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Zuluhed's Challenge

This bundle is marked as high quality. It exceeds standards and is highly desirable.
ZULUHED'S CHALLENGE

A 2-player chessboard strategy game

New Mode: Tower Tactics Build a custom army, upgrade your units with powerful buffs, and take down the enemy Tower!

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The tribes of Draenor are at a crossroads. The venerable shamanism of the orcish ancestors is being rapidly usurped by fel magiks, wielded with terrible efficiency by the warlocks of the Horde. Now, the leaders of the Red World test their powers of command against each other, vying for supremacy in a battle of strategy and wits!

Features

  • Take the role of one of ten legendary heroes from Draenor's past!
  • Choose between five armies with custom compositions and distinct strengths.
  • Crush your enemies with unique gameplay that combines WC3, chess, and tactical fighting.
  • Use new hero spells and magic items to transform units, undercut your opponent's strategies, and rain chaos across the battlefield!
  • Eight game modes to experience!

THE GAME

Gameplay

Elimination-based Modes

Objective-based Modes


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Zuluhed's Challenge is a 2-person turn-based strategy game. Think of it as chess meets WC3 with some wargaming elements sprinkled in for flavor. Players take turns, moving and attacking on an 8x8 grid with an army of 12-16 units, overseen by a powerful Hero.

Your Hero is one of Draenor's legendary leaders. He does not directly participate in the battle, but he will determine the composition of your army, and has a powerful, unique spell that can turn the tide of battle in your favor. Heroes can also obtain magical items. Use these on your turn to boost your forces, hamstring the enemy, or build hazards across the playing field!

There are eight gameplay modes available, each offering a distinctive spin on the game.

Check out the 'Quests' tab in-game to see rules, mechanics, mode-specific gameplay, and unit information.



In an elimination game, your objective is simple - wipe out the enemy army. Take no prisoners.
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There are four elimination modes available.

CLASSIC

A stripped-down strategy game. In classic mode, there are no Champion spells, no magic items, no resources, and no unit upgrades. With only your 12-piece army, you must bring down the enemy.

PRIZEFIGHT

In Prizefight Mode, heroes are rewarded with a random magic item every turn. These can include nets to keep enemy players from moving, landmines to damage unsuspecting units, uber-powerful summonables that will serve in your army for a limited time, or any of over a dozen other items.

Heroes also regenerate mana faster in Prizefight mode, meaning more spells and more chaos! Prizefights are faster paced, with hefty elements of chance.

MERCENARY

Mercenaries collect a salary in gold for every turn, and a bounty in wood for every enemy piece destroyed - the stronger the piece, the higher the bounty. Heroes can spend gold in their base's gold shop (on the north and south sides of the board) to acquire general magic items, while stronger and more specialized items can only be bought from the wood shop (on the east and west sides of the board).

The most powerful items can only be obtained in mercenary mode, and can significantly alter your strategy.

vs AI

Begin a solo game to take on Zuluhed, Doomhammer, Gul'dan, or Prophet Velen in a modified Classic match, and practice your skills.

AI Mode lacks many of the features of regular gameplay, but it's a good way to acquaint yourself with the mechanics of Zuluhed's Challenge and the compositions of different armies.



Objective-based games have unique goals and mechanics - you can't bludgeon your way through these!
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There are four objective-based game modes available.

TOWER TACTICS

Inspired by tactical battle games, Tower Tactics allows player to build their own fighting force from scratch, using any combination of units from other armies as well as special casters with distinctive spells. Send out your peons to gather resources, and use them to swell your army's ranks, or buy upgrades to render your fighters unstoppable.

Your enemy's Tower stands watch across the board. Bring it down to win!

CONQUEST

In a Conquest game, your goal is to be the first player to control a majority of the board. You gain control of a square by landing (not summoning!) any piece on it. After that, that square remains yours until an enemy lands his piece on the same space.

Four resource nodes exist on the map - as long as a piece is occupying that node, it generates gold and wood for the controlling player. Use these resources to buy powerful magical items in the in-game shops (including summonable permanent reinforcements).

Will you battle over resources? Focus on using your powerful units to steal enemy squares? Or spread to the far-flung corners with as many weaker units as possible?

PAYLOAD

You control a slow, fragile caravan hauling a valuable payload. Your objective is to be the first player to bring your caravan to the goal at the center of the board. But it won't be easy - your caravan is highly vulnerable, and you must decide whether you want to position your units to defend, or simply get it to the goal as quickly as possible. Fortunately, a new one revives every time your caravan is killed.

