Legends of Eisenwald - First Look @ GENWire

James Storr (GENWire) talks about his first impressions playing Legends of Eisenwald:

Aterdux Entertainment were unknown to me upon sitting down to play Legends of Eisenwald, but after playing their new game for a few hours I decided to learn more about these promising Indie developers. 

They are based in Minsk, Belarus, and claim to have a team made up of fans of Old-School RPG and Strategy games, and this passion shows in their latest creation.

Legends of Eisenwald is at it core an RPG. Set in Old Germany, you take the lead of a small army and set out to defend your right to survive in this medieval setting. For my playthrough, I chose to play as Heinrich, a knight who returns to his homeland to find his family murdered and his kingdom plagued by evil mercenaries and betrayal of once loyal followers. 

I won't delve too much into the story, but it is safe to say that the narrative is rich and compelling. [...]

It is the exploration of your land, and the choices that you make, that really bring the strategy elements into focus. Alongside a compelling story, you must ensure that you are adequately equipped to take on the many enemies you will encounter on your journey. Upon entering a location, such as a village, you will be granted the opportunity to obtain new recruits for your army. You must select wisely when choosing these recruits, ensuring you have a fine balance of close-combat soldiers, ranged-attackers and support characters. Additionally, you can trade in these locations, ensuring that you buy the correct equipment for your army to maximise their effectiveness.       

Having a well equipped band of followers is all well and good. However, you must learn how to use them in order to succeed.  

Combat in Legends of Eisenwald is turn-based, with characters being placed on a grid. Each character gets a turn, in which they must initiate an attack or supportive action. Movement is restricted to attacking, so while you can't instruct your characters to move across the board independently, you can instruct them to move as part of an attacking action. The direction in which your player attacks can be chosen (when the distance to the nearby grid is the same), and so you must think carefully as to how your soldiers will approach their target in order to ensure a clear way through for your other soldiers' turn. [...]