Posts from Voting: “Best Chronicle of 2008” Contest

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One of the most unpredictable and interesting games I've ever played. I started the first day by taking the maximum crypt with Ciele, having 47 fairies, 3 air elementals, and 3 water elementals. Came out with 16 fairies, but at least I have money. The respawn is small, but there's a lot of gold. I break through to a secondary castle, there I reveal 2 beehives, take an external dwelling of archers, upgrade them, buy them out, and clear the respawn with Ciele, who is already wearing boots. Grindan tries to level Earth magic to break the guard of the beehives (g. unicorns and manticores). Took a bunch of crypts. The birds were definitely being built on week 1, BUT: I goofed and didn't notice that there were only 5 ore on 117, and I had already moved all my heroes, 15k gold. Cursing, I build psychics in the citadel. On the second week, Ciele gets Earth magic, learns Slow through a scholar from Grindan, and the mama is ready, just needs to level up. I break into the cave entrance — it turned out to be a treasure zone, a dead end, and I wandered off to refill mana (no point in fighting with no money, since at the start of week 2 I did build the birds and buy them out). While mama is walking to refill mana, scout heroes are chain-kiting for money. I wanted to take an external dwelling of monks and build them, but I see Crag breaking the guard of an adjacent secondary zone, which was right next to the ГО and less than a day's travel away. Urgently, through complex chains, splitting, and buyout, I take both beehives (6+4), but due to lack of time I messed up and couldn't transfer to the main. On the last second, I buy out in the secondary. I don't build the castle, saving money. But Crag stops not far from my castle and doesn't move further. Right then, with Ciele, I break through to the main, transfer, also taking a medusa dwelling with a scout for 30. Crag's stats are 14-2-2-2, Ciele's 2-3-5-120, I have Slow, but Earth is basic. By selling all resources down to zero, I build the castle and buy practically nothing from the week 3 growth. Crag has meat from two native castles plus 2 external dwellings of wyverns: 28 wyverns, 60 flies, and 70 basilisks. I have 5 birds, 26 Storm elementals, psychics, 10 wyverns, and minor troops. I almost wanted to surrender, but Crag is afraid to attack the castle. So I sat in the castle for a whole week, meanwhile killing each other's scouts. Crag stood near the castle the whole time in thought, looking at me and shaking his axe menacingly. I even offered Scorp to accept my victory, but still wanted to wait for the outcome and see how I'd get killed. On day 141, having bought birds, psychics, water elementals, fire elementals, and a few Storms, I run around Crag and sprint at full speed along the road to where the Dragon Utopia was (and I'm thinking: how can a mage with zero stats take it). Afraid that Crag would catch up (and he would have if he wanted to), I give the troops to pre-placed scouts. I keep one bird for myself, to be able to buy back if needed and buy out in a secondary. Meanwhile, the scouts earn a bit of money; a zero-stat Necromancer hero takes a Shield +6 for 50 monks (lost one bird :(). Next turn, Ciele breaks through 70 Ice elementals guarding the Black Market, I buy an Axe +2 there. Crag moved towards me. I break the guard of the Dragon Utopia — 90 Ice elementals, crossed myself, and dove in. Stats roughly 6-9, 8 birds, 12 psychics, 30 water elementals, 17 fire elementals, 10 wyverns, 40 pokemons, and one fairy. Turned out to be a three-stack :smile07:. Well, I thought, that's it, game over. In short, I came out of it with 1 wyvern, 4 birds, and 11 psychics. Advanced Shield and Expert Healing helped. It gave +3 all stats, +4 all stats, and the Book of Fire!!! I immediately buy an Axe +3 and Armor +1 all stats on the market. Crag falls just short of reaching my secondary. On my turn, I run into it, transfer artifacts, and wait for the attack (blue color rules, because mana will refill). Too bad I didn't screenshot the finale: it was just hilarious considering the difference in meat.
FF: Ciele 15-10-14-320 mana (how many times has Intelligence saved me), 4 birds, 11 psychics, 35 fairies, 13 Storms, 72 g. archers, 5 air elementals, and 1 wyvern :). Crag 14-2-5-20 mana, 100 basilisks, 9 g. cows, 107 gnolls, 30+30+30 flies, and 44 wyverns.
Crag on Tactics, all forward. Hoping for no Cure, I cast Berserk on the wyverns, but on the flies' turn they dispel it. Then everything piles onto my poor troops so hard the walls crack at the seams. Scorp's mistake was not killing my birds immediately. After the attack, I have a few archers left, 11 psychics, and 4 Phoenix on wait. The birds, after waiting, fly to the basilisks and kill a quarter of them. In the second round, I Blind the wyverns and hit the basilisks with birds, one bird dies from their retaliation. The wyverns are dispelled again, the basilisks flee, no one reaches the birds. In the third round, I cast Armageddon and 30 wyverns and 2 basilisks remain. The birds kill the basilisks, and I position myself so the wyverns can't reach them after Haste (which Crag had at basic). Crag casts Haste and moves to the center of the field. In the 4th round, I Blind the wyverns, then Slow, then summon 3 stacks of fire elementals (28 each), which I place around the birds in case of morale on the ducks. Later, Scorp told me I messed up by casting Armageddon after that, because I could have just killed the wyverns with the fire elementals using Blind. But I thought about it myself and abandoned that plan because I was afraid of running out of mana, and also killing 30 wyverns manually with fire elementals isn't easy. Plus I was hoping Crag wouldn't have enough gold to buy back 20 wyverns. In short, Crag buys back, and I go on the offensive towards my native castle with three birds, since the end of the week is approaching. Along the way, I meet a mage with 7 Earth elementals, who don't care about Armageddon. But I kill 4 of them with Inferno, and the remaining 3 with birds. After that, Crag himself attacks with 20 wyverns, 7 Earth elementals, 7 fire elementals, a few cows, and something else. Ciele still has the same 3 hardy Fire birds. First thing I do is Armageddon :), then Berserk on the wyverns, who kill the Earth elementals. The wyverns on Haste do manage to take down one bird. But in the next round, I Blind the wyverns, the birds with a morale swing kill the fire elementals, and finally Armageddon again :smile49:
Thanks for the most interesting game! Haven't had this much adrenaline in a long time!


