We played with a long break; I remember the beginning poorly. The layout was not bad, lots of crypts, plenty of gold lying around. On turn 1 month 1 week 3 I took a secondary hero - Tower, lit up the Griffin Conservatory - three stacks, by turn 1 month 1 week 7 Angels were built in the fort, but when taking the Griffin Conservatory, one was lost due to morale. At the end of month 2 I broke into the portal, and there was a small corridor-like treasure zone, trained a bit, picked up Wyverns, clashes with the opponent began. He took my secondary from me. On month 3 I attacked his Arlach, but what I first thought was a small army turned out to be a very large one, just tier 1, 2, 4, 5 creatures... in short, with huge losses I overcome him (it would have been much worse, even fatal, if he had mana). The beginning of week 4 arrives and Arlach immediately comes with the purchased growth, takes my Castle from which I had bought everything, and transfers it to Orrin via chain. FB - the opponent sits in my Castle, I attack again with a meat advantage, the opponent holds out for a long time, at some point I even thought I might lose... but I still prevailed (morale at the end of the battle helped considerably).
10.03.2012. HellLighT(blue, Stronghold, Vey, Gretchin) def ariputra(red, Fortress, Merist, Tazar) Speed 1(m-u) 127
Both playing the template for the first time; the spawn was excellent - the respawn was not large, but good. I don't know if it's always like this, but both got 3 native towns. Thanks to the compact respawn and fast roads, I took all 3 on turn 1 month 1 week 1, found the external market, an external dwelling of Roches, spread out with 6 heroes; would have spread out with 8 too, but 6 minutes is clearly too little for that ;). By turn 1 month 1 week 2 I already had 9 Roches from 2 towns and the external dwelling; in the main town I upgraded Goblins on the first move because of the arriving Gremlins, revealed the external dwelling of Behemoths and a secondary tower with an external dwelling of Giants behind weak guards.
I ran around collecting what I could, took the secondary with a Giant, captured the Behemoths, but there was terribly few resources and gold; even the external market didn't allow me to build more than Bears in the fort in 1 town. As a result, I only broke into the treasure zone on turn 1 month 2 week 3, with 5 Behemoths, 24 upgraded Roches, and meat. In the 2 turns before the opponent also broke in, he managed to consume 4 Dragon Fly Hives, 2 of them maxed right near the opponent's exit. I didn't run after him immediately because I saw a decent army; on the other side of the treasure zone lay the *Tome of Earth*, several Pandora's Boxes with experience. I took a Fortress town in the treasure zone and sat down to replenish mana; meanwhile the opponent runs at me and attacks in the town... FB - Tazar: lvl 11, 6 10 2 3, Armorer, Tactics, Earth Magic, Archery. 116 Lizardmen, 40 Gnolls, 2 Hydras, 10 Basilisks, 19 Wyverns, 30 upgraded Serpent Flies, and 3 Angels vs. Gretchin: lvl 18, 16 9 15 8, Offense, Pathfinding, Earth Magic, Tactics, Logistics, Wisdom, and Resistance. 22 Roches, 12 Cyclopes, 4 Behemoths, 30 Wyverns (army a bit eaten by neutrals). Explosion at 1400 and Resurrection left no chance for the opponent; thanks for the game.