Rampart strategies by Jolly Joker (part 1)

RAMPART TACTICS AGAINST OTHER TOWNS

I'm assuming here that you don't have Mass Haste available as a spell and neither Mass Prayer (this is covered further up). Furthermore I assume that your main hero is a Ranger. With a Druid you will fight much more with magic casting Implosion should you have it. However, this is an inferior course, since there are much better magic heroes out there than the Druid and better creatures to survive a magical onslaught than Gold Dragons.

CASTLE

First of all the opponent has the initiative. His Archangels are the first unit that moves. Note, that Castle has no option to put this advantage to good use. An immediate Mass Haste or Mass Prayer or even Mass Slow in case of a rather offensive deployment involving a distinct Tactics advantage won't gain because your Gold Dragons will move right after the AA's no matter the spell cast giving you the chance to counter it. Note, too, however, that casting those spells when it is the Cavaliers's or Griffins' turn will have the immediate effect of letting Zealots and Marksmen move before it is your turn again, giving them a chance to reduce the Elves (maybe significantly).

a) you have a Tactics advantage: In this case you are able to shield the Elves against an immediate attack of the AAs. Your main concern is the elimination of the (probably intimidating number of) Marksmen and the Zealots.

If the opponent has wasted his spell immediately (spell was resisted or has no lasting effect), cast Mass Slow on his units and wait with all units except the Elves. When it is your Elves' turn hit the more dangerous of the 2 shooter stacks and take the volley of the 2nd one. Cast Mass Bless, Mass Shield or Mass Stone Skin at the beginning of the 2nd round and wreak havoc.

If the opponent doesn't cast a spell you have a difficult decision to make. If you don't cast a spell the opponent will have any opportunity to shoot with both Zealots and Marksmen before your Elves get a shot (Zealots will move before Elves normally and then a simple Haste on the Marksmen will allow the Marksmen to fire). Check immediately if you can afford that by calculating the average damage both shooter stacks will do to your Elves. This will be minimum damage, because chances are that one or both of those stacks may get a morale boost or that the opponent has got Archery (note that Orrin has got a special in Archery, so that may turn out nasty). If you can't afford that, an immediate Mass Slow on the Castle troops or a simple Haste on the Elves allows your Elves to shoot first decimating the more dangerous of the 2 shooter stacks and probably crippling it, but handing the opponent the spell initiative. However, a Knight hero type may resist that spell in part, so this is not foolproof.

An interesting situation arises when both decline to cast a spell. Castle can't afford to wait with the casting until it is the turn of the Archangels again (if he does that, you'll simply Blind the Angels when it is your Pegasi's or Dragons' turn denying the opponent not only the spell but the Angels' move for the round).

b) you have no Tactics advantage: In this case the Archangels may attack the Elves (or maybe even the Dragons) immediately , probably supporting the attack with a spell. First of all you can't do anything about that, so there's no reason to feel bad or something. On the plus side you do have an easy target now, while the opposing forces aren't able to reach you (should the opponent have cast Mass Prayer or Mass Haste cast Mass Slow or Mass Dispel), so you will have to face only the ill effects of the enemy shooters (at half damage) while you can destroy the Archangels. It would be a mistake now to hit the enemy shooters with Dragons and Pegasi (immediately) because that would give the enemy the chance to hit them with his remaining units. It may be possible to bring the AAs down without using up the turn of Dragons and Pegasi which would give you a double turn with them. So check if Unicorns, Dwarves, Centaurs, Dendroids and the rest of your Elves are able to kill the Archangels alone (they have nothing better to do anyway). If the AAs killed the bulk of the Elves you may sacrifice the rest of them by making the initial attack with them. In any case it doesn't hurt to wait with Dragons and Pegasi. When all of your units have moved and it's the Pegasi's turn again, attack the Marksmen with them (because of the Dragons the opponent can't afford to guard his shooters; if he does so anyway your Dragons will take advantage) and attack the Zealots with the Dragons. This will leave you with the advantage, but the fight is far from over. Crusaders and Griffins still pose a threat. The best unit to fight the Griffins are the Dendroids while the Unicorns should get the Crusaders. The Dragons should fight the Cavaliers, while Dwarves, Centaurs and Pegasi are more than enough to handle the Halberdiers and support atttacks on the other stacks. Keep in mind, though, that it is vital to fight with all of your stacks, so at the beginning of the 2nd turn it may be feasible to pull Dragons and Pegasi back!

