I will tell you a sad story about a noob who dreamed of playing in the m200 tournament, but ended up dropping out after the third game.
We played all the resets, and in the random draw we got Tower on Dungeon - not bad overall! There weren't many resources lying around, so Mages and, even more so, Nagas, weren't built on the first week. However, there was gold, a Crypt, a level 10 Mound of Death, a fast second hero, two fast Prefectures... and two external Gremlin dwellings that compensated for the useless Picaderoo.
On the second week, 20 upgraded Gargoyles, 20 upgraded Golems, and 150 Gremlins cleared the Gold Mine and were free to go into any treasure zone. A treacherous scout hero revealed the opponent clearing a Chain +4 not far from the green, the second part of which was located right after a guard in one of the treasure zones near me.
A fatal decision was made: to break into the treasure zone, then into the portal, and ambush the opponent. All guards fell with losses of single units, but the opponent ran downwards beyond the scout hero's sight range. My scout heroes didn't manage to intercept the opponent's two scout heroes located near the portal. As a result, the opponent received the previously cleared Chain +4 and Shield +3. Clavius tried to intercept the boosted Moandor and the main army on a scout hero, but didn't quite make it in time.
And at this point there were still chances to change the paradigm, because the opponent didn't attack but retreated further into his territory. And then the treacherous moves of the scout hero were enough to scout Moandor with his army and see that Clavius could intercept him.
Instead of turning around to clear my own treasure zone with Dragon Fly Hives and non-tough guards, or at least taking a level 2 Griffin Conservatory with Haste on the respawn, I "over-tempoed" and decided to intercept the opponent. On the way, with Clavius, I trim a scout hero, which prevents me from entering the Well to refresh my mana, so I attack with zero mana.
What looked weak on the surface turned out to be 40 Zombies, 70 Skeletons, 40 Troglodytes, 20+ Evil Eyes, and 4 Archers with 40 damage. After 4 turns, the number of Gremlins was reduced to 90, and the undead on their home turf went on the offensive. In a fierce battle, we traded almost down to zero, apart from 20 Zombies left with the opponent and the Skeletons he raised after the fight.
In the end, I run and hope to hold out until day 131 to rebuy (with an income of 3350 nonetheless) and at least defend in the Castle, since literally only 2 Gargoyles remain in the army. But the fast opponent manages to reach the Castle itself by day 127, and on day 131 kills everything without reinforcements, bypassing the redraw, so I save his time and write gg.
Thank you for the game and for the tournament! I'll have to wait another year...
Everything is described perfectly! From myself, I'll add that on day 111 I saw Moandor, an Experience Stone, and a Horse Corral in the tavern and was overjoyed. Moandor got a Loga in the stone, ran well with the corral, and that's where the joy ended: the opponent has Clavius, while I have Archers, level 2 Crypt, and few resources for Evil Eyes, the treasure zone guards are upgraded Evil Eyes, Gold Golems, and Wizards with Air Elementals). After breaking through to a second town, I saw that the entire road to it was blocked, ran down it, hit a block - 27 upgraded Orcs, at that time I had about 70 Troglodytes, Harpies, Skeletons, 7 Evil Eyes. The Orcs put up a good fight, but I got out, preserving half the Troglodytes and almost all the Skeletons, then a block of Fire Elementals behind a Gold Mine, but on day 117 I managed to jump into the town and take 2 external Zombie dwellings, which, as turned out later, decided the outcome. Then at the second town I wanted to farm Skeletons and wait for day 131, but the opponent showed up himself on day 123; I was very lucky that Clavius didn't take the Chain and Shield and didn't intercept the main army, so I, having collected 2 Crypts, ran to farm Skeletons, but Clavius caught up; lucky that he had no mana, while I had 4 Archers with 40. In the field battle, both of us could probably have played better, but the opponent made slightly more mistakes, and my main army and Moandor's stats were higher. After the field battle, I took the corral, refreshed mana, and ran to intercept; I made it in time, basically I pulled out the game on a lucky break, thanks for the game!
