MARREND PLAYS HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC 3 COMPLETE!

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Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I might not be up for a gaming diary this year, but, there is at least one more game I wish to share with the larger RMN community. If it has not been made obvious by the game title, it is...



Photo obtained from GameFAQs.

...Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete. This title is, as it suggests, a compilation of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Restoration of Erathia, with two expansions, Armageddon's Blade and Shadow of Death. While I no longer own my original copies, I did, at one point, own each of these titles individually. I can't really say when all this occurred, though.

Even if one takes just the base game, the number of heroes and units were expanded upon exponentially. As for other notable features, every unit associated with a faction can be upgraded. Rather than being limited to an army size of 5 slots, they cranked it up to 11 7. The way artifacts function were also revamped with a paper doll system, thus requiring heroes to equip artifacts in various slots to gain their benefits.

If there is one thing to lament, it's about the heroes, themselves. Sure, maybe using classic M&M NPCs was merely a marketing tool to sell the product, being a nudge-wink to players of those classic games. However, I kinda felt like having those characters exist was part of the magic of these games. This game? Gone. Wiped from existence. Only Sandro, Yog, Gem, Alamar, Lord Haart, Halon, and Crag Hack are all that is left. All the other heroes are characters I don't think appeared in a main-line Might and Magic game. Even the backstories of the classic characters (Yes, this game has character backstories for each hero!) are rewritten to be in the context of Erathia or Enroth, rather than the original world they came from.

That aside, this is still among the best games in the series. I'm aware that it's considered the best by a non-zero number of the fan-base. Perhaps this LP will relay reasons for that, either through gameplay, or other factors, as to why people might think that way. Of course, since it's me, you should expect the usual UGE shenanigans. Also, I've a high-definition mod applied. As for how I will approach this game, I'll start with the campaigns of Restoration of Erathia, then moving on to Armageddon's Blade, then Shadow of Death. I will also note that I will likely not update this thread as often as I have my previous ones, but, will likely provide about one post per scenario. I'll be pulling from this playlist for the town themes. Comments are welcome, as always!

Table of Contents:
  • Restoration of Erathia
Long Live the QueenScenario 1 - Homecoming
Scenario 2 - Guardian Angels
Scenario 3 - Griffin Cliff
Dungeons and DevilsScenario 1 - A Devlish Plan
Scenario 2 - Groundbreaking
Scenario 3 - Steadwick's Fall
Spoils of WarScenario 1 - Borderlands
Scenario 2 - Gold Rush
Scenario 3 - Greed
Long Live the KingScenario 1 - A Gryphon's Heart
Scenario 2 - Season of Harvest
Secnario 3 - Corporeal Punishment
Scenario 4 - From Day to Night
LiberationScenario 1 - Steadwick's Liberation
Scenario 2 - Deal With the Devil
Scenario 3 - Neutral Affairs
Scenario 4 - Tunnels and Troglodytes
Song for the FatherScenario 1 - Safe Passage
Scenario 2 - United Front
Scenario 3 - For King and Country
Seeds of DiscontentScenario 1 - The Grail
Scenario 2 - The Road Home
Scenario 3 - Independence

  • Armageddon's Blade
Armageddon's BladeScenario 1 - Catherine's Charge
Scenario 2 - Shadows of the Forest
Scenario 3 - Seeking Armageddon
Scenario 4 - Maker of Sorrows
Scenario 5 - Return of the King
Scenario 6 - A Blade in the Back
Scenario 7 - To Kill a Hero
Scenario 8 - Oblivion's Edge
Dragon's BloodScenario 1 - Culling the Week
Scenario 2 - Saving the Scavengers
Scenario 3 - Blood of the Dragon Father
Scenario 4 - Blood Thirsty
Festival of LifeScenario 1 - Razor Claw
Scenario 2 - Taming of the Wild
Scenario 3 - Clan War
Scenario 4 - For the Throne
Playing With FireScenario 1 - Farming Towns
Scenario 2 - March of the Undead
Scenario 3 - Burning of Tatalia
Dragon SlayerScenario 1 - Crystal Dragons
Scenario 2 - Rust Dragons
Scenario 3 - Faerie Dragons
Scenario 4 - Azure Dragons
Foolhardy WaywardnessScenario 1 - Lost at Sea
Scenario 2 - Their End of the Bargain
Scenario 3 - Here There Be Pirates
Scenario 4 - Hurry Up and Wait

