Two RoD groups, One FFS group, and our Squad Walk Into an AoH match

AoH weekend is upon us. After two matches during the last two weekends, I’m standing just 11 points shy of the Glory King title. Eleven points doesn’t sound like much, but if the last month has been any indication, getting them will be anything but easy.

To reach Glory King today, we’d need either a 2nd-place finish or to end with the City of Glory. Both ambitious goals considering the teams that always seem to pop up in our 18:00 slot.

Realistically, I’m hoping for 3rd place. That would at least get me the points I need to finish the job next time.

Confident in our chances, we assemble our solid roster and head in. As soon as I port my city onto the map, I log into Discord to hear the map recap. And it’s… grim, to say the least.

We’re flanked by two RoD premades. Translation: we won’t be holding any altars this game. Great. There’s also an FFS group... hmm, probably the same one we saw last time. So if they fight with the stronger RoD group over the City of Glory, maybe we can scavenge some scraps?

Between the two RoD groups and the FFS team, we have to beat at least one of them to secure 3rd place.😱Worst case, we settle for 4th and at least avoid losing points. Still, I hate how AoH matches have changed from “How can we hold the City of Glory?” to “What do we need to do just to not lose points?”😔

The match starts and we rush to grab our Strongholds. Those, at least, are ours to hold. The House is also a top priority this time. Usually we put an alt there and forget about it, but today it’s different: if we lose the House even once, it’s most likely game over. The RoD group to our left, so the ones hitting into our House, looks like the strongest group on the map, and... they’re going for Troop Camps too. If they kick us out and move one of their accounts inside, we’re finished. So defending the House becomes our core priority.

But there’s a silver lining. More Houses than usual are going after Troop Camps, which suits our Trade Posts strategy just fine. Even without the Altars of the Maiden to boost our points, we can still build a steady score just from our Trade Posts that nobody can steal, while others have to fight for their points.

Our hopes are still up as we start strong, quicky upgrading the two rows of Strongholds into Trade Cams just in time for the altar fights.

Even better, we have two Altars of the Maiden nearby. Maybe we can stack ten people in and HODL for a win? This worked very well last time!😅

But as the altars open, reality hits. Every altar we try to hold is immediately contested. The marches fielded by other accounts are just on another level. We don’t get instantly kicked on the first solo hit, but by the third or fourth we’re still pushed out. Sniping isn’t what it used to be either. It’s no longer a cheesy “steal an altar while they’re not looking”, now it’s full on rally, reinforce and pray we last two minutes before the bubble pops.

And this is how the fights go all game long. We barely scrape through the first hit: Infantry against our Spear line, and to make it worse, it’s a Jaqen H’ghar march crashing into our “non Gray Worm” defense.

A second Infantry wave follows almost immediately, but somehow, we’re still holding on, despite being hit by TT.

But then comes the rally.😅The opening solo hit was a close call, but this rally is serious overkill. When it lands, there’s no doubt left, they’ve made their point, and we’re out.

We grab the Sept of the Seven and our “big mine” as they can't be challenged, while still trying to "rally snipe" altars here and there. Half the game passes, and we’re stuck in our shell. Trade Posts are our lifeline; everything else is a revolving door. Even NPC troops feel like they’re on steroids. For the first time ever, I have to use my main formation just to reclaim Trade Posts, since my off march is no longer able to clear the City of Glory troops.

By the time the small mines are about to open, our hopes for a dramatic turnaround are thin. We plan a push anyway, knowing full well we’ll probably be murdered before we can even reinforce. And sure enough, sandwiched between two RoD groups, we don’t get to keep any mines.

But in this madness we spot an opportunity.

Across the map, a small mine is poorly defended. It's not one we planned for, and not one we even thought we had a shot at, sitting near the FFS group... Within this tiny window, a sliver of opportunity shows itself, and we're ready to grab it! Someone calls it out on Discord, takes it and asks for reinforcements. And without overthinking we speed in our marches. The timing is perfect; FFS is distracted and a counter hit is late. Against all odds, we manage to sit inside just long enough to drain it. The final "full" tick of points is ours before we're kicked out. Great success for a snipe that didn't even require a rally.😂

That one glorious tick spiked the scoreboard in our favor pushing us even further ahead of FFS. It's even more rewarding since the team behind us, breathing down our necks, is no other than FFS. And it felt great to have these points come over to us and not them.😅

It’s not the big mine we wanted, it’s not even on our side of the map, we didn't even hold it long enough to fully deplete it, we just held it for what felt like a heartbeat, but it was long enough to get the majority of its points. Discord lights up, our team cheering like we’d taken the City of Glory itself.😂For once they can have our leftovers. They can feel what we've felt this entire game.😝

As the last minutes tick down, it’s no surprise the strongest RoD group holds center and helps their friends get 2nd place.

The map belongs to House Targaryen and House Lannister, aka the RoD Houses.

But the real surprise is the FFS group and their monster accounts that weren't able to get 3rd place.

And the best surprise of all? Our band of misfits is in 3rd place, clinging just ahead of House Greyjoy, aka the FFS group itself.

The final map looks like a RoD parade with a few FFS guests, but the rankings tell a different story. Against all odds, we’ve pulled up in 3rd place, with a decent lead over FFS. That tiny interval when we held the mine instead of the FFS group was the moment we refused to go home quietly without any points. That tiny opportunity made all the difference this match.

And with it, I secure my 10 points, just one point short of Glory King.

The title is so close now I can almost taste it. Maybe in the next AoH in 2 weeks... finally, it will be mine.