HALL OF FAME!

4th offline "Company" tournament, stage 7 (held as part of the 6th stage of the annual Van Canigem tournament)

Those interested can check out my walkthrough of the map. A full set of saves is attached.

About the map

At the start, we have our own clear respawn with plenty of free or nearly
free chests and piles of gold. The density of neutral monsters is low. The enemy is far away, and reaching them seems like a very long process. Fortunately, in the guild of one of the home castles, the Portal spell is found. However, the guard at the enemy castle is serious; therefore, it is necessary to combine rapid magic development with the buildup of combat strength.

About troops and magic

At the start, we have a decent army for clearing from the starting castle, plus growth on day 3. For the main battle, it was necessary to choose a tactic for destroying a substantial stack of enemy dragons: a hoard of troops from several home castles, dragons from an enemy captured castle, or a strike stack of peasants. The latter option was chosen, largely because I wanted to fight with these rarely used units. Magical support on the map consists of the Portal spell, and in battle, Berserk, Paralysis, and Bless helped. An excellent set, it must be said.

About heroes

On such a map, heroes are our everything, as they allow us to quickly gather
necessary resources and bring much-needed peasants. During the
walkthrough, heroes were purchased 19 times, of which 13 times Knights. A sorceress (3 Knowledge) and a Barbarian as a combatant were also necessary. In the other 4 cases, maximum starting movement was required, which presented some problems since there were 8 Warlocks for the computer. The final battle was conducted by a level 4 hero. Maximum Attack parameter was required from him; Crag Hack was the only hero who received the first 3 upgrades in Attack.

About resources

The main problem is the absence of precious gems for the guild at the respawn and the distance to the corresponding mine. There are no problems with everything else.

Day 1

We buy Hector and Whisper. Kilburn and Hector each get a gargoyle and
run for money.
Hector takes 4 piles of gold +600,+1000,+1000,+600 and runs up.
Kilburn picks up 2 piles +500,+1000 and a chest +2000.
Whisper clears the peasants, campfire +6 mercury,+600, breaks through the spearmen
with an army of 17 archers, 5 spearmen, 4 swordsmen, 1 peasant, 6
centaurs, loses a peasant and centaurs, takes a chest diagonally
down.
We buy Karlawn (the only one without dwarves), who on the fairy picks up
the freed campfire +6 sand,+600 and a chest +1500.
We build a castle (we will conditionally call it the second).
In the 2nd castle, we buy Tsabu (the only one without orcs), who runs
northeast and takes a chest +2000.
There we also buy Ambrosia, who on the goblin follows the path to
the neutral village.
Last comes Maximus and with the goblin stands before the orcs.
Day result: 2 castles and 7 heroes. Well, not bad.

Day 2

Maximus takes a chest +1000; now there is money for another hero.
Gallant is bought out and with an army of 130 peasants, 11 archers, 22
goblins joins 15 orcs.
Maximus carries the orcs to Ambrosia, who captures the village.
Whisper joins 31 thieves, picks up a campfire +6 crystals,+600 and a chest +2000.
Hector grabs a chest +2000 and 14 stone near the 2nd castle.
Karlawn runs east; there a chest +2000 and the path to the stone
mine await her.
Kilburn takes a pile +700 and heads down for 3 piles with +15,+12,16
wood.
Tsabu takes 2 chests of +1500 each and freezes near the third.
Now there is everything necessary to plant the 3rd castle, in which we buy Arturius (after first firing Gallant) and a few archers.
Arturius takes the army from Ambrosia and with 17 archers and 15 orcs runs northwest for an artifact, picking up a chest +2000.
We build riders in the first castle.
Ambrosia with the goblin heads to the precious gems mine.
Result: 8 heroes and 3 castles; now we can operate across the entire respawn.

Day 3

We generate peasant doubling in the castle buildings.
Ambrosia continues the path to the mine.
Arturius hits archers, picks up an artifact +750 per day, campfire +5
stone,+500 and a chest +1000, enters the dwelling. An army of
20 archers and 15 orcs is obtained.
Hector enters the 2nd castle and with 18 archers and a gargoyle hits dwarves,
takes an artifact +500 per day and campfire +5 mercury,+500.
Tsabu picks up chests +1000, +2000 and +9 wood. (This is clearly not
optimal here, as first the hero will not fully use his move,
and then he will be short).
Whisper gives spearmen, swordsmen, and thieves to Kilburn, who hits
gargoyles for a scroll +5 Knowledge and a chest. Then both run up, but in such
a way that Whisper keeps the gargoyle.
Maximus makes his way toward the compass.
Karlawn takes 16 stone and a chest 1500 near the sulfur mine.
We build a level 1 guild in the second castle.

