"Новичок-2012. Winter"

Group H, January 25, 2012 crzq (Blue, Swamp, Wistan, Gunnar, Xy) def. Vinceras (Red, Tower, Nella, Nella) 2SM4d(3) 2.3.6 I don't have the energy to describe everything in detail right now (it was a very tough game, and I think it was even tougher for my opponent – we played for about 16-17 hours), and everything is basically available in the replay. The starting location wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either – there were a lot of good crypts, but not much gold, plus one hidden stash – a Vashek. There were Ogres nearby, 20+ Storms (8), and a Pandorica with 20+ Cows (60 Lizards). I started pretty well – I took everything without significant losses, but the paths to the adjacent towns were guarded by 16 Archmages and 10+ Snipers. I foolishly attacked the group of Snakes early on, and they started to demoralize my troops and cut them down. Then the Snipers also demoralized my troops a bit and finished off almost everything. In the town, with 40+ Lizards and 4 Vipers, plus a Devourer, I tried to attack an Imp town (40), but of course, the morale dropped, and they closed in on the Lizards, and I only managed to escape with 20 Lizards. Then there was a lot of other annoying stuff – demoralizing Draconians, Angels, a Pandorica with 15k total units for 143 Magma, etc. The peak of it all was a week of plague, when I was trying to cut off my opponent's growth by attacking his towns, and I didn't buy Lizards and Vipers at my own town. But in the end, by the end of the 3rd week, I freed Xy to level 10 and started playing as Necromancer – luckily, I had already captured the Boots of Swiftness, and all the Necromancer artifacts were available – the Boots, the Cloak, and the Amulet. My opponent didn't want to attack me, he went to farm resources, and I kept attacking his towns with Gunnar, taking his growth. In the Tower, thank God, I caught a DD – I trained 2 main heroes, and eventually, I caught Nella replenishing mana in a main hero (although I had already gained a significant advantage in terms of units and had a 2-3 times advantage in terms of meat). The spell power was much higher (there was protection against lightning, and ice damage was around 700). Thanks for the game. =)