Voting: “Best Chronicle of 2008” Contest

I did it! It was a difficult path, but I did it! So here it is: A week earlier, I started thinking that I needed to do something about Vasya. The score of 7-0 was upsetting me, and the hopelessness with which I kept losing and losing games to Vasya was driving me crazy. I began to sleep poorly, lost my appetite, Mom said I turned pale, and my wife started hinting at the first signs of approaching male old age :). My head wouldn't stop thinking about why I was losing to Vasya so badly. And I decided to try a comprehensive approach. First, I needed to restore my mental balance. Deep introspection showed that I was losing to Vasya due to my own stupidity and intimidation. To eliminate this flaw, I started getting up at 6 AM and doing relaxing exercises, diminishing Vasya in my own eyes.
Without going into details of what I thought about Vasya (I don't know if he had hiccups or bad dreams at that time), I'll say that results came quickly — I stopped fearing Vasya :). But that was only half the battle. I needed a radical solution to increase my chances. The time of apathy was over and a sober approach was needed. And Duke unexpectedly came to my aid, for which I give him a huge human thanks. In one of the conversations with him, he said a phrase that decided the outcome: "Wolves! What the hell orcs! Why take an orc specialist! Tyraxor with experience is just GOD. On the first turn, damage 150-200 and they reach anywhere from the very first turn." I thought, well, it's true. I became even more convinced after reading several reports from the top players. And I was completely sure about Tyraxor after Dima's victory over Starik in the cup. And the plan for how to get a favorable draw for myself was born simply. I wanted to fight with wolves against Tower or, as a last resort, Conflux — although the latter with experience and external dwellings also wreaks havoc. In short, knowing Vasya's dislike for Inferno and Necropolis, the draw plan was born simply and elegantly, and although Stinger didn't believe Vasya would draw that way, I had no doubts. Having warned Vasya in advance, casually, that we would play with experience again, to which Vasya didn't object at all, since we started the series with experience and he had won all the games against me anyway :). So, 9-20 AM. Saturday. We draw.
Me: Dungeon! (The exclamation mark here is used not as an exclamation, but as an indicator of a successful move, like in chess)
Vasya: Holy crap. ...Inferno (Which was the 8th straight first draw for Vasya in our series :))
Me: Kyrre!
Vasya: Holy crap. Necropolis (which became the 8th straight second draw)
Me: Castle!! — based on the calculation that Vasya would decide not to give me Fortress, especially since I had done some preparatory work a couple of days earlier, shouting — I'll crush Fortress, I'll crush it with Fortress, I'm training Fortress — to which Vasya, patting me like a nervous patient, kept saying — well, calm, calm, I won't give it
Vasya: Fortress. (QED)
Me: Run!! (goal achieved), I sit waiting
Vasya creates and takes... NILU?? (what a strange decision against Tyraxor, probably thought Vasya, tactics won't work, but armor decides everything, screw Anya's money)
Well okay. I'm even happy with such a choice.
9-30 First start. At first glance, I have nothing bad. There's a preservation in the bushes. I spread out, run into a Guarded Object — Arch. On the second road stands a stack of sharpshooters. On the second road, already at the secondary hero's spawn, I run into a block — some artifact is guarded. I can get through the sharpshooters with a shootable target, behind it I can see a tree, and a long road in the mountains. Although I see an exit to the treasury, there isn't a single external dwelling, no money. Reluctantly — restart. I watched Vasya's start — nothing particularly good, but boots at the spawn.
Second start — Seems normal from the start. Then I see it's quite good. External dwelling of birds and Behemoths — though behind a pile of upgraded Vampires. 3 preserves, 2 trees, in the treasury I already see a Dragon Utopia. There is money. Vasya says "Taking a restart, don't know why. Maybe I'll regret it later" and takes a restart. Revealing showed Vasya already had 3 lit-up preserves, 2 of which are on the road nearby and one slightly in the bushes at his own spawn, and a Dragon Utopia near the road?!. But Vasya explained that there's little stone, the passages are guarded by archers and all that, you can be left without nagas... Okay.
3rd start. Vasya has a dead block — a horde of Monks won't let him out of the castle. Hehe.
4th start. I have nothing special — but on the first turn in battles with a horde of Halflings, I move incorrectly with maximum morale, morale goes back and forth, and I lose more than half the wolves — and nothing particularly joyful was found. OK, we'll hope, I thought and said restart. To which Vasya replied — well, that's it, game over has come.
