SOW S13 R6 - HOH Vs WAO-Playoffs or Not?

Westeros, ever a mystery land, divided into 7 large kingdoms and a few small ones, all under one ruler, that which sits on the Iron Throne. That throne was the cause of so many gruesome battles, deadly ones where many have lost their lives in the pursuit for power and control. They all desire the one thing, the Iron Throne, made out of the thousands swords of Aegon’s enemies .One of these kingdoms was Winterfell, the northeast kingdom in all the realm. its location far north, far away from all gave it an advantage. Winterfell is a giant complex spreading over several acres and surrounded by two large walls made out of granite. Most of its people lived in the villages close to the castle, they were under the protection of the castle guards. 

House Stark of Winterfell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros, a well-respected one, that had the loyalty of its people and allies. History tells us that in the past, they ruled as Kings of Winter. All that changed after Aegon's Conquest, they were no longer kings, and now they were Wardens of the North. One might consider it a demotion or at the very least reduce the power they possess, will they accept it or will they rebel? In the days after Ned Stark’s death, the north was left in the hands of Robb Stark, eldest son of Ned Stark, He was now lord of Winterfell. Can he live up to his father's standards and lead his people? Will he always be compared to his late father who was an extraordinary and companionate leader? House Greyjoy with Theon in their ranks has turned against House Stark and the Siege of Winterfell is upon us. Theon was a boy of ten when Greyjoy's Rebellion was crushed and his brothers were killed, making him the heir to House Greyjoy and the Iron Islands. Theon was taken from his father, Lord Balon Greyjoy, as a hostage and ward by Lord Eddard Stark and has been raised at Winterfell for nine years since. And now he has turned against them, in hopes of gaining his "family's" honor and respect, after all the Starks have done for him. Will he live to regret it? Can this battle go i =n favor of the Greyjoy's or will the Starks prevail here?

The Siege of Winterfell is on and the battle is imminent, it's a battle between the Starks, represented by HOH, and the Greyjoy, represented by WAO. This is the last match of the regular season and HOH is coming to this battle with a clear task, to make it to the playoffs, that is their main focus for today. They are currently placed at the 13th place and only the top 12 alliances will qualify to the playoffs( Unlike UC which is 16 alliances).For them to achieve this goal, they will need to work as one united team, synchronized and well-organized. They are coming into this last match after they lost to BAN( twice in this season), which put them in that dangerous spot, and if they don’t win today they might find themselves out of the playoffs. But this is a new battle, they must focus now and not stay stuck in the past. Both teams were making last preparations at the main building, and one by one they deployed their troops, where they will wait for the attack order to arrive.

Grom and Depra, HOH Siege generals, stood near where their team was set to start racing from. They were checking their team's readiness to the upcoming battle, weapons, gear, and general mood all around. Depra, who led his team in the previous matches was looking at his team, and he saw some worried faces and some that were more relaxed( do they know something the rest of the team doesn’t?), there were mixed feelings in his men’s minds. That made him a little worried, he didn’t want that to affect his team’s abilities in battle, this match was too important for them to lose it. He was about to give his pre-battle speech and he decided to address this issue as part of his speech, he needed to make sure this wouldn’t be a problem today. 

Tonight is our last match of the regular season, just one match before the playoffs will commence. We are coming here as always as a well-organized team. We fought really well this season, and we showed some great fighting skills and awesome teamwork. We have a battle tonight against the Greyjoys and their WAO troops. This is our most important match of this season, if we win this we will qualify to the playoffs of SOW and if god forbid we lose, we might find ourselves out of the competition. So, I need you all to bring your A-game today, that means you will have to outdo yourselves and fight like hell to make sure we make it. We earned our spot and we are going to be in the playoffs, I won't have it any other way! I have faith in you all and I know some of you are worried after our last loss, but i want you to lift your heads high and remember who we are. WE ARE HOH and we rock!!