Heroes can't use their special ability in this mode, but they can use the rewards pillaged from felled enemy caravans to buy magic items in the gold and wood shops.

DEATHMATCH

Each army has a Champion among its ranks. These Champions are far sturdier than the average unit, immune to most magical effects, and supplement their attacks with a powerful, unique passive.

CHAMPIONS: 60 hp, 2 move range, 1 target range, 15 damage
Garona (Gul'dan, Cho'Gall): Vampiric Blades, receives 25% of her target's current hp back as health
Kargath Bladefist (Rend, Akama): Pillage, receives 5 gold and 2 lumber every time he attacks
Kilrogg Deadeye (Doomhammer, Gorefiend): Last Stand, attacks against him do decreased damage, relative to his health (up to 50% damage reduction)
Blood's Shadow (Zuluhed, Nekros): Parry, whenever attacked inflicts 30% attack damage back on the attacker
Spirit of Rulkan (Ner'zhul, Velen): Drawn Fate, attacks against her have a 20% chance to miss

They are also the only units capable of picking up the gold and lumber drops across the board. Will you risk their safety to obtain more resources to incapacitate the enemy, or will you turtle up, keeping them out of harm's way?

Assassinate the enemy Champion to win the game!



THE PLAYERS

Your Army

Elements

Demons

Orcs

Draenei

Shadow-touched



Players can choose between five armies, each with distinctive strengths.

An army is composed of 12-16 units. These are~
6-8 Weak units. These form your frontline, with low hp, low damage, and limited range.
2-4 Average units. Beginning in your rear rank, these units have the longest attack range.
2 Strong units. At the center of your forces, your heavy damage dealers.
2 Support units. At the edges. Support units do not have a standard attack, but can provide a unique effect, exclusive to your army.

Each turn, you can perform a 'move' action with one piece, and a 'target' action (usually attack) with one piece. Let's see what this looks like, through the wonders of MSPaint!
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As shown, the three icons near the top of your unit display show that unit's default stats. However, these stats can be modified by magic items, armor class, and experience bonuses.

ARMOR CLASS

Each unit has an armor class, which gives them bonuses and penalties when dealing and taking damage.

Heavy units do +2 damage against medium armor, but -2 against light
Medium units do +2 damage against light armor, but -2 against heavy
Light units do +2 damage against heavy armor, but -2 against medium
Unarmored units have no damage bonuses or penalties

EXPERIENCE

As your units rank up kills, individual units can level up, giving them bonuses to range, damage, or defense.

A unit becomes a Veteran Combatant after delivering 2 killing blows.

A unit becomes a Decorated Combatant after delivering 5 killing blows.


The elements, only one step removed from the blessed ancestors, have guided the orcish shamans for generations. As the voices of the spirits wane, the remaining mystics of the Horde call once more on the furies' aid.
Elements comprise the best general-purpose army, and excel at attacking from range.
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UNITS

Elemental Solid (medium): 15 hp, 1 move range, 1 attack range, 5 damage
Elemental Squall (light): 19 hp, 2 move range, 3 attack range, 7 damage
Elemental Cinder (heavy): 20 hp, 1 move range, 2 attack range, 19 damage
Elemental Spray: 15 hp, 2 move range, 1 target range, does 5 healing

SHAMANS

Ner'zhul: The Elder Shaman. Can cast Portal, allowing units to quickly move across the board.
Zuluhed: Chieftain of the Dragonmaw Clan. Can summon a temporary Spirit Drake, a fairly strong unit with unlimited move range.

LEVEL-UP

Elemental Fury: +1 attack range
Elemental Lord: +2 attack range


The tutelage of Kil'jaeden has given the Horde's warlocks access to new dimensions of power, thrusting expendable demon legions into the material plane. They are expected to strike swiftly, surely, and die in the name of their masters.
Most demon units are fragile, but they can be very strong in the early game.
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UNITS

Imp (medium): 11 hp, 1 move range, 2 attack range, 6 damage
Felhound (light): 18 hp, 2 move range, 2 attack range, 10 damage
Voidwalker (heavy): 37 hp, 2 move range, 1 attack range, 15 damage
Succubus: 12 hp, 1 move range, 2 target range, casts silence, preventing an enemy unit from using its target action for its next 2 turns.

WARLOCKS

Gul'dan: The Great Betrayer. Can cast Volcano, doing damage to all units in a 2x2 square.
Nekros Skullcrusher: Enslaver of the Red Dragonflight. Can cast Dominate, granting him control of an enemy unit for a single turn.

