Friends, this is just awful.
The first time I played through the game on Veteran difficulty, I encountered serious difficulties on the third mission of Agrael, where I had to defeat Gilraen and the druids, on the mission with the Vampire Lord, and in the end, I had to level up Godric because he just couldn't defeat the Overlord. And that was it. I remember the rest, some missions were more difficult, some were easier, but overall, it was manageable. The missions for the Dark Elves are remembered for their tedious wandering through the labyrinths, and also the first one, where there's a tournament, because I didn't succeed on the first try.
Now I'm playing on Hero difficulty, and so far everything has been fine, of course, I struggled with Gilraen again, but since I knew the map by heart and had a strategy planned out in advance, almost move by move, everything went smoothly.
So, here's the thing.
I can't pass this mission. I don't really remember how I did it before, but I remember that it was interesting, not on the first try, but without too much trouble. I get completely wiped out in the first week.
Raelag's skills: defense, magic, education, luck (unfortunately, no witchcraft yet, haven't gotten it), chaos
attack 15
defense 8
magic 16
knowledge 12
Knows Magic Bolt, Earth Shock, etc.

Shadia: chaos, darkness, defense, logistics, magic, and at first, there was something else instead of logistics, maybe education, but I went back and re-skilled her so that she could reach the first Castle in 1 turn and defeat the hero before he reaches level 5.
5
7
11
10
Knows Magic Bolt, Earth Shock, Subdue, Blind, etc.
I've progressed this far: I transfer troops to Raelag, break through the Furies with almost no losses, spending a little mana, transfer all troops to Shadia, she crushes the level 5 hero with fresh forces, he destroys most of the army and runs away, I easily take the Castle. As a result, there are about 50-60 Minotaurs left, and that's it. If I immediately go to capture the second blue Castle, I'm met by a level 22 hero and he kills me. I've tried it a hundred times. If I stay in the Castle, three of them appear in two days, all with a decent army and level 22, respectively, so in any case, I can't do anything with one hero, and he's defenseless.

Version 1.5