Reports on online games and their confirmations (Autumn 2010 season).

26.10.2010 Neverminder (Red, Rampart, Ivor, Ivor) def JonnyJay (Blue, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti) 2sm4d(3), 134
I often play with Vova; we decided to play a game beforehand for variety, for the report.
At first, I thought the spawn was terrible. Roads are slow. Very little gold; only three heroes on the first day. An unpleasant block in one of the directions. But on the respawn, an external dwelling of elves and two external dwellings of centaurs are revealed, so I decided not to restart. On 112, I enter the tavern and can't believe my eyes: Vova already has a secondary hero! On the first day, on slow roads! Unbelievable. Meanwhile, my first three days are spent with heroes doing God knows what; not a single hero is above level 1. I'm just looking for gold. By the end of the week, I still haven't left the native respawn. But on the 4th day, I picked up boots of speed, then took three crypts and found several treasure chests. A scout found a witch's hut with Logistics quite far away. And I don't even know how, but I managed to build 1-6 in the castle without dwarves but with an elf upgrade by the end of the week. Meanwhile, Shakti already has two secondary heroes and is furious. I think: I'm done for... On the second week, I go through a portal to the first secondary hero, and it's a swamp one. I don't want to wander around there, so I return to the respawn. I look at Shakti's stats in the tavern in surprise: 4-4-1-1. I thought it was heading towards a double-digit number. Hmm. Meanwhile, I visit the Logistics hut and quickly train it to Expert. At the end of the week, I rush to the capital for a spell book and run to the second secondary hero (it's Barbarian, so I wasn't in a hurry; wandering on rocks is as unappealing as the swamp). On the second week, I wanted to build dragons (finances and resources allowed), but changed my mind. Instead, I upgraded the centaurs. On 131, I take the citadel, then a Pandora's Box with Pit Lords. On level-up, I get Pathfinding (very timely, perfect), and in the Pandora's Box — all level 3 spells. On 132, Grand Elves and centaurs are delivered to me via chain from the castle, and I run underground (heading to what I think is the treasure zone). However, a surprise awaits me: it's not the treasure zone at all, but Vova's castle — his main one! What an unexpected turn. And it's occupied by someone with an unknown army. I take the capital, which has many unrecruited troops. But firstly, I just recruited everything; I have no gold at all, and secondly, I took the castle, but didn't have enough movement points to enter it... I buy 7 troglodytes ))))
On 132, my Shakti runs into the castle and recaptures it with the loss of 37 troglodytes. Not a bad trade: 7 for 37. Shakti's stats command respect but aren't alarming: 4-10. Then, after a few minutes, Shakti finally attacks Ivor.
FB. Shakti: 5-10-1-2. 78 Evil Eyes, 6 Beholders, 100-something troglodytes and single troglodytes. Ivor: 3-8-2-2. 43, I think, Grand Elves, 201 centaurs, 6 Unicorns, and single centaurs. Vova closes one Eye, casts Mass Slow, and starts taking out the Grand Elves. But his spell power is one! So Mass Slow only lasts one round. In response, I cast Haste on the centaurs, then on the Unicorns; they successfully Blind the Beholders and take them out of the fight for several rounds, the centaurs break through to the Evil Eyes, first the singles and then the main stack, the elves shoot. When Shakti has 15 troglodytes left, he retreats, leaving me with 29 Grand Elves and 100+ centaurs. A perfectly battle-capable army, it seems. On 133, I capture the tower, buy 24 Gargoyles there, build a Wall of Knowledge, and sit down to replenish mana. Shakti doesn't attack; apparently licking his wounds. On 134, I build the Gremlin upgrade, buy them too, leave, don't attack the dungeon, run towards Vova's second secondary hero, taking out a couple of scouts along the way. Stats by this time: 3-8-2-4 (40 points). On 134, my Shakti attacks for the second time. This looks more like an act of desperation: 5 Minotaurs, nearly 30 Evil Eyes, and single Harpies. The Minotaurs, under Tactics, move forward and kill 12 elves (nasty creatures, but thank God they don't get morale), then die to the centaurs. And then a cool move: Ring of Cold; all the Evil Eye cover dies; in the second round, Haste on the centaurs; they run in and hit the Evil Eyes. GG. Thanks, Vova, for an exciting match!