Heroes II Roland Campaign: Ultimate Crown?

[Bandobras Took]

I'm replaying the Heroes II campaign for nostalgia's sake, and realized that I've opted to gather the army instead of going for the crown every time. A large force of Black Dragons seems too valuable to pass up.

Is going for the Crown instead viable? If, like me, you are not content unless you've defeated every foe, how would you proceed on the last map with the Crown instead of a huge army?

[AngelEyes]

As I remember, you can choose to go for the army or the Crown, but not both, right?

That being said, I think going for the army is the easier route here. The crown is a nice artifact for sure, but those extra creatures will make your life a whole lot easier in the final map. Since you're a veteran Heroes 2 player, going for the Crown instead may add an additional (but welcome) challenge to the final map.

[Darmani]

Last time I played the Roland campaign, I took the Crown.

On its own, it was meh But I also got the Book of Summoning and the Summon Earth Elemental spell. My opponents then started falling very quickly. I later defeated Archibald using a tiny army consisting of a few boars, archers, not and other assorted weaklings (plus 200 Mana worth of summoned earth elementals).