Looked at the saves, haven't seen such a funny game in a long time. Probably because the events of the summer cup with Alex passed me by. So, a brief retelling from the red player's perspective.

The start is good, an external dwelling of wyverns, a beehive, and 3 Griffin Conservatories on the respawn. As usual, we kill the native neutral (Rampart), gather money, do some scouting.

Day 122, Broghild level 6 without a spell book and without checking dives into a throne Griffin Conservatory with 15 wyverns, 30 gnolls, and 25 lizardmen. Of course, only the last losers check throne Griffin Conservatories (even if there are 2 not particularly needed scouts nearby), while real dads know that a throne is exactly 100 creatures. However, a three-stack was also manageable, though with significant losses — I tested it, 7 wyverns survived. And on the same turn, the guy dives into a lotto+throne Griffin Conservatory, also without checking and without a spell book. I think everyone has already guessed what size it was :).

The neutral, meanwhile, took back its castle; there is a chain for troop transfer to finish it off, but why bother, because real dads know that there must be a conservatory under the lift, so Broghild breaks the lift guard, goes down, takes the conservatory, and comes back up.

A one-way portal leads to the center, so we visit the native village, find 2 Dragon Utopias, a couple of conservatories, beehives, bracers, but we only manage to take the utopias — because while watching the turn, we see Valya on the border of the visible zone took a utopia and galloped into the darkness. So Brogh broke into the castle, and the troops were just a bit short of arriving.

Day 135, on her turn, Valya jumps over a rock and attacks the guy with an army. Mass Slow and only 2 angels and 10 wyverns buy back. What bad luck... today is not a backhand day ...

However, hardships build character, and real dads only welcome obstacles on the path to victory. Brogh fishes an army out of the tavern and flies on wings over the rocks... straight to the village, near which stand a utopia and a beehive. Takes them, goes down into the underground, another utopia by the road, and camps there for the night.

Day 143, and then... a brilliant insight dawned on the little wrinkled mind of the lizard, he gives away the troops, breaks back into the village, flies to another entrance on rough terrain, and runs straight through the rocks into the darkness. And... runs right up to Edric, who is standing near a utopia and ready to receive troops next turn to take it. The latter, upon seeing the miracle, found no strength to continue with military affairs and departed for the lands of eternal idleness.

The utopia, of course, went to Brogh. But it's only in Russia that you go for the second one; over in their Tataria, the lizards are so tough that the second one is always next to the first, and you have to go for the third. Had to walk a couple of screens to the side. Result: 4 components of the Alliance.

And then Brogh, just like a criminal returning to the crime scene, returned to the place of the brutal murder of Edric. And who cares that it's in Valya's line of sight, real dads know she has no Fire, no Portal, no Scout, so you can mess around with trifles. Returned to enter the teleporter and, a couple of screens diagonally from the exit, discover a utopia — just with the Book of Water for expert Water magic. Along the way, not even glancing at a conservatory, who needs those min values :).

And then the action started... Valya, also with 2 DDs and expert scouting, jumps in Brogh's footsteps, taking freshly captured castles and villages. This continues throughout the 5th week, and in the end, having lost all bases but having caught the missing shoes for the Alliance in one of the utopias, Brogh from the center of the map jumps in a straight line towards the last neutral village. At the start of the 6th week, he takes it, buys scouts, and in 3 days collects all the goodies — clusters of beehives, conservatories, utopias, and stat boosters. One can only wonder why he didn't come here earlier.

Day 226, all the work is done, and through the lift, which I only spotted after a few minutes of searching even with the map revealed, Brogh emerges on the surface, packed to the gills. And no wonder, having smashed 15 utopias in total, and countless conservatories and beehives. And he sits down in Rampart.

Day 227, Valya, for the first time in the last month of the game, carelessly removed the red orb. Brogh shot off and with Implosion on 3 shooters proved that she shouldn't have done that. Basically, GG.

I recommend everyone who wants to enjoy a quality game by real dads to watch the saves of this game, and understand that although above Alex there are only stars, you can climb even higher than the stars.



A map very poor in experience. A meager amount of monsters and territory in general. So on this map, whoever has the stronger race, most likely wins. There's no talking about any kind of skill. True, there is a market and a fort on the hill, but that's just a silver lining... In short, the model is close to chess, although in a distorted form. And now directly about the game itself.

Our town was located to the east of the humanoid settlement. The fact that two states couldn't coexist on such a tiny territory was clear from the start. But the less disciplined and less prepared barbarians clearly didn't have the advantage. However, we had something else. Fury, anger, thirst for supremacy. Hot as flame and fast as wind, our young commanders dreamed in their sleep of the burning cities of the humans. But how to beat those professional killers, soldiers with a capital S?
But one day, unexpectedly, a solution to this problem was found.
- We are the HORDE, they themselves gave us this name, - said the clan elder. - So there must be so many of us that it's impossible to count. One of the wisest (and can you imagine the wisest among barbarians) of our shamans saw something like this in his sphere of destiny... A MONUMENT TO THE GODS OF WAR.
- What kind of crap is that, - roared the half-drunk ogres and goblins, - what other monument, we don't have a monument.
- No one knows where it is. But the legend says: "the one who erects such a monument on the central square of the town will be invincible on the battlefield, and even if he is defeated, his kin will come to replace him."
- And what's the use of that for us. We're not going to build anything...
- Shut up, all of you... we will dig, DIG, you got that, you freaks?
In short, everyone went to dig, and they dug, so to speak, from the fence until lunchtime. And this activity was starting to bore our valiant soldiers. And talks began, like, let's pressure the elder, let him dig himself. Then one young warrior, having stumbled upon a strange monolith in the mountains, dug up a small chest at its base, which contained a fragment of a map, but very old and incomprehensible. The wisest of the wise almost solved the mystery of this magical map, but then said that this piece was not enough to solve the riddle (some scholar he was).
Now everyone rushed to look for the same ancient structures that were on the mountain.
But there was one general in our army, lucky him, who decided that revealing the secret of the ancient manuscript would be harder than everyone thought. He decided to form an army and go marauding through the lands of men.
- Here is the crystal of Egress, - Gurnisson's father blessed his son on the long journey. - If things get really tough, just break it and it will save you (for some reason among the northerners it wasn't considered shameful to flee the battlefield). But only once, a broken Egress has no magical properties.
The path to the Men lay through an underground tunnel. Various types often hung out there looking for all sorts of things. Whatever floats your boat. And so our hero, somehow or other, once stumbled upon the camp of some mage from Crimea. He promised, for a certain number of rare reagents, to give the barbarian two creatures of the Fire element, of heavenly beauty. That's how Gurnisson exchanged four thousand gold and some mercury oil for two Phoenixes. What a sight — tame Firebirds! Beautiful!
In short, the son of the Horde walked and walked through the lands of the little people, when suddenly a beautiful obelisk appeared on his path. A marble column sparkled and shimmered with millions of shades. It was a completely different ancient monument, not like the one in our village. And such peace enveloped the commander that he didn't even notice the enemy army. And the loyal warriors were already carrying a chest dug up from under the column described above. Seeing how his valiant officers were being cut down like lambs, Gurnisson decided to flee, but, remembering the crystal, without thinking long, he cracked the little stone against another stone. And a fog rose, and a whirlwind swirled, and the whirlwind lifted the remains of our hero's army into the air...