LEVEL-UP

Legion Captain: +3 damage
Legion General: +6 damage


Most orcs have always gone the way of the warrior, and Horde warlords are still at their best commanding battalions of hardened fighters. Orcs stand shoulder to shoulder, rushing headlong into battle as one, yet also respecting each others' strengths.
Orcs form the most rounded and situational army, with relatively stronger 'weak' units and weaker 'strong' units.
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UNITS

Grunt (heavy): 14 hp, 2 move range, 1 attack range, 7 damage
Spearman (medium): 16 hp, 1 move range, 3 attack range, 9 damage
Raider (light): 23 hp, 3 move range, 1 attack range, 18 damage
Wardrummer: 20 hp, 2 move range, no target ability. Passively plays wardrums, increasing the damage of adjacent friendly units and decreasing their damage taken by 1.

WARLORDS

Orgrim Doomhammer: Warchief of the Horde. Can cast Lava Lash, making a target enemy unit deal damage over time to all adjacent hostiles.
Dal'rend Blackhand: Chieftain of the Blacktooth Grin. Can cast Fel Aging, permanently upgrading one of his units to a more powerful form.

LEVEL-UP

Horde Veteran: +1 move range
Horde Champion: +2 move range


The Draenei are in a perilous situation - severely outnumbered by the Horde, their numbers have already been decimated. Those who remain to defend their people are either among the mightiest, most capable warriors their race has known, or are skilled at evading the blades of their foes.
Draenei have the weakest 'weak' units and the strongest 'strong' units. Protecting your damage dealers is key.
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UNITS

Krokul (light): 8 hp, 2 move range, 1 attack range, 4 damage. Stealths for 1 turn after attacking.
Rangari (medium): 17 hp, 3 move range, 2 attack range, 14 damage
Vindicator (heavy): 30 hp, 1 move range, 1 attack range, 22 damage
Anchorite: 11 hp, 2 move range, 2 target range, casts Light of the Naaru, healing allies and burning enemies for 2 points each turn over the next 2 rounds.

EXARCHS

Velen: Prophet of the Naaru. Can cast Redemption, reviving one of his random fallen units at the target square.
Akama: Ashtongue Elder Sage. Can cast Deathsworn Cunning, allowing him to take a second turn.

LEVEL-UP

Draenei Sage: +2 damage absorption
Draenei Elder: +4 damage absorption


The outcasts and disaffected of Draenor have fallen sway to the beguiling vision of the Shadow Council. Their minds too feeble or too broken to treat with fel, these wretched fighters have turned to void and necromancy, and are treated as little more than fodder by their masters.
The Shadow-touched are a highly mobile army of fragile, expendable units. Any battle will be a war of attrition, but the ability to rise from the dead means this army will last longer than most.
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UNITS

Pale Orc (light): 4 hp, 1-3 move range, 1 attack range, 9 damage. Pale Orcs are notoriously unpredictable - their move range changes each turn.
Ogre (heavy): 21 hp, 2 move range, 1 attack range, 10 damage
Sethekk Slave (medium): 10 hp, 3 move range, 4 attack range, 16 damage. Sethekk become exhausted after each attack, and must rest one turn before attacking again.
Necrolyte: 15 hp, 2 move range, 3 target range, casts Death Pact, draining 10 hp from allies and restoring the Necrolyte to full health. Can also be cast on lingering souls to raise them into undead fighters.

Every living Shadow-touched fighter leaves behind a soul on death.

COUNCILORS

Cho'Gall: Master of the Twilight's Hammer. Can cast Corrupted Blood, which jumps between enemy units, doing 1 damage each time until it's done a total of 25 damage.
Teron Gorefiend: First of the Death Knights. Can cast Unholy Shield, wreathing a target ally or enemy in necromantic energies. The unit is impervious to attack damage for three rounds. And then it dies. Horribly.

LEVEL-UP

Initiate of the 3rd Circle: leave a Great Soul behind on death, which can be resurrected as an Undead Warrior (10hp/2 move/1 range/7 damage).
Initiate of the 5th Circle: leave an Epic Soul behind on death, which can be resurrected as an Undead Champion (16hp/3 move/1 range/9 damage).



