Lazydog's Dark Omen Site

[Dark Omen] [Features] [Screenshots] [News] [Downloads] [Tips] [Magic Items Gallery]

[Walkthrough I] [Walkthrough II] [Walkthrough III] [Walkthrough IV]

[Links] [Peer-to-Peer Network] [Dark Omen reviews] [Easter Eggs] [Old news]

Dark Omen-ious visitor I bid ye, Welcome!

[since 16 April, 1998]

Here you will find, the latest news, tips, downloads, cheats, FAQs, strategy guides, demos and cool links for Warhammer: Dark Omen©, the sequel to the higly successful Shadow of the Horned Rat. I'll try my best to update LazyDog's DARK OMEN page with the latest stuff and info as well as share with everyone some of my Dark Omen gaming experience.

Likewise, to strategy gurus (especially in matters Dark Omen) and/or those who have finished the game, feel free to submit your tips and war stories for the benefit of those who've just started on their Campaign!

Updated 5th August, 1998

Hi, if you're a first timer to this site, GET DARK OMEN if you haven't already cos it ROCKS despite the (ahem) ... lack of hype. Hey, it's even got more rating than the MechCommander review at gamespot. All things BattleTech being overly hyped that is :-) Look it up I can't remember the exact URL there.
OK, Mikademus, he of the ultra-cool, totally user friendly Dark Omen editor sent me his release copy of WH2EDIT. Check it out at Downloads. Yes, for cheaters this nifty program is heaven sent.
Alexander Keul informed me the Dark Omen multiplayer site is open as of 25th July. Check it out and see how you fare against a HUMAN opponent(wimp!)
Yep, I've been offline for a bit. Sorry for the late update I've been away. But then there's really not much on the Dark Omen front to report. I agree with Ed Ezell, perhaps a bit more hype and "push" from EA could really propel DO into the front ranks of strategy gaming, kinda like Myth: The Fallen Lords. Still, on its on merits, DO has quite a big following and I've got mail from folks who are wondering why there isn't much support for DO, and if not for the cheat codes, you won't know who the cool people who made DO are. One can only wonder.
Anyway, this is it for me. I've moved to Auckland, NZ. Beautiful country, very nice people and shitloads of work at my new office. I doubt if I have time to look around for news and updates; So, if anyone is interested in taking over this DO site let me know.
Lots of thanks to everyone who's written with tips, comments, etc. Check out the latest tips here!
And to the DO team well done!

Updated 15th June, 1998

Mike Andersson (aka Mikademus) just released a comprehensive Dark Omen editor WH2EDIT v2.0, still Beta but definitely worth checking out. Although it's excellent for cheating(Cheater's rejoice!) Mike really made it to add xtra replayability to DO.
Yep, you can modify *everything* even create your very own mercenary army! Try it out, and mail him any bugs, feedback, etc.; he's obviously spent a lot of time on this!
the tips page have been updated. Thanks guys, keep em comin :-)

Updated 30th May, 1998

Hola everyone! Another update before Lazydog goes into deep hibernation(again)!
David M.Wilson (Head of PR, European Studios) sent me the entire cheat codes from the Dark Omen team! Thanks guys! Yes even cheats for the PSX!
David goes to say and I quote "There aren't any add-on missions planned at present unfortunately". Hm methinks they're probably busy working on Dark Omen II but I'll be sure to check with him for official news later ;-)
added some new tips here. I especially liked this one from Paul Vosselmans:
- found a sneaky way to complete the Moussilon-scenario with the BlackGrail Knights without too much losses. After fending off the initial attacks, send in your Grail Knights towards the Black ones. Engage them somewhere in the middle of the field and immediately target your mortar and cannon on the melee. This will probably wipe out your knights, but they'll be leaving anyway. I tried this two times, once reducing the black ones to two, the second time wiping them out.
*Sigh* I got more questions in the mail than tips(thanks all the same). I'll try my best to reply to some but if I'm late that means I dont have answers or just too lazy but check out Thorgrim's and BM's Book of Wisdom. They have stuff there that I don't.
And ofcourse for bugs/problems you can always point your browser to EA's support page.
Looking for on-line opponenets? EA has a Multiplayer Matchup™ service you may be interested in joining.
Getting back to sequels (and let's all pray for one!), here's my lowly wishlist :
- get the AI to stop firing at friendly units in melee! Arghhh! I hate it when they do that!
- likewise, each unit can be assigned a posture: Passive, Defensive, Aggressive. Passive; they do nothing until explicitly told to do so. Defensive; when shot at they fire back or pursue the enemy. Aggressive; when enemy comes in range the unit attacks.
- a Recording feature as in Myth. Oh Yesssss, now you get to play back your battles and impress your family and friends!
- I recalled there was a flying machine in SotHR, curiously absent in DO. Can we hope for air support and more steam driven vehicles in the next release?
- Open ended campaign! I remembered a game called Darklands(Microprose?) I played about 6 years ago which despite some severe bugs was quite interesting. You travel the German countryside with your party and go on randomly generated quests for gold and fame. The more gold you get the better armor and weapons you can equip your party with; and if memory serves me, there was actually a main storyline you had to follow when you tire of the mini-quests. Can we all say : Daggerfall ? :-)
- or alternately a Mission editor! Oooooh yes, create your own customised battles or campaign and upload to Lazydog's!
- The ability to pause the game and issue orders? Adjustable gamespeed might help especially for those who find the RT battles a tad bit difficult.
But let's hear it from you; send me your feedback/suggestions and if I get enough say 30-40 responses, I'll mail em to David for consideration!
Hee hee anyone played Might and Magic VI yet? It's just been released and Oh man, it rocks! If you're done w DO and you're just sittin there twiddlin your thumbs get MM6!

damn!...no rest for the weary adventurer...