So, 5th generation. We start. Vasya moves the first turn for a long time. I see a tree near the castle guarded by a horde of Gargoyles. Nervously asking everyone how many Gargoyles can guard a tree. Opinions vary. From 50-100 to 50-900?!! :). Experts say — probably 70. In short, when my turn came, I decided not to risk it, especially since there are no restarts left (and rightly so, there were probably under 90 of them). I go around. On the very first day with small but unpleasant losses of 3 wolves. I break through with a Gnome, Earth Elementals — guarding a preserve, I find a +1000 experience obelisk. I see an external dwelling of Orcs and a school for 4 skills. I buy 2 heroes. I see a prison on the way around — a tree blocks the road but it can be circumvented — a little more than one turn to go around the hill. The spawn is corner and apparently big. 2nd turn. With the main hero, I take the obelisk — I get Pathfinding which after some thought I take — speed is good, I thought, and maybe I'll have to walk on snow or something else. The school offers something fabulous — Earth Magic, Wisdom, Tactics, and Luck. I want to buy Earth immediately but can't — I have zero money. One of the 3 heroes — a specialist in Cerberi, learns Expert Scouting at the obelisk and runs behind the castle upwards, where immediately beyond the mountains, an external dwelling of Ogres and Cyclops lights up — though how long it takes to jump there and what kind of passage is on which side is completely unclear. Nothing else useful lights up — there's almost no one to fight even — so the main hero goes down to the roads. Reconnaissance quickly shows that the Guarded Object is right under my nose — a Horde of Minotaurs and on the side of the road a pile of Efreet Sultans. Hmm, I thought. Well, okay. A prison is found on the road. I take it. With the hero from the prison, I advance further along the road. With the main hero, after some thought, I decide to return and take Earth, then level up at the second discovered obelisk after taking the Orcs from the external dwelling. I do that. They offered Logistics — I couldn't refuse. Meanwhile, it turns out there are only 2 roads — to the secondary hero and the opponent. No money in sight. Other than that, everything is fine so far :). I ride along the road with secondary heroes — good thing the roads are the fastest. I run into a passage — a horde of Halflings. I fight. Small losses but nothing to be done. I break into the underground. I fight the secondary Dungeon there. After a turn, the area lights up with scouts — a preserve, some money, and a gold mine, and... a Dragon Utopia! In front of it is a Ring of Speed, all behind a horde of Griffins. And before this, around the mountains, another preserve lights up. Well, so be it, I thought. One problem — no damn money. On the 4th turn, I built a market, even borrowing 200 gold. And so until the end of the week, I kept borrowing pennies, which resulted in a Citadel on day 1-6. On the last turns, the chain reached the Ogre external dwelling. The spawn turned out to be like a ring around a large chain of mountains. 4 days of travel on one side and 4 days of travel on the other to go around the mountains. Not far from the external dwellings, another prison was discovered, which made me very happy since I had no money for heroes and none was expected. Also, nearby was a library. I see plenty of prospects but very little money and nowhere to get it. Everything the scout found, gathered, and consumed went to waste. The main hero ran around near home until the end of the week — killing a couple of small stacks and ending up with 2 Orcs. Out of the starting forces at the Ogre external dwelling, 25 wolves and 4 Ogres from the dwelling remained. Oh! Also useful — a Mana Doubler was discovered near the Guarded Object. The main hero was pleased — 40 mana, he circled the level-up boosters around, totaling 6.1.3.2, ending at home on the last cell of day 1-21. Meanwhile, with the help of the guy from the prison from beyond the mountains, on day 2-2, 8 Ogres and 25 wolves returned. After adding more wolves, the total was 8 Ogres, 6 Orcs, 40 wolves. I fight the tree guard — it was really annoying to move around — 95 Gargoyles — killed 2 wolves :(. I go main hero to the secondary hero. Day 2-3, I fight the Minotaur dwelling near the Dungeon. I slowly bring up troops. Day 2-4, I stand on a preserve — minimal — I fight. I think about recalling immediately home or poking around more since Earth Magic just won't level up, so I poke around. I couldn't refuse Armorer. I take the gold mine — light it up with a scout — I see a treasury through a long road, next to the treasury an external dwelling of Wyverns. Also, on the road to it, not far away, a Shield +3+3 behind a pile of Archmagi. I decide to take the Guarded Object, finally leveling up Earth, and then recall. According to the plan, on the 3rd, take the Dragon Utopia with the secondary hero, then immediately rush to the Dragon Utopia in the treasury. Considering the preserves and trees — I see 2 — I still didn't take the tree near home until the end of the game — it showed a pile without Angels, I didn't want it, and then I somehow forgot. In short, with the Angel — I climb into the treasury, bring up forces, take the shield without