Posts from "The Art of Strategy," a section for reports.

Lutii (Fortress, Helmar, Red) lost to alex_nv (Dungeon, Iranna, Blue) 3-2-4

Adjacent territories were Necropolis (direct passage) and Demon (portal), breached in weeks 1 and 2. The industrial zone was sand in week 2, and the mine center was swamp in week 3. Overall, if it weren't for the logistics with the Path of War, I would have wandered around for a long time. My opponent had a mine center on grass! Statistically, I was significantly ahead of my opponent until around week 5-6. But I didn't have any decent creatures. On my side, over a hundred Erls with support guarded the Grand Order – it was impossible to pass without losses. I decided not to rush and collect a dragon set (in the end, I didn't find the greaves and armor), and just generally play for my own enjoyment. I realized that the opponent wouldn't rush either. Around week 8, I finally found the path to the secondary grassy territory! There was a Fortress city there. There was a shop, but it didn't have the missing dragon artifacts. Nor did the next week, or in my own city. I went further, reached a snowy treasure, where I gained level 30 and looted one of the three flooded temples. Meanwhile, I was leveling up Erin (level 20) in Chaos and Letos (level 15) in Dark Magic with Battle Magic. Letos tried to slowly eliminate the Erls, but it was slow; in two attempts, he killed about 50-60 of them. And then, my main hero got Subordination with Vampirism and a Book of Summoning. I was already planning to teleport home, break through the Grand Order, and search there to protect myself from a sudden attack (the city was only one day away), when Helmar, having broken through, appeared with his entire army. I was basically ready and, after teleporting home, prepared to attack. First, I used Erin to attack with enhanced armor once, losing a hundred hunters, but also inflicting significant damage on the opponent (he must have found an Observatory and spent several weeks at levels 1-3). Since Helmar was almost out of mana, I had to teleport home. The skirmish took place on 3-1-6, and the final battle took place on 3-2-4 in the Grand Order zone on sand. Dark Magic and Summoning proved stronger than Light and Luck, although my luck was also working well. Thanks for the game!

Iranna, level 30, 23-25-45-28 (with 6 dragon artifacts), 18-17-42-25, 0, 2 in battle with a Tome of Summoning and the Staff of Sar-Issa

3 Native - all
3 Education - both rewards
3 Logistics - Path of War, Scouting
3 Summoning - Fire
3 Sorcery - Mana Regeneration, Secret Knowledge, Wisdom
3 Dark Magic

FLASH_RUS (Necropolis Naadir, blue) defeated Shadou 35 (Academy, Hafiz, red) 3-3-2
Naadir, level 29, 30-26-33-24, skills: Summoning, Darkness, Logistics, Sorcery, Education
Hafiz, level 28, approximately 25-24-22-29

We played 4 battles, the final one in the opponent's castle. Darkness decided the outcome. Thanks for the game!

FLASH_RUS (Necropolis, Naadir, blue) defeated Shadou 35 (Academy, Hafiz, red) 3-3-2
Naadir, level 29, 30-26-33-24, skills: Summoning, Darkness, Logistics, Sorcery, Education
Hafiz, level 28, approximately 25-24-22-29

We played 4 battles, the final one in the opponent's castle. Darkness decided the outcome. Thanks for the game!

Thanks, Flash. By the way, I'm Shadow....
I'm not sure about "Darkness decided the outcome," 2 Berserkers and 2 Enslave spells on the remaining troops + raising the dead. And my Retribution skill was quite effective in dealing damage... BUT I didn't buy enough meat shields – I ran out of money, plus the opponent teleported out of a gate and attacked unexpectedly (I didn't have enough money to buy them off, and I lost all my level 1-4 troops). Then Hit and Run with Armageddon also thinned out the Necropolis army (a bit). As for the development, it was uneven, sometimes fast, sometimes 2-3 days without leveling up, especially at the beginning. We played for several days with breaks – it was tough. But interesting. In total: Machines, Chaos, Light, Education, Defense (didn't get to Battle Doctrine:( ).
Thanks for the game! :smile15:

