Reports on online games and their confirmations (Autumn 2008 season).

Hermit (blue, Inferno, Marius, Mariussa) def Nerevin (red, Castle, Adelaide, Adelaide)

We played on the map "Twins", which is available in Heroes by default after installation. Difficulty - horse, monsters - normal, my starting hero was Mariussa, the opponent's starting hero was Adelaide. 78 days. 213 points. Awarded the rank "Horned Demon". I strictly followed all the rules, but at the beginning of the game we agreed not to attack each other for the first two weeks. There was no need for this. The theoretical possibility of first encounters was much later.

I started playing underground as Inferno. It wasn't very hard - the difficulty is horse... It was very unusual, the hero was cut off from the town, some time was spent figuring out the road to the town, hiring a second hero to help the first one break through to the town. I was slowly building up the town, there weren't enough resources and the development left much to be desired. I didn't want to trade anything on the market because the exchange rate was outrageous; the only time I traded some crystals and gems was when I was just a little short of a Capitol, so I wouldn't have to wait until the next day. Meanwhile, I upgraded the first three level units, gathered them into Mariussa's army, and slowly moved along the winding spiral path towards the underground gate in the upper right corner of the map. My second hero, Octavia, whom I hired because of her literacy, to level her up to Expert and teach Mariussa spells, finally found the Alchemist's Lab and, after gathering some unupgraded Efreet and Pit Fiends, managed to capture it and gain some levels. Mariussa fought her way with Imps, Magogs, and Cerberi towards the surface exit, while Octavia accumulated an army and collected the remaining resources in the nooks and crannies, rare and mostly useless artifacts... On this map, there was a Seer's Hut and a Magic Eye. I visited it and saw part of the surface territory where my opponent lived. I saw that his development was better than mine and his heroes' armies were stronger. On his territory, there were two small valleys surrounded by mountains and guarded by blue and black Border Guards. In one of them was a Helm of Enlightenment (+6 to all stats) and a Hill Fort, in the second a Sentinel's Shield (+12 defense, but -2 attack), a Mana Well, a Garden of Revelation, and a School of Magic. The tents were on my territory - the black one, deep inside, and the blue one near the underground gate... When I was not far from the surface exit, suddenly an opponent's hero came towards me; his army had units of all levels, but the Angels were still not upgraded. I hurried back with my troops. Octavia continued her work deep in the map and had already learned Literacy at Expert level and Basic Wisdom. When the opponent's hero had traveled about 1/3 of the way to my town, he offered me a draw, but I had already lost two battles here and I still needed to somehow raise my rating. I refused. Then he informed me that he would build the Grail tomorrow, no rules were broken... I thought: come what may, and still refused... although judge for yourselves, there are only two towns on this map: mine - Inferno, and his - Castle. If he gets one and a half times more troops each week, then everything is clear... Fleeing, Mariussa met Octavia near the largest remaining resource pile. The opponent's hero cautiously advanced with a large, but far from full, army that had units of all levels and only the Angels were not upgraded. As soon as he entered the underground, he visited the Blue Tent, and now I sadly watched as another hero in the surface world took the Helm +6 to all... Having combined Octavia's and Marius' forces near the Magic Elementals in Marius' army, I broke the guard of the large resource pile and left Octavia with one Imp in each stack (to escape later) to collect the resources and level up Wisdom on the treasure chests, while Marius hurried to the town along the road, visiting unvisited objects. On my territory was the Library of Enlightenment, and now she had reached the tenth level, and I happily entered it and headed to the town to restore my spell points and upgrade the army. Octavia collected all the resources, the chests, leveled Wisdom to level 2, but then the opponent's hero approached, trapped her in the valley, and defeated her. Moreover, she couldn't retreat because he had Shackles of War... and I lost Octavia. Having destroyed Octavia, he moved further along the winding spiral towards my town... The situation with Mercury was critical. At the beginning of the game, not understanding what kind of map this was, I hesitated to spend money on a Resource Silo, and now I was tearing my hair out. All units were upgraded except the Devils. After hiring another hero in the Tavern (I don't remember his name, gives +1 Sulphur per day), after restoring Marius' spell points, I left the town with her and a small army. There was a lot of gold. The opponent advanced. He was already near the Black Keymaster's Tent; if he visits it, the entrance to the valley where the Sentinel's Shield lies will be open to him. That would be the end! Spitting on the exchange rate, I gathered all the resources, traded them for Mercury, managed to upgrade the Forsaken Palace and almost all the Devils, gathered the entire army, gave it to Mariussa, and rushed at his hero. He had a suspiciously high attack of 13, but defense was zero, and using a fairly large numerical advantage in troops, I won this battle, losing only a minor part of the army. The opponent's hero did not remove the Shackles of War before this battle, and they went to me along with the Titan's Gladius. And some other artifact…

This battle gave me some kind of unclear (as it turned out, very small) chance of victory. But I of course understood that I had to go immediately; time was my enemy, because every week the opponent received one and a half times more troops, and besides, on his territory I saw two Monasteries, while I only had a Palace of Sorrow and a Brimstone Cauldron… Furthermore, the army defeated in this battle was clearly not his entire army; perhaps even the majority of the troops remained in the surface world.