DUNGEON

Even though you have the initiative here, the Gold Dragons being the fastest creature on the battlefield, you are at a disadvantage, because the Dungeon forces are much more prepared for the immediate offense. 6th and 7th level creatures may reach you immediately, while the 5th level creature is doubly as fast as yours and capable to do high damage at that. You have the same problem here than Castle against you being unable to capitalize on the initiative because of the immunity and high speed of the Black Dragons.

The chances to get Air Magic are equal for Warlock or Druid and Overlord or Ranger, respectively. So since your Ranger won't have Mass Haste an enemy Overlord won't have it either. A Warlock may have it, but a Warlock won't have Tactics and this will give you a chance to rearrange your units. This will not be the case against an Overlord. In fact, if you don't have expert Tactics expect a Tactics disadvantage and in this case you are in serious trouble. With a simple Tactics advantage for the Dungeon forces an equally simple Haste on the Minotaur Kings is enough to let them reach your forces - with possibly disastrous consequences.

So facing a Warlock is a lot better for you, provided you have a Ranger. The Warlock may be a formidable spellcaster, but your Resistance will lessen the effects of that, while you will have a Tactics advantage and much better Attack and Defense values. Of course the Warlock may have other nasty spells like Resurrect.

The fact that both forces are equipped with Dragons will lead on both sides to a reluctance - and an inability - to guard the shooters. This is a disadvantage for you. Your shooter power is concentrated in one stack. The enemy has two stacks which can't be disabled by your Dragons alone (the enemy can do that). Furthermore, while the Elves do as much shooter-damage as both of the enemy shooter stacks combined, they are much more vulnerable in hand-to-hand combat. They have less HPs and do only half damage (in effect the damage is quartered), while both enemy shooters do full damage hand-to-hand plus the Medusas have the petrifying special making attacks on them awkward. This means, the enemy can gain much more than you, if he flies his Dragons or Scorpicores right to your Elves disabling them as a shooting force, while your Dragons can disable only half the enemy's shooting force. Furthermore the Elves will suffer much more under an attack than the Evil Eyes or Medusas will suffer under an attack of your Dragons.

What is good for the enemy can't be good for you, so it seems this may not be the right way to go.

a) You've got a Tactics advantage. This will be the case against a Warlock. Guard the Elves. Place the Elves into a corner. The Dragons are placed before them on the fringe either directly adjacent or with a free space between them. Place the Dwarves next to the Dragons, so that there is one free hex (only) adjacent to the Elves. Now place the Dendroids adjacent to the Dwarves, so that the only double hex blast the Black Dragons can get is Dendroids (attacked stack) and Dwarves (blasted stack) and there is no room for the Dragons to land adjacent to the Elves. Place the other stacks out of range of the Scorpicores and non-adjacent to each other. When you have finished the Tactics phase wait with the Dragons and see what the enemy is doing. Should he attack with the Dragons you'll finish them easily. Make the first attack on them with the Dendroids (should they be in range). If he attacks with the Dragons, you'll wait with all stacks except the Elves shooting either on the Evil Eyes, Medusas or Dragons (if you need that boost). Should the enemy Implode the Elves or even the Gold Dragons, well, there is no guard against that. Maybe you are lucky and the spell is Resisted. Wait with your spell until the enemy cast his. Should he cast Mass Slow on you, Slow him, too (that suits you as long as you have got the Elves). Should he cast Mass Haste, Slow him anyway. You are in trouble only, when the enemy has got a big damage spell and uses it. Note, that you would be even unable to counter that with a Druid under normal circumstances, because a Warlock will have more Spell Power than a Druid and Resurrect won't work on the Dragons anyway. Meteor Shower may harm your lower level troops including the Elves badly. If such a spell is cast it will be cast early. In this case make best use of your free spell, wait with your troops and then go for the enemy. You can't afford to sit around and wait until the enemy has killed you with magic.

