Cadawr, the very first map for 8 castles that I downloaded back in the vanilla version turned out to be one of those where the nearest enemy is very close. Either "Warlords" or "Battle of the Nations." And also on veteran difficulty, around week 2 or 3, an enemy arrived with a pretty decent army (I don't remember the composition) and wiped me out completely.

I started a new game through the menu, and by week 2 or 3, I had captured his castle. Only a few soldiers survived, but now I had 2 castles. And I was lucky – this time, the enemy turned out to be of my race. I don't remember which race I was playing as anymore. It was a long time ago. The Hammers of Fate were still just a project. The version was 1.3 or 1.4.