In the heat of the moment, right after the battle, I rushed forward, but then I thought I needed to restore mana, because I hadn't seen any Mana Wells on this map. And after the battle, I learned Intelligence of the first level. I had a Book of Earth Magic and Armageddon. I calmly returned to my town, waited until the end of the week, took all the units, and at the start of the new week, I rushed back along the winding spiral path to the underground gate. With each new week, the chances of victory became smaller and smaller; I paid no attention to any mines or resources. After each week, I hired the hero that was in the Tavern and, with all the new growth, rushed after Mariussa. Upon reaching the surface, I only visited the Arena, captured the Sentinel's Shield, visited the School of Magic and the Garden of Revelation located in the same valley, and started thinking about which way to go to reach his town. I first chose the wrong direction and went a bit past it, and saw the town through the mountains. And then, as it seemed to me, I made a big mistake, because his hero came out of the town with the entire army and, for some reason, went to the Hill Fort. And I didn't take the chance and didn't have the sense to occupy his town and turn the final battle into a siege, where I would be the defending side. Instead, I tried to visit the Swan Lake, although the opponent hired heroes to neutralize my luck and morale bonuses before the final battle. Thus, he entered his town, eliminated all my luck and morale bonuses, and waited. It was the sixth day; my reinforcement stacks were very far away, and the only correct decision was to immediately attack the town! And I attacked.

When I saw the army opposing me, I became 100% certain that I would lose this battle; I even started thinking about what I would do when I lost this battle…
Out of desperation, a thought came to my mind: I would save the Efreets so that when all the other units were killed, and by that time I had saved at least 40 mana points, I could safely cast Armageddon twice, and try to make the opponent's stacks equal in size and low in health by then… this would be a very strong trump card for me…

Speaking of hero skills, I must note that I didn't know any magic at Expert level, and apparently the opponent didn't either… I had 75 mana points, he had 100, our Spell Power was equal, but in Attack and Defense my hero was one and a half times superior to his.

Before the attack, I placed the Efreet opposite the Crossbowmen. During the battle, the opponent burned my concentrated groups of Inferno units, while in the first round I cast Haste on the Magogs, hoping they would gain speed and act before the Griffins. Then I could have hit the Crossbowmen, Griffins, and Monks with one shot, but this didn't happen because he anticipated it and, on his first turn, positioned all his units so that they weren't standing on adjacent hexes. Yes, I could only hit one shooter with the Magogs, but at the same time, both the shooters and the Monks were completely defenseless against the Efreets and Devils. After moving the Efreet and Devil first in my turn, I attacked the Monks and shooters with them at the end of my turn. The Efreet… took out almost all 170 Crossbowmen, and the Devil… half of the Monks! This was a surprisingly pleasant surprise! True, 18, I think, Archangels in the next turn, behind the walls, killed four Archdevils, and the remaining 9 killed two Archangels, and I retreated the Devil and Efreet behind the wall… the shooters and Monks shot at the Magogs, the Magogs shot at the shooters, the Archangels resurrected almost all the shooters, but the Efreets, flying over the wall a second time, took out the Crossbowmen (this time all but three). But the opponent's Archangels now attacked the Efreets, and from 30, only 21 remained; the Armageddon plan was falling apart… Meanwhile, the shooters and Inferno units finished off the poor Magogs, and the Pit Fiends turned them into Demons during their turn. (And Mariussa specialized precisely in them.) The Devil finished his work, and neither of us had any shooters left (except for one Monk). Imps stole mana with each of the opponent's spells, and soon he had less than me… He cast Haste on the Champion, and he left the town and attacked the Efreet. Alas, it was the end for the Efreet… but then the Imps attacked the Champion and the Pit Fiends; in fact, everyone rushed at him, and in the next turn I moved the remaining Imps under the gate, separated the Champions from the rest of the stacks, and killed them all. My Efreet was also killed.
The Hasted Devil flew over the wall every two turns and attacked the Archangels and Griffins. Then the Archangel flew out of the castle and attacked someone, and again all my units rushed at him alone and killed him. Very few Archdevils remained. The Griffins flew out of the castle and attacked, I think, the Imps. I tried to fight them with Cerberi and Archdevils, and when they became few, I finished them off with Demons and Pit Fiends. Only one Devil remained; the Imps, Efreets, and Magogs were dead, but on the other hand, the Cerberi, Pit Fiends, and most importantly the Demons, which my hero specialized in, were not heavily damaged.
The Imps died right under the gate, and the door would not open. I killed all the Griffins, spent the saved mana on resurrecting four Archdevils and casting Slow on the opponent's Champions. He had Champions and Halberdiers left. The towers shot at my units, and I used the Archdevil to strike the Champions sitting in the town every two turns. I was dealing more damage overall, and the opponent moved his Slowed Champions and Halberdiers through the breaches in the wall. I killed them too and won the battle.

After this, he had one hero left with an army of no military significance; he attacked the castle and was defeated. That's how I won.

Thank you for the game!

Added after 41 minute

El Magnifico Sonic` (red, random, Stronghold, Crag Hack, Crag Hack) def Hermit (blue, Fortress, Alkin, Alkin) 2sm4d(3) 146,
Poor respawn, but I play on the first 1-5 in the Castle and the secondary Conflux, on the second Bears and secondary Tower, on the third I scout the passage to the opponent in the snow, bypassing ГО (20+ angels) and on day 141 I capture the capital, on day 146 I attack the opponent entrenched in the secondary - the superiority in troops was decisive! My Cyclopes quickly tore down the walls, and there was nothing to oppose 5 Bears and 18 Birds (the Hydras and Wyverns were killed during the assault on the capital)!!:smile17:
Thanks to the opponent for the game!!!

Yes, indeed, that's exactly how it was. There was no wood anywhere; the Sawmill was guarded by a horde of Archers on one side and many Dendroids on the other...
For the first three days, I didn't dare ask for a restart (I myself get annoyed when everything goes well for me, and then no - a restart!!! Although these rules are only unpleasant for me for now... I'll get used to it), and later it was too late! A nightmare life began in the swamps without wood... And some boars were separating us as well... Ah! If only I could have had another three weeks!..

Thanks to the opponent for the game! I would very much like to play again...