b) You have no Tactics advantage. This will be the case against an Overlord. The good thing is the Overlord won't have that much Spell Power, so he can't hurt you with big Damage spells. The bad news is you won't be able to guard the Elves. Against a high level Overlord (he WILL have expert Tactics) it is a good idea to leave the Elves with another hero and go into the battle with only 6 stacks. Your Dragons will have the chance to move first (Tactics or not) so the enemy won't get a chance for a double hex attack and he will also be unable to fly his Dragons between the Goldies and one of your other stacks to use the retaliation of your Dragons against you. If there is no Tactics advantage for any side, this is an option you will have: Blasting the Black Dragons and using the backblast to your advantage. This will, however, doom the Dragons. It might seem odd to waste a turn of the Gold Dragons by simply moving them so that their retaliation cannot harm your own troops in case of a Black Dragon attack, but it seems best anyway. A temptation would be a possible double hex attack against, say, the Trogs with the Blacks as blast victim, but that would only be possible if the enemy had come with 7 stacks - which you won't see very often.

Since you don't have to guard anything, you can advance. The speed is given by your Dendroids. If the Overlord can't field any Mass spell first turn, a simple Haste on the Dendroids followed by Mass Slow will see you in excellent strike position. A Tactics advantage for the Overlord with an offensive deployment of his units (a mistake, of course, but not unimaginable) may see your Dendroids in battle even earlier or without the need to cast Haste on them. It is entirely possible, that the Dungeon forces go for an allout offense with a (decent) Tactics advantage. While this will lead to some losses, well, if you can't stand them who could?

If you can avoid (afford) it, don't attack the Black Dragons with your Unicorns because this wastes a chance to Blind an enemy stack. Try to take out the Scorpicores fast because their paralyzing special hurts. As long as you are out of the 10 hex range of the Dungeon shooters there is not much need to go for them: there are more dangerous troops out there. However, if you have to go into their range don't let them shoot freely. The Harpy Hags can be a pain, especially when Blessed. A Blessed stack of Harpy Hags (the enemy will have a LOT of them) will do REAL damage, so do something about them. The Dwarves are fully capable to take them out as are the Pegasi, even though you might need them for either Evil Eyes or Medusas or even to finish of a last Dragon or a few Scorpicores. Use the Dendroids wisely: Remember, the attacked stack can't move, but fight only adjacent stacks beside the Dendroids. Centaur Captains can be used to attack large numbers of Trogs or even Harpy Hags or they can make supporting attacks on higher level troops, but won't do that much damage then.

FORTRESS

One thing is clear: The enemy has to come for you which is good. The Air Magic probabilities are exactly as yours (and those of the Dungeon heroes), so Mass Haste is not that big a danger. Obviously, the slower the enemy comes the better for you, but since the Fortress heroes are big favourites for getting Water Magic they will be able to Cure or Dispel everything you cast on them. Moreover Fortress tends to have the Teleport spell in the Guild and that may lead to some nasty surprises: A Teleported stack of Mighty Gorgons may kill a substantial number of your Gold Dragons. A Teleported stack of Chaos Hydras may damage a substantial number of your stacks without retaliation, so there are dangers.

Against a Witch you will have a Tactics advantage. Use it to guard your Elves with Dwarves and Unicorns. Deploy the rest so that there is no good target for a teleported Hydra, but you might shield your Dragons with Dendroid and Pegasi so the Teleported Mighty Gorgons can't harm them. Wait with everything and try to get Mass Slow through. Mass Bless is a good spell and Cloning the Elves is no mistake (see to it, that there is room for a Cloned stack of Elves). Concentrate on killing Gorgons (Dendroids are great here) and Hydras (Dragons and Unicorns). Don't waste your Elves by shooting on the pathetic Lizard Warriors (but you should have killed them before you Clone anything).

