[Arena of Honor] new season

Welcome, lords and ladies, to the return of the Arena of Honor! After a long journey in the previous season, in which I had a lackluster performance, I eagerly awaited new battles. The Arena of Honor, despite the numerous changes, unknowns about the calculation of individual power, and the emergence of "clone" teams in the last matches, still caught my attention. On the Arena's battlefield, renowned names could fall before well-organized opponents. Even though the brute force of the whales has a significant weight on many occasions.

When the notification of the new season appeared, I felt that familiar mix of expectation and distrust. My spare invitations disappeared, and I still had a faint hope (even though reason indicated otherwise) that a bug would allow me to reuse the extra invitations accumulated during the previous season. But it was in vain, the Ancient Gods reset everything, and I (like everyone else) would only have a single chance to fight in this first round. In this way, I would have to think about what time and team I would play on, balancing my real-life tasks with my availability for the game. Choosing the ideal team was crucial. In addition, there was also the luck factor. No matter how much you have prepared, there is always a chance of landing on an impossible map, facing players (or whales) who seem a step ahead, and simply seeing an entire plan crumble due to the smallest details.

The Arena of Honor does not forgive distraction. Remembering all the previous battles, the hard-fought victories, the defeats that stayed in my head for days, and the decisions made under pressure came to mind. Therefore, I decided to fight with a team of friends who play match 1. Since the last updates, the group has changed its strategy (as I always wanted) and has started to adopt a more active and aggressive behavior. We left behind the trading posts, and now our tactic was always the troop camps.

Immediately after the reset, everyone began preparations and discussions for the battle. In the lobby, our leader and my alliance companion, Myllas, reminded everyone of the basic actions, not as a formality, but as someone who knows that small details make a difference when chaos begins. Between conversations, the atmosphere was still light, marked by casual comments and laughter, a reflection of a group that arrived relaxed for the new year that was beginning. Upon entering the battlefield, I realized that we would be defending the banner of House Targaryen. The image of Dragonstone came almost immediately to mind, the island fortress resisting for centuries, with the waves continuously crashing against its walls, spreading the smell of salt through the air. That vision brought a different weight to that beginning. The motto of House Targaryen echoed in my thoughts, Fire and Blood. It wasn't just a catchy phrase, but a reminder of the warlike spirit that defines GoT WiC, intense, relentless, and with no room for hesitation.

Looking at the rest of the map, I tried to assess our enemies more calmly. Under the Stark House banner, I saw some familiar names I had fought with in my old alliance. Under the Lannister banner, there was an old friend, with whom we fought in the same alliance. Other names also caught my attention, members of the Nbe, the FFS, and alliances that I already knew wouldn't make things easy. This initial reading made it clear that this wouldn't be a simple AoH. It would be a demanding battle, one that requires attention from beginning to end. I tried to observe the formations on the towers and catapults: these were defended by cavalry. Thus, we should pay attention to troop encampments that would help us conquer these structures, or counter-attack the enemies who conquered them before us.

As soon as the battle began, the usual procedures followed. There was no room for late improvisation. Decisions needed to be made early. Our clan castle would be defended by Lord Pettyssauro, reinforced by the rest of the team. Simultaneously, we also reinforced the camps in order to optimize them quickly. As I had expected, all the other royal teams also opted for spearmen camps.

At the same time, castles belonging to some of the cloned clans fell. Both House Stark and we seized the opportunity... We quickly sought to capture the enemy team's trading posts as well. It would be a valuable source of points!

The battles at the altars, as always, continued intensely.This was the moment to learn the individual strengths of the adversaries on the battlefield. The first confrontation came quickly. Enemy troops advanced aggressively, but I retaliated fiercely;

Therefore, the Watchtower defenses fell, and luckily for us—or perhaps skillfully—we managed to take control of two of the Towers. As the battle progressed, I realized that the Arena isn't won with strength alone. It's about resilience.

When the City of Glory finally became the center of the dispute, the atmosphere changed. Everyone knew that this would be the breaking point. I decided to advance. I began the mobilization and requested reinforcements from my comrades. It was risky, but waiting meant wasting time. We went in with everything. The clash was intense.

Sending out scouts, I saw that CGFathom dominated Glory City. An old ally from my time playing for Fuk. I knew his strength well and knew he possessed a formidable account. Even though I had the natural advantage of counter-attacking with infantry, that advantage seemed smaller against the enemy formation. Their commanders were exceptional. Sararer, Daena, and other names that inspired respect reduced any margin of safety I could imagine.

Doubt arose almost immediately. The fear of failure. The desire not to disappoint those fighting alongside me. I took a deep breath and moved forward. Not because I was certain of victory, but because retreating at that moment would be accepting defeat before even trying.

The chaos of battle continued as my troops advanced towards the Great City. Attacks erupted at different points on the map, reinforcements were hastily sent, and time seemed to run faster than usual. Every decision had to be made at the last minute.

When my troops finally reached the GC, the scene had already changed. The building had passed into other hands. Now, the defense was led by Lord KingBlueBear. Luckily for me, he also used a spear formation. That gave me a brief relief, not enough to relax, but enough to remain confident that there was still room to fight this battle.

The shock reverberated throughout the battlefield. Sinara led the front line, activating my Bleed synergy. Each advance of my troops seemed to erode more resistance from the enemy, even when they still maintained their formation. On the other side, the enemy spearmen, using a Weakness synergy led by Jaime, tried to reduce our impact until our line gave way. But my infantry maintained the pressure and began to break the spearmen's rhythm. Losses were inevitable on both sides, but the enemy formation no longer responded with the same firmness as at the beginning. When the battle finally began to tilt in our favor, I felt more relief than euphoria. The victory gave me extra encouragement amidst the chaos of the Arena.

After dominating the game, the challenge would be to withstand the constant attacks! Our defenses were improvised, with reinforcements arriving at the last minute.

But as always, this was only the initial challenge. Now it would be our responsibility to hold the building until the protective bubble emerged. Meanwhile, we were the target of everyone on the battlefield. The first test was an attack led by [Nbe] Mis. The enemy infantry attacked us in a swift strike. The losses were heavy, but we managed to hold out. Still, I requested everyone's attention; our defenses could be optimized: more troops and dragons within the walls of the great city were an urgent need.

The next attack was led by [FFS]Theoj. The enemy also used a bleeding synergy, and had an additional advantage, as they had Jon Snow in their lineup. Even weakened by the previous attacks, the battle was balanced, although I lamented the defeat.

The loss of Glory City was an alarming turn of events. Our lack of organization for an effective counter-attack, and the loss of control over the neighboring clan's castle, placed us in a delicate and extremely vulnerable situation.

Attempts to recapture the enemy clan's castle proved fruitless.

We then focused on the mines and the maiden altars. We were still in second place, but our advantage was rapidly dwindling.

A final attempt led by Lady Eliandra momentarily placed us in the City of Glory, but there was no longer time to conquer it.

When I saw the timer, I realized everything was lost. As predicted, we dropped to 3rd place. The feeling was one of frustration.

Even though we didn't lose any points, technically this was last place – we were only ahead of the clone teams. :(

I took a deep breath. This battle had only been the initial challenge of this season. Finally, I sought the familiar silence that comes after an intense fight. The defeat didn't erase the collective effort or the lessons learned from that battle. On the contrary, it made it clear where we still needed to improve.