ABOUT

Model Credits

Author Notes

Changelog


All models from Hive Workshop

Ramza-------------------Imp
HappyTauren------------Lava
SuPa---------------------Magma Elemental
Grendel------------------Necromagus
alfredx_sotn-------------Air Elemental
Mc !----------------------Fire Elemental
Tauer--------------------Guldan, Doomhammer, Blackhand, Garona, ChoGall
Hayate-------------------Pitfall
UgoUgo------------------Shadow Assault
Shyrony-----------------Spirit Dragon Missile
Stefan.K-----------------Prophet Velen, Draka
Radagast----------------Grunt Spearthrower
UjimasaHojo------------Raider Derivatives
JetFangInferno----------Grand Auras, Sand Explosion
Callahan-----------------Lightning Strike
Illidan(evil)X------------Ion Cannon Beam
Champara Bros---------Healing Touch
Power-------------------Harvest Mana
Sellenisko---------------Draenei Huntress
Hawkwing---------------Draenei Luminary
JesusHipster, PROXY---Akama
General Frank----------General Orc
HerrDave---------------Orc Slasher
Nightmare--------------Dragon Slayer skin
Cavman,Hawkwind----Arakkoa Sage
FreddyK----------------Orc Veteran, Dark Soldier
GhostThruster---------ButtonDraenei
CRAZYRUSSIAN
Sin'dorei3000
Sigelang---------------Additional Buttons

Additional assets by Blizzard (music and art from Warlords of Draenor)

Alpha playtests by Wareditor & Nathra

And an extra special thanks to Stefan.K, who created the Zuluhed model for me from scratch, and Murlocologist, who created the accompanying icon.


This originated as a puzzle from one of the unreleased levels from my campaign Legacy of the Master. Technical difficulties along with IRL stuff left that sort of indefinitely postponed, but I thought this was probably my strongest puzzle from the game, and it would be a shame if it never saw the light of day. I haven't seen a map like this on Hive before (maybe I'm not looking hard enough), so I decided to doll it up, create a couple game modes, special mechanics, etc.

The original campaign puzzle is there in AI mode (accessed by playing the game single player), but it's much simpler (and probably more boring) than the gameplay for multiplayer mode.

While making a fully functional AI for all modes that can play competitively on an even playing field is a bit beyond me, I do want to expand the solo gameplay. I think I'd most like to do this in the form of a mini campaign, five special rounds interspersed with brief cutscenes, showing the rise and fall of Zuluhed

Another idea was a 'Grab Bag' mode, where rather than a particular army, you start the game with X gold and a shop where units are sold individually, and players have Y seconds to buy their units and place them in their first two ranks. Each player controls a stationary tower, that must be defended, and new units can be purchased and placed in the first two ranks as gold is acquired. Upgrades are purchased from the wood shop and applied to individual units (each unit can have no more than one), and special 'weak' units would likely have special casts (like net, poison, etc).


All that said, if folks express interest in this map, I may go ahead and add additional modes.

I really do hope folks enjoy this, and get some fun out of it. I learned a lot putting it together. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!



Feb 25-2018----------Initial Release

Feb 28-2018----------Edited map description

April 2-2018----------Released 'Deathmatch' Mode
>Improved AI in AI mode
>Fixed AI player turn restarting after Player victory in AI mode
>Added attachment points to Vindicator, Spirit Drake, Imp models
>Corrected several in game descriptions
>Added replayability without lobbying
>Added visual effects to experienced combatants
>Changed camera behaviour
>Resampled imported MP3s

April 5-2018----------Released Shadow-touched race
>Gul'dan, Doomhammer, Velen implemented as AI opponents
>Replaced Mor'ghor with Blood's Shadow
>Added custom icon to Zuluhed

Aug 14-2018---------Released Tower Tactics Mode
>Increased HP of all undead
>Cleaned up several triggers

Contents

Zuluhed's Challenge (Map)

Zuluhed's Challenge (Map)

Reviews
twojstaryjakcie
I really like how the map plays. The rules are simple, yet there are numerous stategic options throughout the game. Along with great visuals, pleasant soundtrack and a backstory presented in form of a skippable cinematic and dialogue interactions...
Level 8
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
111
I really like how the map plays. The rules are simple, yet there are numerous stategic options throughout the game. Along with great visuals, pleasant soundtrack and a backstory presented in form of a skippable cinematic and dialogue interactions between various opponents, this makes for quite an enjoyable mod.

As I stated before, I'm fond of the mechanics presented in the game, though I'm a little worried about the special abilities and the rank up system for units - it says that it doesn't work in Classic mode, though I'm not quite sure how to switch modes (or if I'm even playing the Classic mode); there's no mention of how to switch them in Quests or anywhere else. Maybe I missed something, but I'm quite sure I couldn't play the mode where special abilities of heroes were possible to use (I was playing Rend Blackhand if that helps).

