[HMM II TOURNAMENT OFF] The second stage of the Van Cunningham 2008 tournament.

I see you had an army of 169 goblins and 29 orcs before the battle with the Phoenixes. After the battle, you had 113 goblins left!
Tell me about your battle strategy; I had a similar army, but I lost more goblins.

To be honest, I got lucky. I set up the formation as 1-1-1-169-26. With some minor variations, I managed to achieve early morale for the goblins (as you know, in the second game, morale is quite predetermined, unlike the first and third games, but not as rigidly as in the fifth). Plus, the phoenixes were attacking each other.

That's it. No more questions. There's no save before the battle. The army that the Barbarian has in his castle can't break through. But after buying the Book of Magic and a Warlock, everything becomes clear.

My central computer built a guild of only level 1. As a result, I had to recruit some more troops and killed the enemy with a Barbarian and 3 spells of Blessing, using an army of 147 goblins, 8 orcs, 7 gargoyles, and 11 centaurs. It was an interesting battle. 53 goblins survived.

I'm posting my walkthrough here.

About the map.

The map is quite generous with available money and resources. Some of them are free, and some are guarded, but not by too strong neutrals. The passages to the enemies are guarded by armies of varying strength, but it is possible to break through each of them with the troops of several heroes. This makes a strategy of rushing with a large number of heroes obvious.

About the troops and magic.

We have low-level troops from heroes, potentially joining fairies, thieves, goblins, and nomads, 11 of which can be bought on the map. It's not that bad. Phoenixes also join when guarding the teleport, but we can't gather an army strong enough for that. There are many troops that can be recruited for money, but it is impossible to quickly level up Expert Diplomacy, and the need to rush in three directions at once eliminates this strategy. Magic can only be used after capturing enemy castles, but the spell selection for the top and central computers (the right one is not dangerous because it doesn't have such starting bonuses) is quite good. Keep this in mind.

About the heroes.

For this map, you need many Barbarians (strike force in the form of goblins and an anchor in the form of orcs) and Warlocks (high starting speed, strategically useful units, potential runners). Fortunately, only 1 Warlock is occupied among the heroes we are interested in; the other 17 are free. In the walkthrough, I had to buy a hero 19 times, which means I had to "dig" 18 times with varying selectivity. I would like to thank vbn for the hero-finding tool for the second Heroes game.

About the resources.

There is a lot of gold and treasure chests, but they are scattered across the map, which makes collecting them difficult. We need other resources mainly for selling, except for wood for the Markets.

Day 111

Gwennett takes a treasure chest +2000 and a bonfire +500, +5cr. We buy Gem (in Barok's tavern), who takes archers from Gwennett (leaving them in the castle) and gives a fairy. On the fairy, she takes a treasure chest +2000. We buy Barok (Whisper), who, with the fairy, takes gold +600.
Day 112

Gwennett runs to the northwest. Gem heads east. Barok goes north, taking a treasure chest +2000. We buy Whisper (Fineas), who, with gargoyles, runs up. As a result, we get 20 centaurs and 8 gargoyles from 2 warlocks.
Day 113

Gwennett takes 5cr and 2 treasure chests of 1500. Gem +2000 near the mercury mine. Barok picks up 2 chests of +2000. Now we have money to organize a hero rush. We buy Fineas (Ergon), who runs east. Whisper goes up. Ergon (Agar) heads north. Agar (Jodjosh) with gargoyles occupies a strategic position between the gold and the mine. Jodjosh (Jacqueline) stands next to Fineas. On the third day, we have 8 heroes; the preparatory stage can be considered successfully completed.
Day 114

Gwennett is dismissed. We start building the future chain. Barok takes +500, +5 gems, +1000. Gem +1500 and down. Fineas stands in front of the elves. Jacqueline (Atlas) transfers 12 archers, 13 fairies, 8 gargoyles, 26 centaurs. She is dismissed after transferring all the goblins. Ergon breaks through the orcs without losses. Whisper picks up free loot +2100, sand, and recruits thieves. Then, 123 + 43 goblins and 29 orcs through Gem get to Jodjosh. The transfer is complete. Jodjosh breaks through the hydras with the loss of one goblin and stands in front of the phoenixes. Although on this day, with a more precise approach (perhaps even in the previous days), as I think, it was possible to kill the phoenixes on day 5. But during the walkthrough, there was a strong lack of time to optimize the runs.
Day 115

Jodjosh destroys the phoenixes, keeping 113 goblins (lucky with morale). He runs to the Warlock's castle. Ergon sequentially takes a bonfire, visits an oasis, recruits fairies, destroys orcs, picks up a treasure chest, buys 11 nomads, an oasis, breaks through druids and orcs near the mine. Losses are not that important. The main thing is to keep the gargoyles and desert riders, because we dismiss all other troops to speed up the process. There are 5 gargoyles and 11 nomads left. We buy Crag Hack. With the other heroes, we collect everything we can reach, while building a chain to transfer the army to Fineas, whom we dismiss on the remaining gargoyle.
Day 116

Fineas receives reinforcements and easily defeats the zombies, the enemy hero, and captures the castle of the right knight. He is dismissed. Ergon +2000 and runs into the castle of the top knight. He leaves the army and is dismissed. Jodjosh runs into the Warlock's castle. We build 2 markets; we will trade. Then comes the final chord. In the central castle, we buy 2 warlocks, who bring the army and pay for themselves by collecting 3 treasure chests and sand. Then 2 barbarians (Jacqueline, who was dismissed on day 4, and the last barbarian who was not bought) - one is needed only for the army, and the second buys the Book of Magic and, with an army of 147 goblins, 8 orcs, 11 centaurs, 7 gargoyles, kills the remaining Warlock. 53 goblins survive. In the top castle, we buy a total of 3 heroes: one collects 2 treasure chests, the second Warlock with 5 centaurs lures mana from the computer (this redhead had 2 lightning spells) and knocks out his pikemen and swordsmen, the third, in auto-battle mode, with 14 centaurs, 12 gargoyles, and 11 nomads, finishes off the last enemy. Although all these hero rearrangements are better to see in the saves.
Victory.

Final result: 7 days, 5-1-1-1, 3 mercury.