"The Newbie-2015. Winter" tournament.

Not the worst respawn with an external dwelling of bones and vampires, a Griffin Conservatory 2 (in the backwoods, but still) and an external market. Decent artifacts dropped behind simple guards: hat, shield, flail +4. Got Tanth the Earth. All good. Reached the conservatory on day 125 with already 350 skeletons.
On day 126 I met the opponent. We skirmished a bit with spoons, and on day 132 Tanth with 580 bones and 100 mana attacked Gurney in the village. Gurney had only 8 mana and less meat. The opponent surrendered.
Thanks for the game.

I found myself on a relatively large respawn with awkward terrain. After scouting the conservatory, a wolf dwelling, an external market, and a quick pass to the Necro village, I decided it was worth trying to fight, especially since two Necromancers had arrived. I quickly captured the neighboring zone and took the mines. There were issues with stone (I found the quarry late, behind the mountains) and money, but the market helped me recruit creatures in the Castle. On day 122 I take the first conservatory; scouted another one (2-4), decided to wait for Moandor's Expert Earth.
On day 124 I broke through all three directions and captured 3 villages, but messed up my moves, and didn't have enough steps to reach the cheat scouting location. Meanwhile, Moandor was defeated on the way to the conservatory. In general, I was unsure all game who to make the Main Hero, because Gurney wasn't leveling up well. But Moandor had Earth, so he rushed for the Angels, while Gurney went to the treasure zone hoping for goodies. Goodies were found in the form of AotD within sight range of a scouting tower. But then on day 126 the Necromancer terror begins =)
I barely manage to transfer the army for the conservatory; the next day the chain breaks. All hope rests on the conservatory and on Tanth having at least half of his 6 7 7 11 mana left. Hopes were not justified. The conservatory is level 2; I recapture a couple of central towns, sit Gurney 10 6 2 2 in one of them, thinking of moving on Tanth the next turn, not letting him consolidate the growth, or breaking through another conservatory in the snow, but he still brings the growth and attacks himself with full mana and an army advantage. I played a couple of rounds, weakly exchanging fire with ballista and liches, and surrendered to not waste time.

Thanks for the game. =)

Also a special thanks to Sam for hosting the Tournaments!
See you! =)