— Where am I? Who's there?
— He's alive, alive...

— Father, just imagine, such...
— This is the great Egress, my son!

A council was gathered of everyone who could come. Seven pieces of the map, all columns dug up. The wise men are in shock — what to do with all this. They decided to wait for a sign from the gods.
— I have a chest here, — a confident voice came from the hall, — there's a piece of the map and a little bag of powder.
In short, they laid out the map fragments on the table (somehow, of course), sprinkled them with the powder, and just as the shaman was about to cast a spell, the pieces suddenly stuck together and a golden cross lit up in the very center.

A week later, they dragged the monument to the town. They installed it on the main square and started waiting... for something. Nothing happened, except that the town started to grow, expand, there were more and more inhabitants, the people began to get rich. A month later, having gathered a multi-million army of little green guys, Gurnisson moved to the western lands.
— Here is your crystal, young man, — the elder came out to meet the hero, — every general receives such a stone upon coming of age.
— I came of age four years ago!
— And that's what I'm saying — you came of age, take it.

Apparently the winds can spread news, or someone else... but the men were ready for war. And although they were twice as few, they didn't let them capture their town. Some kind of cart in a chain mail burst out, like a stormy river stream from behind the walls of the capital, and smashed the multi-thousand army.
Again the little stone came in handy. Again, Gurnisson was welcomed at home like a hero. Again they gave him a million warriors and into battle once more... But this time, there was no crystal of Egress. The northern tribes only gave one per person. True, the men couldn't breed so fast, so this time Gurnisson simply broke the town's walls and burst in, like the Whirlwind of Egress himself, and destroyed the human race on this land. And the orcs and goblins, ogres and monsters began to live in peace and harmony. True, bloody massacres sometimes happened, but they always ended in wild orgies, so the barbarian race only multiplied and prospered. THE END!
PS: The tactical and technical specifications can be seen in Sage's report.



Took both restarts (though if I'd known it would turn out like this, I would have stuck with the first generation).. So, the third restart, impatiently waiting for the blue flask to fill up and HERE IT IS!!! it was something — Shakti starts with 43 troglodytes and a small underground... And it would all be fine (I'd play normally!), but one day's travel from the castle is an external dwelling of dragons . I felt like banging my head against the wall , because I had no idea how to beat it... No money either, so I decide to play a completely new tactic for me: g. harpies, of which, thanks to a hero who arrived as a specialist in harpies, I had as many as 18)))) so, buying creatures 1-4 in the castle (how funny)))) I go into a portal with 34 Earth elementals on one side and 19 Dendroid soldiers on the other — and right in the fight with the trees, due to their crazy morale, I lose half of my main harpy stack , I take a white secondary and clear up piles of gold and water mills for the scouts... By the end of the first week, with terrible effort, I built cats in the citadel. On day 121, I bought out almost everything (thankfully the white secondary gave a bit of money) — I was sorely tempted to take the dragon external dwelling, but the crowd of Pit Fiends guarding it was very off-putting, so I go to take the second secondary through a crowd of g. golems, a horde of lizardmen (there were as many as 80 of them!) and a crowd of orc archers... The secondary turns out to be a native one, which significantly boosted my morale, and Shakti rushes back home... On day 127, I decide it's now or never and attack the Pit Fiends — a nightmare 5-minute battle ends with the loss of all archers and 20 (out of 40) trogs. In total, for taking the dragon external dwelling, I have 5 cats and 20 trogs left, well, in for a penny, in for a pound, and after placing single units, I manage to take it, and take it so well that I didn't lose a single cat (!).. I think, lady luck is on my side!!! I set up a portal at home and there... Gremlins I set up a portal in the secondary — there's a dragon — but I have no more money!!! Frantically searching the castles for a market — there is none — I build it in the white secondary — I trade wood, there it is, 2500 but... the turn timer runs out . So, on day 131, I have 3 black dragons and Shakti (expert Logistics from the start of week 2, by the way) flies on wings to a dwarf dwelling and a nagabank, which slightly boosts the economy, buys meat at the castle, and goes to a trio of conservatories, where he loses all the meat, leaving 3 angels, 3 black dragons, and 7 cats, I clear the treasure zone entrance and run to take the last secondary, there's a Pandora's Box for 10k experience guarded by 40 Genies, gauntlets, and a min value conservatory (but no path to the castle!). And then, out of nowhere... Brissa pops up by the secondary with Phoenixes — and it's so far to run! In desperation, I run home, but thank god, having taken the secondary, Brissa rushed up into the treasure zone)) calming down a bit, I also go into the treasure zone and there I find the true treasure of this entire game: A LITTLE RED ORB guarded by 80 g. minotaurs, and with great difficulty, again losing all the meat, I take it. Then a few beehives with 20 wyverns, just a Shield +3+3 and a Zapped Hat of the 5th magic guarded by a horde of Efreeti. On day 147, after trading everything I can on the market, I finally build dragons in the castle and on day 211 have 8 of them.. I go to a second treasure zone, there's a Dragon Utopia with the Book of Air, and more beehives and Pandora's Boxes for experience. Suddenly, Brissa pops out of the nearby treasure zone and takes the Hat of the 5th magic . Shakti goes into the last portal and emerges next to a min value utopia — it gives a Chalice +6 all stats. Brissa enters my empty capital and waits... Shakti is not going to wait and attacks the castle on the fly. So, FB: Brissa all stats slightly >10, expert in all possible elements, army: 13 Phoenixes, 1 angel, 1 Magic Dragon, 60+ Storms, 60+ Ice elementals, 22 psychics, 15 wyverns. Shakti 20-24-??-?? expert Ballistics, Tactics, Offense, and Resistance. Speed (+3) and red orb army: 12 black dragons, 1 angel, 40+ eyes, 20+ medusas, 31 wyverns, and some other minor meat. Honestly, I thought I was going on a suicide attack, but it turned out I won, and quite easily. Thanks for the game! Had a great run-around.



