Posts from Classification of tactical maneuvers in Heroes of Might and Magic II by Qwerty.

Classification of tactical techniques in the second Heroes game

The classification of tactical techniques in the second Heroes game has not yet been developed; let's try to create its foundations right now, on April 20, 2010, at 5:24 PM.

For starters, let's reiterate the following idea. To win, we need either superior forces (in a broad sense: this includes magic, hero stats, and troops) or be able to CREATE AN ADVANTAGE IN THE DECISIVE AREA OF THE BATTLE.

A simple example:
An enemy hero attacks us; they have 68 peasants, 10 archers, and a knight hero without a spellbook. We have 18 sprites, 9 halflings, for example. The hero is a sorceress. Let's assume that this situation arose as follows: the leading hero reached the castle and had, say, 3 pigs and halflings. He positioned the pig in front of the pikemen, moved out of the castle to kill it, and then used the halflings to shoot directly. The pigs bravely died, shielding the path to the halflings. Some of the halflings perished. Then, using the last gold, he bought a sorceress in the castle.

The battle:
Formation: 9 halflings - 1 sprite - 1 sprite - 1 sprite - 15 sprites.

Round 1. Our turn.
Blessing on the halflings. One sprite flies up and hits the archers below, so that the peasants cannot reach (deals 1 damage). Three groups of sprites skip their turn.

Halflings shoot at the archers and kill, let's say, two (damage 23). Peasants move forward and down, standing in front of the archers. Archers kill a sprite.
Round 2. One sprite flies up and stands two squares above and to the right of the peasants. The second sprite also flies forward and hits the archers below (deals 1 damage). The last group of sprites skips its turn. We cast blessing on 15 sprites.

Halflings shoot at the archers (deal 23 damage) and kill, let's say, two. Peasants move forward and kill a sprite. Archers kill a sprite.
Round 3. We cast blessing on the halflings. We hit the blessed sprites from the previous round against the archers below (peasants cannot reach), dealing 29 damage and killing three.

The opponent has 3 archers left, with the last one having 3 health. A total of 23 health. Halflings shoot, dealing 23 damage, and kill all the archers exactly. Peasants move forward.
In the future, we eliminate the archers, then the peasants, without exposing ourselves to attack if morale is possible.
It is easy to see that in case of a more straightforward game, the knight would win. However, by creating an advantage in the decisive area of the game (15 blessed sprites against 2 archers), victory is achieved, and without significant losses.
Total losses amounted to 3 sprites. If the battle had not gone so well, we could have lost 5 sprites (of course, this is assuming that the opponent does not get a morale boost in the first two rounds).

Let's analyze the main tactical techniques used during this battle.
Blocking the archers. I remind you that all archers except mages, archmages, and titans deal half damage in melee combat. This is especially clearly demonstrated in the third round.
Absorbing the blow or Covering the embrasure.
In the first and second rounds, a large group of archers inflicted only 2 life points on us each time. Meanwhile, if they had shot at the halflings, 8 archers would have dealt 38-52 damage, meaning we simply wouldn't have any halflings left. It should be noted that if this group had attacked not 1, but 15 sprites even in melee, the damage would have been 19-26, which would have destroyed most of the squad.
Thus, we sacrificed little to preserve more.
Distraction.
This idea is beautifully implemented in the second round. If the peasants remain near the archers, we will face certain difficulties in the third round (the peasants completely kill the sprite unit even after its unreturned attack under blessing). Instead, we distract the peasants from guarding the archers by offering them one sprite as a sacrifice.
The following tactical technique is used in the subsequent battle:
Hit and run.
When the peasants approach within 2 squares of the halflings, we move the halflings away, taking them out of range for the next turn. Accordingly, in the next round, we shoot, then repeat the procedure.

Now let's consider a different scenario. The same heroes, the same troops, but this time our hero (a sorceress) attacks a Knight. Here, the method we used in the previous example doesn't work. The fact is that the attacking side has its troops slightly advanced forward, while the defending side has them slightly positioned back. (If you don't have a grid on the battlefield during combat, enable it immediately. To do this, attack someone, click on the computer icon in the lower left corner of the screen (below the AUTO button), and click on the grid (the bottom-left icon) so that it shows that it is enabled. You no longer need to disable the grid.) Now we see that we don't have a cell where we could block the archer and at the same time be out of reach for the peasants. We also remember that unblocked archers will quickly leave us without an army, and engaging in direct combat with a unit of 68 peasants is still somewhat premature. Therefore, you can try the following:
formation
9 halflings - 1 fairy - 1 fairy - 1 fairy - 15 fairies

Round 1.
Blessing on the halflings.
The fairy flies and attacks the peasants directly, lining up with them. 2 peasants are killed.
The fairy flies and attacks the archers, positioning itself between them and the peasants.
The fairy flies and attacks the archers from below. 2 inflict a total of 3 damage to the archers.
The large group of fairies skips its turn.

Blessed halflings attack the archers and deal 23 damage.
Peasants hit the unit standing in front of them and kill it.
Archers hit the unit standing between them and the peasants and kill it.
Round 2.
Blessing on the fairies.
1 fairy attacks the archers, positioning itself between them and the ranged units, dealing 2 damage (to be honest, I didn't generate the damage; it just happened by chance).
15 blessed fairies attack the archers from below. They deal 29 damage. In total, there are 5 archers left, and the last one has 3 health, for a total of 43 life points.

The blessed squad of halflings attacks the archers and deals 23 damage. There are now 2 archers with full health remaining.
Peasants attack the fairy that is standing between them and the archers and kill it.
Archers attack the fairies, dealing 5 damage, killing 2 fairies. The fairies retaliate and deal 25 damage, killing the archers.

In the future, the fairies fly away, and the halflings shoot at the peasants, and in the fourth round, first the fairies attack, then (if necessary) the halflings finish them off.
So, we lost 5 fairies.

Now let's consider a new tactical technique:
Blocking.
Let's go back to the illustration during the second round of battle. We see that a unit of 1 fairy blocked the path of the peasants to the large group of fairies. Thus, we sacrificed 1 fairy but saved the large group. This technique is often used in the second (and not only!) heroes.

To be continued...

Tell me, which spells are the most effective in the second game?

It all depends on who we are playing as and against.
If we have archers and the computer only has infantry, then slowing them down is definitely a good strategy. With the large damage range of our archers, we can apply a blessing to them on the next turn. I also often use Bloodlust – it lasts for 3 rounds regardless of magic power, so it works for a Barbarian just as well as for a Warlock!
Haste is an excellent spell, but it requires a certain level of tactical skill.
Of course, Blind and Paralyze are also good options. It would also be good to have healing or at least a spell to remove other spells in our arsenal.
As for spells that deal direct damage, there's Magic Bolt (damage 10 * magic power), Ice Bolt (20 * magic power), and Lightning (25 * magic power).
These are the main spells that are most effective for beginners to use. Of course, there are many others...