HOH vs LfF | Siege of Winterfell | Round 3 |

A few days had passed since their Arena of Honor clash, and the long-awaited moment had already arrived for the members of K345, who today found themselves lined up on the battlefield to face the third round of the Siege of Winterfell season, alongside their allies from House Of Heroes.

“We are only 88,” Neik muttered to himself. He thought that the numbers deployed on the battlefield were not enough if a high-level alliance were to appear on the front today and he wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves before getting hurt,” replied his ally Ferrious, who understood his frustration, but it wasn’t certain that the rivals today would be of the highest level, and he remained optimistic about a favorable matchmaking.

Just as the final preparations were being completed, today’s rivals made their appearance on the other side of the battlefield. The blue and gold banners waved proudly in the sky above a fierce group that was the obstacle HOH had to overcome.

It was…

LfF

Led by members like Drogonjon, Miren, and CERBAY, the rival alliance of respectable level was, in fact, the one starting at a disadvantage today. Their season, in which they had managed to achieve two victories out of two, brought them today to face a high-level group like HOH; the gap was significant.

“Did you see? I knew it,” Ferrious said with a smile to his ally, who was almost letting out a sigh of relief for not having encountered an alliance of higher level than theirs.

“We know it seems like an easy match for many of you, but let’s remember to stay alert and collect every single point available during the 60-minute span. Follow the instructions of the group leaders, namely Spimmer, R0ny, and Leia, who will guide you on the battlefield,” was the strategy declared by HOH’s leadership. The numerical superiority was indeed significant for them, but not underestimating a rival who had two victories out of two in the first rounds of the season was important in their view.

The imminent start of the clash was accompanied by heavy rain, which made the ground muddy and would pose a problem throughout the match. The dark and threatening sky, punctuated by frequent lightning flashes, made the air and the landscape grim.

The start of the match by HOH saw them determined to cut down the rivals from the very first moments. In fact, Neik decided to head straight toward the incoming group at HotSprings, attempting to slow them down by drawing their fire, giving his teammates the necessary time to secure an easy capture and set up strategies to defend the base.

The tactic, unsurprisingly, worked perfectly. The gap in terms of troops deployed on the battlefield played a key role. The rivals led by DrogonJon, seeing a massive HOH presence within the walls of HotSprings, could do nothing but retreat, trying to reorganize their army with the troops that, fortunately, were not surrounded by an enemy that outnumbered them two to one.

“Let’s give them no respite and push straight toward Stark2 Stronghold!” was the clear message from Leia, who led the HotSprings group. Thus, HOH members’ advance on the eastern side of the battlefield began.

Upon reaching the target, it too immediately fell into their hands, with the rivals, anticipating an assault from them, not holding their ground and leaving the building open for an easy capture. What were they scheming?

Meanwhile, on the western side of the battlefield, HOH’s dominance in this first phase of the match was clear. Armory fell even before the battle for it could begin, pushing the army led by Spimmer and R0ny to advance toward Stark1 Outpost, managing to repel the few desperate attempts by the rivals near Winterfell to avoid being cut off.

“Great job,” exclaimed Spimmer. “To ensure an easy loot capture, let’s push all the way to their last two positions so that our numerical superiority can play a key role in the battle,” was the strategy devised under his leadership. Neik, thrilled by how the match was going, immediately set off for the assault.

After a long march in search of rivals, the HOH member found some right at the edge of the enemy base. Assisted by his teammates, the battle to push them back inside their own walls was not very long.

An almost record time was achieved by Neik and his alliance companions: after a rather simple phase for them, they were already deployed in formation at the edge of the enemy base to prevent any escapes and to best protect the loot that would soon become available near Winterfell. The few battles HOH members faced were against small groups attempting to surprise the defensive troops by trying to pass through them.

An uncontested dominance on the battlefield was rapidly tipping the outcome in favor of the HOH members.

“Where could the group that retreated from HotSprings have gone?” Neik wondered, doubtful, right at the edge of the first loot of the match and just then, his doubts were resolved with an unexpected move…

The moment Reaper laid hands on the first loot in an attempt to capture it at one of the bases under HOH’s control, he was immediately assaulted by LfF’s troops! With great patience, the group gathered near Winterfell waited until the loot was released to try their luck with it, aiming to turn the match in their favor.

A move as clever and unexpected as it was, however, was realistically unlikely to succeed. Anticipating such a move, the group assigned to protect the loot carrier for HOH was ready to deploy their troops against the rivals. The battle was not easy, but once again the arriving reinforcements and the numerical superiority of Neik and his companions ensured that the well-devised plan by DrogonJon and his allies failed the first loot was captured by HOH!

The statues, the novelty of the recent seasons of Siege of Winterfell, were secured by HOH. Unable to leave their base without being targeted by rival troops guarding the paths, LfF could not make any significant attempt to capture them. Neik and his companions claimed the buffs from the statues without any difficulty.

“The match is quickly coming to an end; soon it will be impossible for them to close the score gap. Let’s keep going,” was the message from the leadership to their allies. They saw the goal on the horizon, and a crushing victory was exactly what they needed to boost their chances and qualify for the Playoffs at the end of the season, which is why they could not give an inch to their rivals.

One who would certainly never let his guard down was Neik.

In search of challenges near the enemy base with his spears, the HOH member deliberately separated from his allies to draw the attention of rivals who saw him isolated but it was a strategy: he wanted to attract the rivals onto himself in order to sharpen his battlefield skills, confident in the means at his disposal.

The match effectively ended far ahead of time.

There was no real attempt to turn the tide by DrogonJon and his LfF companions after their good, but failed, attempt at Winterfell. Aware that they were heavily disadvantaged in alliance level and troop numbers, they threw in the towel after the first two phases of the match. For Neik and his companions, there was nothing left to do but wait for the timer to run out and claim the favorable outcome of the third round!

At the end of the 60 minutes, the final victory went to… HOH!

MVP’s

The best fighters of the match were:

Neik for HOH. His aggressive start played a key role in achieving this milestone, allowing him to face and defeat a greater number of opponents compared to his alliance companions. For his rivals, there was nothing they could do against his Spears!

CERBAY for LfF. The eliminations earned by the rival alliance mostly came from their own base, where they continued to clash with HOH members throughout the full 60 minutes of battle, ranking first among their own, a result made bitter by their alliance’s defeat.

“Excellent work today. We needed a crushing victory to try to erase the loss suffered in the first round, and fate had it that we faced a match where we were heavily favored. Now, let’s focus on the fourth round of the season, where we have a single goal: Win!” was the rallying message from HOH’s leadership before returning to their realms.

“We played a match that was effectively over before it even began against a rival who didn’t even deploy on the battlefield. We shouldn’t get too carried away,” was Neik’s thought, wanting to stay grounded. The flashbacks of the defeat against FFS were still vivid in his mind, and he knew that against an equally strong alliance, if they weren’t 100% focused, they would struggle.

A one-sided third round was what was witnessed today. What or rather, who awaits HOH in the fourth round of their Siege of Winterfell season? Will they make a decisive step toward the Playoffs, or is a sudden setback waiting around the corner? We will find out together!