AC - Unb and the deathly Misfits

Eyaka checked the schedule for the fifth time; he couldn’t quite believe it, MFs were matched with Unb. “Of all the bloody alliances in Westeros it had to be them…”  Unb had been the downfall of TsM in their, dare I say, heroic fight for top four in the Siege of Winterfell playoffs. A semi-finals match proved unwinnable for Eyaka’s old alliance and despite having moved to a larger, theoretically more powerful alliance he didn’t like their chances now.

It wasn’t that MFs lacked powerful and skillful commanders, not at all, it was just that Unb didn’t really belong in A-league. They had a gluttony of powerful members with ancient troops at their disposal and, if memory served, an excess of infantry specialists. They were, for the lack of a better phrase, Eyaka’s bane.

“Have you seen our opponent today?” Scott did not look happy either. His face, despite the somewhat effeminate features, looked hard as stone. “Of course I’ve seen, bloody Unb again… it’s like they’re purposefully trying to stop us winning anything!” Eyaka was joking of course, but nonetheless the frustration was genuine. “Have you spoken to Michiel Snow recently?” Scott was enquiring because, despite their utterly humiliating defeat in Siege of Winterfell, Eyaka had struck up a friendship with one of Unb’s officers; Michiel Snow… obviously. He had spoken to him as a matter of fact. They had discussed their mutual opponents NWL in some detail. Eyaka had passed on some of the scouting reports he’d managed to receive during MFs defeat to NWL in good faith, and in return Michiel Snow had divulged some, largely harmless, information about Unb in return. “I have, it wasn’t good news I’m afraid, they’ve recruited. Last we spoke he told me some members from RRH had joined their ranks.”

Eyaka and Scott continued their conversation en route to the match. “We need a good turnout and organisation like we’ve never managed before if we have a hope of winning this match…” Scott’s voice trailed off as they approached the Targaryen camp. The MFs numbers took them both by surprise. There were at least sixty Lords flying their banners and the assembled masses were a sight to behold.

“Let’s try and win some of these races, concentrate on the Mother!” Black, the Misfits’ ever optimistic leader, gave a rousing speech. It was always the plan, take the Mother and Warrior as priorities and hope for an outpost as well. Eyaka would usually be keen to participate in this race but a shortage of boots for his men had left him and his armies in no fit state to race for anything; this time he would have to watch and hope.

Not a single race was won… they had tried, several marches had sped past his own at such a pace Eyaka had worried they might be exhausted before they even reached their targets. However, once again the Misfits had fallen short and not taken a single first capture.

Eyaka scouted the map, the Warrior looked like the best option to attack. As he waited for the protection period to drop, Unb abandoned the position. “They’re going to swap commanders! Attack!” Eyaka’s soldiers thundered forward. It was the last he ever saw of them.

Reeling from such a resounding defeat, another target was selected. The Lannister Outpost had not been reinforced as much as the other positions on the battlefield and Eyaka was determined to take advantage of this oversight. He prepared another march and sent them on: “For death or Glory!”

The men fought with reckless abandon; they were heavily outnumbered but they seemed to have an advantage, the enemy had too much cavalry for their own good. Eyaka’s troops were eventually routed and fled back to camp but they had taken far more of the enemy with them. A victory of sorts. Preparations to send another march were interrupted, Scott had sent a march not long after Eyaka’s first and his men were raising the MFs banners. Reinforcements were sent immediately before another announcement by Black: “The ports are opening any moment, prepare for another race!”

“Unbelievable! It’s like they are carried by dragons. How are they so fast?!” Scott’s frustration was shared by many of the other officers, but not by Black “Pay attention you fools, we may have lost our port but we have taken theirs!” It was true, cc528 had managed what seemed impossible and beaten the enemy to their own port. An outpost and a port, deep in enemy territory, it was a start at least!

