“Summer 2013” experimental season. Online ranked games (reports, discussions).

17.08.2013 Stratte (Blue, Rampart, Ivor) def Roger-ua (Red, Citadel, Crag) 2sm4d(3) 224

The first week didn't go the best...

Confirmed.
A tough first week 1235 in the Citadel. Blocks on secondary skills 20+ Zealots and 10-19 Fanatics. On day 2 I take secondary Swamp, build 123457 in the town. On day 3 I collect 3 hives at the respawn and go into the treasure zone. Collected 45 Wyverns, no high-level magic. On day 4, plenty of money, I build the Capitol - a mistake, of course. ГО was weak and could have fallen long ago to 50+ Nagas. The Capitol worked for the opponent. Yes, on day 146 it would have been more logical to attack the Conflux against the Citadel than to move next turn against my own town. Plus the only native terrain. On day 147 maybe I could have recaptured the already defenseless Conflux and increased my mana from 93 to 130. Well, the trick where Ivor visited the library and without Expert Earth Magic flew to my capital is truly unique. In the first Fight, if not for the 10% Elven resistance that triggered against the first Chain Lightning, the advantage would have been even more serious. After that I didn't accept a draw because after the growth with 6 Bears and 22 Ogres, I could have cleared treasure zones and taken Dragon Utopias. On day 212, second Fight: 6 Bears, 22 Gr. Ogres, 8 Gr. Birds, 14 Gr. Orcs, 18 Gr. Wolves and Goblins against Ivor's 15 Water Elementals, 4 Air Elementals, 8 Earth Elementals, and units behind the Citadel — to put it mildly, I made a mistake. Instead of reading the physical mirror about elemental properties, I decided to end it beautifully in one blow by casting Armageddon — it's hard to think of a greater help to the opponent. Although with the opponent having Armageddon, even at 300, the fight would not have been easy, and how it would have ended is unknown. I had no idea Ivor was there. 4 Gr. Ogres remained. An attempt to gather strength in the treasure zone brought no luck — only 13 Wyverns. The fight was repelled; the Cloak of Undead King was there, but alas, no Shackles of War. Then Ivor's attempt to cast Armageddon with 2 Firebirds would have had different consequences, rather than just running away. A very instructive game came out.
Thanks for the game!