This is CM1: Test of the Warlords (1984). CM, I believe, stand for CoMpanion Rules and, unsurprisingly, it is for characters level 15 and above — the highest published difficulty for the basic D&D game at that time. The Basic box tackled dungeons, Expert tackled the wilderness, Companion seeks to tackle landholding and politics. This is an uneasy alliance.

Warlords basically gifts the PCs with their own fiefs, maps out a campaign frame accounting for about two years of game time (structurally, it reminds me a lot of RuneQuest’s Borderlands box set in scope), utilizes two new rule systems from the Companion box (Dominion for land management and War Machine for mass combat) and sets up years of plots and warfare that will occupy the the rest of the Basic line to some degree for the rest of its lifespan — the enmity between the countries of Thyatis and Alphatia. And beyond, since Mystara for AD&D second edition takes up several of the threads, or at least is set in their aftermath.

In the end, though, Warlords doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself and eventually settles down into some dungeon crawling conflict with some frost giants (excellent Easley interior illustration for that). Which is fine! It honestly makes sense — the Companion box set is hardly assured as to what it is supposed to do, so it would be weird if the modules supporting it were more decisive. It doesn’t really get clearer as we go, and that’s a shame, because Dominion is a cool concept. I suspect it doesn’t really square with the core D&D experience, though (but then, there is Birthright, so maybe I’m wrong!).

That Warduke-looking MF on the cover doesn’t play into the events of the module. Not sure if that is a good thing or a missed opportunity. I do love Caldwell’s wild border work, though, particularly the extra skull in the lower left.