  • Shadow of Death
New BeginningScenario 1 - Clearing the Border
Scenario 2 - After the Amulet
Scenario 3 - Retreiving the Cowl
Scenario 4 - Driving for the Boots
Elixir of LifeScenario 1 - Graduation Exercise
Scenario 2 - Cutthroats
Scenario 3 - Valley of the Dragon Lords
Scenario 4 - A Thief in the Night
Hack and SlashScenario 1 - Bashing Skulls
Scenario 2 - Black Sheep
Scenario 3 - A Cage in Hand
Scenario 4 - Grave Robber
Birth of a BarbarianScenario 1 - On the Run
Scenario 2 - The Meeting
Scenario 3 - A Tough Start
Scenario 4 - Falor and Terwen
Scenario 5 - Returning to Bracada
Rise of the NecromancerScenario 1 - Target
Scenario 2 - Master
Scenario 3 - Finneas Vilmar
Scenario 4 - Duke Alarice
Unholy AllianceScenario 1 - Harvest
Scenario 2 - Gathering the Legion
Scenario 3 - Search for a Killer
Scenario 4 - Final Peace
Scenario 5 - Secrets Revealed
Scenario 6 - Agents of Vengeance
Scenario 7 - Wrath of Sandro
Scenario 8 - Invasion
Scenario 9 - To Strive, to Seek
Scenario 10 - Barbarian Brothers
Scenario 11 - Union
Scenario 12 - Fall of Sandro
Spectre of PowerScenario 1 - Poison to Fit a King
Scenario 2 - To Build a Tunnel
Scenario 3 - Kreegan Alliance
Scenario 4 - With Blinders On
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
Ofc I'm on board for this.
I haven't played Heroes for a while, but it might be exactly what I would enjoy right now. So, this might even inspire me to play a scenario later today.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
The set-up for this campaign is that there were rumors of a Nighon invasion of Erathia. An investigation team, lead by Queen Catherine herself, have uncovered evidence confirming such rumors. Thus, she has taken up the banner to rally forces to defended her homeland. Your job in this scenario is to seek out the invaders in this particular area, and remove them by force. Possible scenario bonuses include 14 Pikemen, 5 Gems/Mercury/Crystal/Sulfur, or a First Aid Tent, with a level-cap of 6. The next scenario will carry over the four most powerful armies among your active heroes.

None of those bonuses are particularly valuable to me for...





...fairly obvious reasons. Let me make an aside here...


So, there are two hurdles to jump over in order to hack this game. The first hurdle is that the save file is compressed data. Thankfully, programs like, WinZip, WinRar, 7-Zip, and what-not, can extract the data into an UGE-able format. The second hurdle is that the addresses for the various data points are never in the same place. Perhaps some portions of data is constant relative to each other, such as hero fields, but, the physical addresses are not static. This is a killer for a program like UGE, since it assumes data locations are static.

While one can use mdlgen to create UGE modules off a base-line module that has the relative positions down, it's still a very tedious process to go through the file to tag the relevant points of data, and then push those values into a batch file that makes the appropriate modules for that particular game.

When I was going to college, I used Visual Basic to try making a program that would expedite the process. I had some success, but, the fact that I was basically using a student version, I could not actually make an executable. I could only run the program through the editor. When I switched laptops in 2015 (Darigaaz, this is an old 'top, I've got) I thought I didn't have the disc, but, I found it in a binder maybe a couple months ago. I made some hotfixes to make the process a bit easier. However, before that, I've been doing it through UGE and mdlgen.

The process of setting up, and editing, the save file with UGE was the biggest reason I didn't want to start this particular LP. Though, once a set-up is done for a map, it's a matter of how much the data moves, and in what direction for future saves on that map.


...concerning the UGE process. This is my typical "garrison hero" setup. Garrison heroes is a function that replaces the Captain's Quarters from HoMM2, and I'll try to screencap how that looks with the next scenario. However, since it's me, one might be wondering about Armageddon. Allow me to put all worries away...





