The Gathering Storm

[Wheeler Dealer]

Storm on the Horizon, Champion

I left my 5 heroes together; might could have gone faster with 2 armies. There 7 Dream Teachers (14K xp total) so Order Lords are an excellent investment, not that you need the gold.

Week 1, First, check the artifacts. Some aren't equipped and some are even held by the wrong hero. One early decision, take the level boosters as you find them or try to get one level and then come back. The small battles will earn over 15K xp and Agraynel can get another 25% if you have the patience to do it.

The battles are confusing at first and you don't know how careful you need to be with your mana. Hypnotize is your best spell and Divine Intervention can save you a lot of time. Morale is a problem for all but Agraynel. She and Alita can both cast Mass Fervor.

Week 2, defeated a Dragon City in the NNE. Agraynel reached L31.

Week 3, There is a difference in Magic Immunity and Magic Resistance. Took Red's Asylum and eliminated Red. Kozuss reached L34.

Week 4, Alita reached L35. Agraynel reach L32. The Bard's set of artifacts only casts Song of Peace with a melee attack.

Week 5, (troll)

Week 7, Toured the Level Boosters. (Levels 39,38,37,35,34) Finished @ 2,3,5. The last battle was hard, mainly because my terrible morale let my enemy attack first.

Up Against the Wall

Champion

Week 1, I split the heroes, Dogwoggle alone, Alita and Bohb, Agraynel and Kozuss. Took both "mines" on day one.

Took the green and orange preserves on day 6, eliminating both. Alita and Bohb had a difficult battle with 24 Black Dragons and 302 Goblin Knights. Alita cast Martyr to protect Bohb and they both cast healing spells to keep Alita alive.

Week 2, Let Red take a preserve so I could take the necropolis w/o ending the scenario (Could have won at this point). Agraynel and Bohb have a slim chance of earning a level with xp.

Week 3, Put all but Dogwoggle together. Agraynel and Faerie Dragons attempt all battles. Agraynel got a level from xp.

Week 4, Let Red take a town so I could take the other and learn spells, etc. Finished all the Level Boosters. Whoops, missed a ToK on the east edge of the map. Time lost going back.

Week 5, (magi) won at 2,1,7. Heroes L43, L42, L41, L40 and L38. All possible stat boosters used.

Final showdown, Champion

The 5-month limit is laughable. I finished in the third week. Could have done it faster. There are no stat boosters and only 2 creature dwellings. Gold doesn't matter.

In retrospect, I should separate Alita and Bohb. They both have Divine Intervention and Death Magic.

I want to clear all three paths (I just like to clear the whole map).

Week 1, all the neutral stacks in range have 600 Goblin Knights. Sent Dogwoggle, Alita and Bohb east, they took 3 neutral stacks on day one. Kozuss and Agraynel took two stacks, much more difficult.

Week 2, The east team is in the NE corner. Been more difficult for Agraynel and Kozuss, but they have won all their battles. They circled back to clear the Path of Haste while the other pair worked the west path.

Didn't see this coming, Bohb got a level, chose GM Death. Agraynel is next closest, needing 300K xp.

Week 3, finished gathering all the artifacts on day one. Took the rest of the week to get my army back together and fight Hexis.

The final battle went easily. On turn one, Kozuss teleported the Dark Champions from in front of Hexis and Bohb, with his ability to bypass Magic Resistance, killed Hexis before he got a turn. A couple of turns of disabling or hypnotizing the Gargantuans and Evil Sorceresses earned FLAWLESS Victory.

In my prior game, on Expert, I finished on M1W4D2 with heroes at 43, 41, 41, 40 and 38. This time, on Champion, the heroes reached L43, L42, L41, L40 and L39.