After he had finished, all those worried faces he noticed earlier were now smiling and cheering. What Depra said really got to them and gave them the boost in confidence they needed. 

 you know what comes next, don’t you? Here is a walk-through of how SOW goes. 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 and occupying it (the more troops u have in, the better chance you have of occupying it) 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 the last round(of the regular season), and let the battle begin. 

5…4…3…2…1…let's Race!!

The race had started, on both sides of the map, we saw troops racing to reach their designated destination, either on the right or left, depending on the team they belonged to. Each team has a different leader, and Depra and Grom oversee all of them, this way every fighter knows where to go In order to ensure that all the map will be covered. Urielki was the leader of the Armory team( left side), that location gave a boost in attack, health, and defense. He led his team to occupy all the buildings on the left side, with the main building being the Armory. siNa was leading the Hot Spring team(right side), this location gives a boost of 100% to healing speed(which can be crucial in tough battles). Depra led the Winterfell team, they were mostly in charge of covering the fights for the package, but at the start, before the package drops they went wherever he led them. Oh and there was one more team, Team Guerilla led by Grom, they were not designated to a specific location, they were sent where they needed and that was up to Grom to decide where their team would go to fight.

The one important fact all the fighters need to always keep in mind is that Fighting in groups can prove to be the right strategy, there is strength in numbers they say no? Once the team arrives at a building, their task is to Capture a location, that gives first capture points, so being first is the goal (but not at all crucial) and the way to occupying the location(building) is to fight inside the circle, and trust me when i tell you that Depra won't let his team forget every time they fight. You can see the number of deployments (fighters) in it, and the more you have makes for a better chance for you to defeat your enemies and claim the buildings and the points it gives. Remember that the team with the highest score wins the match, so the more buildings they(and keep) the more points they will gain, and let’s not forget the package that will drop later( we will get into that a bit later in this story)

Once the team arrived at each designated location, it was time to fight for it. Uri and his Armory team arrived at Armory only to find it empty from enemy troops. They were quite disappointed, they wanted to fight and have some fun bashing their enemy. Uri knew there was a small chance this could happen, shortly before the battle started he and Depra looked at the enemy layout( the way they spread their troops at the gates), But they thought it would be a good idea to send a team anyway, just in case WAO were trying to deceive them and make it appear like they were only focusing on the right side. They won’t be the first( or last) alliance to use the trick. But an experienced alliance like HOH won’t fall for that, they were smarter than that and know how to fight this event. So he made a decision to divert his team and assist Depra and his Hot Spring team as there seems to be the main battle at the moment, the majority of WAO were there and Hot spring team could use the assist. He left a few deployments at the locations on the left side, just to make sure they remained under HOH control and they headed to the right side. 



Meanwhile, at Hot Spring, the team entered inside the circle and fought off any WAO troops they saw. Swords were raised in the air and the sound of clashing metal was deafening. There was so much bloodshed on the battlefield, so much chaos and sweat, it was a giant mess out there. At first, the red team (WAO) had larger numbers than the blue team (HOH). This is why Depra sent a message to Uri to come to their aid, they were outnumbered and in need of assistance to defeat their enemy. Troops were moving within the circle fighting with all they had, trying to hold on until reinforcements arrived. They were not afraid of any fight and they were not about to back down. Url’s team had finally arrived just as more troops arrived from Grom's team( it takes a while to march since there are no marching speeds to use in SOW) and they immediately engaged in battle, they saw where there was a team pincering down an enemy and they joined to help. Uri saw one of his allies being pincered down by WAO and he sent a group there to defeat the enemy who tried to kill his ally. He then joined Depra and their united team fought bravely until there were no more enemy troops left in Hot Spring.

