Posts from Reports from the Heroes IV World Championship.

I'm creating this thread a bit late; I should have done it earlier, but as they say, better late than never! I would like to ask everyone to post reports of their games from the World Championship. It will be useful and informative for others to read. I'll set an example for everyone and post the very first one! So, my first game in Group A. Lu41k (Life) def. Oggy (Life), Battle of Underground (Expert, 6 min), 124 Well, it all started as usual: choosing maps, castles... When choosing, Underground and Flood remained; Oggy chose Underground (apparently, he fell in love with the map :)). He chose blue; I'm actually used to playing as blue... Well, what could I do? We started choosing castles: in the end, we had a mirror match: Life is Life :smile36: We started choosing the difficulty and time! My opponent suggested 2 minutes! 2 minutes on this map is just crazy :) We couldn't reach a compromise and settled on the standard :smile32: The first turn wasn't very successful for me: chests with 500 gold and terrible upgrades... Oggy asked for a restart, which was good for me :) The second time, I asked for a restart again: still bad luck. The restarts ended, so we continued playing as is! The third time was more successful, although the chests were stingy with experience :) And one of them just gave me a useless artifact! The artifact is nice - a clover - but experience would have been more helpful :) Then came the upgrades and clearing of key points :) I upgraded a fighter and a runner. The runner was from a Life mage, and the fighter was a nature mage (his class is like a "ranged type" with high melee skills - it looks funny :D). He later successfully mastered the paladin profession :) I found a Haste artifact, which, combined with a bandage, is a great thing for the runner :) In general, I'm moving along the planned path to the main goal: that is, the dungeon, tavern, dwelling (in principle, this dwelling is a bit of a luxury)! And then I encounter a rather amusing bug that costs me a whole day of the game! In short, after one battle, my fighter comes out barely alive (health at zero). I take him, the runner (the goal was to upgrade him), and some units, and happily attack again, and to my surprise, I see only one runner in the battle! I had to retreat to the castle! Well, I bought some immortals, went to the Shrine of Life, upgraded the paladin a little, but unfortunately, I lost a day! One squire finds a bag of gold, but bandits on the mine, who appeared at a very inopportune moment, rob the poor guy! Eh... well, it's okay, I was doing fine without the bag... I just feel sorry for the guy: he only managed to attack once :smile05: Water and earth elementals are guarding; I urgently need resistance: it didn't work, so the battle was harder than it could have been! I surrounded myself with units, defended as much as I could (not always successfully), and if necessary, the runner cast spells again. In the end, the water elementals ran out of magic, and they moved on foot, although the runner was already dead by that time! After dealing with these mages, I free the Lord, strip him naked, give him an immortal, just in case he doesn't die, a tomb, and take him to the dwelling of fire elementals! There, my kamikaze unit runs away! Oops, the runner is alive and well :) I take him to the passage, and with the fighter, I rush there too, eating chests along the way, upgrading resistance, and a little Life magic - just enough to cast regeneration later :) In the tavern, I buy a mage of Order, as there is a wonderful book nearby :smile20:, and I start upgrading him a little (just in case). Well, then I continue with the guard on the entrance: a scroll of dispel magic helps a lot! However, the sorceresses didn't even get to me - they were stunned and poisoned (the archers were effective)), so they just died :) True, they managed to steal a bottle at the very beginning :) The djinns tried in vain to create illusions :) The titans wasted all their arrows trying to kill the Hero, but he just heals and heals :) The battle with the undead was quite easy :) I come out to Oggy, who is somewhat shocked, as evidenced by the chat :) I attack his hero, killing the kamikaze units along the way; he runs away to his castle :) He buys everything he can, buys everyone! In the end, it's day 11, I run to his castle, he puts up some units to block my path, they fall dead, then the battle in the castle! I remove the immortal from his runner and shoot him :) His troops and fighter retreat further from the gate! I cast regeneration and go on - that is, into battle :) And then... then I win :) It's a pleasant and long-awaited victory :) Thank you, Oxi, for teaching me about Underground :smile01:

Group C

LeSHiJ-MaX (Asylum) def. Lord TS (Asylum) — Plains of Despair (Expert, 6 min), 217