...with this screencap. This is another mod applied to the game, and there's a bit of story behind it, which I will place under a hide-tag...


Many years ago, I learned of a program called ModHomm3. This may, or may not, have been around the same time when I learned about a fan-made Heroes 3 mod, Wake of Gods. That mod had it's own scripting system, introduced an either tier to each faction (as if 7 wasn't enough), and enabled buildings to be deconstructed (which was sometimes weird, but, I could see the tactical value of doing that).

Either way, with ModHomm3, you can extract various text files that are packed into the data files, and altering them can apply certain changes to the game. As you can see from the above screencap, I set the base-line multiplier for Armageddon to be -500. There is also a flat bonus of -500 for Masters of Fire Magic, rather than the stated value of +90, but that's not a terribly important detail to me.


...as it's another aside. Back to the scenario at hand, the faction on display here is the Castle faction...





...which is basically the "Knight" faction from previous entries. As you can see, there's been some revisions of the unit alignment, as Griffins were formerly Warlock units.

Now, the scenario asks the player to conquer a specific town as the victory condition. The location of said town is underground (I almost forgot that two-level maps were a thing!), and there is only one entrance. It's on the opposite side of the map from our starting position. Of course it is. Even with Master Logistics and Boots of Speed, it took about a week before my heroes found anything relevant to the task at hand. One hero was searching on the ocean for several days before making landfall at an enemy-controlled castle. That castle turned out to be near the entrance to said underground passage, and it took maybe another day or two before my heroes take the required city.

With Heroes 2, I tended to UGE newly-controlled castles to have bare minimum buildings. With this game, I still do that, despite how eye-rolling it can be at times, and also reconfigure the hero that took the castle into a garrison hero, which typically means messing with secondary skills and artifacts.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
Ofc, Marrend's way of playing Heroes is difficult to grasp for most people. For me enjoyment comes from tight battles and good tactical decisions. For You it comes from deep understanding of mechanics of the game and altering them... or at least I think so.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Let's be honest. My way of playing Heroes games will be vastly different than the typical player, if only because I insist of Armadeggon dealing negative damage. I gain the vast majority of my armies this way. I would probably really, really suck at multiplayer games. XD


That aside, in this scenario, it is learned that the area around Fair Feather has been under assault by both Nighon and Eofol forces. However, it has yet to be taken. Rumors of the valley being protected by angels are abound, and if they are even remotely true, they could serve as a potential ally against those forces.

Starting bonus for this scenario is between 1 Angel, 3 Zealots, and Prayer. None of which is relevant to me, because of UGE, but, I ended up choosing Prayer regardless. I can also now confirm that the term "strongest hero" also applies to garrison heroes, as I recognize my active heroes as garrison heroes from last scenario.

Four heroes on a small map, even if it has two layers (which this one has), is kinda much. I don't start with any towns, so that means I have to conquer one within a week before being eliminated. While my hero's stats, spells, and skills transferred over, their armies did not. So, I had to UGE them regardless.

I promised a screencap of a town with a garrison hero, so, here...




...is one I took of Fair Feather maybe a day or two after I captured it. This function is such a welcome addition for castle defenses. While the Captain's Quarters of Heroes 2 served a similar purpose of having a hero help defend a castle, captains couldn't earn experience, and their stat block was similar to that of a level 1 hero of the appropriate type. It was a benefit for sure, but, certainly not on the same scale as having a legit hero being there.

After capturing two more towns, and stashing garrison heroes as I went, it's high-time to recruit another hero. For a small map like this, two active heroes is probably about right. The only point of interest about the heroes I choose to hire is that one of them contained units with magic immunity, or a chance thereof. However, I can UGE and artifact called Orb of Vulnerability that ignores magic immunity to let Armageddon do it's thing.

I will note that Iron/Stone/Gold/Diamond Golems have a damage reduction effect that the Orb of Vulnerability does not have any effect on. Math-wise, an Armageddon that would normally deal -11000 damage would only deal -5500 to Stone Golems (an approximate gain of 183 troops), -2750 to Stone Golems (an approximate gain of 55 troops), -1650 to Gold Golems (an approximate gain of 33 troops), and only -550 to Diamond Golems (an approximate gain of 9 units).