From day 3, 7 heroes, horses in the citadel on week 1, two external dwellings of pikemen, one of archers. On week 2, I built angels, another external dwelling of pikemen, a couple of crypts, and a couple of nagabanks. Got Earth magic for Papa pretty early, so everything went smoothly. On week 3, a Dungeon secondary, Gunnar somewhere around level 15, on the third Pandora's Box gave 40 Marksmen — on day 135, I attack the ГО (a horde of nagas and a horde of mages), and on day 137 I take the capital and 2 secondaries. The entire 4th week was spent actively searching for a Dragon Utopia and clearing the treasure zone. On day 147, Shakti storms a secondary — Necropolis — with lower stats, I had a bit more troops, managed to win.
Thanks for the game and the lesson.
I also want to give extra respect to Paladin — we played all night, and towards morning I started messing around with my scouts a couple of times, unintentionally broke the rules, of course — the violations weren't game-deciding, but nevertheless — he could have "paused and complained". Paladin didn't play "by the book" and insisted that I write the report.

I did it! It was a difficult path, but I did it! So here it is: A week earlier, I started thinking that I needed to do something about Vasya. The score of 7-0 was upsetting me, and the hopelessness with which I kept losing and losing games to Vasya was driving me crazy. I began to sleep poorly, lost my appetite, Mom said I turned pale, and my wife started hinting at the first signs of approaching male old age :). My head wouldn't stop thinking about why I was losing to Vasya so badly. And I decided to try a comprehensive approach. First, I needed to restore my mental balance. Deep introspection showed that I was losing to Vasya due to my own stupidity and intimidation. To eliminate this flaw, I started getting up at 6 AM and doing relaxing exercises, diminishing Vasya in my own eyes.
Without going into details of what I thought about Vasya (I don't know if he had hiccups or bad dreams at that time), I'll say that results came quickly — I stopped fearing Vasya :). But that was only half the battle. I needed a radical solution to increase my chances. The time of apathy was over and a sober approach was needed. And Duke unexpectedly came to my aid, for which I give him a huge human thanks. In one of the conversations with him, he said a phrase that decided the outcome: "Wolves! What the hell orcs! Why take an orc specialist! Tyraxor with experience is just GOD. On the first turn, damage 150-200 and they reach anywhere from the very first turn." I thought, well, it's true. I became even more convinced after reading several reports from the top players. And I was completely sure about Tyraxor after Dima's victory over Starik in the cup. And the plan for how to get a favorable draw for myself was born simply. I wanted to fight with wolves against Tower or, as a last resort, Conflux — although the latter with experience and external dwellings also wreaks havoc. In short, knowing Vasya's dislike for Inferno and Necropolis, the draw plan was born simply and elegantly, and although Stinger didn't believe Vasya would draw that way, I had no doubts. Having warned Vasya in advance, casually, that we would play with experience again, to which Vasya didn't object at all, since we started the series with experience and he had won all the games against me anyway :). So, 9-20 AM. Saturday. We draw.
Me: Dungeon! (The exclamation mark here is used not as an exclamation, but as an indicator of a successful move, like in chess)
Vasya: Holy crap. ...Inferno (Which was the 8th straight first draw for Vasya in our series :))
Me: Kyrre!
Vasya: Holy crap. Necropolis (which became the 8th straight second draw)
Me: Castle!! — based on the calculation that Vasya would decide not to give me Fortress, especially since I had done some preparatory work a couple of days earlier, shouting — I'll crush Fortress, I'll crush it with Fortress, I'm training Fortress — to which Vasya, patting me like a nervous patient, kept saying — well, calm, calm, I won't give it
Vasya: Fortress. (QED)
Me: Run!! (goal achieved), I sit waiting
Vasya creates and takes... NILU?? (what a strange decision against Tyraxor, probably thought Vasya, tactics won't work, but armor decides everything, screw Anya's money)
Well okay. I'm even happy with such a choice.
9-30 First start. At first glance, I have nothing bad. There's a preservation in the bushes. I spread out, run into a Guarded Object — Arch. On the second road stands a stack of sharpshooters. On the second road, already at the secondary hero's spawn, I run into a block — some artifact is guarded. I can get through the sharpshooters with a shootable target, behind it I can see a tree, and a long road in the mountains. Although I see an exit to the treasury, there isn't a single external dwelling, no money. Reluctantly — restart. I watched Vasya's start — nothing particularly good, but boots at the spawn.
Second start — Seems normal from the start. Then I see it's quite good. External dwelling of birds and Behemoths — though behind a pile of upgraded Vampires. 3 preserves, 2 trees, in the treasury I already see a Dragon Utopia. There is money. Vasya says "Taking a restart, don't know why. Maybe I'll regret it later" and takes a restart. Revealing showed Vasya already had 3 lit-up preserves, 2 of which are on the road nearby and one slightly in the bushes at his own spawn, and a Dragon Utopia near the road?!. But Vasya explained that there's little stone, the passages are guarded by archers and all that, you can be left without nagas... Okay.
