UTB vs N0X; Could We Go 2-0?

N0X made a strong opening to the season with a decent victory over MBL in our first game which saw us climb the rankings quite a bit. So, we were expecting a rather tough opponent for game two, and unfortunately we weren't disappointed. Our second opponent for the season turned out to be UTB, an alliance we had recently played with during All Out War. They were the leaders of our faction and we were quite aware of how strong the alliance was.

That didn't deter us much though. N0X camp was looking forward to the match. UTB had become something of a friend during our joint venture at All Out War and though we probably didn't stand much of a chance against them, at least this game would give us a chance to test our mettle against a stronger opponent and practice our rally and reinforcements for later games in the season. This was only game two, so a defeat here wouldn't be the end of the world.

As the seconds ticked by and the clock counted down towards the opening of the map one thing became very clear; we were outnumbered by quite a lot and we might be in way over our heads. We had 80 people on our side while UTB had 93. 80 was a really good attendance from N0X as we generally have attendance in lower 70s. But UTB had 39 million extra troops to field, that is a major advantage.

Belore Ii was our sole shotcaller for this game as Duchess Scythe had been called away to other duties and could not participate. He was frank about our chances even before the game started. As he handed out assignments for the game as to who would hold what building and so on he also said, "As anyone with more than one eye can see, this will be a very tough game, but we can still win, so we give our best until such time when I see the game as a lost cause."

So, when the map opened, N0X racers put their best foot forward and ran for the objectives. Unfortunately the only objective we picked up was the Lannister Outpost, an objective I was slow marching to. The swap attempt went smoothly and I was handed the Outpost only

to be assaulted by UTB solos right after. I was sweating in anxiety at this point. the solos so far had all been unsuccessful but UTB had started rallies and almost 15 rallies were about to hit me in the face in a minute or two. And given how strong some of the players in UTB were I would be hard pressed to keep the building despite all the support the N0X reinforcers were throwing my way. I was feeling rather inadequate and not at all up to the task. Though in my heart I was hoping to prove myself wrong and be able to defend successfully. Unfortunately that did not happen and I lost us the sole building we possessed on the map.

The ports opened soon after and UTB were once again ahead of us, picking up both ports easily. Belore called for rallies on the Mother as we needed the building if we were to fight back and have any hope for a comeback. Our rallies hit hard, bleeding UTB of troops but despite trying two waves of rallies we couldn't evict them from the objective. So, we waited for and then picked up Casterly Rock instead. With Belore picking it up we didn't need to swap the objective making it a little easier to hold.

UTB however were as familiar with us as we were with them so they knew of Belore's strength and decided that they could take him on, rallying him for all they were worth. Belore is not me though, he is strong and unlike me he was able to hold onto CR with relative ease. But he was our only shining beacon of hope, the one N0X flagbearer in the middle of UTB dominance. But not for long... because as soon as the strongholds opened up, our racers came to life picking up both buildings and adding two more objectives to N0X occupation.

We next attempted to rally Targaryen Port which was being held by Thor Storm. Meanwhile, UTB started another wave of rallies against CR. Thor Storm's cavalry needed spear rallies so most of our spear troops got tied in the numerous rallies we put up against him, which left us vulnerable in another way. Belore also needed spears to defend and we didn't have enough spears to send to him!. the lack of Temple of the Mother was also taking its toll as we were slowly running out of troops. so, with the rallies on Targaryen Outpost we might have bitten off more than we could chew. We picked up the Port but at a very high cost...we couldn't send out reinforcements to Belore on time, costing him the objective.

We got this close to kicking off Monkis from CR but a mishap with speeding the rallies threw off our times and Belore's attempt to get back into CR was thwarted. After that Belore called it and asked us to save our heals and boots for upcoming matches.

By the time mines opened UTB were well on track to 80k while we languished in 40k. We still raced for the mines and captured one of them. UTB graciously let us keep the mine and soon abandoned most of the buildings so we could reach 60k points. A very nice gesture, something we always do in games that we win, but we do not often receive the same courtesy.

This was a very tough game from the word go, but we also made a few mistakes here and there, took too much time filling rallies or failed to listen to shot callers during rally countdowns. Hopefully we have learnt from our mistakes and would perform better in the upcoming games. Our next opponent should be marginally easier to deal with as the loss vs UTB would have dropped us quite a bit in the rankings.