As an additional aside, I think I temporarily forgot that the HD mod doesn't like UGEd games when it comes to accessing castle screens, and crashes almost without fail. However, there's still a number of advantages to this mod, such as combat and adventuring flowing faster. There's fewer message boxes to click on, and I don't have to wait for the "entering combat" music to end before units can be moved, or a spell Armageddon can be cast. However, for the sake of this LP, and my sanity, future screencaps will likely be without the HD mod applied.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Griffin Cliff is widely known as a breeding ground (or, at least a gathering point) for the creatures. Catherine is of the Gryphonheart house, and suffice to say, they aren't called that for nothing, as Griffins played a major factor in their sovereignty over Erathia. So, what we end up having here is a map that asks players to flag all external unit buildings. Which, in this map's case, are all Griffin Nests.

Starting bonuses include a Golden Bow, a Lion's Shield of Courage, or an Endless Sack of Gold. Lion's Shield of Courage increases all stats by 4. While I can remove the artifact via UGE, the stat bonuses it granted still technically still applied to the hero. Aside from the transferred heroes, we start with three Castle-faction towns.

As I went through the process of UGEing the game, the thought occurred to me that the reason the HD mod kept crashing on me is because I'm UGEing a Shipyard into towns that have no access to water. After some experimentation on the issue, this seems to be exactly the case. You might think this is somewhat moronic on my part, but, to be fair, not all factions can even build a shipyard to begin with. Castle is just one such faction, and I'm 99.999% sure Conflux can build one as well. I think the Necropolis and Fortress factions can also build a Shipyard, but, I don't recall off the top of my head. Funny how it doesn't crash without the HD mod, though.

In any event, this map's size might take three heroes active, and putzing about. I started with 6, but, 3 of them were stashed as garrison heroes. When I captured another town, I looked at the heroes to hire, and it was between Orrin and Moandor. I wouldn't call Orrin my favorite hero, but, he's the first hero to have data in the save-file, and thus, a reference point for all other hero data. However, I seem to have plenty of Castle-faction heroes putzing about, so, I go with Moandor, a Death Knight. I do, however, hire Orrin, as I keep stashing heroes as Garrison Heroes, and wanting replacements.

Speaking of garrisons...




...this map includes a few chokepoints that are controlled by an AI player. While you can't stash heroes into one of these garrisons, they still function as a on-map encounter that can have multiple types of units within them. As it happens, normal on-map encounters tend to be of a uniform type, though, if it is a unit that can be upgraded, there's a chance a portion of that troop is the upgraded unit.

While the scenario doesn't specifically ask me to do this, I end up eliminating Orange player. However, there is a Tan player milling about, but, I manage to capture the Griffin Nests regardless of whatever interference it's heroes try to run.

This was the final scenario for this campaign. Which kinda feels a little off, because the threat to Erathia still very much exists. There are a total of five campaigns here, and one of them will revisit Catherine, and, you know, the restoration of Erathia. In any event, for the sake of record keeping, this campaign took me a total of 51 in-game days, granting me a score of 965, and the title of Evil Eye. This puts me in second place with the default scoreboard, for those curious about that.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
With this campaign, we switch sides entirely from the lawful good Castle faction to the chaotic evil Inferno faction.





Rather than the objective being the restoration of Erathia, it is the sacking of Erathia. Starting bonuses here include Slayer, an Armor of Wonder, or 100 Imps. This particular scenario asks the player to defeat a specific on-map enemy. The enemy in question is a troop of Gold Dragons the game has dubbed the Gold Dragon Queen. Slaying her would deal a significant blow to the elves in the area, who sometimes are in alliance with the humans. A brief aside concerning Might and Magic 7 - For Blood and Honor under the hide-tag.


One of the events of MM7 is an elf-human war. The player-controlled party become the lords/ladies that rule the area of Harmondale early in the game, and this war can go one of three ways. I believe that if player does nothing, Harmondale falls under human-controlled auspices? However, the more interesting choice that I always do is to declare independence from either side. The exact circumstance surrounding this evades me at the moment, but, it involves handing over an artifact to Judge Gray in Harmondale. Of course, that same artifact can be given to Catherine (thus allying with the humans) or Parson (thus allying with the elves).