3rd start. Vasya has a dead block — a horde of Monks won't let him out of the castle. Hehe.
4th start. I have nothing special — but on the first turn in battles with a horde of Halflings, I move incorrectly with maximum morale, morale goes back and forth, and I lose more than half the wolves — and nothing particularly joyful was found. OK, we'll hope, I thought and said restart. To which Vasya replied — well, that's it, game over has come.
So, 5th generation. We start. Vasya moves the first turn for a long time. I see a tree near the castle guarded by a horde of Gargoyles. Nervously asking everyone how many Gargoyles can guard a tree. Opinions vary. From 50-100 to 50-900?!! :). Experts say — probably 70. In short, when my turn came, I decided not to risk it, especially since there are no restarts left (and rightly so, there were probably under 90 of them). I go around. On the very first day with small but unpleasant losses of 3 wolves. I break through with a Gnome, Earth Elementals — guarding a preserve, I find a +1000 experience obelisk. I see an external dwelling of Orcs and a school for 4 skills. I buy 2 heroes. I see a prison on the way around — a tree blocks the road but it can be circumvented — a little more than one turn to go around the hill. The spawn is corner and apparently big. 2nd turn. With the main hero, I take the obelisk — I get Pathfinding which after some thought I take — speed is good, I thought, and maybe I'll have to walk on snow or something else. The school offers something fabulous — Earth Magic, Wisdom, Tactics, and Luck. I want to buy Earth immediately but can't — I have zero money. One of the 3 heroes — a specialist in Cerberi, learns Expert Scouting at the obelisk and runs behind the castle upwards, where immediately beyond the mountains, an external dwelling of Ogres and Cyclops lights up — though how long it takes to jump there and what kind of passage is on which side is completely unclear. Nothing else useful lights up — there's almost no one to fight even — so the main hero goes down to the roads. Reconnaissance quickly shows that the Guarded Object is right under my nose — a Horde of Minotaurs and on the side of the road a pile of Efreet Sultans. Hmm, I thought. Well, okay. A prison is found on the road. I take it. With the hero from the prison, I advance further along the road. With the main hero, after some thought, I decide to return and take Earth, then level up at the second discovered obelisk after taking the Orcs from the external dwelling. I do that. They offered Logistics — I couldn't refuse. Meanwhile, it turns out there are only 2 roads — to the secondary hero and the opponent. No money in sight. Other than that, everything is fine so far :). I ride along the road with secondary heroes — good thing the roads are the fastest. I run into a passage — a horde of Halflings. I fight. Small losses but nothing to be done. I break into the underground. I fight the secondary Dungeon there. After a turn, the area lights up with scouts — a preserve, some money, and a gold mine, and... a Dragon Utopia! In front of it is a Ring of Speed, all behind a horde of Griffins. And before this, around the mountains, another preserve lights up. Well, so be it, I thought. One problem — no damn money. On the 4th turn, I built a market, even borrowing 200 gold. And so until the end of the week, I kept borrowing pennies, which resulted in a Citadel on day 1-6. On the last turns, the chain reached the Ogre external dwelling. The spawn turned out to be like a ring around a large chain of mountains. 4 days of travel on one side and 4 days of travel on the other to go around the mountains. Not far from the external dwellings, another prison was discovered, which made me very happy since I had no money for heroes and none was expected. Also, nearby was a library. I see plenty of prospects but very little money and nowhere to get it. Everything the scout found, gathered, and consumed went to waste. The main hero ran around near home until the end of the week — killing a couple of small stacks and ending up with 2 Orcs. Out of the starting forces at the Ogre external dwelling, 25 wolves and 4 Ogres from the dwelling remained. Oh! Also useful — a Mana Doubler was discovered near the Guarded Object. The main hero was pleased — 40 mana, he circled the level-up boosters around, totaling 6.1.3.2, ending at home on the last cell of day 1-21. Meanwhile, with the help of the guy from the prison from beyond the mountains, on day 2-2, 8 Ogres and 25 wolves returned. After adding more wolves, the total was 8 Ogres, 6 Orcs, 40 wolves. I fight the tree guard — it was really annoying to move around — 95 Gargoyles — killed 2 wolves :(. I go main hero to the secondary hero. Day 2-3, I fight the Minotaur dwelling near the Dungeon. I slowly bring up troops. Day 2-4, I stand on a preserve — minimal — I fight. I think about recalling immediately home or poking around more since Earth Magic just won't level up, so I poke around. I couldn't refuse Armorer. I take the gold mine — light it up with a scout — I see a treasury through a long road, next to the treasury an external dwelling of Wyverns. Also, on the road to it, not far away, a Shield +3+3 behind a pile of Archmagi. I decide to take the Guarded Object, finally leveling up Earth, and then recall. According to the plan, on the 3rd, take the Dragon Utopia with the