MARREND PLAYS HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC 3 COMPLETE!

Being able to slay an Ancient Behemoth, or protect a turf from wandering monsters, is one thing. It is another matter entirely to vie against an enemy force. Or, in the case of this next challenge, to vie against three enemies.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <Sandals of the Saint>, 5 Cyclops, Cyclops Cave
Win Condition: Capture all enemy towns and defeat their heroes (achieved week 2, day 7)

An undead plague spreads across the land. This is not the work of some stay necromancer practicing their art, though, that could be bad enough as it is. No, somebody is slaughtering the peasants, and using their corpses to raise an army.

While I have written letters to the Erathian mainland expressing my doubts and fears, the hope for reinforcements is dim. I am probably on my own. Still, I should make some attempt to stem the tide.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: Still Eye of the Dragon, Talisman of Mana, <Quiet Eye of the Dragon>
Win Condition: Capture all enemy towns, and defeat their heroes (achieved week 3, day 5)

The strike against Lord Haart begins in earnest. It will not be enough to vanquish him, alone. I must vanquish his followers as well. Otherwise, they might bring him back yet again. They reside both on the surface, and below ground in a large swath of territory. It won't be easy.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <30 Lizardmen>, 10 Serpent Flies, 5 Basilisks
Win Condition: Capture all enemy towns, and defeat their heroes (achieved week 2, day 4)

Campaign ends with this scenario. 59 in-game days spent, granting me a score of 1400 (5th place), and the title of Genie.

I've gotten word of a number of Rust Dragons terrorizing mines. While restoring production and livelihoods are a side benefit, I'm mostly doing it to hone my skills and reputation as a Dragon Slayer.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <1 Titan>, 4 Naga Queens, Altar of Wishes
Win Condition: Flag all mines (achieved week 2, day 3)

The fact that Rust Dragons have a natural speed of 17 certainly make them annoying to fight. Even with the suite of artifacts that I give to adventuring heroes to increase creature speed rates in combat (Ring of the Wayfarer, Necklace of Swiftness, Cape of Velocity), it's not impossible for the Rust Dragons to get the first attack in. They still die to my sizeable armies, but, the point of fact is that they die before I can Armageddon, and therefore, gain more troops.

However, when I eliminated Purple Player, I just kinda shrugged at the game, and decided to Cheat Engine the rest of the map.

Rumors of Azure Dragons have surfaced. As other dragons are also nesting in the area, it would be an undoubitble achievement for a Dragon Slayer.

As with the Faerie Dragons, there were teleporters about, whisking me off to goodness-knows-where in search of the mighty beast.

The teleporters were ultimately the way forwad into the lair of the Azure, and soon, the corpse of the beast lay before me.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <2 Titans>, 10000 Gold, 10 Gems
Win Condition: Defeat an Azure Dragon (achieved week 3, day 1)

This scenario is the last in this campaign. I spent 51 days, and earned a scored of 1610 (3rd place), and the title of Scorpicore.

I've been UGEing movement at the beginning of each in-game week lately. The value I set it to is 9000, which is about three in-game days of travel, give or take, and is done to speed things up a bit. With this map, I was beginning to notice a pattern of heroes crisscrossing the map, with teleporters sending me to the next layer, and just being annoying to traverse, even with Dimension Door. On the dawn of week 3, I UGEd it to 30000 instead, so, ten days worth of movement, and, well, yeah.

What I had thought was a sure-fire way to get off this island turned out to be a dead end. The natives were of no help in this regard, though, promises were exchanged. How far such promises will take me, however, remains to be seen.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: 8 Archers, <+2 Spell Power>, Scroll of Bless
Win Condition: Capture all enemy towns, and defeat their heroes (achieved week 1, day 5)

The map in this scenario is basically the same as from last scenario, with a few changes. Such as certain hunts being removed from the map and having caters in their place. What really threw me for a loop was that Blue player was my ally! Not that having an AI-controlled player as an ally was particularly important, but, it wasn't something I was expecting. Normally, the map properties would give me that info, but, when doing a campaign, it just returns to the scenario overview. Which I don't think indicated any alliances?

Allegiances are a fickle thing. Even in my own case, my loyalties lie in whosoever would actually get me home. My dealings with natives and pirates have gotten me no closer to that goal.

At some point, I learned of a nearby Erathian outpost. That seemed the surest way back as any I've come across so far, but was also the target of the pirates that I broke off from.

By all accounts, a relief force will arrive after four months. Since the shipwreck, I've learned to be weary of such things. Will that relief force even come? Who knows, but, I should do my best to survive for at least that long.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: Scroll of Prayer, <2 Angels>, Loins of Legion
Win Condition: Four in-game months pass (achieved month 5, week 1, day 1)

I was really hoping that I could win by defeating all foes before the stated time limit. This was not the case. So, while I was able to capture all enemy towns and defeat their heroes by week 3, day 1, (so, not quite an in-game month passing) the game didn't register that as a win. Suffice it to say, the game devolved into doing nothing except passing the turn until the victory condition was met.

Aside from that, this was the last scenario in this campaign. I spend 145 in-game days, earning me a score of 1605 (4th place), and the title of Scorpicore.


As an additional aside, I've had it in the back of my head to get a new laptop for a while. However, the research in earnest started yesterday, and my general hope to to gather enough data to make a purchase by the end of the month, if not sooner. I'm not, exactly, sure what this will mean for this LP, such as it is. It's not as if I won't be able use my current machine anymore, but, the move to the new one would certainly be a distraction.

Before I get too much further, lemme make an aside concerning the campaigns for the Shadow of Death expansion. For the most part, they're framed as a kind of "origin story", involving the few heroes that remain from previous Might and Magic games. The New Beginning campaign has it's focus on Gem.

Strictly speaking, in the context of HoM&M, she served Queen Lamanda as a Sorceress during the events of Heroes 1, and likely served under Roland during the Succession War, also as a Sorceress. This campaign outlines how she became a Druid in Heroes 3. It's been a while, but, I think Gem was originally from one of the Xeen games? Maybe MM3? Geeze, I might have to re-play those old games again. XD

I have trained as a cadet of the Forest Guard for many years, and the time of my graduation draws near. My first test is to clear the valley near Gaia's Crest, with other members of the Forest Guard posing as enemies.


Scenario notes/asides
Starting Bonus: <Spyglass>, 15 Grand Elves, 10 Sharpshooters
Win Condition: Capture all enemy towns and defeat their heroes (achieved day 5)

This campaign studies the rise of Gelu, who was initially introduced to the greater Might and Magic franchise with the Armageddon's Blade campaign that I had already covered. Since he doesn't have an appearance in a main-line game, I find it somewhat difficult to call him a "hero" of the series. Then again, in the context of HoM&M 1/2, I suppose all it took to be a "hero" of the series is to be a notable NPC up to the Xeen games. With this game, it's more of a Word of God scenario.