21.10.10 Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (blue, rand, inferno, Nimus, Kairi) def Neverminder (red, Rampart, Ivor, Valeska) panic 133
In the second generation, things seemed pretty decent too. Valya arrived, then Moner, then the necromancer (Xsi) showed up. The respawn gave as many as 9 crypts (though not all were conveniently located), 2 dwarf cottages. Around day 114 I captured the Necropolis. On the first 1-6 in the Castle, Xsi with expert sorcery, Valya was given tactics and earth magic. She became something like a mama bear. Everything seemed wonderful. On the second week I scouted a Griffin Conservatory deep in my respawn, over a hundred skeletons. Valya takes a few secondary heroes, clears the sword +2+2, while back home Ivor on days 126-127 takes the dwarf dwellings, upgrades shooting and attack to expert. I decide that Ivor (practically ordained by the gods) will take the conservatory, with stats at 4-7 after artifacts. Seems fine. I upgrade unicorns, gold is sufficient. On day 132 I finally reach the conservatory with Ivor — tier three. 10 battle unicorns, 44 grand elves, 15 dendroids, a pair of pegasi, centaurs. The griffins go down alright, though they kill some dendroids and centaurs. I then pass the army down the chain to Valka, she captures what is presumably the fifth Castle and sits there, dumping the entire army into the garrison, positioning for a rush on angels. On day 133 I see Kyrre in the tavern, am stunned by her stats, fight my way to another respawn with Valya, and lo and behold — Kyrre herself appears before me with an army. Bad. But hoping for tactics and the grand elves, with no other choice, I attack. I have 48 grand elves, 10 unicorns, 7 dendroids, 91 skeletons, 17 pegasi, 20-something centaurs. Her army, of course, is formidable: 3 devils (good grief), 2 angels, 23 pit fiends (astounding), around 16 demons, 7 hell hounds, 7 efreet. On tactics, I tightly box in the grand elves, and with a prayer we begin. All things considered, I had a chance — the unicorns did decent work with blindness, the grand elves pounded away, the dendroids bound enemies, but first, she had expert armor (with defense 15) and expert attack (who knew, and I had neither), and second, 40 spell points against my 10 with spell power 1 (only enough for a single Haste and a Shield). Toward the end, the Angel gets a timely morale boost, breaks through to the archers, then the efreet take its place, and I have to concede defeat. It was a fine duel. Thanks for the game! We shall meet again on the battlefield.
P.S. After the game I realized I should have captured the Rampart and built a fort there. That might have held off the non-flyers for a while and given the grand elves a few extra rounds. But as always, a good idea comes after the fact.
