In a half-move from the main — guard moved onto grass via rough terrain, was sure the adjacent zone — thought — maybe there'd be no respawn, turned out to be my own secondary town, and a native one at that. On the second move I took the adjacent zone — Inferno, entered the barbarian respawn on 127. There they were waiting for me in the castle, I didn't attack — the chain was tightly placed, I decided to scout around, lay siege, bring in troops from both native towns. The red player apparently disagreed with that, attacked. 60+ Marksmen, 26 Crusaders (there was a stash...), 8 Champions etc. with Mass Slow (only 1 Slow Master though :) — gave me the win.
Thanks for the game.