19.12.2012 Ayauhteotl (Blue, Tower, Daremyth) def злой_романтик (Red, Inferno, Pyre) skirmish 133

I don't know what came over me, the first half of the game was a fail after fail. But for a change, the RNG was merciful this time.

We tore off, and began.
Week 1 - I find an external dwelling of gremlins on a respawn, an external market, and a lookout tower that partially reveals a Necro secondary area and a piece of the zone behind it, where I see a Pandora's Box with 20+ gold golems. I'm playing with 4 heroes, I have Crag, but I choose Daremyth as my main. On day 1-12 I take a crypt, on day 1-13 I break through to the secondary area. I reveal 2 gold mines with 50+ harpies, I capture other mines. I reveal a Griffin Conservatory (1 on the RNG). By the end of the week, I could have built mages, but I decide it would be better to quickly build Mage Guild-2. On day 1-17, 1-3 in the citadel.
During the week, I either go the wrong way, or don't have time to move all heroes, or the chains don't line up, once I even fail to build a building in time.

Week 2 - On day 2-1, I planned to bring troops, a wagon, and take the gold mine and the Griffin Conservatory via chain, but the chain didn't work out again. Then the troops finally arrive, I break through to another zone, take the mine, and go to take the Griffin Conservatory with my main, almost without mana. I'm in a hurry, set up the troops, and into battle. I look with surprise at the gremlins, which somehow ended up in the 7th slot and are standing right under the griffins. A tough melee, I escape with 35 gremlins, 3 golems, and an angel.
My mood improves a little; it seems impossible to play worse, so it probably won't get any worse. I aim for the zone with the Pandora's Box, but then I see that the opponent has broken through there, taken a castle, and Pyre is standing one step away from the Pandora's Box on a fake. On my turn, I send troops to a scout with tactics, break through the passage into that zone... and miss by 1 square. So I don't go there and return the troops back. There's a portal nearby, I decide to break through there next turn. I watch the opponent - Pyre moves away from the Pandora's Box. On day 2-5, I break through the portal guard, dive into it, and see right in front of it Pyre with the main army, and a scout with a bunch of fairies. First I kill the scout, check Pyre's army with my own scout, and attack with my main.
Daremyth 1-1-4-6(50), 35 gremlins, 1 fairy, 3 single-unit gremlins, 3 golems, and an angel. Haste on 60.
Pyre 3-3-2-1(10), 2 efreet, 20 gogs, 4 demons, 50 imps, single-unit fairies, and a ballista.
A tough battle; first, the opponent shields his gogs, hits the gremlins with Haste (still enough mana for Haste). But my Haste on 60 noticeably reduces the gogs, and the opponent goes on the attack. The ballista hits pretty hard, the opponent focuses on the angel. In the end, he kills my golems, leaving 3 gremlins and the angel with 40 HP. Remembering the Haste, I retreat, leaving him with 1 efreet, 1 demon, 3 gogs, and 30 imps.
I buy back in Tower, there's Lightning Bolt in Mage Guild-2. I upgrade gargoyles, buying 18 of them. I upgrade 30 gremlins from the external dwelling. No money left. The opponent takes my Necro secondary area, kills a couple of scouts, and collects skeletons. On day 2-7, I want to reclaim the Necro secondary area, but I miss by a couple of squares. I kill his scout.

Week 3 - The opponent brings troops to Pyre, and she settles into the Necro secondary area. On my turn, I also bring troops and attack.
Daremyth 1-1-4-6(90), 90 gremlins, 25 upgraded gargoyles, an angel, and single-unit gargoyles. Lightning Bolt for 120.
Pyre 3-3-2-1(10), 4 efreet, 14 magogs, 70 imps, 7 demons, 60 skeletons, 6 ghosts, and 3 gogs. The opponent goes on the attack, I hit the magogs with Lightning Bolt, remove the retaliation from a closing-in efreet with gargoyles, hit him with the angel with wait. Next turn, I hit the efreet with Lightning Bolt, there are 3 left (1 HP each). The angel flies to the gremlins. The efreet hits the angel. With 1-stacks, I block the approach of the skeleton, fearing Haste. The magog hits the single units but doesn't kill them. But the gog and ballista finish them off. The skeletons under Haste hit the angel. It has about 100 HP. And the opponent's remaining troops will approach next turn. But Pyre has no more mana. I open up the gremlins, fly the angel and the main gargoyle stack down and forward, so the walkers can't reach me and I get closer to the opponent's shooters. The skeletons hit the gremlins, the gremlins run away. I kill the opponent's shooters with my flyers, destroy the ballista. The remaining gremlins under Haste successfully run away from his walkers. After that, I just snipe with Lightning Bolts and finish off with flyers. Magic decided it.
We play a few more turns, after which the opponent surrenders.

Thanks for the game.