HeroesWorld.ru vs GamerHome.net 2011

W2D1: another long agony; the opponent slowly fought his way in, and then unsurprisingly caught up with my main. Fine — I waited for the clang of the Shackles, surrendered, success! There was still room to maneuver. The opponent went on to kill off a minor hero of mine, then ran to the bank, came out one step and pointed at my secondary.
My turn. The opponent's Diplomacy MM came in; I had always thought she might diplomacize the troops of my main town, so I arranged to recruit part of the main town's ranged units + Dragon Flies, and passed the ranged units from the secondary town plus Dragon Flies over, giving the secondary Harpies + Dragon Flies + Marksmen. I hit the opponent's Adela, who was carrying 5+4+4... a messy bunch of Grand Elves — magic ground! All my units got buffed, the whole army pounced, but I just happened to leave one of the Grand Elves at a single hit point, damn it! I waited for him to counter-attack the next day; I had 3000+ prepared for surrender... And the main, with the P4, went to HR his main — 190, killed 19 Marksmen, and ran to the secondary town. In the inner town stood a 6*3 Marksman + 1 upgraded-Marksman-specialty hero, while the main stood in the outer town with one Dragon Fly — "come and get me~"
And the Logistics-specialty took the rest of the troops and went out the gate with the secondary to find money~
Opponent's move: he groped toward the secondary town, and tragically seemed unable to reach it — but I would rather he had reached it, so I could HR him endlessly... The opponent instead turned toward an experience stone and rested.
W2D2: I upgraded the Marksmen and passed them out beyond the gate; the hero with Estates stood right next to the opponent's main, unafraid of danger — a walking 500-gold mine. The Logistics-specialty cleared the Unicorns beyond the gate and let the secondary check the University — nothing there...
The main took the Dragon Flies and other units — only Dragon Flies (because only Dragon Flies can pounce on the other side) — and one-shot a stack of 350 led by a hero with 4 stacks, plus a priest with 3 Stone Golems and a Gargoyle~ The slow units were passed toward the Dwarf Bank~
The opponent didn't touch my Estates hero, just went straight into the secondary — that mobility is way too suspect, no? I saw him not touch the Estates and thought he didn't have a big reduction; in hindsight I was being dumb — he'd cleared that bank long ago and definitely had a big reduction by now...
He called out the Diplomacy Adela and chased off my Estates hero — fine, I'd already collected the backhand money, so running is no big deal. The opponent's main rested inside the secondary town. Built a small city defense.
W2D3: I could have gone back to HR him again, but there was no need — really no need. The chased-off Estates hero just happened to ferry the troops toward the Dwarf Bank; after fighting he handed them off to the main to grab the leveling XP, fighting the Champions — short on troops, it was a bit of a struggle. Breaking the gate cost a fair bit of mobility, and I worried the secondary couldn't keep up, so the main wasted movement going back and forth to support him. Closed in on ALL2, but no A1. And the Logistics-specialty, from that position, had already circled back out beyond the gate — keep some distance, lean toward the middle.
The frail old lady on the island the whole time never came down off the island; clutching Basic Earth she feared being stolen from, so went off to chase oxen.
The opponent came out of the city and ran to the triangle area; fine, I believe you shouldn't reach my main tomorrow. A secondary in the middle also came down — it was a water fish.
W2D4: I look — ALL2 seemed like it would lose time and get chased by the opponent from the triangle area — abandon ALL2! Take the troops straight toward the middle, chase off the water fish, and grab the horse~ The Logistics-specialty on the other end cleared the intersection, grabbed the resources, and was already on the right side of the central town; tomorrow he could merge forces with the Beastmaster-specialty. At home the units spread out in all four directions, keeping up the threat to the main and the secondary.
A few small hero clashes happened in between — it seemed like basically I won them all, I don't remember... The opponent's heroes kept getting fewer and fewer...
The opponent slowly ran toward my main — run all you want, you still need one more day.
W2D5: the Logistics-specialty and the main triumphantly met up above the Stables, and in my over-excitement I forgot to leave the Logistics-specialty a bit more troops — the opponent's main area was empty! There was no need for that many troops to go! So much so that the next day, when rushing my own secondary, a big problem arose!