Here's a brief summary.
The card elimination phase was quite enjoyable. It became clear that we both disliked the same cards. In the end, the Plains of Despair 1.6 map remained.
I had played it a few times before, which gave me some comfort. When choosing factions, we again came to an agreement and both decided to stick with Chaos castles. Knowing that Lord TS hadn't practiced the game in a while, I felt even more confident and played at a relaxed pace for the first week, focusing on collecting treasure chests. Then, I noticed that Lord TS had acquired Manticores, and when I asked him directly, he gave me a fair answer...))). After that, things became even more interesting. A few days later, while observing the Boots of Swiftness through the map window, I saw an unfavorable situation. The resources near the Boots, which were separated by an obstacle, had disappeared, and I realized that I had overlooked something. Worse, I had just set sail in a boat. This made me nervous. I started constantly monitoring the Boots. And then I understood (or at least I thought I did) that Lord TS had landed a hero there to level up, and since there was no boat available, he had to spend many days traveling along the shore to reach the boat and then sail to the Boots, as there was only one boat. This eased my tension a bit. I think that Lord TS made another mistake with the Boots and lost at least 3-4 more days (but I'm not sure without reviewing the turns). After that, drawing on the experience I gained from playing against CTPAHHuK, I focused on speed, aiming to finish the game as quickly as possible. I was also surprised by the battle with the neutral army; it went by without any problems at all. Only one group of Cyclops reached me, and the neutral Mage didn't even get a turn))). However, I think I had bad luck with level-ups. My main mage had 4555 stats by the time I reached the opponent's territory (the constant appearance of the "Divination" skill was a hindrance). But I was in a hurry to reach the opponent. I realized that his main forces were on the other side of the map because he had just taken his second gold mine. After entering Lord TS's territory, I managed to gain level 5 in a tree, and I was pleased to see that he had Disintegration in his castle. After capturing the castle, Lord TS surrendered.
Thank you very much for the game; I really enjoyed the overall experience and the constant tension.
That's all, phew.

Group H

Brackman(death) lose Marcel1(death) - IronMan (expert 8 min), 216

After catching the Frenchman and remembering some English, we started, albeit not very well. After the elimination phase, IronMan remained, which pleased me – the map allows you to gather a large army and strong heroes for the final battle. We chose a random map, without restarts – both of us got Death.
I leveled up one hero, a Death hero with combat skills. After building a dwelling with vampires, I started actively clearing the territory. Unfortunately, the artifacts I found were terrible, and on the island with Armored and Shield of Life, there were Dragon Lords with Hydras. Instead of devils, I took bone dragons, which I later regretted. In the end, when I tried to defeat the sorceresses with nagas, I lost 10 bone dragons, and then I surrendered, telling the Frenchman about it several times))
And that's the end of the story, and whoever listened... I won't say.

Vadimus1986 (Death) lose Dragjen (Stronghold), Lezkandra 217

Report.

1. Exploration.
During exploration, I encountered Lezkandra again, and again with a strong force. Considering the previous game with Barbarians on this map, I set an additional goal to try to develop them in magic as much as possible, and definitely have one as a Ranger (considering the previous game with Shnurov, where one of the reasons for the loss was precisely his absence - i.e., in swamps, cursed lands, etc., where the opponent passed in one turn, sweeping away my scattered armies, I was dragging and gathering them for 2-3 turns).
2. My game proceeded according to the planned scenario, and all the tasks I had set were gradually progressing. The biggest disappointment was when, after entering a portal, instead of the expected city with Life, Order, or Nature magic, I saw my second Barbarian city. I didn't expect such a setback after a good development of my heroes in these schools of magic. I've played on this map many times, and this is the first time this has happened.
However, the books, scrolls, and altars earned in battles helped. I was playing against Death, so I additionally took a Life Mage and developed him to Master. The opponent wasn't in a hurry to meet me, so I decided to slowly make my way to his territory. After two escapes from the battlefield (barely managing to escape from the neutrals) and back, I broke through to the other side. The opponent turned out to be determined and decided to take a second city, despite the fact that I warned him about the opening of a passage between us and the strong defense of the city, which could lead to losses before the decisive battle. But he took the risk, and as a result, I captured his almost empty city and saw his small army nearby. There weren't enough turns for the final battle, and that was probably a good thing, as it wouldn't have been interesting. Assessing the balance of power, the opponent retreats to his first city for a new army.
Next, the scheme: he retreats - I follow him, while also studying some more spells in the altars and gaining experience.
3. Battle. I managed to catch up quickly, again thanks to the Ranger.
- I have: 5 heroes, levels 15-19, including a Nature Warrior - level 19 (with a Robe of the Magi), a Paladin - level 19, a Paladin - level 15 (Amulet of Death, Regeneration, Greater Healing), a Ranger - level 16, a Battle Mage - level 15 (Grandmaster, Teleportation, Berserk). I also took 5 Thunderbirds because of their movement speed.
- He has: a Marshal - level 14, a Shadow Mage - level 11, 9 Devils, 13 Poisonous Creatures.
In principle, the battle ended with the use of "Berserk" on the Devils and teleporting the Nature Warrior into the enemy's ranks. All the opponent's magical attacks were ineffective, and the melee attacks and ranged attacks only damaged my Battle Mage and destroyed one Thunderbird.
The game took place in a friendly atmosphere, which was very pleasing. Everyone played to their full potential, and the only thing that spoiled it was the terrible connection in "Hamachi," where we had to wait 30-40 minutes for each turn.

