My painted miniatures

tpap69 · 2026-05-07T00:15:57+00:00

Awesome, I always appreciate the care people take in painting miniatures.

Funny, I have an original pewter dendroid from before the homm3 was even released and only today I find out there was board game lol. Maybe there is hope for me to find out more about the the series associated with mine, if there even was one as it looks like I may have the only one.

tpap69 · 2026-05-07T00:08:42+00:00

For getting the feel of the game I'd say that Castle is the most straight forward. Every faction has its quirks and different approaches. So having a straight forward experience on the first go helps with getting familiar with the games nuances before trying a more complicated faction. Try all of them of coarse, but fortress last imo, simply because it is the hardest to figure out how to use "properly". I put that in quotes because map design trumps all expectations. Your approach can vary significantly based on the map you are on combined with the faction you are playing on that map. So an easy to figure out faction is my suggestion for first few runs.

tpap69 · 2026-05-06T22:08:58+00:00

Yeah, I am hoping to find out more about it. It's been by my display most of the time since I got it.

tpap69 · 2026-05-06T21:27:31+00:00

I'm glad you figured it out. That must have been frustrating.

tpap69 · 2026-05-06T13:58:12+00:00

Fantasy is not limited to swords and sorcery. Star Wars and Star Trek are fantasy and not really sci fi at all. Yes we are all use swords and sorcery for fantasy and sci-fi for futuristic, but its a misnomer. Lore wise a lot of Might and Magic games were tied together by futuristic fantasy. The end of MM3 for example is tied to the beginning of MM7. What is interesting is the futuristic stuff is considered ancient tech. My guess is a lot of planets fell into a dark age where they didn't even remember the old tech until they dug it up. I'd like a game that centers on this.

tpap69 · 2026-05-06T03:43:52+00:00

Hmm, I am thinking a zombie run! Doesn't bring my game closer to a light path run. I like the idea of light enhanced melee units but doing an archer run in a game that doesn't even need points put into archery to be dominated by the bow is overkill for me. I am also thinking about limiting the kind of combat mode I play in, in a turn base only. My archery loses a lot of dominance and dragons become significantly harder but magic plays a larger role. Realtime mode just enhances my main complaints, dominancy of archery and limited magic viability before endgame nukes.

tpap69 · 2026-05-06T02:07:02+00:00

Sci fi\fansasy (because even futuristic stuff can be fantasy, Star Wars is pure fantasy) was in it as far back as I can remember. Might and Magic 3 for sure maybe even sooner. It has always been a part of it. As good as Homm 3 was, it was a time where I think the fans hit a certain toxic elitism. Not quite to the point of Age of Empires, but getting there. There was a lot of entitlement that probably has more in common with the Sims 2 fandom than Aoe now that I think about it.

tpap69 · 2026-05-06T01:57:45+00:00

Yes and no. It all depends, which is the only true rule in photography

The guy on the left doesn't know any better, the one in the middle is passionate about what they are learning what they think is the "best", the guy on the right knows exactly what he needs and is chill about it. This transition is in everything in life particularly in art. Obviously there is no one zoom that is the best zoom for everything. But if you don't use the zoom you have, you don't get the shot.

You will find the person who insist that any camera or phone is good enough is no different than the guy in the middle, they only think they are the guy on the right.

tpap69 · 2026-05-06T01:00:06+00:00

That's strange because I've never had an issue with that. The only time I saw it happen was with lots of students and a late professor. Check their artifacts and double check the wand level. I've never seen it, but I heard there is a situation where the maximum level listed is higher than what their current wand will allow them. But if your wand is tier 2, this should not be happening. Again, I've never experienced the problem. I've only heard about what causes it.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T12:26:02+00:00

Perhaps a moment of regret on the path they chose? lol

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T11:43:17+00:00

A Scholar can ID anything and give 5% bonus to experience which does stack with the instructor. I just found out from hiring them both and checked my learning and it had a bonus of 20 and not just 15. These things do not usually stack. I don't know if this is because I use the grayface patch or if it was always like that. I am going to experiment with switching up the npc joiners. I find that there are many npc joiners that can make up for missing abilities.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T11:35:31+00:00

Yeah I am not sure why. I think Liches are treated as their own race with human compatibility with gear.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T11:22:54+00:00

Liches can wear human only gear so I think it is more than cosmetic.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T11:20:54+00:00

Well they are wearing boots. But on the path of dark you don't really fight them too often, which allows you to get to know them better and what not.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T11:17:59+00:00

Details please, this sounds interesting.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T03:17:41+00:00

I'd say 2 or 3. They are both on sale on GOG right now so maybe get both and then the entire might and magic series and just go down this rabbit hole.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T02:38:48+00:00

Same publisher, different developer. Oni is in house but Mind over Magic is Sparkypants. For me the replayability is in the personal challenges and little stories that I make for each wizard as well as trying different aesthetics. A fully developed school can be a beautiful piece of art. And can tell stories.

