Gemfire aka Royal Blood

[tamsin.lm]

#8804

So I originally played this on the Sega Genesis (aka Sega MegaDrive) but apparently it got ported to just about everything.
Gemfire is a turn based strategy warfare game set in a fantasy world. The player chooses a bloodline to lead and each turn cycles through the provinces on the world map where players can muster troops, focus taxes on grain/crop production, organize logistics of resources between provinces and of course invade neighboring provinces. The ultimate goal is to unite the island under a single leader and dethrone the evil king.
The story is that long ago a wizard summoned a dragon and set about shenanigans to which 6 magicians and the local Loch Ness monster teamed up to stop the wizard and his dragon. Via McGuffin the 6 magicians and the dragon were imprisoned in gems that were set into a crown. Years later the evil king got a bit to full of himself and the Loch Ness monster calls upon the evil king’s daughter to destroy the crown and release the magicians so they can help end this period of turmoil. When she does the 6 magicians go to the various families leaving the dragon with the mad king who proceeds to go on a rampage.
Each playable family gets one of the magicians or the Loch Ness monster as a special unit that can be taken into battle. When a player conquers another player they acquire that player’s magicians thus increasing their combat effectiveness.
The game takes place across several in universe seasons/years and there’s plenty of random events that can knock a province off it’s gameplan. There’s beautiful artwork and some cool FM music, though I must admit I prefer the Genesis version in both regards.

Has anyone else played this game before? Either on DOS or elsewhere?

[voxel]

#8805

I played through the first campaign last year, also on the Sega MegaDrive. It’s one of those games where I quite enjoy the strategic level, but the tactical battles get too repetitive too quickly. It’s cool that there’s a DOS port though, I had no idea!