In Progress Let's yell at me as I derp through Heros of Magic and Might 2!

[Chuftie]

So it's my first LP, so expect me to do something wrong somewhere down the line and an awkward introduction.

Heading back to the subject of the game, it holds a special place but necessarily nostalgic place in my memory as one of the games I played on the PC when I was child. It was also my first non RTS strategy game which meant I sucked at it since it was nothing like Starcraft or Age of Empires and of course I was a kid. Never got too far in Roland's and I can't remember much in Archibald's except necro was easier for me and bone dragons are raddest thing ever. Still despite sucking at it I was enthralled by the board game like aesthetics and I confined myself to playing around in the non campaign stuff. Roc around the clock and some other maps too.

Now I return decades later to play it and still suck mainly because I still haven't got the proper feel for it down. And that's where I call upon the hivemind to guide and help me learn the game or more likely misdirect and misinform me, as well as laughing and face palming as I screw up. Anyway I got Heroes Gold Edition and plan to play through the main campaigns, and then maybe some of the expansion stuff too.

Anyway opening up the main campaign gives us this lovely cinematic, detailing the two brothers, how lineage works in this place, and of course the troubling tendency for the seers to die. And of course how one of the brothers is evil and the other good and you know the usual shit that comes with the territory

Alright so now at this selection screen we get our choice of who to work and which campaign to start with. I got no real preference, but if no consensus is made I'll choose Archibald because Skeletal Dragons are rad and also because I'm more familiar with the Roland stuff. So which is it Codex? The guy with the cheesy flame pattern oriental looking shirt, or the hippie who looks like the priest units from Age of Empiries?

 

[Azira]

A vote for archibald. If you've read my Might and Magic LPs, you will have seen what was the canon ending to your LP, so let's try to go non-canon.

 

[Cool name]

I will vote for Roland. This place is in dire need of gentle and virtuous heroes of light to serve as role models.

 

[Chuftie]

What? Archie doesn't establish his reign of snazzy nerhus and rad skeletal dragons?


Even as a kid I knew who's ending was the true ending™

 

[Erebus]

Archibald clearly has the better moustache.

 

[Chuftie]

So it seems Archibald and his snazzy nerhu it is!

Unless some last minute votes get in that is...

 

[tindrli]

another vote for Archibro. good luck

 

[Canus]

Archibald for true king.
Time to bring the incline to the hippie.

 

[Chuftie]

Alright this is more than enough votes, totally rad bone dragons here we come!

Upon choosing Archibald we get the usual congratulatory ego massage, promising us rewards and blah blah blah. Same thing with Roland except it would also include justice!

Anyway on our mission screen we see the mission pathways that kinda branch but not really, our objectives, and out starting choice which ranges from items to what hero you want. Or least those are the options I got within my limited advancements.

Anyway our starting choices are Gold which is self-explanatory, mage's ring, and minor scroll. Gold is easily the weakest since for me it's more about the other resources which are important, unless my castle already began with some upgraded monster buildings.

Mage's ring increases spell power which can be really useful depending on what the game gives me, but it also gives another benefit which is you start with a Cemetery meaning I get two units to start with.

Minor scroll increases wisdom which is responsible for more magic points, and since it gives plus 2 it means an extra 20 magic points.

Personally I'm leaning to the ring since the free building is nice which means I can focus on build other things

 

[Erebus]

Judging from your descriptions, the ring indeed sounds like the best choice.

 

[tindrli]

i vote for gold

 

[TOME]

Forget the trinkets, go for .

 

[Arpad]

Take the gold

 

[Chuftie]

So codex says they want the extra 2000 gold to start with, and indeed I shall start with that. Anyway our current mission is to take over all the other lords' castles in the map which should be easy enough with our necro skills.

Also because I felt lazy about snipping only the game screen I decided just take shots of the entire window, I can always change it if it detracts too much. Also please tell me if I'm not showing enough action and should post more screenshots.

As you can see our starting hero is the curiously named Roxana, a strong independent black necromancer that don't need no man. We got I guess serviceable magic related stats but our attack and defense are lacking. Also because of necromancer class one of the slots for learning stuff is taken. I know that if you got a pure undead army morale doesn't apply but I can't remember if luck works the same way or not. Anyway the skills I got my sights as top priority, would be wisdom, necromancy, logistics, estates, and ballistics.

I then go south picking up the gold and treasure chest choosing the exp over gold giving me a level up and two skill choices. I pick ballistics over eagle eye since I don't think for this map there will be a need to grind for spells. Besides doesn't taking over castles do the same thing?

Using my last move left I position myself closer to that sulfur pile
Then before ending my turn I go buy a mage guild and forget to acquire the spells before ending my turn.

I then move to aforementioned pile then down to that other treasure chest, pick the exp over gold, get another level up and the options between advancing my ballistics or necromancy. Unfortunately my screen cap derped and it didn't get taken. So instead here's a shot of me with a pyramid added to the town also I end my turn.

I spend the next couple of turns moving around collecting all the resources and building my town towards getting some vampires, with the next monster in sight being liches for some ranged.

The spells I got from the guild excluding cold ray are pretty decent.

My town is getting closer to completion, building upgrades notwithstanding.

Also as you can see on our stats Roxana is now a bit more well rounded than at start.

I also hit that observation tower giving me a views of a nice amount of treasure boxes . Also not pictured is my moving to the rock mine guarded by peasants; lacking the energy to go fight them I end my turn and fight them on the next.

As you can see here Roxana has a low but pretty beefy for trash mobs army. Also she's been gaining some attack points but her defense is laughable.

