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Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
Outline
Location:	Allansia, Titan
References:	400
Publication Details
Author(s):	Ian Livingstone
Illustrator(s):	Nik Williams
Puffin

Cover illustrator:	Christos Achilleos
First published:	December 1 1988
Number	36
ISBN:	ISBN 0-14-032486-0
Previous Book:	Daggers of Darkness
Next Book:	Portal of Evil
Wizard (Series 1)

Cover illustrator:	Martin McKenna
First published:	September 4 2003
Number	14
ISBN:	ISBN 1-84046-436-4
Previous Book:	Sorcery! 3: The Seven Serpents
Next Book:	Sorcery! 4: The Crown of Kings
Wizard (Series 2)

Cover illustrator:	Martin McKenna
First published:	March 31 2011
Number	15
ISBN:	ISBN 1-84831-234-2
Previous Book:	Forest of Doom
Next Book:	Appointment with F.E.A.R.

Armies Of Death is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Nik Williams and originally published in 1988 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2003 and 2011. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 36th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-032486-0) and 14th in the Wizard "Series 1" (ISBN 1-84046-436-4) and 15th in "Series 2" (ISBN 1-84831-234-2).

CreationEdit

BackgroundEdit

“ Can YOU defeat the nightmare army of the undead?

Agglax the Shadow Demon is amassing an army of undead warriors to conquer Allansia.

Setting off from Fang with over two hundred veteran fighters, YOU journey east to meet the enemy. But the Shadow Demon is not of this world and special powers are needed to destroy him. The longer you spend searching for these powers the stronger he will be.

Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need for this adventure. YOU decide which paths to take, which dangers to risk and which monsters to fight.^[1] ”

The reader assumes the role of the winner of the Trial of Champions, who has a newly won purse of 20,000 Gold Pieces. The reader must defeat an Evil Shadow Demon, Agglax and his undead army and stop them from taking over the region of Allansia using an army bought with the coins.

IntroductionEdit

The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System)

Unique RulesEdit

The player begins the adventure with no Provisions.
The book contains rules for mass-battle combat between opposing armies.

Equipment ListEdit

The book makes no reference to any equipment carried at the start of the adventure.

Cover and IllustrationsEdit

Main article: Armies of Death (illustrations)

Cover

The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Christos Achilleos.

This was the last book in the range (bar the exception of Return to Firetop Mountain) to feature the number of the book on the front cover.

When the book was republished by Wizard the cover was once again re-worked, this time by Martin McKenna. There was no Wizard "Special Limited Edition" for this book. With their 2003 reprint of the title, Wizard did not print a "Special Limited Edition" due to the pressures of releasing the series in Australia at the time.^[2] However, on the inside cover of a number of the later books, the "Special Limited Edition" cover of Armies of Death was shown along with the covers of other Wizard editions. The 2011 edition makes use of a section of the previous edition's cover art.

**Armies of Death** through the years
1988	1989	1990	1993	2003	2011

Dragon Format	Dragon No No.	No. Spine Only	No Bronze-Foil	Wizard	Shield
£2.25¹	£?	£2.99²	£?³	£4.99	£5.99

Price of 1st Impression
Price of 3rd Impression; £3.50 for 4th Impression
Note that the colour map is not included in this edition.

Illustrations

The interior illustrations were by Nik Williams. There were 34 full page illustrations and 6 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 6, 17, 28, 39, 52, 63, 76, 87, 100, 112, 121, 134, 143, 155, 166, 178, 188, 199, 209, 217, 230, 241, 252, 265, 278, 292, 307, 323, 338, 352, 368, 381, 394 and 400.

The colour map on the inside front cover was by Leo Hartas. It was not reproduced for the Wizard edition.

Intertextual ReferencesEdit

It is a sequel to previous Fighting Fantasy book Trial of Champions (the player assumes the role of the adventurer who successfully completed this earlier book), which in turn was a sequel to Deathtrap Dungeon.

Other MediaEdit

Main CharactersEdit

YOU: Hero of Trial of Champions

LocationsEdit

EncountersEdit

Calacorm
Chaos Warrior
Elite Fantatic
Enk
Fish Man
Giant Lizard
Giant Spider
Goblins - Regular/Sewer
Hill Trolls
Humans - Axemen/Barman/Robbers/Town Guard
Jip
Laz
Max
Mountain Orc
Mudgrinder
Nandibears
Ogre
Rogue
Rock Man
Shapechanger
Tree Man
Werewolf

Further NotesEdit

The first edition of Armies of Death marked the point at which the series started boasting on the back cover that the range had "over 10 million copies sold worldwide!" This small fact was celebrated by having this back cover banner (for this Fighting Fantasy gamebook only) printed in bronze foil like the credit on the front cover. The only other books printed in this way (with this back cover "over 10 million copies sold worldwide!" being in foil writing) were the Black Dragon Sub-Format of the Sorcery! series and the first two books of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy series.
Ian Livingstone makes a cameo appearance as Obigee, the landlord of Helen's House in Zengis who is exceptionally proud of his sailing achievements, in the illustration accompanying (368) of Armies of Death.^[3]
The answer to the question posed at (248) is not contained within the book itself and can only be found in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World.