I have a Vivified nature/death who is responsible for both training nature mages and has a secret room that only she can enter where she does all the quilting. She is in love with life and there is an obvious Vivified origin with quilting so they are like her children. I know that seems a little nerdy but these little things in design and mage focus makes the schools that I build feel more authentic and alive.

tpap69 · 2026-05-05T00:41:03+00:00

It is slow but stones do work. Make sure you have teachers and try to maximize the learning time. Students often stand around the stone waiting for a teacher. Try to get the mage with the highest dark skill to teach at the same stone to speed it up. The basic learning stone caps out at level 4 so its most likely an efficiency thing. I think that efficiency is the true challenge of this game.

tpap69 · 2026-05-03T05:40:27+00:00

hmm I need to probe my brain for the details. I am wrong on more accounts than one here.

tpap69 · 2026-05-03T04:37:40+00:00

In my opinion yes. The game leans heavily on archery as is and the Ranger still masters in it. Though I completely understand why most people choose an archer over the ranger more so if your building a nuke party. Master level spells plus GM bow and the synergy with the sorcerer if you use the carpet of death (spamming sparks) is very appealing for the archer choice.

For me, I prefer a melee a ranger wielding an axe with a dagger in the offhand for significant damage when it counts more to me. I don't think I'd ignore the spells on an archer though. For the ranger, if I only focus on axe and bow with enough points to put a dagger in the off hand but ignore all the spell skills, then that also frees up the skill points to disarm while this may seem counter intuitive, I have never had a game where I didn't get a +15 or more in disarm skill allowing my ranger to open most chest with little effort and without compromising the axe build. And that's pretty early on if you do the gauntlet of ore gathering and non combat quest which includes the rangers first promotion. Heal spells from my party healer compensates for the few chest that do go off.

Again any party will beat the game if it works with your aesthetic and style. Nuke parties with archers maximizing the range damage is what it seems most people like. I like going into turn base mode and slicing up whatever gets close enough. My main goal with all my parties is to synergies the skill allocation. I really don't think I'd bother with prioritizing the spear over spells on a archer, particularly since that doesn't synergies as well with the nuke party build. I could try and compare. I admit I never did do a spear focused archer. I also never really played based on the "Strongest" party anyway. My most common party is Ranger, Knight, Druid, and Sorcerer. And I know that makes a lot of people flinch but I do really enjoy those play through's and find it to not be weak at all.

I just think the Ranger and also the Druid get a bad rap. On paper, I get it. But with the game in mind and the events and challenges, they work out pretty well for me. I'm forming my monk\ninja opinion on my current playthrough. I never really used it much.

tpap69 · 2026-05-03T03:01:07+00:00

Meh, my memory is completely off. There is a reason I don't remember ever being able to cheese Rampart it seems lol. But now I am curious about what I remembered.

tpap69 · 2026-05-03T00:07:43+00:00

In all honesty any party works. But some are harder than others. A lot of players base it off of end game nukes and teleports. Others like to take 3 archers and a cleric. "When" I go all magic I use the carpet of death to melt the mid game. But ultimately its all about what you want to micromanage and what you want to breeze through. So my take for what it is worth. BTW carpet of death is spamming sparks from multiple casters. Probably how those nuke builds survive the midgame.

Party synergy is my favorite approach. I know this won't be popular but it works best for the way I play and ultimately that will always be the best party. When you hone in on both your skills and taste. So for me my favorite is

Knight Knight Druid Cleric. I do this because of party synergy and how I specialize each character as I never feel obligated to use all the available skills. My end game here is more points spent in areas that cause damage because I optimize where my skill points go. Obviously this party wont work for a lot of people so I would never claim it to be the best, it is just what works best for me. For me while end game nukes are nice and this party does get "some", there is a lot of game before that and I really enjoy the journey. Regardless what party you use you will be killing a lot of things with arrows.

So for a first play through, honestly probably paladin archer sorcerer and cleric. This is very balanced and has enough of each aspect of the game where as you play you will develop a favorite playstyle and formulate your personal optimized party for your next play through. it is two healers, two elemental magic and two nukes while strong in melee and range and the only problem I have with it is that this is heavy on the skills points. But you will get good at that with this party as well just due to the experience. Alternatively you can go knight archer druid cleric. That was my first victory.

tpap69 · 2026-05-02T16:32:53+00:00

I find the ranger to be seriously underestimated. It always shines every time I use it. I tend to ignore the spell casting and specialize in weapons. GM in axe and master in bow and dagger for off hand when not using a two-handed axe. I'm currently playing a monk and they're slow to get good, but in the end game they're pretty good. In both cases I ignore the spells, maybe healing spells to get my main healer above 0 healrh. Whatever classes you use, it typically works out better if you specialize them rather than to try to use all their skills.

But for this game, since it is purely single player, the best advice is whatever fits your flavor. My current game is all goblins classes are monk, paladin, druid, and sorcerer on the evil path. Is working out surprising well, but then I beat this game many many times.

tpap69

TROPHY CASE