My opinion about 8xm8 — here a lot depends on the GG.. if you have expert earth magic, half the job is done... I used to play this template on 200%, of course the pace was slower there... played with Javdet on 160% and there was some movement.. I got Castle and Turisa... on the first week I had 4 heroes and cavaliers in the fort... not enough money.. but on the second week I ventured into the cave with 4 gr. cavaliers, 15 archers, and 30+ spearmen (luckily there was a stable) and fought well there... I took down 100 gr. wolves for a sword +5... then around 40 cerberi... then around 40 gold golems for a shield and Vas'ki's grave for an external dwelling of Minotaurs... then I came out, broke through a crowd of eyes and around 30 cows... I leveled up earth magic and at the start of the third week I bought 2 more cavaliers and with 6 champions and mass shield I crushed nearly 90 pegasus with the loss of 1 cavalier... in total I got nearly 19 attack and nearly 14 defense... with mass slow I smashed 3 Griffin Conservatories, yielding 9 angels total, and from there you can break anything... as early as the third week... the key here is to learn earth magic and get slow... without it, it's certainly tough to break strong blocks... but it's playable, I'll probably run it a few more times))