Ah any Kiwi visitors? there's a good chance I'll get to work in NZ soon. very soon hee hee. so do drop me a line if you're from those parts. I'll set us up a games server(been futzin around with a Quake Linux port) and we'll do a kiwi fragfest kay?

Updated 12th May, 1998

Finally! after almost a month and 80 missions, (yes counting reloads and I did a lot of those) I've finished my long and ardous Campaign against the Undead hordes. The Dread King is no more and once again the land is freed from the tyranny of dark powers. You can catch instant replay here.
And check out the Northern Wastes mission where the intrepid lazydog commander wipes out a legion of Undead using only 2 units!
....ahem..., and for the doubting Thomas amongst you the savegame is here.
Completed Walkthrough III and updated the tips section with a some submissions. So go check them out. Thanks for the tips guys!
Some new magic items here and another screenshot. And Um. Easter Eggs. Forgot to add those in earlier :-)
So what's next? You can always be mean :
- Leave the Countess Isabel and her bodyguards to fend for themselves in Bogenhafen!
- Tell Asgus, Dwarven Commander to go fish! Dwarves are ugly and they smell!
- Urblad Rotgut and his boss can help themselves to all the gold at the Greenskins camp! who cares! you've hacked the savegame and got yourselves 65000 gold anyway!
- Leave Ragnar and his men to fight the Trolls alone! You've got to reach Kislev in time. Mind your tardiness commander!
- Tell Elrod (he of the Woodelves) what you really think of King Orion in not so many words
- Damn the Treemen! I've better things to do than hug a tree! Yuk!
There's probably about 5-6 missions left in there somewhere. But beware, going off the "honorable path" just makes the campaign even harder for you! You lose magic items and nobody joins your mercenary army. Good luck
Alternately you can always look up Star In-Tech's strategy guide, and I believe they've covered every possible mission there is.
For those interested in multiplayer Dark Omen do drop by Dark Omen Player Central for some gratuitious on-line mayhem!
Good News those of you who've missed out on the magic items earlier in the Campaign, here's how to get them without starting all over ;-)
James Cowart pointed out that the alpha screenshots I put up earlier are actually for the Playstation. Ooops!
And Link Exchange rejected my new banner, it's here on my Bio page. I guess they didn't think it was that funny :-o
Ever wonder how "user friendly" your website is? check out websitegarage. They do a free analysis of your site and recommends how you can improve traffic, reduce loading times, spelling check etc. great stuff!
OK folks I'll be offline for a bit and unless there's official word from EA on some Dark Omen goodies coming our way, there wont be much by way of news and updates. Arf Arf! ..zzzz....zzzz
"...and call me Commander!". ROFL that was a good one :-)

Updated 5th May, 1998

Yeah my update is late. Supposed to be yesterday but turned out there was a lot to do this time around :-)
I've revamped the Walkthru sections and made them more informative, and easier to navigate. There's info now on magic items in each mission; which was glaringly absent from the "previous" version as pointed out by visitors including one nice guy from EA. Thanks everyone! Hope you all like the new and improved Strategy Guide.
You will notice that there's a Walkthru III now. Yes, I've started on the final leg of my campaign and will be completing it very soon this week. Barring office work and Starcraft ofcourse. heheh
Gamespot just did a review of Dark Omen, giving it a rating of 8.3! WoHooo! Have a look at what Greg Kasavin has to say.
I was futzin around with the savegames and finally tried the cheats I've got on Downloads. Um what can I say they arent exactly "user friendly" and I hope there's better ones out there. If you're not careful you can easily mess up your savegames or crash Dark Omen. So pls make backups before u do anything.
I've also put up a magic items page. Just the 'skinny' on all the magic items Ive got to date. Will be updating it as I finish off this week. And maybe polish it up later with some item locations hotspots and such. Hm, maybe another 6-7 items left in the game? There's proly around 7-8 missions left methinks
And for those interested I've filed my older news here. I'll carry just 2 or 3 updates on this page any one time. Clean it up a bit.
This just crossed ny mind. To save your HTML's for offline reading along with the graphics, in Netscape 4.04 you would do File/Edit Page...Save. There's an equivalent in IE I dont know. Useful for those pages that's dependent on graphics, like this AoE walkthru I "saved" once.
In case you tire of medieval battles or you're done w DO(in which case why are u here? Haw Haw!), check out this badass battlin' robot game by FASA. It's real time and no doubt (based on the success of the Mechwarrior series) MechCommander will rock us later this year. And here's more mech' stuff for you. yes. drool all you want :-o

For more info:

Dark Omen Links

Dark Omen Reviews

Lazydog can be reached at...

sturmlord@mailexcite.com

Dark Omen Chapter, Malaysia

legal stuff

Software © 1998 Mindscape Inc. and Electronic Arts Ltd.
All rights reserved. Mindsape portions used under license by Electronic Arts
Ltd. Artwork and imagery © 1998 Games Workshop Ltd., used under
licence by Electronic Arts Ltd. Games Workshop and Warhammer are
registered trademarks of Games Workshop Ltd.
Electronic Arts, the Electronic Arts logo and Dark Omen are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Electronic Arts in the United States and/or other
countries.