“Two Seasons: Winter-Spring 2016” Tournament. Online games for rating (reports, discussions).

We took everything we could along with the opponent. Result: a lousy layout — one of the two main roads is blocked by 42 dogs with a GR stack guarding the head of the legion. I run scout heroes to the sides; on day 112 I want to take a crypt, but it turns out to be maxi, and I lose my entire army. To avoid losing tempo, I quickly start buying an army in the castle, but there's no wood (since the dogs blocked the road with the wood mine). I barely manage to fight back and find piles of wood; I find a single Griffin Conservatory, and I try to take it with everything I have, but I fail to finish off 2 stacks — a loss — and I'm left with absolutely no army on day 115, with nothing left to buy in the castle. I was already about to write "GG," but I thought the opponent might not be having an easy time either, and I saw a chance to break out at least by the start of the third week. Scout heroes run off-road, and on day 5 I reach the road that the dogs had blocked. The respawn turns out to be big, and the road is long. But there are blocks everywhere, and I can't really get anywhere useful — luckily, I had enough free gold and resources. On day 121 I take down 1 angel, rush forward, capture a Dragon Fly Hive with 8 ducks (where I lose 1), and grab boots from the nagas and an external dwelling of ducks. I now have 12 of them. I clear another single conservatory, and the cauldron levels up nicely, mostly getting relevant skills. At the end of the second week, I take down a Pandora's Box with 10k from the cyclopes, but I'm a bit short on leveling Earth magic, which I really need to break through the Guardian Object (90 GR cyclopes). I sell artifacts at the altar, get the skill, and on day 133 I charge straight into the Guardian Object with 3 angels, about 20 GR Wyverns, about 10 GR Gorgons, and single Dragon Flies — I lose 2 Wyverns and some chaff, then rush forward. The opponent was already in the center by the second week, which gave him a huge advantage. I manage to gather a few Pandora's Boxes, but there are almost no stat-boosting artifacts, though the cauldron was around level 20. I take a Pandora's Box with 12 Unicorns, a +5 sword, and a mini Dragon Fly Hive, and then the opponent engages me — higher stats, an army of 50-something ducks and 3 angels. I'm out of mana. My hero is killed.
Thanks for the game