On October 4, 2001, SSG announced that a sequel to "Warlords Battlecry" was in development and was at the stages of beta-testing. The game was slated to feature a non-linear campaign (as opposed to the linear, story-driven campaign of the game's predecessor) and feature almost a hundred and forty different unit types (sixty of which would be brand new), twelve races (nine from the previous game, three created specifically for this game), 20 hero classes and more than a hundred spells and special abilities.