The aesthetic design is on point - I really appreciate the effort put into the creation of the crossroads and the terrain variation. It succesfully creates a fantasy atmosphere, especially when paired with the soundtrack you used (by the way, it'd be worth mentioning where the music is from in the description).

Zuluhead's Challenge is an original idea implemented dilligently into Warcraft's universe, resulting in a map that, in spite of its simple premise, makes for a satisfying experience, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay.
 
Last edited:
Level 6
Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Messages
43
Zuluhead's Challenge is an original idea implemented dilligently into Warcraft's universe, resulting in a map that, in spite of its simple premise, makes for a satisfying experience, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay.

Wow! Thank you so much for the glowing review! I'm honored to have such an enthusiastic, well-written synopsis from an early player (and having this at the top of the thread sure doesn't hurt the map's image).

In answer to your question - vs AI is its own mode. It plays like a classic match, with experience enabled and an uneven board. The standard modes don't have an AI option available - perhaps this will change in the future, but at the moment, I think that level of programming is a little bit beyond me. In two-player, a dialogue should pop up, allowing Player 1 to pick between the 5 other game modes.

The soundtrack and loadscreen are taken from Warlords of Draenor! I really dug the art and soundtrack from that, and I thought it would be appropriate for this map (which is very loosely set around the end of the First War).
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
  1. How does Nekros gain mana to use his spell?
  2. You cannot set the camera to look from an angle using DELETE/the mouse scroll as it resets to the normal game camera which maximizes everything. Only when your rounds starts does the camera get form afar in a normal WcIII angle. You can however during a round use the view from above but that isn't too nice for me.
  3. At the end there should be no more defetead player's turn now and that it skipped the round.
  4. Oh but the enemy is always Zuluhed? Zuluhed vs Zuluhed :D
  5. So the other modes are not for singleplayer?
I like it but could use more variety for singleplay.


EDIT: updates are going well thus changed my rating.
 
Last edited:
Level 6
Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Messages
43
Map has been updated! There's now a whole new game mode (DEATHMATCH), the option to replay after matches, and some significant improvements to the AI (though it's still restricted to AI mode - making a working AI for the other modes is easily a larger project than the rest of the map thus far).

There are two things I plan to eventually add. These are a 'shadow' race, featuring Teron Gorefiend and Cho'Gall as heroes, and a 'Tactical' mode, which would allow you to decide the composition and placement of your army, instead of being locked to a particular race.

I've also toyed with the idea of a 'campaign mode' for single player, a set of five 'story matches' with unique conditions that would cover Zuluhed's rise and fall. My ideas on that are still pretty vague, though.
 
Level 6
Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Messages
43
Yet another update! I was going to set this aside for a while to do some work on my campaign, but then Murlocologist made such a lovely icon for Zuluhed, I thought I just had to do a little more to spiff this thing up!

New Shadow-touched race, featuring Cho'Gall and Gorefiend. Gameplay-wise, this is pretty distinct from any of the existing options, requires a much different sort of strategy.

I've also added orcs, demons, and draenei to the opponents you can play against in AI mode, so y'all can see just what that's all about if you're so inclined.

Right now it's showing as two maps - I'm not sure why. Uploading was a little wonky this go around.
 
Level 2
Joined
Nov 24, 2016
Messages
17
i really like this version of chess but i want the game have more players, can you make 2 more slot players? something like 4 players and you can make a vote for the 1v1 or something like a tournament player A vs player B and player C vs player D, anyway good map
 
Level 5
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Messages
114
M
Yet another update! I was going to set this aside for a while to do some work on my campaign, but then Murlocologist made such a lovely icon for Zuluhed, I thought I just had to do a little more to spiff this thing up!

New Shadow-touched race, featuring Cho'Gall and Gorefiend. Gameplay-wise, this is pretty distinct from any of the existing options, requires a much different sort of strategy.

I've also added orcs, demons, and draenei to the opponents you can play against in AI mode, so y'all can see just what that's all about if you're so inclined.

Right now it's showing as two maps - I'm not sure why. Uploading was a little wonky this go around.
An your Custom campaing Warcraft 2 Tides of Darkness eas very good you should make warcraft 1 or beyond the dark portal Custom campaing too becuse you are realy good in making Warcraft lore Custom campaing 👍❤️
 
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