Posts from Online game reports.

Kyle (orange, Sorcerer, Sorcerer) defeated Alex_R (red, Host, Fortress, Fortress) in Slugfest (Heated Battle), 123.

I just haven't seen the point in creating such a thread / starting a new online season when no one is playing. I myself have played with Gynnar several times recently, but reports were only posted on the Portal. Because very few people play here...

Actually, there aren't many people playing Heroes II on the Portal these days. Out of the active players, only Gynnar is really playing. And the online community is practically dead. And the main thing is, it's not clear why. All the old players seem to be around. But they don't want to play (or can't?). In short, something needs to be done.

Qwerty (Sorceress) def. Sir Gynnar (Necromancer, host), 117 Slagfest (hot battle).
I won't even talk about the first two days because I played terribly. Nikolai made a move to the center, captured sulfur and a mine for the Necromancers in the lower left. However, on the third day, the struggle intensified. By the end of the third turn, Nikolai had a clear advantage, but then the AI intervened! The Warlock defeated Nikolai's secondary hero, and then made a very successful move in another direction.
I devised a plan to upgrade the Dwarves and use four Phoenixes to defeat all of Nikolai's secondary heroes. Then, more wonders occurred. The AI persistently bypassed my Castle, and I managed to aggressively move my main hero (the Sorceress) with four Phoenixes ahead to the isthmus between Nikolai's gold mine and the area with the sulfur mine and gazebo. Nikolai executed a beautiful maneuver, exchanging troops and protecting his secondary hero. At the same time, the Warlock leader was defeated by the Barbarian leader (meaning the Barbarian leader ended up near his starting Castle), the Mage leader was wandering around in his treasure room upstairs (where the diamond mine, etc. are located), and the Knight leader was somehow located near his gold mine, clearly eyeing my Castle. But I ignored all of this, boldly upgraded the Dwarves, built Druids, bought Dwarves, Elves, Druids, and moved all of this to my main hero. And!!! I managed to run my main hero into the gazebo and gained logistics!!! The battle was interesting; Nikolai had attack and speed, and I had blessing and speed, which I had been saving. In terms of troops: Nikolai had 14 Liches, 12 Mummies, 30 upgraded Zombies, 14 Vampires (or maybe more), and 3 Catapults. I had 20 Elves, 30 upgraded Dwarves, 19 Druids, 10 Unicorns, and 4 Phoenixes. I cast blessing on the Phoenixes, and the battle began. Thanks to Kyle for the training; he beat me badly in a battle a couple of months ago, and then we had a draw. In general, at some point, everything started to turn in my favor, and Nikolai decided to fight to the end, although he might have considered offering a truce. As a result, his hero died, and I gained a couple of levels of experience, increasing my attack and logistics (both are very important). I was left with 1 Unicorn, 20 Elves, 7 Druids, and 24 upgraded Dwarves. On the same turn, my secondary hero fought Nikolai's secondary hero (in the last square); I got lucky and won. The turn ended, and the AI didn't attack my Castle, but I visited Nikolai's upgrade building with my main hero and set up an ambush. The second level of logistics was very useful (it really makes a difference on this map, to be honest) because Nikolai had prepared a couple of heroes with attack on Gargoyles.
And on the next, seventh day, I attacked: 20 Elves, 24 upgraded Dwarves, 7 Druids, 1 Unicorn, 9 Butterflies with main attack against 7 Centaurs, 4 Skeletons, 6 upgraded Zombies, 2 Gargoyles, and 2 Vampires.
Thanks for the game, Nikolai!