is Swedish for vengeance), a classic witch-looking type complete with a black cat which is granted +40% spell damage power. Another notable Wielder is the charming, sad-looking troll named "Sorg" (Swedish for grief), which has his own Challenge Map, delving into a tale of when Sorg is captured by Baryan slavers. Oh and yes, by the way, that is a fish he holds in his hand (I first noticed this after I got a Steam Achievement named "So long and thank you for the fish", which I assume we all know the origin of).
During the still quite limited time I've had with the game, I decided to start a map called Go East, which pits players against four adversaries. I promised myself not to stay up late, but encountering one of the four enemies just as I was about to end my session (a promise I'd been making for over two hours at this point) made me say "just one more turn". Just like when firing up Songs of Conquest for the first time, it has me hooked. Not a lot of games have that effect on me anymore, but the ability to just fire up the game with minimal effort and preparations, knowing that I will probably get stomped by the formidable and quite intelligent AI (at least I tell myself it's very intelligent) but that I will learn some new tricks for each gaming session is what many modern games lack.
Overall, I'd say that this is a great DLC for anyone who has fallen in love with the original game, or someone looking for an entry point into this absolute beauty and enjoys Scandinavian influences not related to a certain furniture company. LavaPotion delivers a victory with this DLC which I hope didn't cost them what my victory pictured above did. The team behind Songs of Conquest has done a great job of creating a unique gaming experience that strikes a perfect balance of casual gameplay, storytelling and immersive combat that will scratch that turn-based strategy itch.
The developers over at LavaPotion kindly provided us with 2 copies of the DLC to be used on Steam, so tell us why you want to play it in a comment or over at our Discord server at #campfire-chitchat and if you're quick enough, we will share one of those copies with you!
Note please, that the comment from new members on the site requires approval and might be slightly delayed.
Read more about the Vanir DLC on Steam
| Comments (1) |
- by Pol
It has started and if you can't tame your curiousity, for Olden Era tidbits info, there's surprise for you. Each day a bit!
And a bit.
And a bit more! 
As dark clouds have recently gathered over the continent, the young medusa Ylwari is sent on a delegation to meet with the representatives of all the major forces present on Jadame. With Winter Equinox approaching, the Triumvirate of Alvar hopes to ease up the rising tensions between the Fey, the Holy and the Darkened. It is up to their envoy to broker an agreement that'll leave all parties content.
Winter Equinox approaches and with it a mystery that needs solving before it arrives. As you step into the strange fog, you wonder: What could that mystery be? Let's find out together within the next 22 days!
Join Ylwari on her trip to Ravenshore in
--Etharil & Helga
"Follow, watch, track, wishlist!*"
*Most importantly if you are from Hungary, Czech or Slovakia, to put some incentive for translantion into your language.
- by Pol
The wait is over — Song of Conquest has officially landed on consoles! You can now dive into the world of Aerbor on both PS5 and Xbox Series S/X. Whether you’re team PlayStation or Xbox, we’ve put our heart into the experience, no matter your console of choice.
The development has been a journey years in the making, and we’re very proud to share it with you at last! If you enjoy multiplayer you’ll be happy to know that the console versions are fully cross-play compatible! So regardless if you are playing on a console, PC, or Mac, you can face off in glorious turn-based battles.
Look at their smiles and natural poses. Playing SoC on consoles will do that for you as well!
For us, as a small indie team, there’s something special about seeing Song of Conquest coming alive on living room TV screens. It’s the same pixelated tactics game we all know, but it feels like its own thing on console. Plus, playing on consoles is perfect for Hot-seat mode. Just pass the controller to your friend for that classic, shared gaming experience. We highly recommend it for family game nights. Remember: your kids are never too young to get defeated by your aggressive frog army.
As a side note: Winter is still coming. So don’t forget to wishlist Vanir!
We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: we couldn’t have reached this milestone without all of our players! Having a dedicated audience has helped us convince our amazing publisher that it was worth the cost and effort to expand the game to consoles. Thanks for sticking with us this far. Next year will see more exciting releases and news to share.
So, grab your controllers, rally your armies, and let the conquest begin!
/Everyone here at Lavapotion
Original Announcement: Steam
| Comments (2) |
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