1) BigAke (Asylum) lose to joseywales (Necropolis) - Battle of Underground, 215

2) BigAke (Necropolis) lose to m8mat (Stronghold) - Plains of Despair, 1-3-6

3) LordZezuk (Stronghold) def BigAke (Chaos) Battle of Underground, 2-3-7

Well, the first two games are clear: they attacked and crushed me, although in the first game, joseywales let me have some fun and enjoy the game... The most difficult part of playing against the French was agreeing on the game itself, because I don't know English very well, and they don't speak much Russian.

The most stupid and frustrating defeat was in the 3rd game against LordZezuk. I had the upper hand earlier, and he was losing his troops (as evidenced by the chat and the testimony of the Thieves' Guild)... My main mistake was focusing on building up my Castle and, as a result, not having enough resources to upgrade my heroes. And, of course, being too cautious: even after breaking through the garrison on my side, instead of taking control of the enemy's guard, I rushed off to fight for the mines.

I also missed another good opportunity to win after repelling a siege on my Castle (I quite easily defeated the enemy's troops, just a couple of hits short of defeating the last enemy hero):
BigAke:
Marksman 16
Fire Elemental 12
Sorcerer 11
Lord 11
Assassin 7
Priest 4
Black Dragons 4

LordZezuk:
Assassin 21
Paladin 19
Prophet 18
General 17

While LordZezuk was resurrecting and running back to me, I reached the gem mine, leveled up my troops in the tree, sent a scout to capture the enemy's gold mine, and returned to the Castle. And then I was frankly greedy: I decided to take back the artillery behind the Castle... In the battle, I only lost an Efreet, but it was a level 1 unit and a fast one... so I didn't make it back to the Castle in time. In my frustration, I forgot to use the thief I bought with 9 Imps to reach my troops and give them alcohol... To top it off, I didn't position my hero's troops properly, so the warrior with the spell removal ability ended up in a vulnerable position and quickly died... As did everyone else.
Not enough experience, too many mistakes... A predictable result.
But I think we'll fight again: smile14

mistiqpiotr (Chaos) lost Dragjen (Might), Lezkandra, (Expert, 6 min), 225

Report.

