These are principles, not formulas. I'm not going to give you build orders down to the day, partly because the right build depends on the map, and partly because Tom reads this page.

One building per town per day. That's the budget. A day you don't build is a day you don't get back, so have the next building picked out before you click End Turn.

Gold first. The Village Hall becomes a Town Hall, then a City Hall, then a Capitol, and you only get one Capitol. More gold means more of everything else. I keep track: in our games, whoever finished a City Hall first went on to win 17 times out of 25.

Creatures come weekly. On the first day of every week each dwelling produces a fresh batch, and whatever you didn't buy last week is still waiting. Building up from the Fort to the Citadel to the Castle gets you walls, and more creatures every week. Don't fall so in love with your gold that you forget your army.

Heroes. Each town has two kinds of hero, one leaning toward might and one toward magic. They all have the same four primary skills (Attack, Defense, Spell Power and Knowledge) and room for eight secondary skills, and every time a hero goes up a level you choose between two. My rule: every main hero gets Wisdom, because without it you can't learn the bigger spells, and Logistics, because the hero who moves farther every day gets to the mines and the towns first. Tom thinks Logistics is overrated. Tom has lost our last three Large maps.

Hire a second hero to carry troops. A cheap hero can pick up each week's new creatures and walk them out to your main hero, so the main hero never has to come home.

Take the mines, gold first, then wood and ore, then whatever your expensive buildings eat. And never leave a town empty. Any hero who walks into an unguarded town owns it.

Don't mix too much. Creatures from different towns in one army hurt its morale. A few borrowed creatures are fine. A zoo is not.

Heroes: Knights and Clerics.
Creatures, level one to seven: Pikemen, Archers, Griffins, Swordsmen, Monks, Cavaliers, Angels.

Every creature has an upgrade, and in Castle every upgrade is worth buying. Marksmen (upgraded Archers) shoot twice, and they're cheap, so Castle has a real ranged army in the first week. Royal Griffins strike back at everyone who attacks them, not just the first. Crusaders swing twice. Champions hit harder the farther they gallop before they hit. And Archangels, if you can pay for them, can bring your fallen troops back once a battle. The Stables give any hero who visits a little more movement.

How I play it: Castle has no tricks and no weakness worth worrying about. Get the Marksmen early, keep Pikemen in front of them, and save hard for Angels. It's the town I'd give a new player, and the one I pick when I don't know the map. Three wins for me, two for Tom.

Heroes: Rangers and Druids.
Creatures: Centaurs, Dwarves, Wood Elves, Pegasi, Dendroid Guards, Unicorns, Green Dragons.

Dwarves shrug off a good share of the magic thrown at them. Grand Elves (upgraded Wood Elves) shoot twice, and they are the reason to play Rampart. Dendroids hold whatever they hit in place, which is how you keep things away from your elves. Unicorns can blind what they hit. Gold Dragons, the upgrade at the top, are immune to the smaller spells altogether.

How I play it: Rampart wins with elves and patience. Put the Dendroids in front, let the other side walk into the arrows, and don't go looking for a fight until you have dragons. Four wins, all mine. Tom has never picked it, which he says is a matter of principle.

Heroes: Alchemists and Wizards.
Creatures: Gremlins, Stone Gargoyles, Stone Golems, Mages, Genies, Nagas, Giants.

Master Gremlins (upgraded) shoot. Golems take less damage from spells. Mages shoot too. Master Genies cast helpful spells on your own troops in the middle of a fight. Nagas attack without the enemy getting to strike back. And the upgraded Giants are Titans, which throw lightning from across the battlefield and are the best thing Tower owns. In town, the Library adds spells to your Mage Guild, and the Wall of Knowledge raises the Knowledge of any hero who visits it.

How I play it: Tower lives in the snow and starts slowly. For the first two weeks your army is Gremlins and Gargoyles, and they frighten nobody. Put your money into the Mage Guild, let your hero's spells carry you, and hold on until the Titans arrive. Two wins for me, one for Tom.

