SOW S13 R2 - HOH Vs BAN - A Hopeless clash?

The world of GoTWiC is set in the mysterious land of Westeros, it is the land that kings and queens called home with their lords and dragons, where the battle for the iron throne will never die and the heat of battle has not settled down just yet. House Stark is a well-respected and loved house that ruled the north, based at Winterfell, a huge castle complex spanning several acres and encircled by two massive granite walls. There is a village outside, the winter town. Winterfell has been built around an ancient godswood and over natural hot springs. The water is piped through walls and chambers to heat them, making Winterfell more comfortable than other castles during the harsh northern winters.

House Stark of Winterfell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the principal noble house of the north. In the old days, they ruled as Kings of Winter, but since Aegon's Conquest, they have been Wardens of the North and ruled as Lords of Winterfell. Their seat, Winterfell, is an ancient castle renowned for its strength. far away from any other kingdoms in Westeros. Robb Stark, Son of Ned Stark, lord of Winterfell led his troops south of the fight against the Iron Throne, and Winterfell was left with few defenders. In order to gain control of the North, House Greyjoy has turned against House Stark and the Siege of Winterfell is upon us. 

The Siege of Winterfell is on and the battle is intense, it's a battle between the Starks, represented by HOH, and the Greyjoy, represented by BAN. HOH is coming to this battle after a successful fight against NBe, where they worked as a united and well-organized team, and showed their fighting spirit, and passion to win and claim another victory and all that comes with it. They were all hyped after the victory they achieved against NBe, but this is a new battle and they must focus now and not dwell in the past. Both teams were gathering at the main building, and one by one they deployed their troops, who were all anxious for a fight, waiting for the attack order to arrive. HOH is coming to this fight with some concerns, after all, they are facing BAN, a new merged alliance. Now, in case you missed it, this alliance is the merger between N3O and BDR, they made one big alliance, with a large group of some of the strongest fighters in this GoTWiC world. In the past N3O dominated this event and I'm sure they will bring their knowledge and experience to the new mega-alliance and will most likely dominate this event this season (and the next after that? :D) 

Grom and Depra, HOH Siege generals, stood close to where their team was set to race from, checking their team's weapons and gear, with all the dragons by their side. Depra(Depravity is his full name) who led his team successfully in the previous match was looking at his team, he couldn't help but smile, he saw a team ready to fight and follow him wherever he would lead them, no questions asked. As he stood there looking at the battlefield, minutes before the battle was set to begin, he wanted to say a few words and share his thoughts and wishes for tonight's match.

" Tonight, in our 2^nd match of SOW, We are coming here as one well-organized team, we fought well against NBe, and we showed some great fighting abilities and excellent teamwork. We have a battle tonight against the Greyjoys and their BAN troops, and I know we all love a good fight, but, we must also be realistic, we won't be able to win against them and I don't want to waste so many days and resources for nothing. We have the playoffs of SOW and we also have AC/UC coming soon and we all know how expensive that can get. So, for tonight we will focus on Hot Spring and we will fight with the troops we have. Please, only use the heals we buy from the shop and not your own. Be smart about that and save for the next events. Oh before I forget, We will have a game of Skribbl so hope to see many of you join..lol"   

After he had finished, everyone agreed with the plan, they all trusted him and knew that this plan came from a good place. Before we dive into the battle itself, I will give u a walk-through of how SOW goes(in case you didn't catch my previous SOW stories, which is shameful if you ask me 😜)- In every match two alliances face each other on the battlefield, the objective is to earn as many points as u can, by capturing a location for the first time, occupying them (the more troops u have in, the better) and also by escorting the transport of Winterfell resources( aka THE BOX). The match lasts for 1h and the alliance with the most points wins, this event is carried out as a tournament and we join its 2^nd round, let's dive into the battle.

5…4…3…2…1…lets Race!!

As planned all the teams (except a selected few) were racing (more like marching as fast as they could, we can't use racing boots in this event), to the right side where the Hot spring is, this location gives a boost of 100% to healing speed. Healing is an essential part of this event (well, in every event actually), it can be very costly to the warriors, because unlike AC, where it's the stats of the rally leader, here it's your own stats that count. Having said that, not all hope is lost, fighters can pincer an enemy together and work as a team to defeat him and move on to the next target. Fighting in groups can prove to be the right strategy. Once the team arrives at a building, they need to Capture a location, that gives first capture points, so being first is important (but not at all crucial) and the key to occupying the location(building) is to fight inside the circle, a fact that Depra won't let his team forget every time they fight. There is a bar that shows the number of deployments (fighters) in it, and the more you have obviously the better chances you have of defeating your enemies and claiming the buildings and the points it gives.