Being impressed by my army they deem to join, however I refuse to let them sully my army . They in turn attack and let me use my master strategy known as, let the vampire lords one shot their asses. Actually I lied I let my upgraded mummy stack take out the last stack, because why not. Either flawless victory, and I get a decent amount of skeletons from their worthless asses to my growing horde.

After nabbing the sulfur mine I then make to the archer guarded logging cap, for glory, xp, and cheesing with my vampire lords. Hoping to minimize any casualties induced to my vamp lords I do the obvious and cast steel skin before charging the ranger and one shotting her. I then move my mummy and skeleton to the top and bottom respectively, the archers then fruitlessly spend their actions shooting my vampires to no effect . Next turn rolls around and I kill the bottommost archer then almost oneshot the other bottom archer before casting haste on my skellies and killing the top archers. The battle ends when my mummies counterattack the last archer after she attacks them and dies. All in all pretty lame battle as only get five skeletons to my stack.

Ending my turn I see the yellow NPC hero move and takeover the gem mine, and a notice about all monster dwellings increase which leads me back to my castle to buy more vamps and mummies and spend the remainder on a moat.

Lord Kilburn's army aside from the swordsmen and pikemen is pretty much weak.

I then decide to be really aggressive and pursue to the yellow hero, in my way are these trolls and much like the previous battle with the Archers and Ranger I do the same move of casting steel skin on vamps having them charge one of the trolls, followed by moving my others. Trolls predictably follow through with pelting the vampires with rocks for small damage and then I kill the bottom troll and center troll with vamp and mummy, a troll hits the mummy which gets countered and with great haste the skeletons take out that troll. While the one adjacent to the vampire getting killed in the counterattack.And another flawless victory with shitty skeleton gainz but decent exp.

Scoring a level up after that fight I choose necromancy so I can max it out already. Since skeletons are my mook bread and butter that be used as meatshields in tougher battles.

Kilburn doesn't move very, much almost as if expecting to get fought very very soon. On my turn I I make my way at those stacks of chests for more GAINZ . On the second chest I score another level up and choose mysticism over diplomacy.

Another yellow npc hero comes out but he's not very strong as he only has two different stacks.

I then fight the mummies and do the usual, and win. I then get another level up and choose diplomacy over pathfinding because everything's just going to be grass and maybe dirt which don't give negative mods to moving.

On the next turn I attack a bunch of gargoyles and get swarmed losing one royal mummy in the great war, he shall be gone but not forgotten in the glorious trek to to shave Lord Kilburn's mullet. I then cast steel skin on my vamps kill one off, then move mummies to weaken another stack, followed by skeletons attacking another stack. I then end up casting bloodlust on both skeletons and vamps to speed up the carnage for victory.

Moving to the shack I learn death ripple which will be useful since it doesn't affect undead at all. I then end my turn and head to the chicken leg hut before getting cut off by Dimitri. It is now time to steam roll through Dimitri and get Kilburn's mullet!

 

[Erebus]

Are vampire lords able to regenerate their casualties the way they do in later games ?

 

[Chuftie]

No, they only get to heal back their HP blob through attacking, you either cast rez or go back to the castle for casualties

 

[Ashery]

A comment on the format: I'd argue that you'd improve the readability significantly if you switched to the more typical format where comments are made after every screenshot or so. That's not to say you *can't* pull off a format similar to the one you're using, as most combats could be handled in such a manner (Especially against the random trash groups), but mixing both the strategy and tactical layer in a single block is probably a no-go.

Still, so long as you don't abandon the LP after your initial post your LPs will be better than mine, heh.

Oh, and the screenshots are perfectly fine as they are.

 

[Chuftie]

Alright I'll put that to use in the next update.

Also does the hivemind have any ideas on how to swiftly crush Kilburn as well as not getting too many casualties when I rush to the castle?

Also suggestions as to which direction should I explore/expand after I get my first castle captured are welcome too.

 

[Hirato]

I would advise you to get a second hero, mainly to explore, collect weekly loot from mills, and ferry mobs to your main hero.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Even though it is expensive as hell to play that faction, playing a Warlock on a high sulfur map is one of the greatest joys if you quickly get yourself a single Black Dragon.

When you get just one Black Dragon, it's a game-changer for you. It's worth an entire army. And if you make sure to capitalize on it and get one or two cities, then even if the opponents build a large elite army, you now have the resources to get 3, 4, or 5 additional Black Dragons.

And once you get to 10-20 Black Dragons, it is just incredible obscene. Of course, like all things in HoMM2, it is a temporary advantage, and you need to put them to real good use before the unicorn-riders build 100 Phoenixes.

This is easily my favourite strategy game ever! Even when I am in a non-gaming mood or a non-gaming phase, HoMM2 is the only game I ever play if I have the free time.

 

[octavius]

I would advise you to get a second hero, mainly to explore, collect weekly loot from mills, and ferry mobs to your main hero.

This is what I was thinking too, when reading the LP.

 

[Pope Amole II]

Erm, it's strange that no one bothered to mention it, but you screwed up a couple of screenshots via copy-pasting the links (probably - I also use dropbox for my LP and it's an easy mistake to make). Nothing major, but usually hitting the preview button and actually scrolling through the post kinda helps here.

 

[Chuftie]

I found one screen crap but where's the others?

 

[Pope Amole II]

Hm, seems there was just one - thought that 4 and 5 were also the same, but they differ by 1 building.

 

[Chuftie]

Alright I fixed up the first string of images, now for the update!