On the third attempt, I ended up facing Lezkandra and playing as Barbarian. I considered playing as Chaos, but I rarely play that race, so I stuck with the reliable Barbarian.
On the first day, I took a significant hit from the neutrals and lost both heroes. I spent two days dealing with graves, resurrection, retrieving artifacts, etc.
The upgrade process was slow, and the shooting was even worse. For me, having double shooting and the ability to apply additional effects like poison, stun, etc., is crucial when capturing a second town. As a result, I approached the town without gaining anything, thinking it was over, but time was running out, and mistiqpiotr was ahead. I took a risk, and the battle was long. The Nature Warrior summoned wolves and fairies, while the Battle Mage created illusions of them. This way, the archers wasted their strength on them, even though they had a decent attack power. Time passed, and there was little progress, so I decided to speed up the process of destroying the neutral troops and applied poison to the Paladins. After that, they all started leaving the town and began chasing me; I barely managed to escape.
Then, I got very lucky because most of the neutrals were Hydras, and I had an arrow with a slowing effect, and finally, something useful appeared – "Terror." I passed it without major problems. At this time, there was complete silence – mistiqpiotr captured his second town. I noticed that 60% of his army had simply disappeared. He was always ahead of me by a few points, but now he was behind. Even though it's difficult for me to communicate in English, the situation and the developing state are clear...
I must give credit to his fighting spirit; he is trying to do everything possible. He found one of my armies stuck in the swamp (if I'm not mistaken, 11 Thunderbirds) and destroyed it without losses.
But then I caught up, and the final battle:
His army: General – 14, Fire Mage – 15, and a few other units. All of them, along with their former might, heroically fell near the town.
My army: Nature Warrior – 20, Ranger – 18, Battle Mage – 17, Assassin – 17.
In the last attempt, he threw all his remaining strength at one hero. I was already starting to worry when his health level began to decrease noticeably, but then the ring of regeneration and other things came into play. In war, anything can happen!
Thank you for the game!!! I will definitely try to find time and give you a chance for a rematch.

Oxygen (Academy, Blue) draw Lu41k (Preserve, Red), Battle of Underground, 122

Wow, that was intense! :smile07:
And again BOU :) It seems that Group A really loves this map :) And it seems to be a lucky one for them :smile01:

Of course, I had incredible luck at the beginning! Nature faction, first of all! Chests with 1000, 1500 gold :) The heroes leveled up incredibly fast :) On day 1, the Warrior already had 3300! The Rogue leveled up a little slower, but he got exclusively: Scouting and Pathfinding :) As a result, I leveled him up to Grand, without any unnecessary stuff + 2 levels of Nature :) The Bard turned out to be quite strong :) And I also got Giant Strength (although after I dragged the tomb into the Castle - the poor guy was killed in an unequal battle with unicorns)..
The Warrior with Clover, Combat Grandmaster, and melee skills + 2 levels of resistance and a cloak with 30% bonus went to the unicorns to get the resistance expert skill. Because it was impossible to break through with the water and air creatures I had. He got it :) But the Bard had to travel in a wooden carriage to get Giant Strength.. Oh, that's how 1 day was lost.. but then everything went as usual, I broke through the prison guards.. Although the luck with chests stopped.. either artifacts, or 500 gold.. And the desired Life Magic, to get the Paladin, never appeared.. And the dwelling of the Magic Dragons was also not very useful.. Well, never mind, but at least there were no problems with money, a bag of gold :) I freed the Lord, stripped him, and the Bard arrived, I bought a Life Mage.. just in case.. And went to the exit.. Without a Paladin..
I broke through the guards with the Sorcerers.. I hesitated a little, though.. However, I often hesitated in this game.. Then I went to break through the Necropolis.. Without a Paladin, it was harder than it could have been.. But it was still okay.. On day 121, I took the passage and it remained to find Oxygen's army! I ran a little ahead.. and that's where the turns ended.. The Bard, who had been nervously smoking behind, waiting for the outcome, ran up. On day 122, we met Oxygen :) He simply couldn't pass by my lovely Mephala :D But.. he had a formidable weapon with him.. A Sorceress.. although only one, but she was enough.. and most importantly, probably, the Staff of Healing, as it turned out in the battle.. But I also had a trump card: the Ring of Regeneration!
The battle promised to be interesting :) Which, by the way, it was! No one expected such an ending! And although my heroes were superior in level... but still.. the trump cards did their job! The Bard, after resisting, died, managing to snatch a magic mirror somehow :D (Oxygen will tell you about this)) and cast some good spells on the Warrior (Strength, Luck, Blessing), although it didn't last long.. I had already killed his Seer. His Paladin and my Archer (by the way, I also managed to level up archery to expert) and the Sorceress remained :) With the Ring of Regeneration and the Staff of Healing, the battle was unwinnable for both of us.. we hesitated a little and realized that it was pointless to continue playing.. In any case, it would be a difficult, drawn-out game! And one lucky shot could decide everything! I didn't want to give such an interesting game to some lucky player! And we mutually agreed that a draw would be a worthy result!
In the end, I got a lot of pleasure, intriguing and unexpected events, and an even more unexpected outcome)) I would never have thought that a draw was possible! Although Oxygen and I often joked about it :)
I want to express my great gratitude to Oxygen for the game :) :smile02: It was great! :smile12: There are no more words - but there are a lot of emotions and they are all extremely positive! :)