The frail old man wandered next to our fallen secondary town — 20+ Marksmen, we couldn't afford to mess with him. And the Golem-specialty with one Dragon Fly stood in the triangle area — this position wasn't calculated well! I should have run one step less, that way I could have kept up the threat to the main town! And the opponent's regular speed-9 secondary couldn't reach me!
The opponent naturally took the main, recruited a speed-9 secondary — of course he couldn't reach me — and had to build watchtowers and the like. Left the mana-drained Blessing MM in the city to regroup.
W2D6: a prompt told me I had lost all castles — kicked out of the game within 7 days. And at this point I started making mistakes: taking his main town was no problem, but the problem was, the Golem-specialty was one step short of rushing back the main; and the troops left for the Logistics-specialty and the secondary at home weren't arranged well. Two heroes went to attack the secondary town, but I didn't give the front Golem MM one extra Minotaur, which led to the secondary falling one Pikeman short of being taken — directly losing the bridgehead of the home base! Drying my tears, I recruited a hero, took one of his secondaries, brought troops, the main with 5 Harpies seemingly went to the secondary, and also seemingly returned to the middle.
W2D7: the opponent walked toward the middle and chased off my Logistics-specialty. Another secondary was also driven off. Only the Estates hero remained in our area, wandering at the Marketplace — at this point I remembered he could learn Scouting.
So on W2D7 the Estates hero visited the Marketplace, visited the University, learned Scouting, and stayed in the Cyclops cave waiting to flee tomorrow. On the other end the main took the island the opponent had never opened, and the secondary just happened to take his secondary. This completed the swap. The main and the Logistics-specialty moved toward the middle~
W3D1: the opponent kept being short-legged, couldn't reach the Stables, so he returned to my area and headed toward the Dragon Palace — seemed he was going to bet on the Dragon.
W3D1: I didn't calculate well which troops I needed; at his secondary I recruited Rangers + Marksmen, and in the end found the Marksmen wouldn't fit..
The human Estates hero fled from the Cyclops cave, acting as an important troop chain, with Expert Scouting now.
And the main crossed past the Stables and could go straight to the Altar, but I ran too little — the timid ones run a few steps less; in fact he couldn't reach me at all, and I didn't calculate carefully... This directly caused the main to fight him bloody the next day without ALL2...
The opponent indeed started taking the Dragon; the minor hero was quickly killed off, and then he lay on top without moving. Waiting for troops?
W3D2: a painful day. Organizing the troops was barely satisfactory — neither the Rangers nor the Marksmen were recruited in full, all because of over-recruiting Marksmen, and the day before the timid ones had casually run two steps less, which meant that after taking the Altar I couldn't ALL2 first and then attack the opponent lying on the Dragon Palace!
After thinking for a long time, I still attacked! I had pre-sold Expert Air~ I didn't expect to win, just to wear down his troops so he couldn't take the Dragon~
ADPK: 7/14/10/6 VS 16/10/10/7, I was at a disadvantage.
Troops: I had 12 Minotaurs 5 Harpies 2 Hydras 8 Gorgons 16 Marksmen 14 Lizardmen 10 Rangers; the opponent had 1/1/20 Grand Elves 1 Dragon Fly 20 Rangers 5 Grand Cavaliers 168 upgraded Pikemen!
As soon as battle started I regretted it a bit: so many Pikemen! If the opponent had just used Stoneskin + Shield and slowly advanced, then followed up with Slow + Haste, my position would have been awful! In practice the two sides stalemated for 3 turns each using Ice Bolt on the ranged fliers; in the end the opponent finally came up and used mass Slow, but the Pikemen dealt no damage! I had a counter-Haste that acted two turns in a row, with a little morale, and the situation actually reversed! And the opponent's mana was slightly less than mine; in the end it was a narrow win! I won with 4 Minotaurs 8 Marksmen 3 Rangers left, while the opponent fled with 22 Pikemen remaining!
A battle that had looked somewhat lopsided turned out to be my win. The opponent's strategy was a bit questionable.
After that I delayed two days, I advanced directly, and the opponent finally started moving surprisingly fast, and then quit..