secondary hero, then immediately rush to the Dragon Utopia in the treasury. Considering the preserves and trees — I see 2 — I still didn't take the tree near home until the end of the game — it showed a pile without Angels, I didn't want it, and then I somehow forgot. In short, with the Angel — I climb into the treasury, bring up forces, take the shield without losses, and go home. Earth Magic was leveled up. Day 3-1, I'm home. Day 3-2, I'm at the preserve, having fully bought up and borrowed a little to the max :) Maximum. Took it without losses. And due to the impossibility of continuing to fight — no money, I'm walking on foot — with secondary heroes, I beat everything I didn't finish before, while the main hero goes to double and rushes to the library, building a chain with secondary heroes to the last preserve and the nearby Minotaur dwelling — which I didn't take on the 2nd. I fight the library, since I'm already level 10, and go from it to the Dragon Utopia. With secondary heroes, I took the minimal preserve but got a maximum Minotaur dwelling in return. And I also fought a Medusa dwelling. Got 9k. Bought exactly what I needed for the Dragon Utopia — spent another thousand and borrowed 4500, bought more :) Day 3-6, I stand near it, and I see Vasya stirring near the SECOND one!!! I'm in shock. Don't touch it, I think. Don't need that. I want it. I sincerely hope Vasya won't take it on the 3rd — since he has no troops with him. Nila's stats are nothing. And in general, I sincerely hope Vasya had a terrible situation, since he had few heroes running around, didn't find the secondary Dungeon right away, and for a long time they were equal with my one:)... Day 3-6, I fight the Dragon Utopia — minimal, hmm. But... Hat of +5 and various junk. Stats didn't change but a chance appeared to steal the Dragon Utopia on day 3-7. But I miscalculated the mana and am 3 short for a second Dimension Door. I kick myself, thinking Vasya will fight the Dragon Utopia on day 4-1. No need to speed up — Expert Pathfinding. And Logistics was leveled up to Expert. I rush to the Dragon Utopia. Vasya sees my movements — and oh miracle — he runs away. And I, with my last cells — couldn't even bring the growth. On day 4-1 — third tier, I climb anyway — level 3. Vasya curses in ICQ. I fight without problems — the wolves are intact, the sheep are fed:) The birds are dead:) Well, screw them. Book of Water, Shackles of War, Sword +5 all, and an Orb of Resistance — good!. I think about how I've consumed all the control :). I don't put on the Shackles, no mana — I walk back on foot. On day 4-3, I merge and send troops home, while the main hero fights and Dimension Doors home. On day 4-4, to the Mana Doubler and immediately to the Guarded Object. I brought everything I could and upgraded: 90 wolves — 6 Angels, 15 Cyclops, 40 Ogres, 60 Orcs, 6 Birds, 70 Goblins:). I fight the Efreets and Minotaurs without losses — need experience — and ride into Vasya's territory. Everything is leveled up a bit. Stats are small: 23-14-10-10, but Vasya shows no stat increase, and money-wise it doesn't look very cheerful. And in general, on the 3rd, Vasya was seen in the swamp with a stack of Behemoths — !;% on the left — that's why I was afraid they would rush the Dragon Utopia — clearly an external dwelling and he built up in the swamp. In short, from there it was simple. After hopping around the territory, I wandered into the secondary Dungeon in the underground, took it, looked around — saw 2 treasuries not broken. One was cleaned, meaning Vasya could only take the one near my Dungeon. I planned to use Logistics and Dimension Door to jump to the main hero on day 4-7, but miscalculated — the roads turned out to be mega-long — I only arrive on day 5-1. Vasya is home. The forces are so-so. I couldn't bring my own growth. I had little time left for the game, I needed to leave soon, Vasya's stats presumably hadn't increased, everything was leveled up well, there's Implosion, Armorer, Offense Expert. Screw it, I attack. Nila 11.7.6.70 Tyraxor 24.17.10.80 Forces as they were for Nila: 360 Gremlins, 7 Giants, 60 Steel Golems, 4 Djinn — though I passed by an external dwelling of 14 Naga Queens and 17 Magi. No Behemoths in sight whatsoever. Well and good. I think and go forward with everything. Mass Slow on the opponent. Angels immediately hit the Gremlins -100. Morale and Luck and another 140 or something like that. In short, a little over a hundred remain. My Cyclops move — bam, past the gate. Morale! The gate is broken — Vasya's curses in response. Mass Slow on me. Nagas hit the Angels. More shooting at the Angels. 2nd round, my turn first, Haste on 90 wolves — the Nagas died, I realized it was GG. From there, simple — several rounds I kicked everything to death.
WIN! VICTORY! HURRAY! THANK YOU, EVERYONE.
Special thanks to: Duke. Stinger. Forrest.
Revealing Vasya's spawn showed that he had extremely long roads to secondary heroes, a large but fairly empty spawn — with an external dwelling of Djinn and Gremlins. And there were, it seems, 2 Dragon Utopias on the edge. In the swamp secondary with a Castle! 16 Behemoths, unpurchased, sat there, along with everything else up to Wyverns. And a scout hero had another 23 Behemoths of 4th level! Why Vasya didn't upgrade and buy them — apparently no money. In short, the third-tier Dragon Utopia decided everything unequivocally — money was Vasya's downfall.
Thank you, Vasya, for the game 7-1 :)
P.S. Sorry I didn't make a gift for your birthday.

