Preparing for the playoffs - Siege of Winterfell

Eyaka had spent the last week pacing his halls and talking to himself. “What have I missed?” It had become almost a mantra, said so frequently now that he was sure the servants thought him quite insane. There had to be something that would improve TsM’s chances in their upcoming playoffs match but what it was as yet eluded the otherwise astute tactician. Perhaps a look at the previous matches would help? With noticeable grooves being worn into the flagstones of the great hall, an end to the pacing could not have been a bad idea. Eyaka sat at his desk and took out the parchments showing the results of the last six matches.

Ok, two defeats and four victories, it was a fairly impressive list. The first loss, to the mighty Unb, had been a crushing defeat. Eyaka took some comfort in the fact that he had not really been present in this match. His troops were there but he was away on business at the time and while his presence almost certainly would not have changed the outcome there could at least be a glimmer of hope that it MIGHT have done.The second and third matches had been fairly resounding victories, however, a quick look at the turnout showed a quite sizable difference in turnout between TsM and their opponents. While they undoubtedly fought bravely, it was not going to help to study these matches. The fourth match was another defeat, definitely not one that could be described as crushing, in fact, it was pretty close. Something caught his eye: “tSN… could that be…” Eyaka flicked through the papers on his desk until he found the draw for the playoffs.

tSN would be playing 1PT in the first round and the winner of that match would be TsM’s opponent in round two. The match with tSN should be the one studied, this was where they could learn the most. There was a very good chance, given tSN’s final position, that there would be a rematch on the cards. 

After searching through papers once more, Eyaka found the detailed results from the match, it was the eliminations he was most interested in. Maybe it could give some insight into tSN’s strengths and weaknesses.

TsM were very clearly a long way ahead in eliminations, however, this could be down to being outnumbered so heavily. Whenever an alliance is heavily outnumbered the strongest members always get the most kills. It wasn’t clear this was the case, many of TsM’s members, even some of their younger Lords, had performed exceptionally well and made many many kills. A closer look at tSN’s top performers revealed a strong propensity for spear specialists. This was good, TsM had a good number of Infantry commanders who could counter the spearmen, not least their strongest fighter, Neveziad. An advantage for sure.

The only thing that jumped out, the same thing that had kept Eyaka up at night on many occasions, was that damn participation count. TsM had been so heavily outnumbered, there was simply no way they could hold bases with those numbers, what’s more every action they took would have been met with a swarm of enemies and very little support... If memory served it had been their excellent manoeuvring of the Winterfell treasures that had earned them so many points.

A spark of hope was lighting a fire inside Eyaka. IF TsM could get the same turnout in the playoffs that they had had in their best matches then they would definitely have a chance. Scouts had returned from tSN’s territory with reports on their members and while they had some absolute beasts, they were beatable. A plan was forming, regardless of the turnout TsM would focus their attention on the treasures. They would stick together in two teams: The Winterfell team would fight for and escort the treasure to one of the bases, and the Base team, who would hold a single base and make sure it was available no matter what the enemy threw at them.

On the table lay the final scouting report from tSN’s territory, it listed the members likely to turn up for the match. Eyaka only looked at the top page, it was painful reading. There was no guarantee of course that it would be tSN they faced, but if it was then the names in front of him would be their opponents and they were a formidable bunch, the power on display was truly awesome.

Dusk was closing in. The strategy was, in Eyaka’s mind at least, decided. Participation would be their making or their undoing but either way they would put up one hell of a fight. Before finally turning in for the night he penned his proposed strategy and sent it to each of his fellow officers. Finally, a letter to the whole alliance:

“My fellow Lords and Ladies,

We have fought hard to reach these playoffs and I am proud of each and every one of you for your hard work and dedication. I ask one more thing of you; if we hope to win our next match we need the support of the whole alliance. Please, do whatever you can to make it to Winterfell. If you all show up we can and will win this!

Forever at your service,

Eyaka”