r/heroes3 • u/Zen_Master_SVK • Jan 09 '24
Question - Solved chronological order of all campaigns in HoM&M3
Some time ago I decided to replay all of the campaigns from HoM&M3 in chronological order for the first (and probably last) time. I was searching for the chronological order on the interwebs and found some but when I played the campaigns I find out I don't agree with any of those lists 100%. Mainly because of the Chronicles campaigns (they are a bit of mess in terms of retcon). Sometimes they SHOULD be before/after some of the other campaigns but it didn't make sense story-wise and character-wise (Tarnum's) imo.
So I did my own chronological list with basic bulletpoints for each campaign stating what is going on in each of them. I hope it will be useful for someone eventually. This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for roughly a year ago and didn't find it. So I did it myself and now It's here for other players.
There may be some campaigns you would put before/after some others for whatever reason and that's cool, that's your opinion. This is mine.
I hope you'll enjoy this list (all 3 people who will find this useful :D).
Abbreviations:
HC - Heroes Chronicles
HCHD - Heroes Chronicles HD (mod; highly recommended for HeroesChronicles playthrough)
SoD - Shadow of Death
AB - Armageddon's Blade
RoE - Restoration of Erathia
HC: Warlords of the Wasteland
\- Tarnum creates Barbarian Empire
\- intro to the Tarnum's origin story
\- Tarnum becomes the Barbarian Tyrant and eventually dies
HCHD: The Glory of War
\- Tarnum is a death knight; "dies" again; memory loss
\- 2nd campaign (almost immediately after the death in 1st)
\- non-canon; some story/logic inconsistencies; meh maps and writing
\* can be skipped imo
HC: Master of the Elements
\- saving the world from the Elemental Lords
\- officially this campaign takes place between RotB & TWT
\- alternative timeline: this takes place few years after WotW & GoW
\- Tarnum distrusts magic at first; still "barbarian"; still bit of a dick at start
\- Bracada already exists at the start of campaign (instead of old Bracaduun)
\- 30+ years spent on this campaign due to time dilatation
HC: Conquest of the Underworld
\- saving Queen Allison's father's soul from the Underworld
\- roughly 30 years after death at the end of 1st campaign
\- already uses magic (so after MotE?); Tarnum is more civilized
\- Tarnum has personal growth & working-out issues in this campaign
HC: Revolt of the Beastmasters
\- leading revolt of the future Tatalia for independence
\- should take place few centuries after Tarnum's barbarian empire
\- Tarnum is already "good" and his old empire/statues are quite old/destroyed
\- Tatalia created in this campaign
HC: The World Tree
\- saving/protecting the World Tree
\- unspecified time after CotU (few centuries)
\- mayyybe right after MotE
\- mentioned at the end of MotE something about dressing in barbarian clothes again
\- Krewlod already exists some time
HC: The Fiery Moon
\- rescuing the Ancestors and stopping Vorr
\- right after TWT campaign
SoD: Birth of a Barbarian
\- Yog's "origin story" & disassembly of AngelicAlliance
\- Tatalia, Erathia & Bracada already exists
SoD: New Beginning
\- Gem's "origin story" & assembly of the CloakOfTheUndeadKing
\- 1 year after Succession Wars ended
\- Erathia, AvLee & Dayja already exists
SoD: Elixir of Life
\- Gelu's "origin story" & assembly of ElixirOfLife
\- Gelu finished ForestGuard training
SoD: Hack and Slash
\- Crag Hack's "origin story" & assembly of the ArmorOfTheDamned
SoD: Rise of the Necromancer
\- Sandro's & Fineas' rise in Deyja's ranks
\- Sandro still officially under Fineas' command
SoD: Unholy Alliance
\- Gelu, Gem, Yog & Crag Hack attacking Deyja
\- Sandro defending Deyja
\- Gelu, Gem, Yog & Crag Hack seeking AngelicAlliance artifacts
\- Sandro defeated (but not dead)
SoD: Spectre of Power
\- Sandro weak; trying to rebuild armies again
\- preparations for RestorationOfErathia campaign(s)
\- assassination plot agains king Nicholas Gryphonheart
\- helping Devils & Dungeons to stage invasion to Erathia
\- Sandro ends in prison
AB: Foolhardy Wyawardness
\- Sir Christian's trip gone wrong
\- saved by Queen Catherine ships
\- sailing to Erathia with Queen to attend her father's funeral
RoE: Dungeons and Devils
\- Devils killing GoldDragonQueen
\- Dungeons preparing for invasion - digging tunnels to SE Erathia
\- Queen Catherine arrives to Erathia with her fleet
\- start of LongLiveTheQueen campaign
\- Steadwick conquered
RoE: Spoils of War