P.P.S. I can't resist:) I'll add:)

So, I was actually playing at a friend's place, since my own computer hasn't worked for 3 months after a conversation with my almost 2-year-old son. Well, anyway. For the second week in a row, I asked to play at my good buddy's place, who is also a brother-in-arms and former classmate. Zhenya, nicknamed Load, a nickname he got for his Estonian manner of expressing his thoughts and speaking calmly, a little drawlingly, which people simply call LOADING. Anyway, his human qualities aren't affected by this; he's a very sociable guy, and if you want to visit someone, Zhenya is a fail-safe option. Having asked to come over for the second week in a row (fortunately, Zhenya was working the night shift, so he was well-rested and met me in his boxers shouting "Ah, here's our hero!"), I comfortably settled in at the computer, after a while performed the above-described draw, and played through the first week... but then my troubles were just beginning. Around 12:15, that is, somewhere around day 2-3, Zhenya's phone rang, and after talking to someone for a bit, Zhenya came into the room with a grin from ear to ear and joyfully announced that my wife was coming over with her friend Katya. I turned white, cursed heavily, and realized it was GG. As soon as my wife arrives, I decided, she will utter the signature phrase she has uttered for 7 games straight :) — looking at the monitor with a knowing look, she usually says, "No, Egorka, you're not going to win today." But I suppressed the panic attack and, courageously grabbing the mouse, continued playing. 12:30. Doorbell. I hear familiar voices. My wife enters the room — she comes to say hi to me :) As calmly as possible, I say to her, "Hi dear, I'm playing a bit, please don't disturb me." Katya comes in — "Hi, Egor." — "Well, hi, Egor."
Wife — "He's offline. Useless. He's playing."
They sit on the couch. They start discussing purchases. They ask Zhenya to bring tea. And I ask Zhenya — "Please get rid of them." Zhenya showed megatactfulness — "Girls, let's not disturb him. Let him play. Let's go drink tea in the kitchen and eat pelmeni :)" With laughter, the group left. Then Zhenya's mom joined in, and I had 2 peaceful hours to play. In parallel, I nervously ate the pelmeni kindly brought by Zhenya, but constantly felt discomfort — I sensed they would come for me :) And so it was. At 3:50, the group, having eaten, laughed themselves silly, and whatnot, came into the room with the goal of discussing me thoroughly. And also trying to seduce/poison/mess with my mind — aiming, hugging, caressing, giving me salty tea, and pouring vodka into it. But I wasn't afraid of that. I was afraid of the signature phrase. And trouble came:) But, as usual, from other lips — Katya! "Egor, you won't win today," she said :) At this, I got a bit upset and honestly said I was playing for 200 bucks and they could all go to hell :) The girls quieted down a bit and tried not to bother me for the rest of the game :) True, their attention shifted to Zhenya, which he was very happy about :).
But they were in for a surprise when I won. It happened just when Zhenya needed to leave for work. We left together successfully, having received grim congratulations from Vasya beforehand. And then I burst. I was kissing them. I was hugging them. I was shouting how much I love them all — all together, that I have them, friends, wife :) The poor girls and Zhenya were shying away from me. But I was almost incoherent. The sweet taste of victory overwhelmed me, and this euphoria lasted another 2 hours. I periodically shouted "Let's go to the Metropol," "Bring vodka," "Let's dance until morning," and so on. I calmed down only after a 2-hour walk through frosty Mariupol. After which we had some tea in a cafe, and at 22:00 I fell asleep peacefully and quietly in my little bed:) Thank you, everyone.



A long and gripping epic, in which I managed to experience both the sweet anticipation of victory and the chilling terror of imminent defeat.

And it all started calmly. I spawned in the center at the top, the opponent — in the underground. The first two weeks I cleared my spawn, discovering two passages to the underground. The first — the upper one — led directly to Blue, the second, below the castle, led to a shared neighboring zone. In the second week, I placed all units with the castle; cockroaches were already fighting near the upper gate. At one fine moment, Red's scout dives into the gate and, before dying, manages to visit the Tower of Fire. The revealed view showed the second Dungeon town of Blue and several leaders bustling about their business! Since there was no agreement about not building second "native" castles, "RUSH!" flashed through Neela's head, but realizing it was just a town for now, I decided not to rush and to continue leveling up. Going down through the lower gate, Neela discovered a Barbarian town and further — in the bizarre twists of the underground — two Dragon Utopias! Using visual control over a significant part of the enemy territory, Neela seized the moment when Jeddite went off to level up. Having built the Capitol and brought reinforcements to the underground, Neela, in the first week of the second month, attacks both nearby castles undefended by Jeddite! After minor cockroach skirmishes, Red secures the Dungeons. Dragons were not built there, and the advantage in 7th-level monsters was overwhelming. Victory seemed near, but Jeddite turned out to be cunning and did not return home but went off to conquer new lands. A scout is sent on Jeddite's trail; Neela decides to take another path, looking for goodies along the way. Emerging to the surface in the upper left part of the map, Neela finds and takes a minimal Dragon Utopia. The scout passes through the dungeon down and left and also emerges onto the surface. There, Jeddite's last refuge is found — a Dungeon town (Blue sure is lucky with Dungeon!) Neela rushes headlong to the town, Jeddite doesn't manage to return from a distant campaign into the thickets of the neutral spawn. Red decides to allow Blue to keep the town to avoid a premature end to the game, and Neela, gripped by the thrill of catching and defeating the rebellious Jeddite, continues the pursuit.
It was the third week of the second month. Dess was pulling up to the town from Tower with the growth — may the monsters forgive me — in the role of troop transporter. If I remember correctly, Dess used to serve Blue but changed her hair color! Meanwhile, Neela finally caught up with Jeddite in the farthest, hidden-away spot — but it turned out her blind rage led her into a skillful trap! Jeddite attacks Neela; Neela cowardly waits out turns (though she had Expert Haste, but somehow hesitated) and on the first turn of her troops, Jeddite surrenders for money! Immediately hires in the town and attacks Dess with the growth! Dess also surrenders; Jeddite rushes home, Neela immediately fell behind him by at least a week's travel! SHOCK!
To be continued…

Next — a feverish formulation of a new plan. The ransom of Dess in one castle or another is postponed until the picture becomes completely clear — which path Jeddite will take. Just in case, all troops are bought out in Blue's starting Dungeon — hiring Dess there was risky. Jeddite reached the Dungeon quickly — and — attacked! The army defending the castle was large for Jeddite's troops, but not for his magic! "Propping" the gate, he began calmly killing his own, albeit not serving him, troops with Lightning Bolt. Leaving a couple of Harpy Hags and, it seems, one Troglodyte, Jeddite began raising his fallen warriors! The battle had to be ended immediately, but how? Can't flee, the gate is propped, the Harpies aren't retaliated against! Fortunately, his Ballista had already breached the castle walls. The Harpy lands and dies in its own moat; the desperate Troglodyte rushes into the same moat through the hole in the wall. The castle is successfully surrendered with losses of a significant number of its own and the enemy's Dungeon army. On the same day, the second Dungeon falls, in which Red, as luck would have it, had managed to build a Fort. Meanwhile, Neela somehow runs to the town, takes it, leaves a small defense there against cockroaches, and into battle! At the cockroach! She immediately surrenders herself and — OH HORROR! Red completely forgot about Dess sitting in the tavern with the growth, and Neela substitutes for Dess! COLLAPSE! Uttering the most terrible curses, Neela is hired in the underground Barbarian town (three days' travel from Blue's Dungeons), the next growth is hired in Tower, Dess is dug up, but without those very Tower troops, again brings the growth to Neela. Meanwhile, Jeddite plunders the Dragon Utopia and gets the Statesman's Hat! In a nervous shaking fit Neela sneaks to the Dungeons and challenges Jeddite to the Final Battle. Jeddite sits in the capital. Neela on the next turn captures the second, undefended Dungeon and digs in there. Jeddite accepts the challenge and attacks the Dungeon!
Ending to follow…