Against a Beastmaster you probably won't have a Tactics advantage (it might even be the other way round). Immediately Mass Slow the enemy, when it is your turn, then guard everything as against a Witch and shoot with the Elves. The rest should work exactly the same except that it may be tougher to bring down the units, but don't worry too much here.

INFERNO

Contrary to most people's believe this may be awkward. The biggest danger is the enemy having expert Fire Magic and the Berserk spell. Since he has the initiative he may cast it immediately. Furthermore he can reach you with two of his units right away. Note, that BOTH Inferno hero types have good probabilities to get Tactics, so it is a distinct possibility that you won't have a Tactics advantage, but even IF you have one, Magogs are as fast as Marksmen, have better Attack and Defense Values, have more HPs and have a higher base damage. If they get one extra target they will consequently do more damage than the same number of Marksmen (although evenly distributed on 2 stacks) and with 2 extra targets they will do significantly more damage. Furthermore, with the exception of the Cerberi Inferno has one-hex-creatures only, so if and when you have the Tactics advantage and you want to guard the elves you can't afford to leave one hex free around the Elves which would give the Magogs indeed 3 targets. So IF you have a Tactics advantage and IF you guard the Elves this leaves as an option only to cast an immediate Mass Slow against the enemy once it's the Dragons's turn because you want to make sure the Elves are shooting prior to the Magogs (but note, that this won't work on Lava ground plus the enemy MAY have Resistance) and try to kill as many Magogs with the Elves as possible. This on the other hand leaves you wide open for spells like expert Berserk and expert Curse. With the Berserk spell being a distinct possibility, initial deployment (with or without a Tactics advantage) is obviously of some importance.

Let's have a look at the normal Rampart movement order: Dragons begin, then Pegasi, then Unicorns, then Centaurs, then Elves, Dwarves and lastly Dendroids. Expert Berserk is capable of affecting 4 stacks out of 7 and 3 out of 6. It is best cast against the unit the opponent moves next plus the 2 or 3 stacks after that in the movement order. Without any Tactics being involved, the best moment to cast expert Berserk against a Rampart force would be the moment the Efreet Sultans have their turn and then cast it against Pegasi, Unicorns, Centaur Captains and Elves. The prerequisite for that would be those 4 stacks being either in slots 2-5 or in slots 3-6. The next best chance would be to cast it when it's the Cerberi's turn (prior to the Centaurs) on Centaurs, Elves, Dwarves and Dendroids which would again make it necessary that they were in slots 2-5 or 3-6.

Note, that you are not required to put the Dragons into the middle slot; the Devils are a non-retaliation unit, so an attack of them against the Dragons won't lead to a friendly retaliation blast. If not deployed in the middle slot, however, they have to be kept out of reach of the Efreet Sultans (a simple Haste on them could have desastrous consequences, though, so the middle slot is still the safest place for the Dragons).

The following deployment makes some sense: (left to right, slots 1 to 7: Silver Pegasi, Centaur Captains, Battle Dwarves, Dragons, Unicorns, Dendroids, Elves or in movement order numbers: 2,4,6,1,3,7,5. Note, that there are no units following directly after another standing adjacent.

Should you have a Tactics advantage and opt to guard the Elves (the enemy may not have that many Magogs, for example) guard the Elves with Dendroids and Unicorns, so the deployment wouldn't be all that different. Resistance will furthermore lessen the effects of Berserk. Should the opponent cast Berserk there will at most one unit (the unit next in the movement order; it may Resist, then there will be no effect at all) run amok before you have a chance to cast Mass Cure or Mass Dispel.

