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

21.08.2013 Akella (red, rampart, Kyrre, Kyrre) def RaiseTheDead (blue, fortress, Tazar, Tazar) 8mm6a 113.

I played as if on autopilot. I immediately went to visit the computer. I didn't even pay attention to the starting hero, and that was a mistake. A miner on native soil wiped out the entire army – both the Dragon Flies, the Lizardmen, and the Gnolls.

24.08.2013 Akella (red, conflux, random Aenain, Aislinn) lose RaiseTheDead (blue, castle, Caitlin, Dace) 8mm6a 125.

Found a fast passage to the opponent. It was hard to miss, since the generator was stingy with roads. In terms of army, I had 3 Angels from two Conservatories, 5 Cavaliers, and roughly 60 Archers. The opponent had 5 Birds, 23 Air Elementals, and a hundred Skeletons. Aislinn's mana was only enough for one Shield (Oil), and on top of that, the Birds got Anti-Morale in the first round. Without much of a chance, in my opinion.

26.08.2013 Akella (red, rampart, Kyrre, Kyrre) lose RaiseTheDead (blue, necropolis, Galthran, Galthran) Jebus Cross 127.

The spawn was very generous. Within vision range there were 6 Dragon Fly Hives, 2 Conservatories, 2 external dwellings for Cavaliers, 2 Libraries, a Shield granting +3 Attack and Defense, two artifacts giving +1 to Speed. The main difficulty was not knowing what to approach first – the Hives were either max or near-max, the Conservatories were third or fourth level. Before the final push I took 4 Hives, a level-4 Conservatory, both external Cavalier dwellings, all the useful artifacts, and visited one Library. I also made one serious mistake. I overcomplicated the chains – I had to hire 2 more heroes to make everything work out. As a result, I had no gold left to fight Galthran. A whole day wasted, and because of that, I couldn't pick up the second Conservatory, another Hive, and visit another Library. In the end, the final push came on day 123 with 31 Dragon Flies, 4 Angels, 15 Grand Cavaliers, and two hundred Skeletons. I was very lucky that the opponent wasn't in a hurry and only broke through the Main Town only on day 126. The entire center was, of course, already cleared.

Thanks for the games!