No sooner had the news of the port filtered down the ranks had Unb stolen back their outpost. Their numbers had just proven too great for Scott to hold, even with the reinforcements from the alliance. Soon after, the Lannister port changed hands as well. It would have looked especially bleak if not for a successful rally on the Targaryen Port which had knocked the defenders out. MFs still held one position at least.

With the grim knowledge that most of the positions on the map were held with masses of infantry, Eyaka set his sights on the closest target, the Targaryen outpost. He sent a march out, not expecting much; the enemy had been reinforcing the position right under his nose, it was impossible to miss. However, despite exceptionally high losses, the returning soldiers were not discouraged. “We can take this position my lord, we just need more soldiers.” Eyaka didn’t need any more encouragement, he launched a rally immediately and, when ready, set them off to the outpost.

The rally was a great success. They had not managed to clear out every enemy soldier, they were simply too heavily reinforced, but they had managed to make a huge dent in their numbers with minimal losses. “Rudy! Start a rally against the Targaryen Outpost, if we launch together we will clear out the enemy soldiers. This position can be ours.”

In a beautifully timed manoeuvre that would have made Aegon the Conqueror proud, the two generals arrived only moments apart. “The defenders are almost dead, send solos now!” Eyaka shouted to his alliance and Black responded “They are already on the way.” A cheer erupted in the Targaryen camp as, within plain view of the palisade, Black’s men raised the Misfit banner high above the outpost walls.

The cheering did not last for long, as if from nowhere the Targaryen encampment was under attack. One by one the camps of his fellow alliance members fell to an onslaught of Unb troops.Cries echoed from behind the defensive walls until finally all was quiet, only Eyaka’s defences were left standing. The enemy broke against his wall but it was in disarray, in the haste to arrive, orders were not left and the commanders on watch were not the ones supposed to be there!

Like his comrades around him, his wall eventually fell and the stationed soldiers were all but wiped out. The hospital would have its work cut out if Eyaka wished to keep the fight going and supplies were running woefully short.

“Eyaka! The mines are open, Little Blu3 managed to fortify the entrance, get your troops here now!” The messenger was exhausted but had relayed the message from Scott as if he were there in person. Without a second’s hesitation Eyaka sent what he could to aid with the mines. MFs managed to hold onto them just long enough to earn a thousand points or so from the excavated resources but it was looking bleak for the Misfits.

In a final ditch effort to raise the point total for his alliance, Eyaka set about scouting the enemy encampment for spoils. Spending just enough diamonds to pay for the treatment of roughly a single march of soldiers, he managed to assemble a ragtag march of only recently bandaged soldiers. They marched into battle nonetheless and managed to take down several defences that still stood strong from the Unb side.

“My Lord, a message has come through from one of the enemy commanders, they claim to know you.” Eyaka was not expecting to communicate in the heat of battle and opened the scroll with some trepidation.

“Curse the gods, Unb will not even withdraw at maximum rewards!” Eyaka passed the message onto the rest of the alliance. He was grateful for the honesty of his friend but this was frustrating news. Without some benevolence from their opponent it was not possible to reach the next rewards. There was nothing left to do but watch on as the match came to a close.

The march back home from the fields of Casterly Rock was arduous, made all the more depressing by their crushing defeat. The Misfits had fought to the last but they were outmatched at every turn. “We have to get better at coordinating rallies.” Black was right, they had managed a few well timed attacks but not nearly enough, especially given the strength and talent of their members. Scott made another observation, one they were all well aware of: “We wouldn’t need to rally if we could just be quicker at launching our initial attacks. We lose every time! We need to find out how other alliances are so much faster than us.” They all agreed and Eyaka made a mental note to ask his friend Covya how they did it.

It was not a pretty match but despite it all, Eyaka had enjoyed it. He probably would not feel the same way in the morning when his Master of Coin relayed the expenses. For now though, he knew where they needed to improve and that was half the battle. MFs would grow stronger, that was the gift of every defeat.

Watch a summary of the match here...