losses, and go home. Earth Magic was leveled up. Day 3-1, I'm home. Day 3-2, I'm at the preserve, having fully bought up and borrowed a little to the max :) Maximum. Took it without losses. And due to the impossibility of continuing to fight — no money, I'm walking on foot — with secondary heroes, I beat everything I didn't finish before, while the main hero goes to double and rushes to the library, building a chain with secondary heroes to the last preserve and the nearby Minotaur dwelling — which I didn't take on the 2nd. I fight the library, since I'm already level 10, and go from it to the Dragon Utopia. With secondary heroes, I took the minimal preserve but got a maximum Minotaur dwelling in return. And I also fought a Medusa dwelling. Got 9k. Bought exactly what I needed for the Dragon Utopia — spent another thousand and borrowed 4500, bought more :) Day 3-6, I stand near it, and I see Vasya stirring near the SECOND one!!! I'm in shock. Don't touch it, I think. Don't need that. I want it. I sincerely hope Vasya won't take it on the 3rd — since he has no troops with him. Nila's stats are nothing. And in general, I sincerely hope Vasya had a terrible situation, since he had few heroes running around, didn't find the secondary Dungeon right away, and for a long time they were equal with my one:)... Day 3-6, I fight the Dragon Utopia — minimal, hmm. But... Hat of +5 and various junk. Stats didn't change but a chance appeared to steal the Dragon Utopia on day 3-7. But I miscalculated the mana and am 3 short for a second Dimension Door. I kick myself, thinking Vasya will fight the Dragon Utopia on day 4-1. No need to speed up — Expert Pathfinding. And Logistics was leveled up to Expert. I rush to the Dragon Utopia. Vasya sees my movements — and oh miracle — he runs away. And I, with my last cells — couldn't even bring the growth. On day 4-1 — third tier, I climb anyway — level 3. Vasya curses in ICQ. I fight without problems — the wolves are intact, the sheep are fed:) The birds are dead:) Well, screw them. Book of Water, Shackles of War, Sword +5 all, and an Orb of Resistance — good!. I think about how I've consumed all the control :). I don't put on the Shackles, no mana — I walk back on foot. On day 4-3, I merge and send troops home, while the main hero fights and Dimension Doors home. On day 4-4, to the Mana Doubler and immediately to the Guarded Object. I brought everything I could and upgraded: 90 wolves — 6 Angels, 15 Cyclops, 40 Ogres, 60 Orcs, 6 Birds, 70 Goblins:). I fight the Efreets and Minotaurs without losses — need experience — and ride into Vasya's territory. Everything is leveled up a bit. Stats are small: 23-14-10-10, but Vasya shows no stat increase, and money-wise it doesn't look very cheerful. And in general, on the 3rd, Vasya was seen in the swamp with a stack of Behemoths — !;% on the left — that's why I was afraid they would rush the Dragon Utopia — clearly an external dwelling and he built up in the swamp. In short, from there it was simple. After hopping around the territory, I wandered into the secondary Dungeon in the underground, took it, looked around — saw 2 treasuries not broken. One was cleaned, meaning Vasya could only take the one near my Dungeon. I planned to use Logistics and Dimension Door to jump to the main hero on day 4-7, but miscalculated — the roads turned out to be mega-long — I only arrive on day 5-1. Vasya is home. The forces are so-so. I couldn't bring my own growth. I had little time left for the game, I needed to leave soon, Vasya's stats presumably hadn't increased, everything was leveled up well, there's Implosion, Armorer, Offense Expert. Screw it, I attack. Nila 11.7.6.70 Tyraxor 24.17.10.80 Forces as they were for Nila: 360 Gremlins, 7 Giants, 60 Steel Golems, 4 Djinn — though I passed by an external dwelling of 14 Naga Queens and 17 Magi. No Behemoths in sight whatsoever. Well and good. I think and go forward with everything. Mass Slow on the opponent. Angels immediately hit the Gremlins -100. Morale and Luck and another 140 or something like that. In short, a little over a hundred remain. My Cyclops move — bam, past the gate. Morale! The gate is broken — Vasya's curses in response. Mass Slow on me. Nagas hit the Angels. More shooting at the Angels. 2nd round, my turn first, Haste on 90 wolves — the Nagas died, I realized it was GG. From there, simple — several rounds I kicked everything to death.
WIN! VICTORY! HURRAY! THANK YOU, EVERYONE.
Special thanks to: Duke. Stinger. Forrest.
Revealing Vasya's spawn showed that he had extremely long roads to secondary heroes, a large but fairly empty spawn — with an external dwelling of Djinn and Gremlins. And there were, it seems, 2 Dragon Utopias on the edge. In the swamp secondary with a Castle! 16 Behemoths, unpurchased, sat there, along with everything else up to Wyverns. And a scout hero had another 23 Behemoths of 4th level! Why Vasya didn't upgrade and buy them — apparently no money. In short, the third-tier Dragon Utopia decided everything unequivocally — money was Vasya's downfall.
Thank you, Vasya, for the game 7-1 :)
P.S. Sorry I didn't make a gift for your birthday.