Neela — level 12. 14-10-13-9

57 Stone Golems
25 Magi
22 Naga Queens
11 Giants
100 Master Gremlins
66 Stone Gargoyles
14 Master Djinn

Jeddite — level 22 (!) 9-9-18-13

16 Queen Medusae
145 Infernal Troglodytes
9 Manticores
10 Unicorns
78 Harpy Hags
20 Minotaur Kings
44 Evil Eyes

Already knowing some of Jeddite's secrets, Neela decides not to repeat her mistakes, casts Mass Haste, and — forward! Jeddite responds with an Implosion on the Nagas — 19 Nagas are gone! Giants take down the Unicorns. The Gargoyles join in, the slow Golems support, the Magi and Gremlins support with shooting. Both armies suffer losses. Second round — the Giants are halved; Blue already has few Minotaurs and Manticores, but he resurrects the Manticores, and they fly to the castle to attack the Magi, who later handled them fairly well in melee. In the third round, Implosion wipes out the Giants, but the advantage in speed and combat stats played a decisive role. The Golems, arriving at the fray, contribute their part; Neela's Lightning Bolt works, the shooters finish off — and THAT'S IT!
Neela, not believing it was all over, examined Jeddite's artifacts and scrolls for a long time…

It's such plot-driven games that leave a huge impression and make you rethink many principles of the game. Many thanks, Sir Klopik, for a magnificent lesson!

For Papik. :)

Read everything ;)
Definitely, Papik =DDD I haven't laughed this much in a long time ;)

And me, Sila's comment about the mega-fathers' skills made me laugh :D

Judging by the creative approach, this is the most impressive report I've ever read: :smile54: :

Sir Volland, 20.12.2008 20:11
Volland (blue, Tower, Nella) def. Rubila Kreg (red, Barbarians, Zhabrakas), 2SMD4(3), 1-3-7
Thank you for the game.
We went to our cozy town to investigate a foreign consultant who was due to arrive any day. And his last name was Voland... This made me think of something unpleasant... Something similar already happened in Moscow once. Therefore, without much deliberation, I decided to prepare a serious army to welcome him and send the guests back where they came from. My loyal Orcs were with me as always. And then, while stopping by the tavern to have a drink, I found my old friend Tirraxor, sitting sadly at a table and offering me some ale. After learning about the impending threat, he immediately rushed to join me, along with his wolf riders. The recruitment campaign began. At the same time, defensive fortifications were being built. The results of the week could not but please me. The castle walls were finally completed, and an agreement was reached in negotiations with the Ancient Wonders, so that at the beginning of the next week, we had three mature representatives of this race. The following week was devoted to attracting allies. Diplomatic notes were sent to the Elementals and Bog Raiders, who, in turn, responded favorably to our actions. Fortune turned away from us at the very moment when it was most needed... Our army was defeated by a detachment of Nagas guarding their own warehouses.
At least in this story, I didn't see the downfall of what I loved, where I was born, and what my soul was.
(c) Rubaka Crag 2008

I knew that Papik would reap all the rewards :p. In reality, his report won't surpass any of the ones I've read in my life (and I've read quite a few reports))). Well done!

Finally, I waited for the start of this mega-interesting contest for me. I carefully read all the reports submitted for it. What can I say: they are all good in their own way. Invisibl and Lebron have very informative and humorous reports. The one about "real fathers" is unmatched in terms of making you laugh. Kamikaze's report is very poetic... Loï's report is, frankly, not bad, but it doesn't stand out with any originality (or maybe I didn't understand something in it:)). Dreamcatcher's report about level 12 Nelka-mommy on the 3rd month of the game really cheered me up:D - if even strong players used to play like that, then I guess I haven't lost everything:rolleyes:! But among these masterpieces, there is one report that, despite its length, I have already read three times:smile12: and I would say that it elevates our ordinary reports to the rank of a new literary genre - this is, of course, Papik's report about the victory over DC_Vasya; I give him my vote.

Absolutely awesome! :) We should introduce a new genre in Russian literature – game reports about Heroes 3! A narrative with elements of fantastical stories and, of course, with humor;)... All the reports are very instructive, but since you can only vote for one, I definitely vote for Papik:D

to KostyaN:.
I'm here to create a crowd, a quorum for brilliant reports. :)
I'll highlight the reports by Vikka and Papik. They are different: Vikka's report, in the form of inimitable satire, contains deep thoughts that make you think. Papik's post makes you empathize. Oh, it's a pity you can't vote for two reports; I voted for Papik's post, including because, in my opinion, it's more suitable for the resource.

Respect to the organizer!!!
I liked the contest, but it's a pity that I had already read almost everything.
My vote definitely goes to Vika - perhaps he would have scored more if links to that thread were also attached;) , and a couple of quotes:

135 On his turn, Valya jumps over the cliff and attacks a sucker with an army. A mass spell and only 2 angels and 10 vives pay their way out. What bad luck... today is not Beckham's day ..

143 And then... a brilliant insight illuminated the small shriveled brain of the lizard

The Dragon Utopia, naturally, went to Brogh. But that's only in Russia where people go for the second one; over there in Tatalia, lizards are so hardcore that the second is always next to the first, and you have to travel for the third

And then Brogh, just like a criminal returning to the scene of the crime, returned to the place of Edric's brutal murder. And it doesn't matter that it's in plain sight of Valya; real pros know that she has neither fire nor portal nor scout, so you can not give a damn about trifles.

I recommend checking out the saves of this game to everyone who wants to enjoy high-quality play by real pros, and understand that although only stars are above Alex, it is possible to climb even higher than the stars.

Yes, indeed, thank you to the organizer! I'm casting my vote for Valera's report because it's rare to see someone boast about a hard-fought and well-deserved victory over Paladin; respect!

Vitaly, keep up the good work...

Your story is simply AMAZING.

P.S. Maybe you should try writing a book? ;)

Sure, Dad.