Group D shameonyou (blue, swamp, Alkin) def. glhf (red, Stronghold, Jabarakas) 2SM4d(3) 213.


An incredibly long and, for me, not very interesting game. I took swamp, although I originally planned to take Citadel, dunno why. I hoped that external dwellings would pop up. Alas. Absolutely all spawns were terrible. Either the whole respawn was in the mountains, or nobody had any archers, or Wystan with 1 stack and 20 Gnolls with a buyout. And I'm not even talking about the external dwellings. I spent all my resets, my opponent had one more, but he didn't take it, we played on. In the end, the spawn turned out bad, a huge and empty respawn, with blocked areas on top of that. I played reluctantly, not even hoping for a victory.

I'll describe it by week, as I see no point in detailing every day, and it would take very long anyway.

Week 1:

As soon as we started, I saw that a lot of the respawn was cut off by cliffs, a spread of 5 heroes, the starting army was good for once. There were two paths (gave fast clears). I upgraded the archers, not enough money on the respawn. Not a single external dwelling, and on top of that, half the respawn was blocked by a horde of Earth Elementals in front of the Dragon Fly Hive. Can't break through on week 1, knowing the guard of hives on SM. I cleared what I could, collected the free stuff. The only guard on the secondary was not so pleasant - Inferno Hounds. I scouted a decent part of the respawn, nothing there. At all. And the money was below average. I found a shield +4 behind a crowd of Stone Golems, sent Alkin there right away for free leveling :smile20: . I split back home. Built 1 2 3 6 in the castle. Decided to break the Hounds on the secondary, apparently in vain. Left all the Gnolls there. There were about 35 Hounds + GS. Only the Lizardmen survived, I fought without Wyverns - didn't have them for the buyout. And Medusas in the underground too... I went back to break the Earth Dwellings in front of the Dragon Fly Hive with a buyout.

Week 2:

Still running around with five heroes. Alkin gets Logistics. I break the Earth Dwellings, quite easily, 60 of them + GS. Earth magic pops up, but no Slow. I finally buy a 6th hero, find a stable on the mud and a Griffin Conservatory behind Troglodytes, run to check - a Trog one. Further down the road I hit a block of Orcs in front of some junk and a Serpent Fly external dwelling. In the middle of nowhere I find a +1 all stats armor and a Wyvern external dwelling, take it, already a bit better, managed to grab it before week 3 :D .

Week 3:

Several days I scour the underground looking for an exit to the treasure zone. Found an exit behind Rags, further on a pretty decent-looking box behind a horde of Ogres. I rush to fight it, 10k experience, gives Water magic, very handy - I have Bless, Cure, Dispel. Found a Slow scroll. In the treasure zone nothing is visible at all except for quest artifacts and an Efreet external dwelling. Sad. I keep running around hoping to find something.

Week 4:

I optimize growth, finally find the only Dragon Fly Hive in the entire treasure zone for 6 Wyverns. Then I discovered another one on the secondary behind a crowd of upg. Coursers, I take it by chain, return, plan to go to the snow, because I spotted a piece of the exit upward, and from my respawn it was visible that there was snow there. On the way there's a bag of +750 gold behind Archangels, various useless stuff.
I got out into the snow, luckily I have Pathfinding, a bit easier, but still a long slog through rough terrain. I took the Wyverns to the upgrade, 43 upg. units in the pocket.

Week 5:

Finally got out of the trackless snow to the opponent's Tower, I sit there, ramp up, send a scout into the nearby underground, there are Boots of Speed +2 all stats and +1 Luck behind a crowd of upg. Cats, I decide not to go, but to head straight for red. On the way the opponent's scout hero attacks me, then the daddy himself. Full Battle: Alkin 9 20 7 6 (60), 40+1+1+1 upg. Wyverns, 4 Efreeti, Dragon Flies, 80 Lizardmen, expert Earth, Water, Logistics, Pathfinding, Attack, Defense; vs. Jabarakas 15 4 8 8 (80), 6 Bears, 7 Angels, 30 Wyverns, Hobgoblin, 4 Orcs. I cast Slow, he apparently doesn't have Mass Haste, otherwise he would have rushed. He casts Blind on my Wyverns, next round I cast Shield, from the opponent Blind on my Lizardmen, everyone slowly crawls up under Slow. I cast Mass Cure, immediately pile on his Wyverns with mine - minus 20, and then we played Blind - Dispel. In the end I win with 30 Wyverns in the pocket.

Thanks for the game!