OFB-13

Thanks for the game!

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This time I played like a sack of potatoes. For the first week, we were neck and neck in development. I bet on building up the library (and only realized at the end of the game that one-time upgrades were disabled), while my opponent was building GM in a dungeon where, without upgrades (!!!), TP/RR + DD are essential. In short, I fell behind on tempo, but horses were stationed in the citadel + all mines were cleared.

The Necromancer entered, but specifically from necromancy, I raised about 150-200 bones; it wasn't going very well, let's put it that way.

Three candidates emerged for the mains: the Necromancer - Moandor, who grabbed Earth; Terek, who grabbed Air; and Iona, who accidentally ate an experience box (really misclicked :)) and got Intelligence and Earth.

The worst part of the game for me turned out to be the second week, where I spent most of my time running back and forth uselessly. I built TP and fly; in my army were 5 horses, 16 ducks, an angel, and maybe a hundred bones at most. Well, some archers remained. Meanwhile, the opponent already had 7 angels and 43 ducks + angels were built (while I was still struggling with GM). Basically, in such a game, one should just concede, which is what I would have done if the opponent hadn't messed up on the timer.

On the third week, I get DD with Terek, a couple of boxes (Earth came as the 7th skill and Logistics as the 8th), and plan to rush into the swamp, since the opponent was active there in their half of the map and I was terribly curious about what he found. The entrance there was awful; I didn't plan to venture in without control (at least two days on foot to the town).

But my plans fell through: at 135, Alkin crashes into my dungeon adjacent to the swamp with a pack of angels and 83 (!) ducks (against my 37). I was a bit stunned, but then found out that I just needed to move around the teleports and I'd be happy. In the same turn, the main is taken; Alkin is sitting in the town.

Terek is out of mana, I have no idea what to do since stats are higher, and even with 500 bones I couldn't win this fight. I decide to trade artifacts, rebuild GM, and buy boots + gloves. And, at the most critical moment, I build an impl. Poor Terek with basic Earth quickly crashes into the Tower, learns everything necessary, and stands in a village for 3000 mp to reclaim the main.

At 136, the opponent flew somewhere, cast some spells, and returned with a pack of archs + power. And here was my luck. He settled in the town, and I had a chance to pin him down.

I decided not to risk too much; I see that stats have decreased, probably AOTD. I crash in with the Necromancer and an impl: indeed, AOTD. But mana is less than 20! And here a cunning plan formed in my head.)) The Necromancer takes out 7 archs with the impl, buys his way out, then Terek crashes in.
The striking force was fire, of course; all the power dealt no more than 50 damage to any unit—only on 6 angels, 500 skeletons, and 37 ducks was there hope that they would pull through. With 180 mana, the impl at 1600 should have carried it.

After the AOTD casts, ducks flew at me; two hits wiped out a stack of skeletons, I already thought it was game over. But as the play unfolded, the opponent ran out of mana, and after that, it was just a matter of technique. Of my entire army, only 13 ducks on haste and a couple of eyes remained, but there was enough mana to finish off the opponent.

If:
1. The opponent had slightly more mana
2. There was anti-magic
3. There was enough timer to simply fly to the dungeon and double up

Then I would have definitely lost this clash. But I got lucky. Thanks for your time!