Warlords

Another old game from way past, this game was released by SSG in 1990. 8 races via for control of the land, and they can either be human players or controlled by the computer. And each race has its own advantages in terms of the type of units it can create. The basic concept is to build up an army, and for that, you need cities. Each city can create a few types of units, generate certain income, which is then used to build new units and maintain your army.

Every once in a while, a hero will offer to join your army. Heroes give bonuses in combat, and can be used to explore the ruins scattered across the land. Inside ruins are rewards, as well as traps. Exploring a ruin may result in the lost of your hero, but your hero may also find powerful allies to join your cause.

The basic concept of Warlords was further built on to give Warlords 2 and Warlords 3 (and the expansions for Warlords 3). There was also a Warlords 4. And right now, on the open source community, they are developing Freelords, which is a free Warlords clone.

So, join the elves, or the dwarves, in their struggle to control the land. The Horse Lords are great riders, and beware the demons of Lord Bane. The Sirian knights appear to fight for a noble cause, while no one argues with the powerful giants. And there are the Selentines and the orcs...

Warlords in Wikipedia.