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

25.11.2010 Neverminder (Red, Fortress, Tazar, Tazar) def Cergo (Blue, Castle, Valeska, Valeska) 2sm4d(3) 146
Without further ado, we played the second game. It turned out to be a completely different match! The start was kind of bland. By day three, there wasn't even enough to put down a city hall, so Tazar had to dive into a crypt. Maxis, damn it! Huge thanks to the author of the article in the "Tough Battles" thread, otherwise I wouldn't have made it out. It got a bit easier, and I got logistics, and in the crypt, besides the coveted gold, there was an artifact +1 morale/luck. After that, in one fight, the lizardmen hit with luck three times in a row. It was amusing. I found an external dwelling of gorgons and lizardmen. I took the pre-Minis crypt, dive into another one. What is this, maxis again! And the army had already thinned out. But Tazar is Tazar — I made it out. However, now I have money to buy up everything that's been built, so I can take the external dwelling of cows, and also buy the cows themselves there. By the end of the week, 1-6 in the Citadel + market, bought the cows and lizardmen, at the end of the week I took a Rampart secondary. I got tactics. I dive into a crypt at the Rampart respawn — I'm lucky with maxis today. But with cows and Wyverns, it's a different story, of course. I got earth magic. Returned to my home respawn, from where I broke a passage into the underground, but there was no dungeon there as I expected to plonk down a portal, but a Necropolis; I didn't run to it, I left. There, by the way, it was quite extreme. The lizardmen went on a grade-up, I fought with only 9 cows and 2 Wyverns. First against 40 Water Elementals, then against 80 unupgraded marksmen. But expert tactics, and after all, Tazar — no losses. Only in the middle of the second week did I see the GO. It was funny: 50-99 champions stood twice. Some on swamp, others on grass. Like clones. But I had no time for them yet, of course, earth magic was basic, stats were nothing. Valeska, by the way, had almost the same stats, maybe a couple of points behind. On the third week, I went into the treasure zone, where I immediately found 2 hives. One with 8 Wyverns, the other turned out to be a minimum spawn. But 4 Wyverns for free — that's wonderful. I got archery! No kidding. Nearby there was a ToL Helm, but behind 5-9 Archangels, which I really didn't want to fight. What if there were 9? I went lower, and on day 134 I saw Valeska. There was no attack, and by watching her turn, I saw that Valeska had Fly. That's all I needed. I thought for a long time about what to do, I decided to go back anyway, expert earth magic, and hit the GO before I got caught off guard. Valeska breaks my chain, and I can't reach her by one hex. I could reach her with a scout with 15 Wyverns and 7 cows; on the other side there was 1 angel, 60 marksmen, 2 spell points, but in the end I still didn't dare to fight, and Valeska flitted away. From that day on, Tazar had to sleep with the army, so his speed decreased. I killed the Archangels for the helm — no choice. I teleported home, where after a couple of fights I finally expertised earth magic. On day 143 with 14 spell points, taking only the lizardmen, cows, and Wyverns, I broke through the swamp champions; on day 144 I went to the well to replenish mana. On day 145 I broke through the champions on the grass and captured the opponent's main town. My stats were 14-19-9-10, while Valeska unexpectedly showed in the tavern as 12-13-12-13. "I smashed a Dragon Utopia," says Cergo. Valeska sits in her Conflux secondary to replenish mana. On day 146 I cast Vision and decide to attack.
In a tough final battle, I managed to hold out and force the blue player to capitulate. Thanks for the game and an excellent, tense finale!