Guarding the Elves or not, let the enemy come. Try to Mass Slow him. See to it that the Pit Lords are killed and strike the Efreets with the Elves. The Dragons will wait and may strike at the Magogs at the end of the first turn. In most cases it seems better to let the Magogs have one hit (even with excess damage) instead of going directly for them. Efreet Sultans are the bigger threat. If the enemy Mass Curses you, counter that with Mass Bless or Mass Slow. Inferno is the town having the fewest HPs of all, but those HPs can hurt, so you should make use of your HP advantage and smash them with the weight of your HPs.

NECROPOLIS

For those who think Necropolis is fair game, be warned. Think about it. When meeting a full Necropolis force with a decent hero some time in the middle of the 2nd month or later the Necropolis force may have seen 4 weeks with a HP production better than you! Having a normal hero without any Necro-artefacts but with the Necromancy Amplifier this hero has been converting Skeletons with a rate of 40% for some weeks now. Normally you produce some 450 HPs more than a Necropolis, but that are 75 Skeletons only. The Necro has to kill short of 200 creatures per week to get them. Depending on the map this may be child's play. A map with high numbers/low level guarding stacks will produce lots of Skeletons (while a map with high level/low numbers creatures won't). If it is such a map you are playing expect a huge Skeleton horde and an equal or even superior in total HPs!

Both hero types will have decent Magic! Necromancers will most probably have Earth, Water and Air Magic and while the chances of a Death Knight having Water and Air Magic are somewhat lower, they are still exactly as good as those of your Druid. This means, the might hero of the enemy will be as good magically as your magic hero and better than your Rangers, so a Necropolis' force may have every spell except fire spells, Bless and Prayer on expert level. This includes the Cloning and Teleporting of large numbers of Skeletons. Note further, that on any ground except Grass or when having Ivor as a hero Power Liches will move prior to Grand Elves. While the excess damage of Magogs may be tolerated them Power Liches do damage! They have a basic Attack/Defense differential of +8 against the Elves, +1 against Dendroids and -1 against Unicorns. A solid stack of them like 24 will kill a lot of units even with the damage halved for distance.

On Grass ground or with Ivor it may pay to cast an immediate Mass Slow (you have the initiative). This will allow you to guard the Elves (Tactics advantage or not), albeit not with Dendroids or Dwarves and to reduce the Power Liches with the Elves before the enemy gets a move in. This will work against a Necromancer (virtually no chances to get Resistance), but may fail against a Death Knight since he as all might heroes will get chances to pick the Resistance skill so that one or two of his stacks may Resist. If it's a fast one you may have wasted a spell.

While it is vital to take out the Power Liches, so your Elves rule, it is no good idea to attack immediately with Dragons and/or Pegasi. This will only get them killed. Note, however, that the opponent may have no second thoughts about flying his Ghost Dragons right to your Elves, because the Dragons are not his best unit anyway. The crucial stack is the Skeleton stack, and without shooter support it may be impossible to reduce it sufficiently. 600 Skeletons will do 600-1800 base damage when they hit. This number will be halved against your Dragons because of Attack/Defense difference, but will be better against your other stacks. Furthermore the Necro force includes a stack of worthless junk good for eating away retaliations. The opponent will always attack with his Zombies first (not minding losses there) and then go at you with the Skeletons. So flying the Dragons (or Pegasi) into Skeleton range will kill them, that's for sure.

A much smaller problem are the Vampire Lords. Simply ignore them at first. They won't do much damage, but once you attack them, do it with high level monsters and kill them to neutralize their special.

So you want to attack the Skeleton masses with the Elves to reduce them to a managable number. Cast Mass Slow immediately, guard the Elves and hit the Power Liches with them. Take their return volley, then hit them with the Dragons as the last action of the first turn. Use the Elves then to reduce Skeletons or Dread Knights (depending on which stack is potentially more damaging; but note that the Elves will be a lot more effective against Skeletons; note also that it is better to shoot at a target in range). After the first turn kill the enemy stack-wise. Mass Bless is a great spell for you, but beware of the enemy casting Mass Haste which you have to counter immediately. Try to keep your troops out of the normal (non-Hasted) range of the Skeletons at first. If they are approaching you, attack them in force (they should be reduced meanwhile).

