Worshipper – “Conquest” [Campaign 2, Mission 3]

I've never spent so much time on a mission before, so I decided to register and share my joy – I finally completed it yesterday. I'm playing the classic version 1.0, the original, which I bought two days after the release (don't laugh – I only had time to play it now). Basically, I had all the worst conditions: Very strong Gilraen. No diplomacy at all – the skill was never offered, even though I replayed it five times. The Druid hero only appears in the Tavern on the fourth/fifth week. I don't download patches on principle – nothing glitches, and I was hooked on whether I could complete the mission without patching! I'm playing on "Veteran" difficulty. So, I started like most people do – I took some Imps and immediately headed towards the eastern gate, defeated Gilraen, and went towards the lower Elven Castle. But not to it, but to the north of it, to the northern Elven Castle, through the Elementals. I defeated them using the Phantom spell, without any losses. The upper-left castle was well-developed by the time I captured it and was guarded by a pitiful group of troops. Apparently, Gilraen was on a campaign with his main army at that time. I captured the castle, bought some troops, and went north to the eastern castle, capturing mines along the way. When I approached the eastern castle, I had to guess the right moment so that Gilraen wasn't there and it was the end of the week. I captured the castle, which, by the way, was already built to the maximum, bought an army, conquered the mines, and quickly left from there because Gilraen soon returned with an army that was incomparably stronger than mine (for now :rolleyes:). Now I can go to the southern castle. The Green one diligently produced new heroes, but they didn't pose any danger because they had practically no troops. I capture the southern castle. Gilraen, meanwhile, moves to the western one. And I capture the eastern one again. You can use (if you have it) the "Summon Creatures" magic, which helps to lure troops away from Gilraen when he captures a castle. It just says that the mana cost is 0, but 1 mana is spent on each creature. Thus, I periodically-constantly have 3 castles, against 1 castle for Gilraen, who eventually stops roaming the map and digs in in his only castle. Having gathered an army of 20 Dragons, 120 Ancient Ents, 200 Archers, 300 Dryads, and 40 High Druids, I easily captured the last castle and destroyed Gilraen (in reality, the video shows that I spared him), losing almost all the Dragons in the process. Then I moved towards the Druids, calling in reinforcements from the castles along the way. I defeated the Druids without any losses. That's it.