Some time later, Judge Gray dies, and the player is presented with two replacements for the office of Judge. One represents an alliance with wizards of Bracada (ie: the "good" path), and the other represents an alliance with the necromancers of Deyja (ie: the "evil" path). If you choose the "good" guy, he manages a compromise in the war, and the territorial lines are drawn fairly. If you chose the "evil" guy, there is no compromise, and the necromancers benefit with the continuation of hostilities, and using the fresh bodies of the slain. I think? It's been quite a while.


This map's size feels a bit large, so, having three or four heroes putz around might be useful regardless. Moreso since this is a two-level map, which doesn't necessarily translate to needing to cover twice as much ground, but, it's still more ground to cover. I find that several towns I'm capturing have buildings that are disabled, and thus, cannot be built. While I could UGE whatever buildings I want regardless, I just do a standard hack down to the bare minimum.

As time and heroes moved forward on the surface, it became increasingly apparent that the Gold Dragon Queen I'm looking for is somewhere in the underground. So, I sent two out of the four active heroes I had down, sending each down a separate path. However, it didn't actually take that long, maybe an in-game day, before I found the unit stack I needed to find, and slew it dead.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
With this scenario, the player is the Dungeon faction...





...and starts underground. The win condition is to capture all enemy-controlled towns, and to defeat their heroes. Which I've been arguably doing anyway. Scenario bonuses include the initial town having build a Pillar of Eyes, a level 1 Mage Guild, or a Battle Scholar Academy. I choose the Mage Guild option, but, the Battle Scholar Academy wouldn't have been a bad choice.

The Dungeon faction is basically what has become of the Warlock faction. My opinion concerning Black Dragons remains as it was in Heroes 2, but, with this game, the Orb of Vulnerability make them a playable unit this time around.

This map has 9 castles on it, with the enemy controlling 4 of them. With this in mind, and the size of the map, I feel like 3-4 heroes putzing about might be about right. In previous scenarios, I've captured castles as I see them, regardless of who owned it. This time, I avoid taking neutral castles, and focus on the task at hand. A Seer's Hut pointed me to the four corners of the surface-level map, and from there, it just kinda went downhill for Red player.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Steadwick is the capital of the Castle human forces in Erathia, and the previous scenarios have been a setup to get into a better position to capture it. The scenario bonus is a choice between the strongest 8 heroes from either "A Devilish Plan", or "Groundbreaking". From the looks of things, it's a standard transfer of stats, skills, and spells, with armies, and artifacts resetting. Which makes this choice largely irrelevant to me, since I'd be inclined to hack these heroes either way. However, since I must choose one over the other, I chose the heroes from "A Devilish Plan".

I start the map with three towns. One Castle, one Inferno, and one Dungeon. Each get fitted with a garrison hero from among the transferred heroes, leaving me with 5 heroes to explore the map with. The scenario has a built-in time limit of 3 in-game months, which sounds pretty generous to me. I'm certainly not playing this game as it was intended, so, my ability to approximate how long it would (or should) take cannot be trusted.

Through UGE, I can see that there are 9 total towns on this map, with Red player owning 4 of them. Now, technically speaking, I only need to capture Steadwick, which is among Red's owned towns. However, my usual routine of capturing towns as I see them applies here. As it turns out Steadwick was the third town I happened across, lying at approximately the center of the surface map. From the angle I was approaching it, it lied beyond an anti-magic garrison, which disallows any and all spell-casting. For my playstyle, this barrier is more an annoyance than anything else. However, for what it's worth, my surface-level towns were surrounded by Cursed Land, which prevents spells of level 2 or higher to be cast. For the sake of reference, Armageddon is considered a level 4 spell.

All that aside, Steadwick was soon taken. I don't think it was even a week. However, this entire campaign lasted 25 in-game days, granting me a score of 385, and the title of Wolf Rider. Which, yeah, is much worse than my score in Long Live the Queen. However, I managed 7th place on the scoreboard for my troubles?