oxygen (Academy, Blue) draw Lu41k (Preserve, Red), Battle of Underground, 122

That's right. I got lucky :) I started boldly, split into two armies, the "fighter" on the left collected chests, and the runner on the primary stronghold cleared everything along the right path. Near the altars, they merged and headed towards the dungeon. The fighter was 5111, and the runner was 43. And then came the compensation – a healing staff. By the way, the fighter was originally a paladin. And because of that, he easily cleared all the undead armies on the map with the staff, although it was tedious :D Near the pyramid, my runner managed to go to the afterlife and was sent home. After that, there weren't many adventures. On the seventh day, I cleared the griffins and unicorns on the passage to the dungeon, realizing that I was at least two days behind, and my only chance was to slip away with sorcerers and endurance potions from under my opponent's nose. :D On turn 2-1, I saw an opening in the center, and even with a good amount of movement points. I ended up trapped in a dead end with the dungeon. The fighter was 5313, and the runner was 55. There was no way to escape. Well, what can you do, I had to fight. I went out to meet them. :)

The final battle was a story in itself. :D
Instead of waiting, I immediately cast mass cancel. Then, I created an illusion of a sorcerer and cast mass cancel again (the puppet was dumb, as dumb as a log) :D In general, I poked at the bard with whatever I could, realized that I could shoot and hit him with illusions, but I would probably get old before he fell :) I went forward, simultaneously shielding the sorcerer from the archer (fortunately, the speed was 9 against 7). We exchanged the sir to the bard and butted heads, stood there for a while, and then made peace :D

A funny moment. The archer has giant strength and a magical mirror equipped. I try to steal the strength, the mirror activates, reflects, and the strength is stolen back, flying to the druid, and my mage is still left empty-handed :D

In general, we could have been fighting for a long time. The troops weren't playing any role, and I didn't want to wait for a lucky major upgrade. So, we decided to call it a draw.

Thank you, Lu41k, for the game, I was really nervous. It was great. :smile20: Does anyone want to play Battle of Underground with us? :D :D

LeSHiJ-MaX (Necropolis) def pashagreen (Academy), showdown (Advanced 8min) 1.3.1
The maps we offered each other didn't suit either of us. We decided to strike some out. After the striking out, I was left with Death against pashagreen's Order.
I immediately decided to level a fighter and a runner on treasure chests, and it was one disappointment after another. The chests had 500 gold each, and three chests contained wands :cool:. On the second day, pashagreen captured a Castle :eek:. I sent all my imps to the island :smile21:. My heroes scattered to the chests looking for freebies, but someone had already helped themselves to them before me. The old hag keeps nagging at me :smile29: that those bottles I'm spending my last money and resources on won't replace my army. After yet another empty chest, I decide to attack the Underground Town with just one hero. And then I got lucky :D. During the opponent's next turn, my head starts to smoke in the area of my heel and the back of my skull from the scratching with a machine scraper (since my fingers could no longer handle all the crazy thoughts). After all that scratching, I plotted the shortest route through the oracles and stat-boosting structures.
Sometime around week. One idle imp, not knowing what to do with himself, decided to go fishing with a little worm. Cursing all the miners (for all the good it did) and not finding a single worm, he threw his hoe into a pit. It struck something metal with a clang, bounced back and hit him right in the forehead, sending sparks flying from his noggin, and he couldn't walk straight for the rest of the day. Imagine his surprise when he found seven-league boots buried there in ancient times by Little Muk. Whistling to his idle friends (who were somehow standing behind him, hoping for free drinks), he organized a chain all the way to the heroes, whose legs were barely dragging already. Seeing such a priceless gift, they almost shed a tear. Only, for some reason, in one eye, because the other eye was still looking to see if they'd bring him some kind of gloves to put on his unwashed hands. Well, he just couldn't manage to wash them; he spent all his money on various booze, there wasn't even any left for soap. And the wicked crone kept whispering in his ear, "hurry up, lad, or you might kick the bucket any minute." So I decided, in my sorrow, to go into the desert and look for Moses; maybe he'd teach me some sense. But all sorts of unholy creatures wouldn't let me pass. I gathered up dragons of all colors and barely fought them off. After another bottle, I got so cocky that I started acting like a Drunken Master. I almost passed out with the last of my booze at a palisade (by a Garrison), behind which stood big lads throwing all kinds of nasty stuff at me. Well, then, with the boots and a specialty for long-distance running with obstacles over rough terrain and a sea of bottles (still not having found Moses), I realized that life goes on beyond the sands too, and how! And I remembered the old hag and the old man and... . Just then, crossing the desert and rubbing my eyes, I look, and there he stands, and *how* he stands. He's pretending he's a local, like he belongs. Only he forgot to take down the flag. And who do you think it is? It's a Dwarf :smile28:. I stood there rooted to the spot in surprise :eek: (thinking, what a strange little critter). There we stood, looking at each other, me at him and him at me, until my turn came. And I realized I'd gotten unbelievably lucky. A sea of people: dwarves and Tom Thumbs with slingshots, other colorful folks of a nation unknown to me, uncles and aunties, all on horseback. And my luck was that they were all pink and hadn't had time to say "no take-backs." We decided with pashagreen to have a meet-up in a clearing. We sat around, chatted; since the beer ran out, I was practically choking on my own saliva. I must have been choking so hard that pashagreen took pity on me and said :smile42:, "Oh, go get yourself a beer already, and drink to my health," which is exactly what I did with great joy.:rolleyes:
And that's my whole tale.
Thanks for the game, Pasha.
I apologize for the gross typo :o, I played Necropolis, fixed it in the post.