P.P.S. I can't resist:) I'll add:)

So, I was actually playing at a friend's place, since my own computer hasn't worked for 3 months after a conversation with my almost 2-year-old son. Well, anyway. For the second week in a row, I asked to play at my good buddy's place, who is also a brother-in-arms and former classmate. Zhenya, nicknamed Load, a nickname he got for his Estonian manner of expressing his thoughts and speaking calmly, a little drawlingly, which people simply call LOADING. Anyway, his human qualities aren't affected by this; he's a very sociable guy, and if you want to visit someone, Zhenya is a fail-safe option. Having asked to come over for the second week in a row (fortunately, Zhenya was working the night shift, so he was well-rested and met me in his boxers shouting "Ah, here's our hero!"), I comfortably settled in at the computer, after a while performed the above-described draw, and played through the first week... but then my troubles were just beginning. Around 12:15, that is, somewhere around day 2-3, Zhenya's phone rang, and after talking to someone for a bit, Zhenya came into the room with a grin from ear to ear and joyfully announced that my wife was coming over with her friend Katya. I turned white, cursed heavily, and realized it was GG. As soon as my wife arrives, I decided, she will utter the signature phrase she has uttered for 7 games straight :) — looking at the monitor with a knowing look, she usually says, "No, Egorka, you're not going to win today." But I suppressed the panic attack and, courageously grabbing the mouse, continued playing. 12:30. Doorbell. I hear familiar voices. My wife enters the room — she comes to say hi to me :) As calmly as possible, I say to her, "Hi dear, I'm playing a bit, please don't disturb me." Katya comes in — "Hi, Egor." — "Well, hi, Egor."
Wife — "He's offline. Useless. He's playing."
They sit on the couch. They start discussing purchases. They ask Zhenya to bring tea. And I ask Zhenya — "Please get rid of them." Zhenya showed megatactfulness — "Girls, let's not disturb him. Let him play. Let's go drink tea in the kitchen and eat pelmeni :)" With laughter, the group left. Then Zhenya's mom joined in, and I had 2 peaceful hours to play. In parallel, I nervously ate the pelmeni kindly brought by Zhenya, but constantly felt discomfort — I sensed they would come for me :) And so it was. At 3:50, the group, having eaten, laughed themselves silly, and whatnot, came into the room with the goal of discussing me thoroughly. And also trying to seduce/poison/mess with my mind — aiming, hugging, caressing, giving me salty tea, and pouring vodka into it. But I wasn't afraid of that. I was afraid of the signature phrase. And trouble came:) But, as usual, from other lips — Katya! "Egor, you won't win today," she said :) At this, I got a bit upset and honestly said I was playing for 200 bucks and they could all go to hell :) The girls quieted down a bit and tried not to bother me for the rest of the game :) True, their attention shifted to Zhenya, which he was very happy about :).
But they were in for a surprise when I won. It happened just when Zhenya needed to leave for work. We left together successfully, having received grim congratulations from Vasya beforehand. And then I burst. I was kissing them. I was hugging them. I was shouting how much I love them all — all together, that I have them, friends, wife :) The poor girls and Zhenya were shying away from me. But I was almost incoherent. The sweet taste of victory overwhelmed me, and this euphoria lasted another 2 hours. I periodically shouted "Let's go to the Metropol," "Bring vodka," "Let's dance until morning," and so on. I calmed down only after a 2-hour walk through frosty Mariupol. After which we had some tea in a cafe, and at 22:00 I fell asleep peacefully and quietly in my little bed:) Thank you, everyone.