Soooooooooo, this is going in a very similar direction as my Heroes 2 LP did with how I'm glossing over things, and having meager entries. Perhaps I should change the way I approach this LP, and try writing this more like a story rather than feeble attempts at gameplay transcriptions.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
The death of Lord Gyphonheart has created many opportunities. In such chaotic times, mercenaries, like myself, rise to the occasion to take their own stake in the Ertahian territories. Two generals stood before me to take on this task, Vorbash and Verdish. While I could choose among those two, there was a third choice. To go out among the talents of the land, and to find one that might suit my purposes better. This was the choice I made.

However, I knew I couldn't rely on just one person. If I were to make my own claim, and keep it, I would need multiple such talents. It took a bit of investment on my part, but, all told, I recruited five would-be heroes. Three of these I sent to the front lines, and two stayed behind to guard the homefront. Expansion is key, as I only have two Fortresses..



...to my name. The main issue with this location is that of securing resources. Three generals in three directions in search of mines, labs, and other deposits. My generals did a bit more than just that. They laid claim to two enemy towns, thus securing the area, and the resource flow. There was one enemy town that was discovered, and not conquered. Something to keep a half-eye on in case the Erthaians mount a liberation effort in the area.



Scenario notes and asides:
Starting bonus: Vorbash, Verdish, or a random Fortress-faction hero
Win condition: Flag all mines (obtained Week 2, Day 3)
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
My actions have garnered the attention of a Krewlod clan. They want to see an different region of Erathia under their control, and they are willing to pay for my services. Or, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that they are willing to allow me to retain what riches I manage to capture in this area.

Either way, impressing them by achieving large amounts of money in the shortest amount of time is the end-goal. With two generals and two towns as a basis of operation, I set to work. I hire four more generals, just to ensure that I cover as much ground as possible.

It occurred to me, of course, that removing the Erathian opposition in the area would go a long way in securing the area, and it's resources, just as before. My generals proceeded along that plan, finding an underground path that lead across a river while doing so. What resistance that was met was felled, and it was only a matter of time before I felt enough gold was gathered to impress Krewlod.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <3 Thunderbirds>, 2 Cyclops Kings, 1 Ancent Behemoth
Win Condition: Accumulate 200,000 Gold (Didn't note the exact time spent, but, I think it was at least week 2. Maybe 3?)
UGE quirk: 200,000 Gold is what I've been setting my Gold to. I did 150,000 instead.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Reputation can sometimes be a burden. Both my previous employers from Tatalia and Krewold are now looking to face head-to-head, and both ask to employ my services again to tip the scales in their favor. After much consideration of the offers at hand, I chose Tatalia.

Initial scouts report 11 towns are dispersed in this region, 6 of which are controlled by either Erathian or Krewoldian forces. While the Tatalian generals I recruited from before will undoubtedly go a long way in their efforts, I decided that hiring more would not hurt, given how much territory is at stake.

Within one week, my seven generals captured three towns, with two in sight. In three more days, the Erathian forces were eliminated, leaving only the Strongholds...





...of Krewold. They, to, fell within days. With this, I can rest easy for a while. At least until either the Erathians or the Krewoldians get it into their heads to launch a counter-attack.



Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <Heroes from Borderlands>, Heroes from Gold Rush
Win Condition: Capture all enemies towns, and defeat their heroes (achieved Week 2, Day 5)
Campaign Finished: 40 Days; 900 score (3rd place); Fire Elemental
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
For Erathia, Nighon, and Eoful, it is a season of war. For the Necropolis that is Dejya...





...it is a season of harvest. With Queen Catherine's attention elsewhere, it was decided to sneak into Erathian territory, and reanimate her noble father to our cause. The ritual requires the use of the Spirit of Oppression, which is rumored to be in the area of Stonecastle, where the old king rests.

The taking of Stonecastle was one thing, but, finding the Spirit of Oppression was another. A general of mine happened across a seer that was willing to part with it in exchange for the Pendant of Dispassion. Another seer was willing to part with a Pendant of Dispassion for the Hourglass of Evil Hour. Yet another was willing to part with the Hourglass of Evil Hour for the Pendant of Total Recall. Said Pendant was underground, guarded by some foolish Zealots. Talk about getting the runaround!