Lutii (Fortress, Helmar, Red) lost to alex_nv (Dungeon, Iranna, Blue) 3-2-4

Adjacent territories were Necropolis (direct passage) and Demons (portal), breached on weeks 1 and 2. The industrial zone was sand on week 2, and the mine center was swamp on week 3. Overall, if it weren't for the logistics with the Path of War, I would have wandered around for a long time. My opponent's mine center was on grass! Statistically, I was significantly ahead of my opponent until around week 5-6. But I didn't have any decent creatures. On my side, over a hundred Erls with support covered the Garrison, making it impossible to pass without losses. I decided not to rush and collect a dragon set (in the end, I didn't find the greaves and armor), and just generally enjoy the game. I realized that the opponent wouldn't rush either. Around week 8, I finally found the path to the secondary grassy territory! There was a Fortress city there. There was a shop, but it didn't have the missing dragon artifacts. Nor did the next week, or in my own city. I went further, reached the snowy treasure, where I reached level 30 and looted one of the three flooded Temples. Meanwhile, I was leveling up Erin (level 20) in Chaos and Letos (level 15) in Dark Magic with Battle Magic. Letos tried to slowly chip away at the Erls, but it was slow; he killed about 50-60 in two attempts. And then, the main hero got Subordination with Vampirism and a Summoning book. I was already planning to teleport home, break through the Garrison, and look around to protect myself from a sudden attack (it was only one day's travel from the city), when Helmar, having broken through, came to me with his entire army. I was basically ready and, after teleporting home, prepared to attack. First, I used Erin to attack with enhanced armor once, losing a hundred hunters, but also inflicting significant damage on the opponent (he must have found an Observatory and spent several weeks on levels 1-3). Since Helmar was almost out of mana, I had to teleport home. The skirmish took place on 3-1-6, and the final battle took place on 3-2-4 in the Garrison zone on sand. Dark Magic and Summoning turned out to be stronger than Light and Luck, although my Luck also worked well. Thanks for the game!

Iranna, level 30, 23-25-45-28 (with 6 dragon artifacts), 18-17-42-25, 0, 2 in battle with a Summoning Tome and the Staff of Sar-Issa.

3 Native - all
3 Education - both rewards
3 Logistics - Path of War, Scouting
3 Summoning - Fire
3 Sorcery - Mana Regeneration, Secret Knowledge, Wisdom
3 Dark Magic

I confirm! I didn't expect the opponent to go into Dark Magic and Summoning!

Thanks for the game!

