Ultimate Conquest Season 19 Round 4 - HOH vs. W T F - The Rematch

 Only a few days have passed since HOH and WTF faced each other, in the second round of this Ultimate Conquest and now we meet again. In the meantime, not much happened, except that HOH played against BaN again, just like in the regular season – I lost count how many times exactly – well it doesn’t really matter, since it doesn’t change the fact: if we bump into the most feared alliance, we just ignore it and start to get ready for the next, winnable challenge. In the light of this, in the previous round BaN got another victory, after a very thrilling 20 minutes of battle. Let's not waste more word for that match...

We knew from the start of the season that we were going to play twice with WTF and the second battle will certainly be the decisive one. We did not want to draw any serious conclusions from the previous battle, which HOH won very easily. This battle didn't have much at stake, but it did boost our confidence, as we beat the defending champions. It is still sounds very good, even tho’ we all know that WTF went through a hard time, they faced numerous difficulties, after the departure of many crucial members, they struggled to fill the void, but we were sure that they won’t just throw in the towel, that easy.

This cautiously optimistic feeling hovered in the air the whole time we waited for the battle to begin. It came as no surprise to anyone that Grom warned everyone to be cautious in his speech:

“It doesn’t matter what happened in the previous battle, we must approach them with the utmost concentration and be prepared to endure. Yes, probably we are the favourites to win, but they are the defending champions, they won’t just come to the battle with their hands held high. I expect a great performance from everyone today. Let’s go and win!”  

With the two teams slowly lining up at either end of the battlefield, the weight of the match was shown by the fact that 70 fighters from HOH and 68 from WTF were ready for a bloody fight. The circumstances did not make the situation any easier, it was so bright you could barely see a thing, the scorching sun was blinding everyone. The air was hot, not a breath of wind was perceptible, the ground was so dry that every step created a huge cloud of dust. A few seconds before the start, it occurred to me, "How are we going to see anything if 70 horses start charging from both sides? We are going into battle blind, it's going to be fun.

- The start 

It was a brilliant start for HOH!

Our racers are still among the best and fastest people in all seven kingdoms, once more managed to gain upper hand in the battle, at the very beginning, by securing 3 buildings out of four.

However, before we would have gotten too confident, WTF intercepted our swap in the Lannister Outpost. A few seconds later when we swapped Tardis to the Mother we were more precise and faster with the reinforcements, and managed to secure the really important building with the healing buff.

Yes, we had Mother, but the problem was that WTF was holding the Warrior with its Base Attack buff – so we had to try to get it back.

We immediately heard Depra's order to make rallies and send them quickly.

The rallies were hitting only a few seconds part form each other and Vernei took the last blow on WTF defence – he is showing absolutely smashing performance during the whole UC season!

We wanted to be 100% sure that Warrior would be safe, so quickly swapped del into the building!

Before the Ports opened up, Queeny ordered an assault on the Mother, which was under the secure control of Tardis. When the offensive rallies and solo attacks arrived, they had to rethink their strategy. The support from the defender’s allies arrived just in time to repel the attacks!

“Tardis is a beast” I exclaimed loudly when I saw the annihilated WTF troops walking back to their home base.

But we didn’t have much time to admire Tardis’s skills, Grom's urgent loud voice pulled me out of my reverie.

“Now, focus on the ports,” ordered Grom

Well well well...we were not focused enough…at the beginning

 WTF racers managed to outspeed everyone for the two ports. So HOH had to switch to Plan B and make intercept rallies in case of swap attempts. We focused on the close port first, but WTF outsmarted us and baited all of our rallies and pulled of a clean swap. So we needed another plan, set up rallies for the Port. Meanwhile the rallies were getting filled, HOH members decided to solo out the Targaryen Port – after a few quick attack, WTF defence crumbled and HOH claimed the building and we used the opportunity of WTF focusing on defending the other port, we swapped Oni Fae in the other port. And HOH corrected the mistake for the clumsy racing, the timed rallies were too much to handle for WTF and after a few minutes of chaotic moments HOH secured both Ports!

“Well done, everyone! Very fast paced decisions and brilliant executions” – Depra praised our teamwork

As the match approached its central phase, HOH was ahead with all the available buildings under their control. The capture of the next one could either spark a comeback or end WTF’s hopes; it was a crucial moment in the match.

Casterly Rock

HOH showcased an excellent job with Casterly Rock. Not just with the fast racing by TitanDJ but also the change of the defence, with Xoica in the helm, it would be incredible difficult task for WTF to try to take it away.

They probably thought the same thing, because instead of attacking CR, they targeted another building: Targaryen Outpost. The match was increasingly turning against WTF with each passing minute. If they wanted to stay in the game, they had to come up with something quickly, as the score difference could turn into a chasm in a matter of moments. QUEENY ordered an attack on Targaryen Outpost, which was definitely the easiest target compared to the other rival defenders. 

The initial attacks were very well constructed by the WTF forces, the pure infantry rallies caused great difficulty for Uri’s spear loaded building and at the end of the clash HOH lost this battle. But it was only temporary, as soon as it was possible and the buidling dropped the protection bubble, we were on the attack again and WTF had no answer against the dozens of solo attacks. Depra managed to take the last blow in and reclaimed the Outpost.  

As time unforgivingly passed, it was now time for the assault on the rival bases. "Let’s finish off any remaining hopes," Grom siad. Without wasting a moment, HOH warriors were launched several attacks against WTF personal castles and try to put an end of the battle. These attacks were devastatingly effective, we needed only a few minutes to take away all their personal points and pretty much kill of their troops. After these attacks, it has become clear for us, that WTF gave up trying to do anything. There was no way back into this battle. They had only one hope left to close the gap and earn more points, the mines…

Queeny took her mission very seriously, like a true leader. Won a race for the left mine and also intercepted our swap on the left mine. Can’t say we were still 100% focused on the match, but still it was impressive moves by WTF. Of course we didn’t want to finish this the game with a sour taste in our mouths, so we decided to take back at least one of the mines, even tho’ it wouldn’t change anything if we would just sit and do nothing until the end. Our first attempts on the right mine were very effective, we were killing nice amount of troops and seemed we would get it very soon, but WTF used the strategem and bubbled it. So we had to wait another minute before could launch the assault again...second time there was no option to protect the mine and everything went well for HOH, Novian took the last hit and retake the structure. Both teams finished the match occupying one mine each.

This last minute action – what was fun – didn’t change the fact that HOH managed to beat WTF once more and this victory meant for us that we proceed to the next round!

In the next round, where we meet NBe and the stakes will be very high for both teams...who will reach the podium in this season, next to BaN and WxC! It most certainly will be a very good clash with full of action, twists and turns...stay tuned for it! 

Thank you for your attention! 😊

'Til the next time...😏