Reports of online games and their confirmations (Winter season 2010-11).

10.12.2010 Neverminder (Red, random, Castle, Sorsha, Tan) def Hero of Might and Magic 3 (Blue, random, Dungeon, Alamar, Gunnar) jebus cross 136

We played random on random. I was dealt Castle with marksmen built from the start. True, the second hero was Christian, so only 14 shooters at the beginning. Shakti appeared in the tavern, who immediately killed 46 pikemen for a prison, and there was no mere nobody inside, but Tan at level 5 with expert Logistics. Nearby a Griffin Conservatory with 2-4 angels. Tan went for the stat boosters and experience crystals, the rest gathered money and resources, because whether you like it or not, you need to build angels. A free Spirit of Oppression was found on the road, lucky. Meanwhile, Tan sequentially got Armor, Archery, and Earth, and the question of the main hero resolved itself. Vala arrived, and an external dwelling of marksmen was found. Meanwhile, Corbac discovered two more Griffin Conservatories (a two-stack and a strong one), and also saw a GO: 1-4 rust dragons or 50-99 necro horses. At the respawn during scouting, 4 Dragon Utopias and a coveted external dwelling of angels appeared. Brains were boiling by the end of the first week, because I absolutely had to have 26k by day seven to build angels, buy one, kill the guard of the external dwelling (20-49 ogres) with its help, the three angels inside the external dwelling, and buy a second angel. By hook or by crook, I managed to get the marksmen upgraded, built the angels, bought them, and the army reached Tan, who was already waiting near the external dwelling at the start of day seven. The situation was further complicated by the fact that there was no Slow in the Castle, and no secondary heroes had been taken by that day, so I had to spend an extra 2500 on Geon. However, everything worked out as planned. Tan killed 45 ogres, the angels, then with two angels killed 18 upgraded Liches for a Pandora's Box, which gave 5k experience. Tan finished the week with angels at level 11.
In the second week, events unfolded rapidly. First the Griffin Conservatories fell (2, 3, 2), then the dwarves for the library, on 123 the first Dragon Utopia (minimal, but gave a Tome of Fire), on 124 - the second Dragon Utopia (almost minimal, gave the Tunic of the Undead King, Crown of the Dragon, and Shackles of War). By the end of the day, Tan decided to split on a secondary Dungeon hero that had been taken and hit the GO (it was very close from there). I split on 1 Gargoyle against Mummies - my goodness, I forgot to take off the Shackles! Fortunately, I had a Ballista and a Marksman for 300 damage. Vala was buzzing around on a fly, I took her fly and the next day I split against Fanatics nearby. I ran out of the Dungeon, took 12 Archangels (not a single angel died in the Dragon Utopias, and subsequently no Archangel died either) and five Troglodytes, destroyed 4 rust dragons (they broke the Ballista, the bastards), and then just cleaned up for the experience and necro horses. But here a bitter disappointment awaited me: I couldn't get to the center because of a block in the form of 50-99 upgraded Efreeti. And I still had basic Earth - it just wouldn't advance. I went to the Dungeon, where I built a portal (marksmen), a Mage Guild, and on 131 a Whirlpool.
On 131, with 7+7 Archangels and the Dungeon gravy train, I went for the Efreeti, which turned out to be 79 units. First, thanks to their ability, they took down one Archangel from each stack, but then I flew the Archangels all the way to the right, summoned Fire Elementals (38 per round), which ignored the shield and broke those Efreeti. And the Archangels joyfully resurrected each other by the end of the battle. But I didn't fight the Efreeti for nothing: they guarded the Titan's Plate and a KZ! But Earth was still basic. I immediately had to kill a horde of my own horses for a library, a Pandora's Box, and a KV. One Archangel perished in this battle, R.I.P. Earth only advanced to level 19, I took the Tome, visited the library - and portal of sumoning home. From there, I ate another two Dragon Utopias, but they didn't give any more stats, though I did collect all 4 Tomes. The FB strategy, naturally, was already born by this point: Anti-Magic on the Archangels + Armageddon. Armageddon hit for 1430, so theoretically few could survive that. And then suddenly, by the middle of the third week, Gunnar shows up with insane 43-33-22-22. I was scared, but what I truly feared was only the presence of the Orb of the Firmament or the Cloak of the Undead King. Oh, and expert Water magic too. I bought everyone (mountains of cash after the Dragon Utopias), went to the center, on 135 killed Lotso's cows for the Sphere of Permanence (one threat averted at least), captured the Tower, and naturally, perfectly understanding that Gunnar was lurking somewhere in the treasure zone, I immediately built not a Mage Guild, not a Tavern, not some Wall of Knowledge, but an Observatory. Half the treasure zone was revealed at once, including Gunnar and one of his henchmen. I pass the turn, see Gunnar take a Hive, a Pandora's Box, hit bears for a Dragon Utopia, climb into the Dragon Utopia, then disappear somewhere, reappear, and stop. The scout shuffle begins, control is passed to me. I look: Gunnar was left with a few Devils and a few Scorpicores. I immediately fly full speed to him, check if the Shackles are in place - they are. I attack. An unpleasant surprise awaits Gunnar. Then a surprise awaits me: Gunnar has the Orb. But two Scorpicores and three Devils, even with insane stats and the Scorpicore's ability activating at the wrong time, had no chance of defeating 16 Archangels with a symbolic retinue. Thanks for the game!