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Ayauhteotl(Rampart, Kyrre) def Javdet (Fortress, Tazar) Jebus Cross, 126

We drafted Fortress, Rampart, and Tower. I hoped the opponent would pick Rampart, but he picked Fortress and explained that Rampart on Jebus is useless, so I would have to play it).

The generator of crooked roads and absurd blocks outdid itself, so my resets ran out very quickly. The opponent rolled two 111s and tech re through the blocks to secondary skills on 112. No more resets left, only hope that the RNG was done mocking us. Started.

During the first week on the respawn I found: 3 Griffin Conservatories(one next to the castle, 3-4 with GC), 3 Dragon Fly Hives(one of them paired with boots for 20+ movement), 2 stacks of Elves, 2 stacks of Pegasi, a stack of Unicorns, a couple of Prisons, and 2 Pandoras(10-19 Monks and 20+ Gorgons). GO 50+ horses or 20+ creatures. Great layout, just had to not mess up the execution.

Scouts took the stacks of Pegasi and Elves, the prison(Solmyr there), Kyrre took the Unicorn stack. Then Solmyr thinned out the Monks(18 became 12), and Kyrre came to finish them off with 2 Unicorns, 40 Centaurs, 14 Grand Elves, and a few Dwarves and Dendroids. The Monks, taught by Solmyr, realized that dragging things out was dangerous for their health and that they needed to charge forward. And they had to charge forward twice per turn. After they blocked the Grand Elves, poisoned the entire army, and beat up the Unicorns, it started to seem like Tazar had sent them to my spawn with clear instructions. But the Grand Elves were still blocked with the remnants of the troops. The Pandora had 15k XP, Kyrre learned Earth, Luck, and Pathfinding. Just needed to find Slow.

A scout took a secondary Castle, a Crypt; Kyrre also took a couple of Crypts(all small, as if on purpose). The pleasant picture of Kyrre's stats was marred by a Knowledge of 1, so I decided to run her through the paid stat boosters near the road. Despite the scouts' efforts, money became an issue. I really hoped to find an external Marketplace, but it was cunningly hidden. On 116 I found a Stables, Kyrre entered it, got beaten, built a Mage Guild at home, Slow wasn't offered, the secondary didn't offer Slow either, reclaimed the boots and the movement Hive(checked it - big), and headed to the Conservatory near the castle. On 117 I had 3k gold, Kyrre went into a max Medusa nest with 10+ Pegasi, 20 Grand Elves, and 2 Horses. It went quite well, only the Pegasi suffered, 5 left. Kyrre stood on the Conservatory, built a chain: stack-Castle-Conservatory-Hive-Pandora behind Gorgons-Hat+4 Knowledge. One Hive fell out of the chain because I decided to have a Scholar break it at home to teach Kyrre Slow. At home 1-6 in the Citadel.

121 - with the trade, the army was 40 Grand Elves, 5 Unicorns, 5 Dendroids, and single-digit Pegasi. I had to spend precious 2k on upgrading the Pegasi to get first turn in the Conservatory. The Conservatory was tier 3, -2 Grand Elves and -2 Pegasi. A scout takes a Hive-8, Kyrre heads to a Well not far from the GO, on the way a scout takes his army, kills Gorgons(Pandora has 50 Dwarves), and reclaims a +4 Hat. Next turn, plans: scout takes a Conservatory and delivers everything to Kyrre. Near the GO there's a Prison, and nearby the 3rd Conservatory and a +5 Attack artifact. Just the
hero from the Prison will take it all.
122 - the scout takes a Conservatory-2 with GC. As usual, the Grand Elves got bitten. I buy more Unicorns and Pegasi at home, bring everything up, Kyrre with the Hat goes to the Well and clears the Prison. Mullich pops out of the Prison at level 10, and I'm not having any fun at all. Kyrre herself took the +5 Attack artifact, then a Hive(8), broke the GO, and sat down in a Fortress town. Had to send Jenova to the Conservatory, and Mullich will ferry the army. In Fortress I built a Capitol and ran to the Center for scouting with the scout.
123 - the Conservatory-3(Griffins, of course, lost morale and bit the Grand Elves) with Jenova, army to Kyrre, with the scout using basic View Earth I try to figure out where the opponent's respawn is, probably top-left. It seems like there are the fewest resources lying there. I run Kyrre that way, the scout takes a max Hive, Kyrre kills a bunch of Monks for a Pandora, and there's a nice surprise - 8 creatures. I clear +6 all, a +1+1 ring, a Pandora for Fire Magic(no Wisdom), on the last moves I stop next to the Titans and Devils blocking the road. In Fortress I build Dragon Flies.
124 - I kill the Titans, the Pandora has 10k gold, the Prison has a decent mage, kill the Devils, fail, tried to save mana and -Angel. The -1 morale is annoying because of the army from 4 towns, but all necessary. I take +3 all, enter the artifact market, buy a +1 Speed ring. The mage from the Prison reveals the Fortress GO, 100+ Lich Lords. An unpleasant guard for me, no Mass Haste and no Tactics. Plus the complete lack of decent magic ruins the mood. And I really miss View Air. I decided I had the situation under control, would finish clearing the Center for now, and let the opponent break his own GO, then I'd catch him there. Went and took the Citadel, will upgrade the creatures. At home the scout just found the external Marketplace.
125 - cleared a few more stat artifacts, Prisons, brought the Dragon Flies. Still found nothing for magic, a shame, and no Water Spell either. Sat in the Citadel again on the speed boost, decided to head into the Fortress anyway next turn. Right in front of the Lich Lords I placed Dessa on a Gorgon/Pegasus. On his turn, the opponent hits the GO, kills Dessa, and moves Tazar slightly forward. Could see him coming from afar.
126 - I attack with the mage from the Prison using single units and a Pegasus. The opponent casts Mass Haste(only 30 mana left), apparently expecting me to blast him with some Armageddon.
A couple of my single units survive, I kill 3 of his Dragon Flies with an arrow. I attack again with the scout, kill 1 Dragon Fly. Tazar spends no more mana. I attack with Kyrre.
Kyrre 18-25-21-(40) 7 Angels 22 Wyverns 8 creatures 33 Grand Elves 5 Unicorns 1 Dragon Fly 1 Pegasus
Tazar 6-13-5-(30) 7 Angels 36 Wyverns 1 Hydra 50 Lizard Warriors 35 Gnolls
Both have level 1 magic, I also have Fire Magic level 2, Kyrre Earth expertise, Tazar Earth and Air expertise.
We wait for initiative. The opponent has few stacks, I kill the Hydra with Grand Elves. I plan to Blind the Angels and Wyverns and kill the Lizard Warriors and Gnolls. Then finish them off. At the end of turn 1, I Blind the Angels, kill the Gnolls. At the start of the next turn, I cast Blind on the Wyverns... resist. The opponent removed Blind from the Angels, and they, along with the Wyverns, heavily mauled my Wyverns.
But despite this, and despite the -morale on my Angels the next turn, the difference in stats and troops was too large. I cast Oil and attack with everything. As a final chord, the 8 creatures under the effect were so offended by the Angels that continuing the fight became pointless.

P.S: looked at Javdet's layout - on the respawn 4 Conservatories, 3 Hives, and a Wyvern stack, but 2 Conservatories are inconveniently placed, and dragging Angels through the swamp is problematic. Also money issues, and the Mage Guild didn't give Slow/Haste, Haste was later found in a scroll.
Overall, my grass-side setup was more brisk and pleasant.

Thanks for the game.