The opponent buys the choice of a town from a pair of Stronghold-Conflux for 3000 and 500 more for color, the extra money gives a good opportunity to expand.
As a result, a decent first week played, by day 117 built levels 1-5,7 in the castle, captured 4 neutral villages, and an income of 3350 gold. There is a clear plan for the second week: capture 3 Wolf Pikets, then the Griffin Conservatory and the +12 shield. On day 123, capture the opponent's Tower, then capture the opponent's castle... and return to the Pikets and the Conservatory. On day 126, I catch up to the opponent's Moner, he has +1 speed, but no money to buy back... I chop down a third of the army with Mass Haste, followed by a buyback (1 Angel and 6 Cyclopes), and on day 131, with a mega misclick on Tactics while breaking Gunnar, I press "Start Battle" instead of "Surrender". The main hero with all artifacts is lost :-) Good thing the opponent surrenders on their turn, having the Blue Cap and the +6 all helm. Thanks for the game.