Forrest (blue, Castle, Stronghold) def KostyaN (red, Castle, Inferno). 1:0

We probably came up with a double-edged strategy. Although many would say that I was already losing from the start, the better overall speed, plus 2 uncountered units (devils and dogs), gave me some chances. Besides, I could have tried a berserker rush, but for some reason, I thought the chance of getting the artifact from it was too high.

I took earth magic and melee skills, and for units: 764 - humans and 763 - inferno, plus 23 griffins. He has water magic and a cloak, 764 and 754 + 46 griffins (already an advantage due to a more complete purchase, since the Stronghold is noticeably cheaper than the Inferno).

Both of us use basic tactics, so at first, only wards are cast, then everything goes into defense, but he casts slow on my archers and griffins, and he defends with ogres and bears in the corner. In the next turn, after the slow, a blind spell flies at my archers, and I respond by casting slow on his archers and then using imps to attack his birds, and devils to attack the birds - minus 5 imps, minus 20 birds. In the 2nd round, I move the devils behind the tent and, as if, protect them with 15 imps. Here, I realize my mistake - I shouldn't have flown the imps in that round: they would have been better off, and I wouldn't have had to waste a turn moving 2 of my fastest units back, that was probably the key mistake... In the end, I decided to go for it and, as if, the dogs attack his bears that moved forward. Then comes a mocking mass heal, and I start to feel really bad:rolleyes: ... And already 2 of his stacks - ogres with bears - have come out to the middle of the field, so in the next round, everyone will be able to attack everyone else, while it's not beneficial for me to attack with horses anyway (and with a charge, I could have attacked the bears for -2...). In the 2nd round, I naively moved the dogs one square forward so that, if anything, they could at least reach the horses in the next round:D. The horses attack first, dealing -40+ to the dogs:( :( :(. And the archers with bears attack my blinded units, leaving either 3 or 4, and all of them survive (and the birds' lightning bolt of 200 also helped!). With the remaining archers, I brought the dogs up to almost 70. I cast oil and made the stupidest mistake!!!:smile18: I moved the devils! Thus, after the heal, the archers could attack them, dealing -1 to each immediately. The archers dealt damage to the horses, and I attacked with my own as much as I could, and added with griffins - 9 horses remained. With imps, counting on their ability, I attacked the archers with another full stack, but they didn't even kill one of themselves:(, while I only had 4 sultans left, the bears dealt a good amount of damage, leaving something like 4 or 5 archers (or is that already the sum of the devil's attack?... I don't remember exactly). With the dogs that survived the melee - under 40 - I decided to block the path of the bears with an attack, and they only took 3 from 60:mad: :smile32: - and died there. In general, I looked at his 10 bears, 60 ogres, 57 bears + half stacks of the rest, and only my full normal stack of bears, and decided not to continue. I can't use mass magic properly, even if you force me:confused: ...

Thanks, Tolyan, for the game! I'm not making any progress, I don't need to. I think I'm only getting worse:D ...

P.S. I really feel the same way as after playing chess against me (a simple, unrated amateur) with a Candidate Master (Dirty Player), I know the basics of the theory and I'm trying something, but I have no chance!