Day 4

Kilburn hits dwarves, buys an artifact +1000 per day, takes a chest +1000.
Whisper takes the army from him and carries it to the first castle. Kilburn is fired.
Arturius runs to the 3rd castle.
In it we buy Tiro, 15 archers, and 6 spearmen. Tiro takes
the troops from Arturius and passes them to Maximus. Arturius is fired.
Maximus with 215 peasants, 35 archers, 15 orcs, 6 spearmen
joins 14 swordsmen, but unfortunately, he is short one
move cell to take the compass.
Ambrosia takes a chest +1000 and the coveted mine.
Karlawn gets money from 2 chests +1000, +2000 and heads southwest.
Crag Hack (our hero!) appears. Having received troops and artifacts from Whisper,
he (after buying a book) with 8 riders breaks through spearmen, picks up a chest for 1000 experience (+1 Attack) and runs to the shrine with Berserk.
Whisper is fired.
Tsabu visits the statue and freezes before the minotaurs.
In the 2nd castle, Gallant is bought, who takes archers from Hector.
Hector grabs a chest +2000 and stops near the cemetery.
We build a level 2 guild.

Day 5

Ambrosia takes chests +1500, +2000 and a shield +2 Defense, then is fired.
Karlawn grabs a pile and a chest of +1000 each, runs up.
Maximus moves toward Tiro, who takes the army from him and brings it to the 3rd castle. In it Haart is bought out and passes the army (except orcs) to Hector. Tiro and Haart are fired.
In the 1st castle we buy Kilburn. He passes the army (together with remaining
thieves for speeding up several heroes; generally in the walkthrough it is assumed that if a fast unit can be given to a hero without losses, it is done) to Crag, while picking up a campfire. Then he is fired.
Crag Hack learns Berserk, gives the army to Gallant and stands before the second
castle.
Gallant carries the fighters to Hector, but keeps the peasants for himself.
Hector himself first gives them along with the compass that arrived through third parties to Tsabu, who hits minotaurs with an army of 88 archers, 18
spearmen, 24 swordsmen, 1 goblin, 8 riders (losing a goblin and
a knight, sob-sob). Then Tsabu returns the army to Hector and on a gargoyle flies for gems, picking up a campfire along the way.
Whisper appears in the 2nd castle and with a gargoyle runs up, takes a campfire
+6 crystals,+600.
We buy Dimitri, who takes 9 stone and a chest +1500.
A level 3 guild is built.

Day 6

Karlawn takes 6 sand and is fired.
Tsabu reaches 2 piles of precious gems with 3 pieces each.
Maximus runs up for a chest +2000.
Hector passes the army to Gallant, who via Whisper
(who managed to take an artifact morale +1) reaches the 2nd castle. There Tiro is bought and troops are delivered to Dimitri. Tiro is fired.
Dimitri breaks through swordsmen, grabs a campfire and artifact +2 Knowledge,
returns to the castle.
There we buy Ambrosia; he on a gargoyle enters the mill +2 precious gems.
A level 4 guild is built.
Gem appears, passes artifacts from Dimitri to Crag and on a gargoyle flies
down.
Crag (Knowledge 8) leaves in the 2nd castle 5 archers, 8 spearmen (+thieves), unbought peasants. With the rest of the army he jumps to Blackwind and captures it (+1 Attack). He spends the night there.
Whisper spends the night in the 2nd castle.

Day 7

The final chord.
All heroes at the respawn conduct a simple operation as a result of which Gem ends up with the remaining troops from all 3 castles, 5 huts and another 2 knights bought on the same day. Plus, an artifact +1 Luck beaten along the way is delivered to her.
She delivers all this to Crag.
Crag Hack with a final army of 997 peasants, 105 archers, 24 spearmen,
23 swordsmen, 8 riders jumps in the direction of Alamar's castle. On
the way he meets enemy hero Castor and trades 20 archers for the
next level (+1 Attack), a sword +3 Attack and an axe +2 Attack.
As a final action, Crag Hack attacks Alamar's castle and captures it.

Victory.

Final result: 7 days, 12-4-1-9, 6 mercury.