FB-2 (spring 2010)

Tournament "FB-2"
Piterius (red, Castle, Valeska, Dessa) draw Aldegir(blue, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti)2SM4d(3) 246 ;

Thanks for the mega-interesting battle :)

It spawned a huge respawn, no money issues, quickly bought 8 heroes and shuttled the army back and forth. The last one I bought was the necromancer Isra and decided to help out a bit, which noticeably affected the game's duration. In the second week, I fought on two fronts, maybe even three, all while earning back gold and leveling everyone up. There was no clear leader, so when Shakti appeared near Inferno's secondary heroes, I didn't dare attack.
But the efforts in exploring territory and scouting weren't in vain. On the first week, I built cavalry in the Castle; on the second, I flagged 2 external Zealot dwellings, built them up along with Griffins, and captured 2 secondary heroes — a Barbarian and an Inferno hero.
At the start of the third week, I watched Shakti's rampage in the treasure zone, opened a stable third front with Skeletons, and Dessa ran to the Griffin Conservatory in the far corner of the respawn. Just as she was about to take it, Gurney showed up and killed the Skeletons with 23 Archers. Nearby Gundula got some power and retaliated as best she could. The trade was indeed not in my favor, and the Conservatory was left with just one health point :(
In short, I hung around on my own respawn until the end of the third week and barely managed to build Angels, chasing the scouts off my land. Overall, I want to say that starting from the third week, the game became strictly contact-based — I can't even remember the last time there were so many fights in a single game.
After the unsuccessful trade, the blue player started mentally wearing me down, boasting about an abundance of Hives, an external Manticore dwelling, Dragons, and two Dragon Utopias. But I also saw 2 Dragon Utopias, and what's more, 4 Angels on week 141 warmed my heart.
On the fourth week, I take a couple of Hives for a total of 12 ducks; the blue player already has 18, as they inform me :)
I dive into the treasure zone on Lava, spot an external Cavalry dwelling, then another — life is getting better. I take a couple of Pandora's Boxes for experience and the entire fourth underground level, and run down practically across the entire map to a highlighted Dragon Utopia from the Barbarian respawn. The blue player takes their native utopia and offers me a surrender. But we manage to flag an external Angel dwelling on week 147 and see yet another one! Why would I surrender then?
The fifth week was marked by power-ups and more skirmishes with weak stacks in the struggle for space. I finally took a Dragon Utopia — only +2 to All Stats from the parameters, no control. I run back across the entire map upwards to the four spotted Pandora's Boxes; meanwhile, the blue player persistently threatens with 70 Wyverns, 30 Minotaurs, and 30 Manticores, offering unconditional surrender, backed by impressive stats and an Elixir. But I still have hope for the Pandora's Boxes and the untaken Dragon Utopia, even though my stats are 10-10 against their 28-27 — all hope rests on Dessa's frenzied Cavalry :D
Sixth week — Griffin Conservatory, Hives, Pandora's Boxes — sadly, no magic, but there's a Cap of the Fifth! There it is! Maneuvers immediately became more impressive! I retake my native town, capture a Dragon Utopia — junk again, but 30k gold. On week 227, I'm just a few hexes short of reaching the blue capital. I'm still behind in stats and army, but control is exactly what the blue player can't boast about! Inspired, I offer a draw, since Dessa is much more mobile and the main goal is not to get caught out. I get an offer to keep running.
Seventh week — I take the Dungeon, kill the spawn. I dig for the Grail — turns out it was right next to the castle! I build Archers, stroll through the already scorched treasure zone, level up a bit, reveal obelisks with weaklings :) , capture 2 external Angel dwellings from the blue player! I clear all the remaining gold-producing structures on the map — on week 241, there will be a growth of 9 Archers and 10 Champions!
Having bought all of that, I crush the weaklings with the remains of un-upgraded Cavalry and Angels and see that my army is now stronger! I get agreement on a draw, but start thinking a bit :smile10: Still, 30 Archers and 40+ Champions, even without armor and with a stat disadvantage, is a decent force. I try by any means necessary to distract Shakti from marching on my home, to strengthen a bit more by week 311, but after beating my sacrificial weaklings and twice recapturing the Inferno secondary hero, he still intends to reach me on week 247. I have a dilemma — hole up in the castle and accept the fight, or hope he doesn't have the control to reach me, and meanwhile take his Conflux and +3 Attack. If he does hole up, it's definitely a draw; if not, I might even win. Even though Shakti threatened me with a Chupa Chups, I was still afraid of Berserk, and after thinking it over, I agree to a draw. We fought a bit for appearances, of course, since we'd been playing for almost 24 hours total. Right at the start, Oleg says it's essentially my loss, that his stacks deal way too much damage in a test fight against Wights. And the Manticores frozen my Swords with their first strike, while the Medusas retaliated against the Wyverns. But 30 Archers is 30 Archers — together with the Champions, they did the job properly; I didn't even expect almost half the army to survive :D
In the end, we parted with a draw, but each thought they could have won :D Still, a draw is probably the fairest outcome in such an interesting game.

Thanks for the game!