Red -- Evgeny (22)
Green -- LEICHENBESTATTER (48)
Blue -- Vance Kic (53)
Black -- Wayne's Warriors (92)

The hero Beregond arrives to lead the forces of Red.  In the North,
LEICHENBESTATTER (German for "undertaker") "calls upon the powers of
darkness to raise his legions of death for the upcoming war", and
calls his old Grim Reaper hero Der Sensenmann from the underworld to
serve him.  He builds griffins and teaches German.  Vance Kic, the
Blue hero, also builds griffins, as does Black with Lord Wayne at the
helm.  Evgeny decides that he can't be the only one vulnerable from
the skies, so he hires another hero and builds his own griffin cave.
Black is the only other player to hire a second hero.

Red and Black agree to a treaty through turn 12, and the north-south
neighbors all agree to go easy on each other, so the battle is set as
an east-west slugfest.  Diplomacy is thankfully simple, as this
message from Wayne's Warriors makes clear:

> DIPLOMACY:
>
> Red - peace.
> Blue - only after all neutral cities I can get!
> Green - Leave my territory now, or else!

Many warlords would have used a page and a half to write a similar message!

By turn 4 Red already has 14 cities, and has killed a Blue archer.
Will this game be the rollover implied by the rankings?  On turn 5,
Evgeny further demonstrates his prowess in a demon-sacrifice where he
kills the Blue hero and snags an extra command and battle item.
Blue's demon also falls in this battle.  At the same time, Der
Sensenmann (Green) kills the main Black hero and demon (also
sacrificing his own), and picks up extra magic himself.  Perhaps this
is the only game where turn 5 ends with no demons left.  Minotaurs
begin to look enticing, but there's not much money left in anyone's hands.

In the next few turns, Evgeny begins to build up a nearly
insurmountable lead.  The question becomes, as in so many games, could
the three underdogs put aside their differences to focus on a surging
power?  In a dispute with Black over the Wayne's occupation of nearby
cities (which Black claims to need to fight Green), Red annuls their
treaty and sides with LEICHENBESTATTER (Green).  Green has heard no
words of support from Black, and is forced to agree to whatever deal
he can manage.  By now (turn 7) Red has 22 cities.  Meanwhile, the
Black hero steals a Green gold ruin which had gone unsearched (Green
had only one hero and by turn 7 was just getting to the Green battle
item), and uses the money to build some much-needed units (still no
minotaurs, though).

Evgeny apparently liked his turn 8 move, because he sent it to the
remailer four times.  Who could blame him?  Three more cities fall to
the nearly unstoppable Lady Aewin and her Red forces.  Blue holes up
in his single city and awaits his demise -- not long in coming (he's
gone by turn 10).  On the next turn, Red kills the last Black hero,
and builds elephants with the money which is beginning to burn a hole
in the Red pocket.  Still Black and Green say nothing of uniting to
slow the Red onslaught.  Finally on turn 10, Black suggests a truce
with Green and it is accepted.  But with only 19 cities between them,
are they too late?

The answer, as we all know, is yes.  The battles are many and fierce
for a time, but Red, in addition to holding the majority of cities,
builds minotaurs to boost his power.  There are none who can stand
against his griffin/elephant/minotaur combinations, or Lady Aewin, for
that matter.  On turn 18, Red storms the Green hero's castle, and
after a massive, five-wave assault, becomes the keeper of all four
standards.  On turn 20, he holds the entire map.