LeSHiJ-MaX (Life) won against joseywales (Chaos) in an Expert 6min showdown, version 1.4.1
In a nutshell:
I was terrified when I saw who I was going to play against:eek: :eek: :eek:.
When drawing starting maps, I got a map that I recognized from a previous game. I was incredibly lucky:D.
Knowing his advantage and skill, he decided to play randomly and let me choose my Castle.
This is where I made my first, major mistake:smile33:. I chose Life. Initially, I knew I needed a Rogue and a Warrior or Archer. Therefore, "Life" wasn't suitable for morale:(.
Then everything went according to plan. The heroes spread out and leveled up on treasure chests.
LUCKILY, almost everywhere there were 1500 – 1000 experience points.
Due to frequent breaks, I started to lose focus. The Rogue couldn't get the Scouting skill, and instead kept getting the Exploration skill:smile05:.
Movement speed decreased, and clearing the map became slower:(.
The fast hero died twice:smile05: :smile05:. I can't even begin to express my frustration:mad:.
The realization that joseywales squeezes out every possible advantage every day:smile19:, is destroying my unstable nerves.
Then I had a choice. I could attack the garrison, but then I would have to spend 3-4 days traveling through the desert and another garrison before reaching his first Castle. Or, I could lose 2 days, capture a Castle that I didn't need, to revive my Rogue and quickly level him up to Grand Master Scout, get boots and gloves, and position myself in front of his garrison so that he wouldn't see me.
On the next turn, I attack the garrison, take the oasis, the main city, buy a hero or two, clear the mines, recruit Rogue units, and send a maximum-sized army of his own units to the Underground city:rolleyes:.
I think the surprise worked:).
I'm not happy with my game:(.
Joseywales did more on his territory. I think if I had hesitated for 1-2 days, it would have decided the outcome of the entire game:smile19: :smile19: :smile19:.
Thank you for the game, joseywales:).

1/4
pacobac (Preserve) lost CTPAHHuK (Stronghold) Bizarro, 146

So, having gathered all our forces together with Brennus, we set out from my headquarters to conquer the universe. The universe begins with France, and that's where we headed. However, already in Poland, local scouts informed us that the Oxygene Horde, having settled in the Scorched Lands, was following us. Despite my assurances that we had a non-aggression pact with the Horde, Brennus decided to stop at the border of Poland in order to prevent attacks from the Russian Tsar. He spread rumors throughout his country about an impending storm... but the Oxygene Horde passed by the Polish lands, heading straight for Paris. And Brennus is still waiting for its arrival... since then, he has been called the Instigator.

From the report on the conquest of the universe:
The first stage has been successfully completed. The northeast of France has been captured. The attack was launched from the side of Belgium. Preparation for the next stage is proceeding without delay.

See details.

I was in Poland the other day... A backwater...