Season of Harvest

This is the second map of the Heroes of Might and Magic III: Restoration of Erathia campaign Long Live the King.

Backstory

The war in Erathia is the greatest thing that could have happened for the nation of Deyja. A war of this scale is an endless harvest for our undead armies. Today we shall feast, and tomorrow we shall conquer Erathia for ourselves.

Cinematic Briefing

Before we begin our large scale invasion of Erathia, we must fill our ranks. Erathia's populous will provide the recruits we need. Invade the local region and resurrect the needed troops.

In-Game

To truly catch Erathia by surprise, we must attack within three months. However, our forces are not nearly strong enough for a full scale attack. We need you to harvest the creatures along the Erathian border, raising enough undead to allow us (to) launch our campaign. As before, you must move quickly. We must have the element of surprise when we attack Erathia, so we can not delay more than three months. In that time you must provide us with at least 2500 skeletons. If you fail, we will have no chance against Erathia. Do not fail.

Quest/Objective

To win, you must have a total of 2500 Skeletons in all your armies or garrisons within 3 months. Some Border Guards can only be passed if a Hero carries a Quest Artifact from a previous scenario, but the the artifact beyond the Border Guard will travel with you to the next scenario.

Victory message, <UNKNOWN>

Defeat message, <UNKNOWN>

Map Details

Difficulty: Normal

Map Size: Medium

Next Map: Corporeal Punishment

Total Castles: 4

Underground: No

Heroes

You start with 2 (fixed) heroes and the Spirit of Oppression.

The enemy starts with no heroes, and can't get any.

Maximum Heroes: No maximum

Maximum Level: No maximum

Starting Options

• Start with the Vampire's Cowl
• Start with a Necromancy Amplifier
• Start with Unearthed Graves

Tips

• If you want to make the scenario harder, start with the Vampire's Cowl, but don't use it, which means that your starting bonus is effectively zero. The next best starting bonus is Unearthed Graves, which gives you 6 Skeletons per week. The next best starting bonus is the Necromancy Amplifier, which gives x Skeletons per week, where x is 10% of the number of units you kill, across all your armies, and that is easily more than 6. The best starting bonus is the Vampire's Cowl, assuming you use it, even though it only affects one stack, because it cannot be obtained during the scenario, and it adds to the Necromancy Amplifier and Unearthed Graves, which you will get quite soon anyway.
• There is no organized opposition in this scenario. Things just stand around waiting to die. The only difficulty is in exploring the entire map before you get 2,500 Skeletons.
• Necromancy is a very powerful ability as this mission illustrates and it is highly recommended to make use of it by engaging all wandering creatures in combat and not allowing them to flee.
• The scenario information is incorrect. Apparently, if you end a scenario with certain Artifacts, and not necessarily Quest Artifacts, then they will be in your possession at the start of the next scenario, and you will be able to pass certain Border Guards in that scenario. The Artifacts beyond those Border Guards will then be in your possession at the start of the next scenario, and so forth. It doesn't seem to matter who is carrying the Artifacts, or where they are when you try to pass the Border Guards.
• This scenario has a bug-like feature, and it propagates through the rest of the campaign. There is an inaccessible region in the NW corner of the map. The Artifact there, the Spyglass, cannot be obtained, unless you learn Fly or Dimension Door. This Artifact presumably gives you access to other inaccessible areas in the following scenarios.