group "G" 14.07.2013 Aiwe (blue, Dungeon, Shakti) lose The_ (red, Fortress, Wystan) 2sm4d(3) 135

I took all the restarts, my opponent still had one left.
First week:
Wystan arrived with two stacks. I got a decent spread of six heroes; could have had more, but I preferred to buy the Lizardmen from the external dwelling. I spotted GO Phoenixes – not an option. From the money, on the first day I collected everything that was at the respawn; from money objects, only the Dwarf Cottage (20 with Granite Skin, not an option), plus a wood mine under a quaternary!! Block, including Archers, in short, very sad, I'm hoping for a restart, but the opponent passes the turn, I have to play what I was dealt. One secondary has a block of 50-99 upgraded Lizardmen, another respawn has 50-99 Harpies; on the second day, with an upgrade on the Lizards, I beat the Harpies and capture Conflux. The respawn is striking in its scarcity: 1 Crypt, a few piles of gold, one chest; at least the wood isn't blocked – already a blessing. Apparently, all the respawn value went into a Necklace +3+3 to Spell Power and Knowledge; for 140 rags, I break them after a 20-minute battle: 32 Lizardmen, 2 Wyverns, 4 Basilisk, 4 Earth Elementals (there was an external dwelling) and single Serpent Flies. I managed to lose only the Serpent Flies, 4 Basilisks, and 2 Elementals; the Wyvern stays standing at 9 HP. The last days of the week I was messing around, almost scouting the respawn with Wystan; in the end, I took the Crypt (a level 5). I wanted to return home to split on 117, but I realized that either I place the Citadel and then there will be at least some meat (since I simply saw no way to get it otherwise), or I buy out Wystan. I decided to build the Citadel and run Wystan through +1 Attack and then split. In the castle: 12346.

Second week:
I just like a god waste my own hero (why I was in such a hurry to split Wystan, I still don't understand).
No money to buy out, I buy 3 Wyverns and with 5 Wyverns and singles attack the Lizards; again, the Wyverns stood with HP below 10. I recapture the castle; two Dragon Fly Hives are visible. Well, finally things are looking up. The first Hive has 6 Wyverns, and without waiting for meat delivery, I go to break the Dragon Fly Hive with 20 Pikemen, 2 Earth Elementals, and 5 Wyverns; auto-battle buries me. In the end, after replaying it myself, I somehow miraculously crawled out with 3 Wyverns. The next Hive is taken without problems, but the minimum damage... and nothing else is visible on the respawn again: a couple of Crypts and a Dwarf Dwelling. But Wystan was given Scouting, and I managed to spot a Pandora's Box behind upgraded Unicorns. Breaking the Pandora's Box, I got 40 upgraded Archers – the first and last pleasant surprise from the generator.
Wystan's skills are rather strange: they gave him Offense, but on the other hand, Scouting; he has Logistics, but absolutely no magic schools. The entrance to the treasure zone is on Inferno land, but what to beat the Dragon Fly guards with isn't very clear: a stack of Wyverns (15), no magic either to shoot down large stacks of Horses, Wyverns, etc. In the end, I make the only adequate decision: go to the opponent, especially since one of his secondary heroes is two days' travel from my main. I beat Wystan in Conflux (there's a Guardhouse 2 with Lightning Bolt), beat him back into Fortress, replenish mana, and on 131 I stand before the guard to the opponent's secondary.

Third week:
Army: 19 Wyvern Monarchs, 80+ Lizardmen, 40 Archers, 30 Serpent Flies, 12 Basilisk.
I break through the guard and am one step short of closing the opponent's Teleporter for a potential reinforcement delivery (but in the end, the opponent was in another direction, so not critical). The next day, I enter the portal; immediately I see the opponent's castle, practically unguarded – either he decided not to defend the castle, or he didn't manage to return the army. I capture the main castle with the loss of 10 Archers. With a scout hero I take a lookout; with Wystan I dig in at the castle, waiting for the attack, although the army display says mine is better, his stats are a bit more interesting (though only slightly) + Necromancy was seen quite often + there are Angels.
Again, no aggression from the opponent. I dispatch a squad to recapture a secondary town (Fortress), hoping the opponent hadn't bought the meat there, but of course he didn't make that mistake and bought all 24 Lizardmen and Gnolls (though Gnolls were useless anyway). I take a Warrior's Tomb near the main town (why the opponent didn't take it is unclear); it gives a Shield +3, stats grew a little. Finally, I was given Earth Magic. I now have 5 towns versus 1 (in all 5 there was a thousand). The army display still shows an advantage; Shakti has disappeared from the horizon, stats not visible. I run Wystan to the last secondary – the Citadel. I capture the lookout; I see the opponent cleaning Hives in the treasure zone. I take the last town, while building a chain for delivery from the main town because it's already 134. Near the town there's an unguarded Pandora's Box with 10-19 Horses; I plan to go there next turn. But when less than 30 seconds remain, I realize the opponent is not going to recapture his towns but will come to me through my Conflux secondary (where the Guardhouse 2 is), through the treasure zone, and he's so far from me and the hero chain that it's simply a disaster. In a rush, firing and buying heroes, I build a chain from the main town to the secondary to fly Wystan on defense in one turn. There's only one hope: that Shakti doesn't reach the castle and doesn't learn Lightning Bolt. Time runs out; I look at Shakti's stats, and then I felt a bit queasy – something like 18-16-10-10 is displayed there. Versus my 6-13-6-7.
But at the last moment, luck turned its face to me; Shakti didn't make it to the castle by two or three tiles, and as a result, he has 0 mana.
And I managed a chain of 9 heroes! You should have seen the distance the army covered in one turn; however, I had to leave the Archers behind because moving with them through the swamp had a terrible penalty, and nothing would have worked out anyway. With scouts having cut down the singles, I attack powerfully; there's a good advantage in meat (even without Archers); (obviously the treasure zone bit him), although his stats carried him very strongly. But after 4 rounds, he concedes.
One of the strongest games I've ever played, where the plan was executed almost perfectly, considering the situation was, to put it mildly, "not great."

Thanks for the game.