Brigandine: The Legend of Forsena

About Brigandine: The Legend of Forsena

In Brigandine, the player controls one of the six playable nations. Each nation possesses a number of units and castles. Units are organized into troops, each of which is composed of a human (or Elven) leader called a "Rune Knight" (or "knight" for short) and fictional creatures called "monsters", which include dragons, ghouls, and pixies. The goal of the player is to conquer the entire continent by attacking the enemy castles with the controlled nation's troops (or troops from allied nations). Likewise, troops are also used to protect the controlled nation's castles from enemy troops' attacks. Brigandine features two gameplay modes, both turn-based: a preparation mode and a battle mode.

Rune Knights and monsters have statistics typical of role-playing video game, such as experience points, hit points, attack, defense, magic points, and the like. Rune Knights also have character classes, and may switch between classes if certain conditions are met. Monsters don't have classes, but may be upgraded to more powerful forms, called promotions, when they have reached a minimum level or some special items are used. The number of monsters which may join a troop is limited by the Rune Knight's Rune Power statistic. Each nation is led by a ruler, who has a unique class but is otherwise similar to other Rune Knights.

In this mode, each turn is represented by an in-game "month". The player may navigate and view statistics of all castles on the continent (although only the castles of the player's nation may be managed). Each month has an organize phase and an attack phase.

The game begins with a scene showing Zemeckis, commander of the army of the Kingdom of Almekia, receiving a visit from a Rune Knight called Cador, who wields the title of "Death Knight". Zemeckis is convinced that he is being falsely accused of treason, and decides to rebel against the King of Almekia, Henguist. Zemeckis' rebellion is joined by other Rune Knights, and they successfully take over the nation of Almekia, renaming it the Esgares Empire. King Henguist dies at the hands of Cador, and the son of the King, Prince Lance, flees to the nearby Kingdom of Padstow with the Rune Knights who stayed loyal to the deceased king. These events are the trigger for the war between the nations of Forsena.