I don't remember what happened with the restarts, but it became obvious I was playing because of Galthran with Grindella in the tavern + the experience stone under the castle. By day one, Galthran had Necro expertise and advanced armor.
I crawled out to the surface, no money, the build-up wasn't going well, but by 114 I grabbed the stables and reached the brown elven comp, and my army was 140 skeletons and 4 vampires. I was very afraid of meeting the opponent by the end of the week. Just in case, I put a level 2 Mage Guild with Bolt in the ramp and took Water Walk for Galthran, then rushed to the turquoise Castle comp. I grabbed a tier 1 Griffin Conservatory on his respawn and by 117 took the castle, built a Mage Guild there, and recharge 40 mana with Bolt at 130. I sent Grindella with 5 pegasi and magic stats of 4 4 to cast Bolt from stealth. I saw movement of red flags from the lookout point, and it was already clear where to go for the rush.
121 I clicked the stables in the castle, grabbed another tier 2 Griffin Conservatory on the way, scouted the entrance to the opponent's respawn through 20-49 orcs (either things were really bad, or domestic affairs delayed me), ok, attack!
122 I bring the ramp growth with elves and 6 trees and send Grindella forward with all this good stuff.
123 Grindella took the main, chased down and killed a couple of cockroaches. From the chain, I roughly understand where the army is, and I run there with Galthran.
124 I pick up a ring of +1 speed reclaimed from the main :wtf:, and rush with everyone to catch the fleeing enemy.
125 Right before my eyes, that sneaky Val takes the tier 2 Griffin Conservatory (I ran past without checking it, since the angels were already visible and there was no guard). On my turn, I use Grindella to cast -1 Speed on the horse and attack for the final battle at 1 gate with Bolt at 170 (there wasn't even a book there yet). Thanks for the game!
PS Val wasn't exactly as in the screenshot, she took a better Griffin Conservatory, but somewhere around that ballpark :)
