Arena of Honour - Outdone by trading posts!

Once in a very rare while, Eyaka woke and got up early. It didn’t happen very often, the morning of a KvK, the height of All-out War and of course, for the Arena of Honour. Today was such a day. There was no need to be up early, the event did not start until the sun was at its peak in the sky at midday, but there was a buzz in the air, an excitement that made it impossible to lie in bed.

Yes, today was Arena of Honour and Eyaka had assembled an excellent team. Though he lamented the loss of one of his oldest friends Craven Skar from the squad, his replacement was, by all accounts, a formidable warrior.

Today was the third round of season two. The last two matches had gone almost entirely to plan, with the first being a strong second place and the second a spectacular victory. The tactics they’d developed had been working well and the event, most importantly of all, was always a thrill.

The concept was really quite simple; teams (factions) of ten members each would compete to gain the most points. Teams earned points in four ways. Building trading posts used to be the main source of points, these can be boosted by capturing certain altars that provide bonus income. Now, after a major overhaul of the event, one could also build troop camps in an attempt to capture six new buildings, three catapults and three watchtowers. These buildings earn a lot of points per minute as well as a bonus “first capture” reward and it has proven the most successful tactic yet to capture these. Then there is the faction mine; capturing and reinforcing this earns a sizable amount of points but as every faction has an exclusive mine these cancel each other out. There are also twelve “public” mines which need to be fought over. These can prove vital in close matches but holding two is usually enough to keep the status quo. Finally, the Glory city; capturing and holding this gives the occupying faction 10% of each of the opposing factions’ points and has been the difference between a low rank and first place on many occasions.

Eyaka’s team had had great success in the previous season building trading posts and fighting for the altars that boosted them, however, ever since the overhaul that was no longer the plan. With fresh blood and a full roster the new plan was to go for troop camps and capture the watchtowers and catapults. They could then focus on attempting to either capture or deny the Glory city, most altars were of little consequence to them.

After a slight mishap with the midday registration (entirely the fault of Eyaka who to this day swears to the Old Gods that he DID submit their registration and the organisers must be at fault for losing it, but everyone knew was almost certainly his own stupidity) the “Nerds” were registered and ready for their evening match.

“Are you sure we are registered Eyaka?” Scott was poking fun, he knew they were registered but he also knew this comment would embarrass the team leader. “YES! For the last time, it wasn’t my fault.” The reply lacked conviction and the entire team were laughing, well, almost the entire team. Eyaka made one last check that his army was prepared, he checked his Lord Commander was in position, he checked his equipment and insignia, he checked his castle and refinement. Yes, he was ready, the time had arrived to enter the arena.

As always the match started with a race to capture the nearby strongholds. Eyaka sent a ragtag group of soldiers without any commanders, he trusted his men, they were strong and intelligent enough to capture these points without leadership. As soon as they left he readied the rest of his men to join his teammates in the positions they held.

The moment word reached him that the positions were secured Eyaka set about building trading posts. They would not remain like this for long, but for the first ten minutes they would earn as many points as they could. The second set of strongholds opened and the Nerds repeated the job of securing and building.

“I will start taking altars, is anyone reinforcing our clan castle?” Neveziad was as keen as ever to jump into combat with the other factions. “We can just knock out any incursions to the clan castle when they come, don’t waste a lord march on it” Eyaka was confident they did not need to concern themselves with their base. It took an exceptionally careless faction to lose it and even the strongest “NPCs” could not hold it against any one of this team.

Eyaka waited as the clock ticked down before the watchtowers opened. The moment they did he sent scouts to see what their defences looked like. “They’re full of cavalry, switch to spear camps.” With astonishing speed, Eyaka, Scott and Neveziad demolished the trading posts and replaced them with spearmen camps. They would attempt to capture the watchtowers before anyone else.

With the camps built Eyaka set about the map hunting for the one altar and blessing he cared about. One of the buffs available reduced the time it took between launching an assault from the clan castle. This was vital in getting the first capture rewards which could be decisive in the final scores. Seeing that none of the altars containing these buffs had been captured yet he sent his troops to the nearest enemy altar likely to give it, successfully knocking out the current occupier and defending two more attacks in quick succession.