After the first capture from both teams, the time to fight for the buildings began, HOH teams located mainly in Hot Spring, entered inside the circle and fought off any BAN troops they saw. Swords were raised high up, the sound of clashing mettle was so loud and the blood that was shed on the battlefield mixed with the sweat that was pouring down the warriors' bodies was just overwhelming. It was summer, and the hot weather mixed with the humidity sure as hell didn't help these brave warriors in their noble quest. At first, the blue team (HOH) had larger numbers than the red team (BAN) and they fought as hard as they could. Some died really fast and some managed to last a little bit longer. There was so much commotion at Hot Spring, troops were moving within the circle and some were fighting outside (guess they didn't hear Depra(HOH) or Ana(BAN)..tsk..tsk🙈) fighting any enemy they came across, it was such a huge amount of troops within and it all looked like one big mass(acer).

As the fight at Hot Spring continued, it seemed as if BAN forces were outnumbering the HOH troops and now they had the advantage (well, one of many they had on them). If you took a look at Hot Spring, you would see the color red was now more dominant and there were not many blue-colored troops around (no, I do not mean smurfs…you silly goofs :D). Does this mean the battle is already over? HOH didn't expect to see so many forces from BAN. This merger has made them a huge force to be reckoned with… one would say it made them invincible, hmmm... it does make you wonder, no? 

After the unstoppable forces of BAN conquered Hot Spring, a decision needed to be made by the leadership. So both Grom and Depra consulted each other. After looking at the map and taking into consideration how many troops we had left, they decided to send two teams out – one would go to Greyjoy Outpost 2 and the other would go to the opposite side, to Greyjoy Outpost 1. The point of this decision was to help HOH get more points, they didn't need much more. Their goal was to get more than 3K points so they could rank above WTF, and so it was, both teams knew what they had to do and they were ready to fight until they no longer needed to

.

LexxA, one of the newest members in HOH was on her way to Greyjoy Outpost 1. LexxA was a former member of N3O (one of the two alliances merged to create BAN I told you about earlier). She was fighting to the best of her abilities with what she had. It did feel a bit weird for her to see some of her old allies on the other side of the battlefield, not too long ago she was fighting alongside them, and now she was the enemy and they would most likely hunt her down and try and eliminate her troops. She knew a lot of them were much stronger than her, but that didn't stop her from trying anyway…YOLO right?  

Meanwhile, at Winterfell, the package was about to drop and BAN forces were already lined up there ready to carry it and protect it until it arrived at one of their bases. They would have no problem carrying out this task, Cherenkov can deliver packages and not have to look over his shoulders. That is mainly because there were no HOH troops anywhere near WF. HOH decided long before this battle even began, to not contest the package, They knew it would be pointless and they made the smart decision to cut their losses and do what they could, till the point their leadership would call it and they would stop fighting and just pass the time playing their favorite game- Skribbl. It's a fun game where everyone can show just how "talented" they are at drawing and guessing other people's drawings. Some are just too hard to guess and that can lead to some funny moments. 

And just as expected, Depra and Grom called it and the battle has ended for HOH, they will no longer fight or heal. It's never an easy call to make, all of those who enter the battlefield love to fight, show their skills, and aim for a win. But, a good leader knows when to fight and when it's time to stop, time to make the smart decision for his team. After the decision was announced to the team, most accepted and it set well with them, while some took it a bit hard, but they didn't argue and they chose to go to some locations and try and fight, to earn some points to rank up as high as they could.

This match went exactly as HOH expected, they knew it would be nearly impossible to win this battle against such a strong alliance like BAN. HOH is not an alliance that backs down from a fight and they always enter the battlefield intending to fight and adapt to the situation as the battle evolves. Sometimes the battle goes in their favor and sometimes it doesn't. It is up to the leaders of the team to assess the situation and make the best decision for the team. Oh and If you were wondering who won the Skribbl game, it was Hussar, he is damn good in that game… damn him :D

They went back to their base, not at all disappointed with the outcome of the battle that just ended. They knew exactly what to expect, and when you don't expect, you won't be disappointed. They had fun passing the time with a good game of Skribbl and now they will regroup and come back to SOW ready to fight and face their next foe.