Two on Two

This map is in the form of two long, thin, roughly parallel, islands with blue and red CoR's on one and green and yellow CoR's on the other. Between the islands are two small rocks with a stone head on each. The head between blue and green gives Angel of Death, and the other head gives Teleport.

This map is usually played as two vs. two (surprise, surprise) and the key to victory is to get control of the heads. Assuming that you share an island with your ally (i.e. that the teams were chosen as top vs. bottom in the preceding screen where the options are set), you need to work together to get to the AOD head first. Start by converting the groups of wildmen; the main concentration will be on the coast, in the opposite direction to your allies Circle of Reincarnation. Get them building your village, with an FW training hut (and preacher hut, if they are enabled). Charge 2 landbridge and then start charging lightning. If you are blue or green, get 3 villagers to take 3 wood to the coast nearest the AOD head and have them stay there patrolling. As soon as you have a landbridge charged, get your shaman to where the wood was left and start building a bridge out to the head. If you and your partner have both charged landbridge, you should be able to do it with 3 or 4 spells between you. As soon as you get there, blue (or green) should lay a guard tower plan next to the head and use the three patrolling villagers to build it using the wood they had cut. Then get your shaman into the tower as soon as they've finished and you're home and dry. Your partner can now use his firewarriors (with a preacher or two if enabled) to worship the head and generate the Angel of Death to destroy your enemies while you keep your shaman defending from her tower and keep your spells charged.

Why does this work so well? Because, once you have a shaman in a tower next to the head, you can reach the other head with a lightning strike, thus preventing your enemies from worshipping there, but the enemy shaman can't reach you because she doesn't have the extra range given by the tower. Similarly, it's very hard for them to attack directly, because they have to landbridge out first, and that is a short-range spell. So as long as you keep vigilant (and are a reasonable shot) you're pretty much invulnerable. And all the while your partner can be unleashing one AOD after another on the enemy, while you both build up massive armies and full spell charges ready for the final assault.

Is there any defence against this? Well, one possibility is to cast Magic Shield on a bunch of followers and get them to worship the other head. They will be protected against lightning so you will get the spell (unless they get attacked by troops). Ok, so it will only be teleport, but if you teleport your shaman to the other head, you should be able to lightning the enemy shaman in her tower before she can react, eliminate her worshipping followers, and landbridge down to your territory where your waiting followers can storm up to demolish the enemy tower, build yours and worship the head. Oh, and don't forget to remove the enemy landbridge with flatten. Tables turned (unless of course your amiable host disabled shield at the start - so watch out for that on this map.) The key to this is to have everything in place before you do the teleport, so the enemy can't get back to the head in time to stop you.

If, on the other hand, the teams were chosen so that blue and green are playing against red and yellow (i.e. 1 and 3 vs 2 and 4 in the game setup screen), then you will be sharing your island with an enemy, which completely changes the game play, although control of the heads remains the key objective. In this case, you will need to defeat, or severely weaken the nearest enemy, so as to prevent him reaching the head, and to create space to allow you to reach it. The blue and green team have an advantage, in this situation, as they are nearer to the AOD head. For red and yellow, it may be better to go for the teleport head first, even though it is less immediately useful (tho' not to be dismissed) so as to deny the AOD head to the enemy.

If you are playing a 3 vs. 1 game, the strategy will be different for each player, according to her position on the map. If you are the one playing on your own, chances are you won't need any of this advice anyway, or if you do, it will be a short game.