After the unstoppable forces of HOH conquered Hot Spring, the leadership needed to make a decision. So both Grom and Depra consulted each other. After looking at the map and where there were enemy troops, they decided to send two teams out – one would go to Greyjoy Outpost 2 and the other would go to Base 4 where there was a large group of WAO troops. The point of this decision was to help HOH get more points and to prevent their enemy from earning points that could jeopardize their win in this match and far worse- risk not making it to the playoffs. That thought crossed Uri’s mind as he was marching to Base 4 with his team, he tried not to let them see it, so they would remain focused on the task they had, he needed them fully focused and not at all distracted. That can get them injured or worse dead, it was his job as a leader to make sure they will return safe( well, as much as he can, this is a battle after all, and sometimes lives are lost, it’s the ugly side of any battle)

Meanwhile, at Winterfell, the package was about to drop and siNa’s team was already lined up there ready to carry it and protect it until it arrived at one of their bases. Reinforcement was on the way to them because WAO was sending troops there to contest HOH for the claim of the package…FINALLY a real fight on the package!! in their last matches they either didn’t have the enemy fight them for the package or they didn’t fight it against BAN. So, I’m sure you can imagine just how excited HOH peeps were when they saw WAO troops at WF. they were so excited they started to engage even before the package even dropped. More and more troops from HOH were making their way to WF, this was now the main task they had, to defend the package and eliminate any WAO who tried to take it or had taken it from them. They were determined to deliver this package and all the rest that would follow.

The package( BOX) drooped and as usual, Depra picked it up and started marching up towards Base 2 with enemy troops chasing after him and his allies defending him and fending off any attacks on him to the best of their abilities. The enemy managed to kill Depra’s deployment and they took the package, but that didn’t last long. HOH troops attacked it and picked up the package, and started the march up. Question is how long will they last before WAO troops get them? Can WAO get them and take the package for themselves? it was an insane battle, for a moment HOH had it and then it switched hands and WAO had it. This was turning into a huge fight and that pleased HOH, they were missing that. It took some effort and some bravery from HOH brave troops, but after a large battle, they completed the task and delivered the first package safely. Well done!!

Depra took a look at the map and heard from his scouts at other bases, the enemy seemed to have retreated to their base. Does that mean they have given up? Was the battle for the package their last… will they not contest the next ones? He deployed a team to go to the enemy base and engage them there and he gave them an order to make sure no enemy troops passed them to the buildings. Their job is to prevent that at all costs, all the buildings were under HOH control and Depra wanted it to stay that way. He was under a lot of pressure as the event leader, it was upon him to bring his team to the playoffs and he wasn’t about to let them down. 

“ Depra, are you ok?” Uri asked him as he arrived next to him and saw that worried look on his face. “Yes, I’m ok, just want this battle to be over and for us to make it through to the playoffs” he replied to him. Uri knew just how much pressure his friend and leader was under. “Fear not Depra, we got this, whether they will fight us or they have given up, we are in the lead already, we are still fighting and we will win, I can feel it”. He really called it, WAO basically gave up on this match, they were nowhere to be seen on the map, except at their base where they were fighting HOH troops who were sent there to battle them and to make sure they don’t get out, to make sure they won’t be a problem at WF when they package will drop. 

From this moment until the end of the match, there were two main points of focus for HOH, stopping WAO from going to any buildings or to WF and delivering the packages to earn the maximum points. They knew it would help them rank up and give them a good chance to qualify for the playoffs. They had some time to kill since for the task at hand they didn’t need many troops, so as I'm sure you can guess they set up a game of Skribbl, they earned the right to relax and have some fun and laughs after the tough battle they had at the start of this match. there was a team left to handle the battles and deliveries, and those who chose to join went back to base, cleaned up, and got some food and drinks and they had a good game of Skribbl with their team. Who won you ask? Nicster again.. we have a new Skribbl champion. 

The match has ended with a win for HOH, and even more exciting news is they made it to the playoffs!! all their hard work this season has paid off and they are in, they set a goal and they managed to achieve it. Now they will need to prepare for the playoffs. leadership will sit down and brainstorm a good strategy and tactics and how to best approach the playoffs. It will all depend on who they will face and how their enemy will do on the battlefield. How far will they go in the playoffs? Can they make it to the finals or will they be defeated before and have to see the finals from the sides? Hmm…. that will all be revealed as the playoffs begin, make sure to follow!!