GoTWiC [AoH] S4R14 “New Player”

After playing with Stanko in the 3rd round of the Arena, where they managed to secure 2nd place and 150k points as complete underdogs, Mace returned to his old teammates, almost all of whom were from the Sfu alliance. The only ones missing were our two strongest spearmen.

However, Maverick, their strongest player and second leader alongside Mace, was unable to play the match that evening, so Mace had to look for a replacement. He found one within his own alliance: Anastasia. She was a strong cavalry player and would also serve as their rally leader for cavalry.

They entered the Arena and saw that this time they would be representing House Lannister. Mace was the strongest player in his group, but he was still no match for any of the opponents he faced.

Both houses had several warriors at his level, while others were even stronger.

Not everyone in his group even had T5 troops. Still, in order not to demotivate his teammates, and drawing on the experience from the previous match, Mace gathered the players and told them to try to perform just as well as they had before.

The positive thing was that third place was practically secured for them, but we were aiming higher. We would try to finish in the top two. Third place had previously been a premium achievement, but now it would be merely a consolation prize, a spot equal to that of a loser. It was difficult, but if they managed to work the same way as before, they would have a chance.

At the beginning, they and the Starks built spear camps, while the Targaryens focused on infantry. Mace saw an opportunity there, knowing that both houses would fight over the Towers and Catapults, so he quickly ordered them to destroy those structures and start building trading posts instead. This delayed them slightly, but they managed to make up for the lost time and rebuild quickly.

When the first altar opened, Mace still had his main army positioned near it, and by the time he moved in, it was already fully reinforced. He knew he couldn’t win a direct attack, so he ordered them to continue securing strongholds until the other altars became available. Stranger was important, but not the most crucial objective for them. That was yet to come…

The other altars opened, and the situation became more complex than they had expected. Both houses harassed them, the Targaryens from the left and the Starks from the right. They were seen as a weak team and perceived as the weakest house.

They were practically unable to capture a single altar during the second opening, which left them in third place. They had to fight hard to secure some altars; Mace and Anastasia were the key players, and the rest of the team had to quickly send reinforcements after one of the two of them captured an altar.

That was the only option they had. For the other members, it was practically impossible to capture an altar on their own. The same applied to defense, they had no choice but to rely on the two of them.

The other members tried as well and managed to defend against some attacks, but stronger opponents always arrived, using rallies or solo attacks to drive our troops out of the castles.

As time went on and the second-placed Baratheons kept pulling further ahead of us, Mace suggested to his teammates that they spam the enemy with small troop deployments in an attempt to capture a castle. While Mace was holding one Maiden, he ordered a quick attack on one of the Dragonpits, as it provided a large number of points.

First place was impossible at that moment, as the Starks had taken Glory, while the Targaryens controlled the Towers and Catapults. The only solution he could see was to capture as many Mine Shafts as possible, each of which awarded 2k points, but even that was very difficult.

“We’re under attack! Clan, hurry up!” one of the members shouted. The Targaryens, thanks to a Tyrell clan they had captured earlier, managed to attack us, occupy the target, and begin reinforcing it. Mace quickly sent a scout and saw that infantry units were inside. He ordered Anastasia to immediately start a rally attack and told her that he would follow right after with his infantry. He instructed the others to be as fast as possible in sending reinforcements.

In the end, however, he struck first, in a clash of infantry versus infantry. He managed to win the fight, but not to completely clear them out of the castle, as they were far more numerous. Now they were waiting for Anastasia, who arrived as much as 12 seconds late, enough time for the Targaryens to send fresh troops and refill the castle once again. Although Anastasia countered the opponent, it still wasn’t enough to remove them entirely. At that point, any remaining doubt was practically gone.

A protective shield was raised, and the House fell into Targaryen hands. They immediately began capturing the Trading Posts, which led to a further loss of points. They defended it, and some lost it. As soon as the bubble dropped, rallies resumed and they attacked again, but this time the defender was a strong cavalry player, against whom even Anastasia had no chance. Perhaps the situation would have been better with Maverick, but that no longer mattered.

They had to come to terms with the fact that it was impossible to regain the lead and therefore have any real chance of climbing to second place. Even without this setback, the gap had already been large. For Mace, this was his first defeat of the season. His teammates were disappointed.

Mace felt especially bad for Anastasia, who had come to fight alongside them and had performed quite solidly. He hoped this would not be her first and last match with them.

When the match ended and they secured third place, they gathered together, and he was the first to say once again that there will always be victories and defeats.

There was no reason to dwell on it, this time the opponents were stronger, and even this loss brought points, which helped soften the situation somewhat.

Mace knew that their main problem was a few players who still did not have T5 troops, and that this made the crucial difference, but as a true leader, he did not want to point that out publicly.

Mace remained the last one in the Arena. He analyzed the battles in the hope of learning something new, and he was right. Simply put, the opponents were stronger, and perhaps it was a mistake not to continue fighting for the Towers and Catapults, choosing Trading Posts instead.

He may not have managed to create an upset like in the afternoon match, but he certainly fought until the very end. And even if this time it did not bear fruit, Mace knows that one should never give up, and that sooner or later, perseverance will be rewarded.