Hammer of the Gods - PC

A Jehovah's witness came to my door recently and asked whether I believed in god? The natural smug response was: "Which God?" as "I had recently taken to replaying the neglected New World Computing classic Hammer of the Gods and was currently embarked upon a quest for Magni: the Valhallan gold of strength and conquest." Her eyes glazed with divine stupefaction she sidled from the lintel of the door and along the road to my neighbours, who were blessedly out at work. Of course none of this ever happened...I think I just mumbled something about being busy and they left...

 

Rank is determined by beard. 

 

Four perfectly distinct diplomatic flavours. 

 

Ok...which of you is Wat Tyler? (groan...) 

Building on gameplay elements present in their earlier King's Bounty and Meier's classic Civilisation:  HotG's sees these concepts re-appropriated within the fantastical framework of Norse mythology; which reassuringly accommodates the bedrock of Dwarfs, Elfs, Dragons and Trolls: shielding us fantasy gamers from any fantasy too fantastical. Choose your race and go about the business of improving unit stacks, establishing colonies and engaging in hexagonal combat. The game is full of nice touches: the ability to gain the favour of gods by accomplishing their quests: rewards including ethereal longboats, mythological creatures and weaponry of divine provenance. Add a smattering of magic spells and diplomacy and you have a beautifully crafted and involving strategy game: not as expansive as HoMaM or MoM but perhaps more elegant.

Download Game and Resources from Abandonia
Wikipedia Entry 
Moby Games
This says it all...

This game foreshadowed the emergence of two legendary strategy games, likewise it is the rightful successor to a noble dynasty stretching from the board game Titan by Avalon Hill to Sword of Aragon by SSI and beyond. Requires DOSBox to run, especially if you hanker for full sound and animation (although there are not many full rips around on the net). It took me about a year to find a good second hand boxed copy and I consider it a prize second only to Mjölner.