“My lord, our scouts are reporting that at least two other factions, possibly three, have built troop camps and are taking watchtowers.” The messenger had brought bad news indeed, taking and holding the watchtowers and catapults earned many more points than trading posts but if they were going to be fought over… that was a different matter.

The watchtowers were changing hands faster than Eyaka could keep track. He decided the first entry rewards for the catapults were more important than trying to secure the watchtowers for themselves and, ahead of time, ordered the clan castle to focus their assault on the watchtowers. He hoped making this change early would mean they could capture them all while their opponents carried on fighting over the watchtowers.

It seemed this tactic hadn’t paid off. The Targaryen faction had launched an attack on their closest catapult just before the Starks could get their army out. Eyaka watched on as the two armies raced for first entry, those reward points may prove vital. The Targaryens had a head start and were much closer but they had heavy infantry slowing them down. He waited with baited breath as the armies neared, it was impossible to call. For a brief moment Eyaka saw the Stark banners rising first, they had taken the position! However, almost immediately after they were overrun by the Targaryen horde and the position was lost. It didn’t matter, they had won first entry, they could take it back at a later time, for now the Glory City was opening its gates. The battle to take control would soon begin.

Eyaka and Neveziad started to rally troops for a march on the Glory City. The Lannisters had taken the city from the neutral defenders while Eyaka had been distracted by the race for the catapult. The rallies filled up quickly and, giving Neveziad’s slower infantry a head start, the two rallies were launched. The Lannisters were getting dangerously close to securing the city but as Neveziad’s rally smashed upon them they were routed. Slightly disappointed that they would not get to fight this time, Eyaka’s rally returned home.

The Nerds were being hounded by rallies and solo armies alike, taking hit after hit. The city was almost theirs. Though there was still a lot of time before the end of the event, securing it now would give them a huge advantage. Literally moments before the gates were closed and secured a huge army of Baratheons arrived and routed the Nerds. “Those damn catapults took too many of our troops out, we can’t hold with them bombarding us like that!”

With the need to both earn more points and prevent further deaths if they managed to retake the glory city the decision was made to change troop types once again. The spear camps were duly destroyed and pure infantry camps built in their stead. The tactic seemed to work, the other factions had not settled on a single troop type and the mass of infantry proved effective at knocking them out of those vital positions.

The match was only minutes from ending and so far no faction had managed to take control of the Glory city. It had been changing hands every few minutes, such was the endless numbers of rallies from all sides. With only three minutes left before the horns would blow, ending the match the Tyrells had a chance to take the great prize. Currently in last place, this could prove a disaster for the Nerds. They sent another two rallies to try and knock them out but the Tyrells held strong, were they about to lose their second place position at the last moment?!

As the last of the Stark rallies crashed against the immovable Tyrell army the feeling of disappointment already started to grow. It was down to the other factions now, unthinkable though it was to need their help. With seconds to go a Targaryen rally arrived at the gates of the Glory city. Eyaka could not see the fighting, but what was that? Yes! A Targaryen flag was being raised. They had knocked out the Tyrells! There was no time to take the city themselves but by denying the Tyrells they had guaranteed the Nerds a second place finish.

Retiring from the field, Eyaka took stock of the match. It had been brutal; their usual tactic of taking the “new” positions had not gone quite to plan. It was only now, after the dust had settled, that the realisation set in. The Greyjoys had built trading posts, right from the start, not once trying to take the watchtowers or catapults. They had won the match with the old tactic!

Perhaps this safe tactic was regaining merit. Afterall, if the central positions kept changing hands then no one could earn much from holding them. The points would be too spread out. Should the Nerds change tactics once again…? No. This was an anomaly and Eyaka had not paid close enough attention to the field. If they had swapped to pure infantry earlier they would have taken the win. Their tactic was sound and they would stick to it. Besides, a second place finish was good enough, for now.