The effort was worth it, though. The newly reanimated king made for a potent Lich-lord, worthy of commanding his own army of undead. I personally question how long we can keep him under Dejya's control, but, I suppose we shall see.



Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: Scroll of Death Ripple, <1 Black Knight>, Skeleton Transformer
Win Condition: Bring the Spirit of Oppression to Stonecastle (achieved week 2, day 3)

I completely missed the Seer's Hut that exchanged the Pendant of Total Recall for the Hourglass of Evil Hour when I first came across it. Because of that, I was a little lost as to how it was possible to complete this scenario. I even went so far as to UGE the Hourglass of Evil Hour into a hero's backpack, as well as tripling their movement. However, I did find the Seer's Hut, and made the McGuffin exchanges, as the scenario intended. Though, I'll admit that didn't re-UGE the hero's movement back to what it should have been. XD
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I almost had to laugh when I was told what the next step was in regards to a full-scale invasion of Erathia. There was no doubt in my mind that amassing legions of Skeletons from the fallen was certainly part of the plan all along. However, I didn't think it would be taken so seriously! Only 2500 Skeletons? Well, okay, I guess. I didn't even have to sit down with my generals to discuss how to go about this. One fight was all it took.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <Vampire's Cowl>, Necromancy Amplifier, Unearthed Graves
Win Condition: Accumulate a total of 2,500 Skeletons among all heroes (achieved week 1, day 2)

So, here's the thing that what makes this win-con so amusing to me. Skeletons have 6 HP per unit. If Armageddon deals -11,000 damage, that's a gain of 1833 Skeletons. So, if I had a stack of at least 667 before a battle begins, I have the required amount. Since I typically UGE 700 tier 1 units, yeah, it literally only took one fight.
I suppose I could have UGEd less Skeletons. Kinda like how I didn't do my normal gold hack in Gold Rush do not complete that scenario in an in-game day? Ah, well. Not going to worry too much about this.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I received a letter from the Lich-King Gryphonheart, concerning a Death Knight, named Mot, who has suggested we not invade Erathia. The letter did not contain his reasons for this line of thinking, but, did contain an order to assassinate Mot for his foolishness, and general insubordination.

Mot isn't exactly a well-known general, so, a part of me thinks it would have been an okay decision to ignore him for the time being, and proceed with our attacks on Erathia, and deal with him later. However, I suppose this is a matter of quelling a potential internal rebellion before it truly becomes a problem.

The area in which Mot fortified himself was riddled with cursed land, which made my job more annoying than it should be. Even the land surrounding the town Mot was protecting was cursed! Yet, his armies fell before my generals, and whatever his reasoning was to not attack Erathia went with him. There was talk of reanimating his corpse as use in our armies, so he can still be of some us to us. Which I find slightly ironic, but, I hope we can get back to the task at hand soon.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <Pendant of Death>, Scroll of Protection from Earth, 25 Zombies
Win Condition: Defeat Mot (achieved week 2, day 3)

As I may have mentioned before, cursed land prevents spells greater than level 1 from being cast. As I indicate above, the town Mot was garrisoned into was on cursed land. However, the effect of cursed land was not present when I attacked it. My current theory is that since the town had a Fort, that somehow overrides terrain features, such as cursed land. I don't really know with 100% certainty if this is the case, but, I'm not going to question it too much at this point!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
There was a time when King Gryphonheart united the peoples of Erathia. That time has come again, only this time, they will be united in death. Our flags fly, with the unmistakable banner of the Lich-King Gyphonheart emblazoned upon them, no doubt filling the Erathians with fear.

Initial scouting reports a total of eight towns in the area, with our forces controlling three, and the Erathians controlling the other five. Considering the size of the area, I send six generals out for conquest.

Within the first week, my generals managed to capture one of them, with another in a day's march. The following week saw the rest fall in due time.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: Scroll of Death Ripple, Dead Man's Boots, <3 Ghost Dragons>
Win Condition: Capture all enemy castles and defeat their heroes (achieved week 2, day 7)

End of campaign denotes an expense of 36 in-game days, with a score of 1105 (1st place), granting me a rating of "Medusa".
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
While we have a solid foothold on Erathia, the land is in turmoil. Liberating Steadwick is to be our next move. Enemy forces have barricaded themselves into a nearby valley, and land routes are blocked off. This indicates the use of underground tunnels. We must either find these tunnels, of some other way over the mountains.

