Arena of Honour - Back on track

The day had finally come; the Nerds were going to get some redemption. It had only been a week since “that which we don’t talk about” but it felt more like a year, so desperate was Eyaka to wipe the memory away with a really solid round of Arena of Honour. 

The Nerds had some new blood, some friends of Smoke had joined them  (though, it was quite by chance that Smoke knew them, they had simply bumped into Jussidude en route to the battleground the previous week and he in turn had invited some friends. The fact that Smoke knew them all wasn’t so much of a surprise, since Smoke seemed to know everybody, but it was a pleasant turn of events nonetheless).

“How goes Jussi?” Eyaka waved to his new comrade as he approached the Lannister stronghold. Truth be told, it felt odd not fighting for the Starks, however, it was not for him to choose and seeing his friends arriving allayed the discomfort. Jussi dismounted: “I am well Eyaka, keen to fight and forget about last weeks dis…” Eyaka coughed violently “I hope you weren’t going to mention the match?”

The previous week’s match had been an utter disaster for the Nerds. They had finished fourth and earned no points towards the season. The reason it was so painful to Eyaka was that nobody had taken the Glory City which should have made it an easy win. Unfortunately for the Nerds, three other teams had built troop camps and first entry had proven next to impossible, purely through bad luck. The Nerds had the most altars by far and ended the match with all the buildings but didn’t have the time needed to catch the factions who had beaten them to those first entry points. To make matters worse, the Greyjoys had taken the Targaryen clan castle somehow and stormed out of reach. The Nerds never get this type of luck.

This was a new day and a new match and the team was prepared with some new tactics (of sorts). “I don’t really know how we could have missed something so obvious really” Scott was explaining to his commanders how you can see the troop type of the watchtower and catapult defenders before the match even began when Eyaka walked into his tent. “Ah Eyaka, have you seen the gathered Tyrell forces? I have a feeling they will end the match with the Glory City”. He had seen; it didn’t look good. There were several powerful commanders flying their banners over the Tyrell encampment, ones he was quite sure they would not be able to beat in open combat. “I suspect you are correct, however, the rest of the field looks to be beatable, so as long as we take the six strategic positions we should be able to secure second place and you never know, we could get lucky”.

The horns blew, as usual, signalling the start of the match and the Lannister soldiers made haste securing the closest camps. Unlike in previous matches, they would NOT be building trading posts but instead going straight for cavalry camps. While they were building there was time to scout the enemy… damn, it looked like the Tyrells, Greyjoys and the Baratheons were building troop camps too, this could prove problematic.

The Nerds had finally gotten lucky with their first altar and secured the only launch speedup buff on the map so far. Eyaka was jubilant, however that soon turned to despair… “Our bloody troops are going to be ready a few seconds before the watchtowers open, we’re going to miss the launch window AND BE THE ONLY ONES THAT DO!” This was too much, all he could do was watch as each of the enemy factions launched their attack on the watchtowers… Not a single faction captured! It was a miracle! “They’ve all mixed too many troop types, we’re going to launch next!” Scott’s enthusiasm was palpable. The Lannister troops stormed the nearest watchtower… and took it! Yes! First capture and straight into first place.

No sooner had they began to celebrate, dire news arrived. The Baratheons had taken their watchtower, they had built several spear camps and had been able to clear out the defending Lannisters. The watchtower was inconsequential at this point, it was what this would mean… With their nearest watchtower occupied by an enemy the Lannister troops would stubbornly leave the other watchtowers alone until they regained their prize. The other first capture points were, temporarily, out of reach. Eyaka watched on as the next Lannister march crashed against the defenders, in vain.

They needed infantry, it was the only way they’d knock out the Baratheon spears. “Let’s try another infantry camp” Scott immediately obliged and helped rebuild the demolished cavalry camp. Another march was launched… and once again it failed.

The pair decided to go with one more infantry camp in the hope that this would be enough to unseat the Baratheons. However, when the troops left the Lannister clan castle they didn’t take the road to the watchtower. “The catapults have opened and we didn’t notice!” Eyaka watched on as the marching troops arrived at the catapult and, rather predictably, routed.

The catapults were never going to fall with so many infantry clogging their ranks. “Let’s reset to our opening configuration” Scott suggested. It would mean they didn’t have to demolish their level three infantry camps so it seemed like the sensible option, however, it too was in vain. The march was crushed at the catapult’s palisade.

“Of course, the catapults have far more ancient troops, we will need to go full cavalry” Eyaka sent out the order and the camps were ONCE AGAIN swapped. The situation was looking bleak, they were in fifth place as it stood, many of the opposing factions had decided to give up on troop camps and swapped to trading posts, they were earning many more points than the Nerds.

With the last camp rebuilt as cavalry and troops sent to upgrade the stables all Eyaka could do was pray to the Old Gods for it to work. The standings made grim reading, the Targaryens and Greyjoys were both far in front of the rest of the field. If this didn’t work, they were doomed to another crushing defeat. 

The clan castle launched and Eyaka waited… he could barely watch. Then, from his vantage point atop the Lannister castle, he saw it. The Lannister banner was being raised above the catapult palisade! They had FINALLY taken another position and were back in the race.

“The Tyrells are holding the Glory City, quickly, let’s try and knock them out before they can secure it” Jussi had been spending his time and troops clearing altar after altar but now the Nerds were taking catapults his focus had shifted. His first rally was a narrow loss and time was running out, he rallied again. Scott and Eyaka immediately sent their bows to join but the rest of team were resigned, they could not make it in time… the Tyrells took the city.

“Well, we knew this would happen, we need to clear those Baratheon troops from the watchtower and take the remaining first entry points, we’ve slipped down to third.” Eyaka had intended to make a more rousing speech but his mind was already on swapping troop camps once again.

With a few extra barracks and a strong contingent of infantry supporting the cavalry, Baratheon forces were utterly routed. The watchtower was theirs again, the remaining two would finally be targeted. Before they’d had time to think the next march set off…

Of course they didn’t capture it, they’d built all this damn infantry to take the last watchtower. The Nerds faced a real dilemma; if they swapped back to cavalry camps the Baratheons would retake the watchtower and they’d only be able to take one more watchtower at best, they needed them both to secure second place. “There’s nothing else for it, we know we can take the watchtowers with two infantry camps, we just need to risk it.” Eyaka wasn’t entirely sure how this would play out but he was right, there was nothing else they could do. Third place was not good enough. The camps were swapped back… hopefully for the final time; the match would be over soon it would have to be.

“The Baratheons have targeted the catapults! We are going to take the last watchtower!” Scott’s voice was almost cracking with excitement. With only minutes to go the last watchtower was taken and the Lannister banner was moved up into second place. Their lead over the Targaryens in third place was, though tiny, now unassailable.

The match was over and what a match it had been. No fewer than eight times they’d had to swap camps but in the end they had made it to second place. Scott was congratulating the team: “No surprise the Tyrells were in first, called it from the start! IT was hard work but we made it!”.

By the time Eyaka had made the journey home he was absolutely shattered. That had been one of the most stressful matches of the season. They had made it though and looking at the final scores drove home one important truth: If you do the troop camp tactic badly, you will be punished. It was with more than a touch of schadenfreude that his eyes settled on last place, Baratheons… good. Hopefully karma won’t bite next week in the War of the Kingdoms.

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