Your Pegasi are the ideal Wraith killer and should do so once the Ghost Dragons are dead and you may get a double turn with them. Your Ranger won't have that many spell points available and the constant draining of your spell points sucks.

Dendroids are the unit of choice for a first strike on Dread Knights, while the Gold Dragons will be perfectly able to take out the Ghost Dragons without any help. The Unicorns's Blind special won't work, but once you decide to take on the Vamp Lords they will be up to the job.

Finally Animate Dead is a nasty spell. A Necromancer with Spell Power 10 and expert Earth Magic can resurrect 660 HPs for 12 spell points. That's 110 Skeletons, 16 Vamp Lords or Power Liches, 5 Dread Knights or 3 Ghost Dragons which is a lot. Be prepared to fight some of the enemy forces twice!

STRONGHOLD

It doesn't matter if you fight a Barbarian or a Battle Mage: the opponent will have Tactics and (expert) Air Magic. You most probably won't have a Tactics advantage, but you better have expert Tactics to deny the opponent a Tactics advantage. A small Tactics advantage (2 Hexes) is enough for the Stronghold forces to deploy according to terrain and speed then cast Mass Haste and hit you with 7 units in a row. Denying Stronghold a Tactics advantage will at least see the Ogre Mages out of range (even though with a higher level Terek even those will reach you right away).

On non-rough terrain you will be able to guard your Elves with Dragons and Silver Pegasi because they both move before the first Stronghold unit. Do that. Mass Slow would allow you to get a shot off with all of your Elves (but that's no sure thing because both Stronghold hero types have good chances to have Resistance) and guard the Elves with other units than your fastest, but the spell would be wasted since the enemy will have Mass Haste more often than not. A Barbarian has the same probabilities for getting Air Magic than a Ranger for getting Earth Magic, while a Battle Mage has even better chances.

You have to prepare for the onslaught of the Hasted Stronghold troops. Three ways of going into the battle:

1) You can cast Mass Stoneskin, Mass Shield or Mass Bless right away.
2) You can wait what the enemy does when it's his turn and then cast Mass Slow on him (whether he cast Mass Haste or not).
3) You can Blind the Behemoths (which makes sense if the Behemoths can't reach your ranks with normal speed).

1) is not that risky. While the opponent will begin the next turn with the T-Birds you will still have Dragons so that you will be able to get an early move in 2nd round.
2) will see you in good fighting position 2nd round with the chance to cast Mass Bless and do serious damage.
3) will thwart the enemy plans because without the Behemoths there won't be much of an onslaught.

Whatever you do, the Behemoths have to die quickly. Since the first unit attacking them will suffer dearly, choose wisely. Shoot them with the Elves first round (the Cyclops have moved already, the Orcs are not that dangerous) except when they are still Blinded by then.

Since Dragons and Pegasi may have moved already to guard the Elves (in case you have no Tactics advantage) you have not many units to react with after an onslaught of the Stronghold forces. The Dendroids are probably best used against the T-Birds. Centaur Caps and Dwarves can kill Hobgoblins and Wolf Raiders. That leaves the Unicorns. A follow-up attack on the T-Birds seems best.

2nd round you have to Mass Slow the enemy as soon as possible. He is there and now it's the time to strike back. There should be 2 stacks to worry about, Behemoths and Ogre Mages. Obviously the Dendroids are the right stack for the Ogres, but how to tackle the Behemoths? Since you Slowed the enemy you can't afford to wait with any of your units. Attack the Cyclops with the Dragons and go either for Orcs or rest forces of T-Birds with the Pegasi. The Unicorns now have to tackle the Behemoths. They may Blind them. If not, every surviving Behemoth will kill a Unicorn, but you have to do something against them. The Elves will take a shot at the remaining Behemoths. Centaur Caps may either kill rest forces of Hobgoblins, Wolf Raiders or T-Birds or make a follow-up on the Behemoths (which will result in serious damage if they are Blessed, only). The best attack is that one that allows a placement which will guard the Elves. The same is true for the Dwarves. Dendroids will take the Ogres.