Vip.rus (Stronghold, Garuna) lost to Hero_of_heroes (Necropolis, Deidra) 2-2-5

The start wasn't very successful. I started with Naadir, and in the tavern, I chose Deidra. Since it's almost impossible to get Spiritual Link with Naadir, I decided to develop Deidra, but I only got Spiritual Link at level 8, after I already had Expert Necromancy with Pain and Mind Lords (but I couldn't find any Slow or Weakness spells anywhere :(). Because I couldn't get Spiritual Link for a long time, I spent a lot of time running around the starting area, from the wells to the neutral creatures. As a result, I decided to only conquer one adjacent area, because I would only reach the second one in the middle of the second week. Then there was a short period when I could defeat everyone easily, but due to the lack of Eternal Slavery, I suffered some losses. I moved to the center, and it was a desert with many roads, so I decided to stay. Then, I foolishly decided to conquer an adjacent area, which brought me two misfortunes. There were Alt Arcat creatures guarding the passage, and they killed 96 of my skeletons... and it turned out that the passage led to the opponent's area, so simultaneous turns were disabled... After that, I attacked the Rogues and forgot to set the units to attack individually, as a result, I lost about 80 zombies... then, after two more battles, I lost the remaining ones... but then a miracle happened: in the very first magic resource, I found Vampirism :) After that, at the beginning of the 4th week, I attacked the guard of the passage with only skeletons, because among all the creatures in this mixed army, I found Lizard Riders, which, as you know, turn into Vampire Ogres. I raised 24 Vampire Ogres for my entire army and sent them home for an upgrade, and the next day, I received 49 Alt Vampire Ogres. From that moment on, the game became very easy. I took the Amulet of Necromancy, bought a staff with -20% intelligence and -2 morale, after which my Shout became simply devastating: after the Shout, the morale and luck of the neutral creatures were -4 and -3, it was just mass despair :) (by the way, regular despair was also present). In the next week, I collected 6 Dragon Artifacts (everything except the helmet and sword) and went looking for the Treasure, but no matter where I went, the guard looked more like an adjacent area... Through the city, I found something that vaguely resembled the Treasure, but I decided that the next week should be the last, and I ran home (I ran really fast: Ice Bolt + Stable + Boots of Swiftness). So I quickly reached my chain, even conquering one area to get the Entangled spell and the storage with Furies. I sent the troops and bought my way back home. I sold a lot of artifacts for money and all the resources for ore and mercury to build the last upgrades and went through the Great Oasis. The Great Oasis turned out to be terrible: snow without roads... There I found a shop with the Subjugation spell, but I didn't have enough mercury for it. Then I found an artifact shop, but there was nothing interesting there, and a level 5 dwelling. I passed the turn and found a red flag running towards me :)
I decided to remove the Amulet of Necromancy in favor of the Dragon Artifact, took the Tattered Flag, and attacked Garuna.
Here is the final battle: Download Final_vs_Vip.sav
A lot of time had passed, and instead of casting a spell, the opponent moved his Centaurs closer. Maybe this mistake decided the outcome, although I think that even without it, the chances of winning were slim. I was really counting on Berserk, but he had an artifact that protected him from it...
Thank you for the game and good luck in the future!

Vip.rus(Stronghold, Garuna) lost Hero_of_heroes(Necropolis, Deidra) 2-2-5
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I confirm, this game ruined my entire tournament. I had 3 problems: they offered me machines only at level 20, I didn't take them, and then I regretted it, so I suffered losses, and even lost 2 Cyclops. Anti-magic is complete nonsense; I hoped to protect myself with it, at least from low-level spells, but in the end, plague killed me just as well. And the main thing is, I played for 2 days without sleep, and I also have an old mouse, so instead of destroying at least half of the Priests (who ultimately won), I sent Centaurs to the center of the field, I was shocked because at first, I didn't even understand what had happened, I thought they were under my control. As a result, I lost.
P.S. I was ready to fight at the beginning of the 5th week, but there were no artifacts against Berserk and against Battle Mages, which I really wanted. I only found them at the end of the 5th week. Thank you for the game; it seems the tournament is over for me

ATTENTION!!! Due to the withdrawal of players with the nicknames Sylaroff, Saruman665, TWOeP, Eldarmoon, and Eldarmoon from the tournament, and considering the approaching deadline for the group stage, it has been decided that no further player replacements will be made! All participants who have not completed individual matches with the aforementioned players will receive technical victories! However, each player must, in this thread, in a separate post, indicate the unplayed match and specify the race they would have chosen for the game, which will then be removed from their list of available races!
If a game with a withdrawn opponent has already been started but, for some reason, was not completed, then the race that was chosen for the game and declared to the judges during map generation should be indicated!
For greater clarity, I will provide an example and simultaneously indicate my unplayed match and the race used:
Leolopus (Sylvan) - Saruman665
These posts must be submitted as soon as possible!!!!!

Kolobokk - Sylaroff (Haven)

barma21 (Stronghold) - eldarmoon (Dungeon)
they were playing, playing - and then this happened (((could have finished the game - there wasn't much left)
barma21 (Inferno) - twoep

Vip.rus - SilarOFF (данж)

Lok 1978 Slaer (Орки)

Raykkonen (Grok, Inferno) - Eldarmoon
Raykkonen (Mages) - Twoep

Alex_R (Inferno) vs Eldermoon
Alex_R (Dark Elves) vs TwoEP

Alex_nv (Fortress) - Saruman665

dwp (Некроманты) - Saruman665