Heroes: Demoniacs and Heretics.
Creatures: Imps, Gogs, Hell Hounds, Demons, Pit Fiends, Efreet, Devils.

Magogs (upgraded Gogs) throw fireballs that hit the target and everything next to it, your own troops included if you aren't careful. Cerberi (upgraded Hell Hounds) bite three neighbors at once. Pit Lords can raise Demons from your fallen. Efreet Sultans burn whatever hits them. Arch Devils strike without being struck back. And the Castle Gate lets a hero in one Inferno town step straight into another, which on a big map with two Inferno towns is wonderful.

How I play it: Honestly, I'm still looking for the answer. Between us we've picked Inferno three times and lost three times. I keep trying because I love the Castle Gate. Tom says that's like keeping a car for the cup holders.

Heroes: Death Knights and Necromancers.
Creatures: Skeletons, Walking Dead, Wights, Vampires, Liches, Black Knights, Bone Dragons.

The undead don't care about morale, good or bad. Vampire Lords drain life from what they bite and use it to heal themselves. Power Liches throw a cloud that hurts everything around the target except other undead. Dread Knights sometimes hit for double. Ghost Dragons can age whatever they hit. And then there's Necromancy, which raises Skeletons from the enemy's dead after every battle you win. The Necromancy Amplifier in town makes it stronger, and the Skeleton Transformer turns creatures you don't want into Skeletons you do.

How Tom plays it: fight everything, every day, from the first week, so the army grows on its own. It works. How I play against it: small maps, so he runs out of time to grow, and spells and shooters that hit a crowd. Tom is 4 and 2 with Necropolis. Both losses were on small maps. I have never picked it, and I've told him why at length.

Heroes: Overlords and Warlocks.
Creatures: Troglodytes, Harpies, Beholders, Medusas, Minotaurs, Manticores, Red Dragons.

Troglodytes can't be blinded, having no eyes worth mentioning. Harpies strike and fly back to where they started. Beholders shoot. Medusas shoot too, and can turn what they touch to stone. Scorpicores (upgraded Manticores) can paralyze. And Black Dragons (upgraded Red Dragons) can't be touched by any spell at all, friendly or not, so don't waste a Haste on them. The Portal of Summoning lets you recruit creatures from a dwelling you've captured out on the map, which is a second town's worth of army if you go out and find one.

How I play it: Dungeon is expensive, so treat it like a budget. Plan each month around the dragons, take the mines that pay for them, and don't spend on anything that doesn't get you closer. Harpies are wonderful for picking off shooters in the first weeks. Five wins, all mine. My town.

Heroes: Barbarians and Battle Mages.
Creatures: Goblins, Wolf Riders, Orcs, Ogres, Rocs, Cyclopes, Behemoths.

Orcs throw axes. Wolf Raiders (upgraded) bite twice. Ogre Magi cast Bloodlust on your own troops. Thunderbirds sometimes call down lightning when they hit. Cyclopes throw boulders, and in a siege they go after the walls. Behemoths tear down the defense of whatever they hit. The Mage Guild stops at level three, and the Freelancer's Guild lets you trade creatures for resources, which is how Tom paid for his Behemoths in August.

How Tom plays it: fast and cheap. Stronghold is built to hit hard in the first month, and if you let it sit around, the magic towns catch up and pass it. Three wins, all Tom's, all before the second month was out.

Heroes: Beastmasters and Witches.
Creatures: Gnolls, Lizardmen, Serpent Flies, Basilisks, Gorgons, Wyverns, Hydras.

Lizardmen shoot. Basilisks can turn what they bite to stone. Mighty Gorgons (upgraded) have a stare that can kill outright. Wyvern Monarchs poison. Hydras attack everything standing around them, and nothing gets to strike back. In town, the Glyphs of Fear and the Blood Obelisk both make a hero who's defending the place tougher.

How to play it: Fortress wants to sit in its swamp and let you come to it. It's a town for patient people. Tom has played it exactly once, won, and still brings it up.

It ties to the score by month. I checked.