\- as Tatalia's & Krewlod's mercenary plunder Erathia
\- gathering resources to invade/conquer (part of) Erathia
\- Tatalia vs Krewlod borderlands war
RoE: Long Live the Queen
\- Queen Catherine lands in Erathia after her father's funeral
\- fighting against invasion forces of Nighon & Eeafol
\- reconquering some Erathian towns (misson 1)
\- alliance with Angels (misson 2)
\- reconquering Griffin Cliff (misson 3)
\- Steadwick under siege (end of DungeonsAndDevils campaign)
RoE: Liberation
\- recapturing of Steadwick by Erathia
\- recapturing of lost territories from Tatalia&Krewlod
\- by Bracada & AvLee - alias of Erathia for now
\- pushing Nighon back out of Erathia through undersee tunnels
RoE: Long Live the King
\- reanimating king Gryphonheart's body for Deyja
\- Gryphonheart killed Fineas Vilmar after reanimation -> new king
\- preparing for Deyja's invasion to Erathia
\- invading Erathia
RoE: Song of the Father
\- fighting back the invasion of Deyja in Erathia
\- Queen Catherine dealt with the traitor & murderer of her father
\- King Gryphonheart's soul is released to the afterlife
RoE: Seeds of Discontent
\- fight for the independence of the Contested Lands
\- searching for & moving & building the Grail in town of Welnin
AB: Dragon's Blood
\- Mutare's rise to power in Nighon
\- searching for the Vial Of Dragon Blood
\- Mutare changing to dragon
HC: Clash of the Dragons
\- green & gold dragons are missing; Tarnum is trying to find them
\- Waerjak briefly mentioned as small orphan boy Tarnum is raising
\- rescuing Dragon Mothers and many other dragons
\- many ambushes plague Tarnum's army; uncovering spy
\- Tarnum fights against Nighon & Mutare the Dragon Queen
\- Mutare is defeated, but flees to Nighon (and dies later)
\- Tarnum live/marry(?) with Valita
AB: Dragon Slayer
\- Dracon is hunting & killing great dragons (Crystal, Rust, ...)
\- reclaim mines from Rust dragons on 1 map
\- killing all Faerie dragons on 1 map
\- killing Azure dragons & their leader
AB: Playing with Fire
\- Adrienne is fighting undead in Erathia & Tatalia
\- campaign starts before FestivalOfLife event and continues after
\- undead are cult of Lord Haart (ressurected as Death Knight now)
\- Lord Haart killed again and Tatalia saved from undead
AB: Festival of Life
\- Kilgor's rise to power
\- killing ancient behemoth Razor Claw and other monsters
\- defeating 3 opponents trying to win FestivalOfLife too
\- defeating Boragus, current king of Krewlod
AB: Armageddon's Blade
\- started shortly before Festival Of Life
\- Queen Catherine, King Roland and Gelu trying to prevent Lucifer from assembling Armageddon's Blade and are fighting forces of Eeofol after the blade was forged
\- elemental towns started appearing and later allied with Catherine/Roland/Gelu
\- Xeron tasked with finding forgesmith Khazandar to forge Armageddon's Blade and succeeds
\- C/R/G defeating Xeron (but not killing)
\- taking Armageddon's Blade to Kreelah (Eeofol's capitol) and killing Xeron
HC: The Sword of Frost
\- Tarnum masquerading as Nighon overlord following Gelu to prevent him from finding Sword Of Frost (Gelu wants to destroy it) to prevent end of the world
\- Kilgor's third wife Kija is looking for the Sword Of Frost too for her husband
\- Tarnum is following Gelu to the City of Volee
\- Tarnum conquers the City of Volee
\- Kija steals the Sword of Frost for Kilgor
...continuation of the story in Heroes of Might & Magic IV
0
u/Laanner Jan 10 '24
The Glory of War is a fun mod, not a canon.
3
u/Zen_Master_SVK Jan 10 '24
Yes, as I said too.
-1
u/Laanner Jan 11 '24
Then why you included it? I'm sure there a lot more fun less known mods, that also not a canon, but you decided to not include them.
1
u/Curious-Ad-5001 Jan 12 '24 edited Jan 12 '24
Nice list, one thing that I'd correct is that Dragon Slayer, happens before Clash of the Dragons though, as General Kendal's diary mentions Dracon dying while fighting Mutare's dragons
edit: re-reading the diary a bit, some of the other campaigns would also be in a different order. I'd probably put CotD as the second-to-last campaign, but I'm not sure in which order would the AB campaigns happen
1
u/Zen_Master_SVK Jan 13 '24
Yeah, it could be like you said.
I ordered them primarely by the in-game texts/story and some campaigns based solely on Tarnum's character progression even if they don't make much sense otherwise.
A lot of campaigns don't really fit due to retcon if you read all the extra materials. It would never be perfect.
0
u/Dorabenka Nov 20 '24
.