Reports on online games and their confirmations (Summer 2009 season).

Hermit(blue, swamp, Tazar, Tazar) def Kluka(red, Castle, Valeska, Valeska) Panic 146

Confirmed, it happened.

I'm writing how it all went. It's a shame, of course, made a lot of mistakes:
1) on the first week I did NOT build a Prefecture (what horses in a Castle on this template?)
2) ignored the Naga Bank
3) only took conservation after the first encounter with the opponent, when he sent me home. I was afraid to attack the horde of lizards without Tactics and Mass Haste :o
4) and at the end, I didn't build the Mana Vortex myself and didn't send some random hero into it, so the enemy wouldn't get it

So.
One time it spawned 38(!) Archers (two native heroes and three stacks for Valeska), but the only exit from the respawn was blocked by 30 Grands. Roads are slow and very long, running back takes a long time. Attacked — lost the entire army — took the rest.

So, I took all the rests, the opponent took none.
111. From the start, 26 Archers, 2 were lost immediately.
112. Free Gretchen level 1 from the prison. Got Air.
113. Take the external dwelling of Archers, bring them to the Castle. Got Offense. Should have built the Prefecture; I didn't, and it was in vain :(
114. Risked taking one chest for experience.
115. Rushed into the Mud, 42 Harpies devoured all the Goblins
116. Lost another 4 Archers at the block. Captured a Necro Village, near it — a Stable. Why did I build a Tavern??
117. Free another level 1 hero, lose 3 Archers due to stupidity.

Week summary.
All exits from the respawns are visible: through a horde of Water Elementals — to the Rocks with the Dungeon, through a horde of Hounds — to the Mud, through a crowd of Pit Fiends — to the Snow.
Valeska level 7, 6-4-3-1.
Horses in the Citadel, external dwellings of Pikemen and Archers.
Remaining: 26 Archers and a dozen Pikemen (and those from the freed hero)

Half of the second week was spent moving the Archers from the distant capital (no money to buy out everything else). I did it half-heartedly — sometimes a bunch of heroes ran along the same trajectory, sometimes the heroes practiced shuttle running. During this time, I lost the remaining Pikemen and another 3 Archers.
124. Valeska finally buys a spellbook and gets an army (5 Horses, 33(+23 were) Marksmen, 46 Pikemen (dwelling from 2 weeks, the rest I don't even know from where :)). There's a Bless scroll. I go left, into the Mud. There I lost 20 Pikemen (forgot I had Slow in the spellbook :().
125. Captured a Pandora's Box with 5K experience and broke through the next border (about 40 Pit Fiends — could this be in the treasure zone?). But a group of Efreeti guarding the Necklace of Swiftness forced me to turn back. Didn't break through the passage to the Swamp through wasteland (though there are Gnolls).
126. A scout captured the remaining two mines (-4 Archers). Valeska went to Necropolis to replenish mana. Found a Seer promising something for the Necklace of Swiftness. Have a fairly accurate idea of the Grail's location on my respawn :)
127. Broke through to the Rocks. The road leads straight to the Dungeon, no branches.

Week summary.
In the Castle, built Castle and 1000, in the Necro Village, MG2
Valeska level 12, 7-8-3-2.
Remaining: 5 Horses, 51 Archers, and 12 Pikemen (+22 un-hired)

Two more days were spent waiting :) for money to hire the army. What can you do if the only income buildings are two Medusa Hovels, one in a corner of the map and the other not much closer. There are, however, two chests with 100 Gremlins two days from the Castle, but all the other wealth is still behind Orcs/Lizards/Pit Fiends/Archers/Hobbits. While writing these lines, I also noticed the Naga Bank. Should have noticed it earlier.
133. Broke through another passage. Took the Armor +1 all stats. On the other side, a scout found an Air Scouting and decided to report it to Valeska.
134. Captured the Dungeon. Opened the overview, saw Tazar with Angels + Hydras + Lizards beyond the border behind a horde of Grands. Built a Mage Guild (got Haste!) and stayed not so much to replenish mana, but to build the Altar of Wishes the next day and get Expert Air Magic. Tazar beat the Elves, but seeing me, he ran away.
135. Tazar turns out to be within reach with an Angel and singles; I attack, he buys time with Tactics. I run forward. I see he has an External Market.
On 136 I carelessly jumped into a Teleporter, and Tazar locked me in there.
On 137 I had to attack. 5 Angels (I didn't expect) with Tactics destroyed all my Archers in two hits, in the end I bought it with Pikemen and 4 Horses, having destroyed only 4 of the opponent's Angels (and due to the opponent's incorrect actions). True, the External Market significantly helped fix the economy.

The opponent took two villages from me, and Tazar went into the treasure zone.
I take conservation — a level 3 on my native respawn (on the 4th week. hm) and try to shift the army towards the opponent, recapturing these central secondary towns. Not enough money to hire Valeska...
The opponent had a short solution — capture one of the secondary towns with a scout, move Tazar there and tear my army apart, but this didn't happen.
On 144 Valeska is bought out and rushes towards the enemy capital.

I must give credit to the scouts. In the Mud and Snows, on the Rocks and the green grass, they fought fierce battles. There was a struggle for Rampart and Necropolis, for the Dungeon, for domination over mines and markets. Random recruits from Humans and Goblins, Lizards and Imps, entering the fight, hindered the opponent's reconnaissance activity.

By the sixth day, Valeska took up defense in the enemy capital. Tazar with endless mana (built the Mana Vortex in the Dungeon) attacked and won... with a remnant of 10 Basilisks.
That's what happened. The decisive factor was that I didn't build the Mana Vortex earlier and didn't visit it with some spare hero. And losing the whole army is fixable :)

Thanks for the game, it was interesting.
PS. In personal encounters, 2(Kluka):1(Hermit)