A long and gripping epic, in which I managed to experience both the sweet anticipation of victory and the chilling terror of imminent defeat.

And it all started calmly. I spawned in the center at the top, the opponent — in the underground. The first two weeks I cleared my spawn, discovering two passages to the underground. The first — the upper one — led directly to Blue, the second, below the castle, led to a shared neighboring zone. In the second week, I placed all units with the castle; cockroaches were already fighting near the upper gate. At one fine moment, Red's scout dives into the gate and, before dying, manages to visit the Tower of Fire. The revealed view showed the second Dungeon town of Blue and several leaders bustling about their business! Since there was no agreement about not building second "native" castles, "RUSH!" flashed through Neela's head, but realizing it was just a town for now, I decided not to rush and to continue leveling up. Going down through the lower gate, Neela discovered a Barbarian town and further — in the bizarre twists of the underground — two Dragon Utopias! Using visual control over a significant part of the enemy territory, Neela seized the moment when Jeddite went off to level up. Having built the Capitol and brought reinforcements to the underground, Neela, in the first week of the second month, attacks both nearby castles undefended by Jeddite! After minor cockroach skirmishes, Red secures the Dungeons. Dragons were not built there, and the advantage in 7th-level monsters was overwhelming. Victory seemed near, but Jeddite turned out to be cunning and did not return home but went off to conquer new lands. A scout is sent on Jeddite's trail; Neela decides to take another path, looking for goodies along the way. Emerging to the surface in the upper left part of the map, Neela finds and takes a minimal Dragon Utopia. The scout passes through the dungeon down and left and also emerges onto the surface. There, Jeddite's last refuge is found — a Dungeon town (Blue sure is lucky with Dungeon!) Neela rushes headlong to the town, Jeddite doesn't manage to return from a distant campaign into the thickets of the neutral spawn. Red decides to allow Blue to keep the town to avoid a premature end to the game, and Neela, gripped by the thrill of catching and defeating the rebellious Jeddite, continues the pursuit.
It was the third week of the second month. Dess was pulling up to the town from Tower with the growth — may the monsters forgive me — in the role of troop transporter. If I remember correctly, Dess used to serve Blue but changed her hair color! Meanwhile, Neela finally caught up with Jeddite in the farthest, hidden-away spot — but it turned out her blind rage led her into a skillful trap! Jeddite attacks Neela; Neela cowardly waits out turns (though she had Expert Haste, but somehow hesitated) and on the first turn of her troops, Jeddite surrenders for money! Immediately hires in the town and attacks Dess with the growth! Dess also surrenders; Jeddite rushes home, Neela immediately fell behind him by at least a week's travel! SHOCK!
To be continued…

