This scenario is destroying me! The first time through, playing as just the Lanun and the Hippus, I realized after a couple hundred turns that it was hopeless.
So I went back to The Momus, kept Beeri alive, and ganged up with him to defeat the puppetmaster. So for my second try at The Black Tower, I made all Luchuirp cities, except for one Lanun.
It's now turn 452. I have wiped out everybody except Tebryn (including Hyborem). So now it's just me against the evil purple guys.
I'm WAY ahead in population, with lots of size 28 and 27 cities. I'm way ahead in gold and manufacturing. Because this is so hard, I'm even playing on the warlord level, whereas I usually play at monarch. I've only got about five more techs to research. I have total control of the seas.
And still, right at the moment, it looks hopeless!
I just tried to attack my first purple city, a crummy little size 5 coastal city. My fleet of 15 ships showed up and reduced the city's defenses to zero in one strike. I landed an army next to the city with: 3 Dwarf Hornguards, 1 War Tortoise, 4 Crossbowman, 1 Clockwork Golem, 12 Iron/Fireball Golems, and 4 mages. (These are reinforcements I plan to merge with my major stack.) These guys bombarded the heck out of the city.
Next turn, they bombarded the city again. And I went to attack. The city's defenses were zero. There were only four defenders: 2 infernal crossbowmen and 2 others. The crossbowmen were down to about 8 or 9 strength. But for even my best units--the hornguards or clockwork golem with attack 15, the game showed chance of success on each attack at less than 1 percent! The crossbowmen had such high bonuses, and the city is on a hill, that it looks hopeless!
Right now the games says I have about "4 million" in my army while the enemy has about "15 million." And with every unit I lose, they get more. To win, I have to wipe out about 20 cities of theirs--and they're still expanding. Is this possible? My level 12 Archmages can take out four defenders a turn--but that's it. Am I really going to have to assemble a stack of something like 300 Iron Golems???
EXTRA QUESTION: I've only been playing FFH2 for about a month, but like a fanatic during that time. I keep learning new things about this fabulous game. One thing I can't figure out: frequently at the start of a turn, an enemy undead or infernal city will send out flames in all directions, greatly toasting any units one tile away. It's not Pyre Zombies blowing up, but something else. I can't find it in the spells list. What is it?