04.09.2012 Vaflya (blue, Castle, Valeska, Monere) lose Scorpiona (red, Dungeon, Shakti, Crag Hack) Jebus Cross 126

I'll start with a little backstory: at the start, I had been playing for several hours straight, so I was pretty tired, and as a result, I gave up.

111 — 5 heroes, among them Monere, whom I decided to make main, and Korbac. Stig arrived with 4 snakes, good speed. Archers not built, Valeska and Loynis brought 17 archers. I light the stable and the seventh external dwelling with zero guard. We play, naturally. Didn't take restarts.
112 — I buy 3 more heroes, among them Galtran. I estimated the neutrals — nowhere to skill, decided I'd still level Monere. Nothing interesting.
113 — Fail #1: I lose to golems. Basically GG, but the opponent kindly offered to auto, and I figured it would be disrespectful not to take it, so we continued. Plans changed a bit, I decide to take the crypt near the town with Monere, bought all the archers, upgraded them, and took it. Galtran scouted an archer external dwelling and two pikeman external dwellings. Need to gather and hit the angel external dwelling.
114 — Sent Monere around the stat boosters to minimize losses, scouted the Griffin Conservatory and Dragon Fly Hive with the scout hero, and with Galtran on a snake went to take a secondary skill. Nothing else interesting.
115 — Monere finished the "victory lap", heading to the external dwelling. I lose Galtran on a secondary skill, gargoyles got unlucky morale on the first turn, otherwise I would have taken it. Although, there have been plenty of such stories. :-) Transferred archers with scout heroes and upgraded them, plus 28 pikemen. Money is tight, not really enough for angels.
116 — Lost more on the guard of the external dwelling than in the dwelling itself (there were pegasi, one stack got unlucky morale and hit the archers, but died immediately from retaliation). I finish off the accursed golems, they gave Earth magic. I boost Monere at the angel, position scout heroes for quick capture of the Dragon Fly Hive and Griffin Conservatory (2-4, decided not to risk it later), gathered 17 thousand, not a single coin more, but out of the corner of my eye, I spot an external marketplace. Plenty of resources.
117 — Monere breaks through 51 level 1 and 2 stacks with Haste for a Pandora's Box with two angels (bought one in town), gave a whole 15k experience. Get Pathfinding and Basic Wisdom. The guard was a bit weak, I must say, but RMG isn't perfect. Scout heroes finished maneuvers for quickly taking the Dragon Fly Hives and money from mills, Monere and a scout hero near town on angels, Monere in town, restoring mana and waiting for the stable in town.
121 — Gathering resources for buying units, collecting archers and pikemen from external dwellings. Monere goes to take the first Dragon Fly Hive, but there are no scout heroes nearby for boosting, decided not to take it. Fail #2: never did take that Dragon Fly Hive, don't even know how many Wyverns were there. Set quick combat and break through hobbits with the scout hero on angels, no magic anyway. End turn.
122 — Fail #3: forget to turn off quick combat and attack with archers 5-9 groups of cyclops. Lose 15. Take the Griffin Conservatory, turned out to be 3rd level, also take two hives next to the conservatory and prepare to break through the GO. Actually, I didn't even know what mine was, but even if the main hero was going somewhere, it was only along the road to the GO, there was plenty to do. This turn I stood two tiles away from the untaken hive.
123 — GO was easy, 46 necromancer horses. The scout hero had Mass Slow in a scroll, so I slowed them down, shot them, it was all pretty primitive. Still no money. Immediately light and take a Sword +12-3, then had to sacrifice all the pokemon (about 60 pieces) to break through a block of Ghost Dragons that was in the way. Medium stack, if memory serves. Scout heroes gather resources, wanted to upgrade angels, set up a chain.
124 — Apparently on this turn the opponent broke into the treasure zone, because the turn was about 40 minutes. I figured that on the fast roads there was a chance to run at me with speed, walked a bit along the road, revealed a Dragon Utopia, took it. Gave a set of swords (basically useless with +12-3) and the Hat of the Fifth, but I had no magic at all, and stats like a young Crag Hack: 25-1-5-5. Decided to upgrade angels, set up a chain, but decided to boost Monere on angels, lest I get beaten, had no tactics, no shooter other than archers either. Send a scout with all the archers (Fail #4) for scouting, scouting revealed nothing. Was short on time, even had to do a jump move to manage the chain.
125 — Crag Hack appears out of nowhere, I buy the scout hero on archers away from the Miner who was nearby, then Crag Hack breaks through a Dragon Fly Hive (judging by how he rushed onto the sand to clear the path for the Miner — he had Pathfinding), then a second Dragon Utopia is taken (4-5 tiles from "mine"), after which Crag Hack, sensing something was wrong, decided to run. The chain was excellently set up, I watched the saves — Crag Hack was spending the night in a village on his respawn. I take a swamp with the scout hero on angels, send a scout, he runs into the opponent's scout hero on a single unit. Without much thought I dismissed the scout, decided not to fight, placed Clavius on the road (the passage was through sand, figured since he managed the way there, he wouldn't make it back). Fail #5: The scout hero still reached the swamp! Monere on a single snake fell asleep in Inferno, wanted to restore magic, but forgot to build the Mage Guild! Fail #6. Through the chain in time trouble I barely manage to send 8 angels to the main hero, money is tight, but for upgrading angels (at least 5) — I would have found it. But, as I already said, on the opponent's turn I lose the swamp with the leveled Korbac, then they kill my relay scout hero, and partially reveal Inferno (or maybe they don't, I didn't check).
126 — After long calculations I came to the conclusion that Monere wouldn't make it in time to take the swamp and die on nearby guards. Accounted for everything except the last step (and that was exactly enough to die), due to a lack of further action plans, having 8 out of 22 thousand gold (spent a lot on scout hero wars, partly useless since I created that situation myself with the fifth fail), and a fairly difficult situation even with the Hat of the Fifth and a well-leveled Monere, I decided not to continue. Considering my own fatigue from the 11-hour game and Scorpiona's wish not to save the game but to finish it in one day, as well as the 10-minute timer (simply no time to think) — I decided to surrender. The opponent was surprised, perhaps now something will become clear.

Many thanks for the game. :-)