Disciples III: Renaissance Preview

WorthPlaying has put together a hands-on preview of Akella and .dat's Disciples III: Renaissance, presumably based on a demo being shown at this week's GDC.
Gameplay is split into three main components, though all of them interweave into one continuous experience. The first stage consists of exploration as players scout the battlefield in search of items and artifacts. In this stage, gamers can also plant banners in certain spots and create outposts. The advantage to these locales is that you can then drop off healing items or gear in case you find yourself in a pinch and thereby aren't forced to flee all the way back to the capital to lick your wounds. However, these points need to be defended, so you'll likely be forced to drop off at least a portion of your fighting force to hold down the fort in case some baddies wander too close and threaten your stores.

Obviously, exploring will eventually lead to enemy encounters, and Disciples III sticks with the classic turn-based formula. Defeating enemies not only earns you new weapons and items, but also leadership points, which can be spent in the game's third component. Dropping points into different aspects of your leader characters allows them to command larger and larger parties, which in turn opens up the ability to fight tougher monsters. We didn't find out about any sort of cap on the number of units fighting on-screen at once, but some battles that flashed by featured over a dozen combatants.