Next — a feverish formulation of a new plan. The ransom of Dess in one castle or another is postponed until the picture becomes completely clear — which path Jeddite will take. Just in case, all troops are bought out in Blue's starting Dungeon — hiring Dess there was risky. Jeddite reached the Dungeon quickly — and — attacked! The army defending the castle was large for Jeddite's troops, but not for his magic! "Propping" the gate, he began calmly killing his own, albeit not serving him, troops with Lightning Bolt. Leaving a couple of Harpy Hags and, it seems, one Troglodyte, Jeddite began raising his fallen warriors! The battle had to be ended immediately, but how? Can't flee, the gate is propped, the Harpies aren't retaliated against! Fortunately, his Ballista had already breached the castle walls. The Harpy lands and dies in its own moat; the desperate Troglodyte rushes into the same moat through the hole in the wall. The castle is successfully surrendered with losses of a significant number of its own and the enemy's Dungeon army. On the same day, the second Dungeon falls, in which Red, as luck would have it, had managed to build a Fort. Meanwhile, Neela somehow runs to the town, takes it, leaves a small defense there against cockroaches, and into battle! At the cockroach! She immediately surrenders herself and — OH HORROR! Red completely forgot about Dess sitting in the tavern with the growth, and Neela substitutes for Dess! COLLAPSE! Uttering the most terrible curses, Neela is hired in the underground Barbarian town (three days' travel from Blue's Dungeons), the next growth is hired in Tower, Dess is dug up, but without those very Tower troops, again brings the growth to Neela. Meanwhile, Jeddite plunders the Dragon Utopia and gets the Statesman's Hat! In a nervous shaking fit Neela sneaks to the Dungeons and challenges Jeddite to the Final Battle. Jeddite sits in the capital. Neela on the next turn captures the second, undefended Dungeon and digs in there. Jeddite accepts the challenge and attacks the Dungeon!
Ending to follow…


Neela — level 12. 14-10-13-9

57 Stone Golems
25 Magi
22 Naga Queens
11 Giants
100 Master Gremlins
66 Stone Gargoyles
14 Master Djinn

Jeddite — level 22 (!) 9-9-18-13

16 Queen Medusae
145 Infernal Troglodytes
9 Manticores
10 Unicorns
78 Harpy Hags
20 Minotaur Kings
44 Evil Eyes

Already knowing some of Jeddite's secrets, Neela decides not to repeat her mistakes, casts Mass Haste, and — forward! Jeddite responds with an Implosion on the Nagas — 19 Nagas are gone! Giants take down the Unicorns. The Gargoyles join in, the slow Golems support, the Magi and Gremlins support with shooting. Both armies suffer losses. Second round — the Giants are halved; Blue already has few Minotaurs and Manticores, but he resurrects the Manticores, and they fly to the castle to attack the Magi, who later handled them fairly well in melee. In the third round, Implosion wipes out the Giants, but the advantage in speed and combat stats played a decisive role. The Golems, arriving at the fray, contribute their part; Neela's Lightning Bolt works, the shooters finish off — and THAT'S IT!
Neela, not believing it was all over, examined Jeddite's artifacts and scrolls for a long time…

It's such plot-driven games that leave a huge impression and make you rethink many principles of the game. Many thanks, Sir Klopik, for a magnificent lesson!