Thankfully, we are not entirely alone in this matter. Bracada has lent one of their Towers...





...to our cause. An underground entrance was discovered within a week. Within that tunnel, two enemy towns within two days were captured. However, the tunnels proved rather labyrinthine in their nature. Because of this, I felt it prudent to send three generals to scout for the path to Steadwick. This, while another three generals scouted along the north of the mountains, to see if there was a usable path there.

It ultimately came down to the underground path. It was disheartening to see the lands surrounding the capital became rough wasteland. There is much work to be done to restore the land to what it once was, but, so long as the threat of Eeoful and Nighon looms, the work cannot truly begin.



Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <10000 Gold>, 2 Archangels, 2 Titans
Win Condition: Capture Steadwick (achieved week 2, day 6)
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
A ransom note from Eeofol was received, demanding a sum of one million gold for the return of King Roland. Queen Catherine is skeptic, and is unwilling to pay. Interrogation of the envoy has revealed that King Roland is being held at Eeofol's border.

The Queen is probably right in being skeptic, and it may very well be a trap. However, if King Roland is held at the border, the most likely place would be the town of Kleesive. The aid of an AvLee Rampart...





...certainly does not not hurt. Once the scouting report came in concerning the area surrounding Kleesive, I couldn't help but to roll my eyes. Cursed land. Of course it would lie on cursed land. However, the town was left entirely unguarded. Perhaps the enemy was using an empty city strategy, in an attempt to make me think twice? That there would be an ambush once inside? Regardless, the strategy backfired, and King Roland is nowhere to be seen.




Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: Scroll of Protection from Fire, <Scroll of Ice Bolt>, Scroll of Precision
Win Condition: Capture Kleesive (achieved week 1, day 6)

I think the player party saves King Roland in MM7? Maybe it was in MM8. It's definitely a quest that is acquired later on in the game. Either way, I feel it's pretty safe to say that Roland wasn't in Kleesive!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Tatalia and Krewold have been fighting with Erathia and each other for the past several months. The time has come to put an end to that, and reestablish the border in that area. Bracada has lent their support again, though, I wish they could have sent a general as well as a town.

Either way, the reports are that Tatalia and Krewold have secured three towns each for me to liberate. In five days, the towns controlled by Tatalia were liberated, and their generals defeated, leaving only the Krewolds. With how my generals were positioned, and the flow of battles, it only took one additional day before they fell.



Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: Expert Logistics, Shield of the Dwarven Lords, <Centaur's Axe>
Win Condition: Capture all enemy towns, and defeat their heroes (achieved week 1, day 6)
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
The time has come to bring the fight to the enemy. We know that the overlords of Nighon used a vast network of underground tunnels in their assault against Steadwick. It might behoove us to use those against them.

AvLee and Bracada have sent assistance in this matter with both towns and generals, which certainly helped. Our scouting report is that the enemy controls five towns in this region. Considering the size of the area, six generals is a bare minimum.

While some generals did go underground, the others went to sea, as there was an expanse of ocean between our initial position and the enemy's. It was to be a setup for a classic pincer maneuver. Sea travel tends to take longer than on land, so while my forces managed to capture two towns within the first week, it took two more weeks before more towns were found and captured. To say nothing of enemy generals that needed to be hunted down.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: Expert Navigation, Mage Guild Level 1, <Mage Guild Level 3>
Win Condition: Capture all enemy towns, and defeat their heroes (achieved week 3, day 6)

I had to perform a double-take on this choice. Even if one ignores my use of UGE, and the expense of resources and time, why choose a level 1 Mage Guild when you have the opportunity to choose to have a level 3 Mage Guild? Even without Wisdom, a hero can learn up to level 2 spells, so, they can still benefit from visiting a level 3 Guild.

Campaign ended, with an expense of 45 days, a score of 1140 (1st place), granting me the title of Silver Pegasus.
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