If you have a Tactics advantage you will have an attack with Dragons and Pegasi, too. This would give you more flexibility allowing raiding attacks on Cyclops and Orcs at the end of the 1st turn while guarding the Elves with Dendroids and Unicorns right away.

All in all losses are inevitable here against a decent hero with a decent force.

TOWER

Now, that's one force against which your Elves are definitely outgunned. Guarding the Elves is for once not necessary.

The most important thing to have in a fight against Tower is a Tactics advantage as big as possible. Chances are good for that, because the Wizard has the lowest probabilities possible while the Alchimist has the lowest probability of all might heroes to get Tactics (in fact, the magic hero Battle Mage has bigger chances to get Tactics).

So you should have a Tactics advantage more often than not (hopefully always). This is important because it reduces the distance of your Dwarves and Dendroids to the enemy. You need at least medium advantage (you have advanced Tactics and the enemy has no Tactics at all or you have expert Tactics and the enemy basic at most). This way both Dwarves and Dendroids will be able to reach the enemy in the 2nd combat round.

Casting Mass Slow on the enemy and attack immediately is absolutely possible against a slightly inferior force or against an equal force with an inferior hero, provided you can deploy your units so that Unicorns and Centaurs can reach the enemy. The ideal parking place for the Dragons would be either between Naga Queens and Titans (attacking the Naga Queens) or a place allowing a double hex attack on worthy enemy stacks. The enemy won't be able to shoot at your Elves, but you will suffer losses and the enemy has free magic reign now that you've cast. Since the enemy will be magically superior he may have some surprises for you.

Another way to go at it is Teleporting the Dendoids right adjacent to the Titans and flying Dragons to Magi and Pegasi to Master Gremlins. However, now it is Tower's forces turn and a simple Mass Haste will see the enemy attacking Pegasi and Dragons (and probably kill them; note that Titans may attack hand-to-hand, too, and that they are able to move on their legs; they don't have to stand around), the Gargoyles blocking the Elves and so on and so forth. This will lead to an open massacre for both sides which you don't like. Against a halfway decent force led by a decent hero this tactic is not recommended.

So deploy your forces just outside the 10 hex range of all enemy shooters. Don't cast a spell yet. Wait with all units. For once you don't care what the enemy does with your Elves (he will most probably cripple them). If the enemy casts Mass Haste on his units, cast Mass Slow on him. Should he cast Mass Slow on you, cast Mass Cure or Mass Dispel. Begin the 2nd combat round with Mass Slow. In case the enemy is Slowed already, cast Mass Bless (Wizards can't have Resistance; Alchemists may have it, though, so there may be a unit on normal speed there; you have to kill that one quickly).

After you waited with all your units you can attack with Pegasi and Dragons (Unicorns will probably be out of reach because of the 10 hex rule). Pegasi take Master Gremlins or Gargoyles while the Dragons should burn Magi or Genies (if no double hex attack presents itself as an opportunity).

2nd combat round means all-out attack. Attack Titans with Dragons and Pegasi (blocking them, so they can't move). Try to kill Magi and Genies with Unicorns and Centaur Captains. If Titans are left the enemy will now get a move in. He may try to Slow you. That may mean that the Dendroids won't reach the enemy if they don't resist (the Dwarves will resist most likely). Try to block the Golems with the Dwarves (should there be Elves left, well, they won't do much damage meanwhile) or attack any possible target except the Naga Queens. Try to get the Naga Queens with the Dendroids.

Another possibility would be to just block the Titans and concentrating on Naga Queens instead with Dragons and Unicorns. What to do depends on how many Nagas and Titans you face. If there are relatively few Titans, but many Nagas, take the Nagas first.