ARENA OF HONOR - PLAN RUINED

It was a night when the call to the glorious Arena of Honor event came. SkyRocket, the team captain, handed over his position to Valravyn, as he wouldn't be able to participate in this round. Valravyn would only replace him in leadership, but he would have to recruit other members since we had suffered two losses: GameOfKorea and Wartime, two powerful cavalry members whose troop type would likely be indispensable if we were matched against many infantry units. The group was filled with some FDH and NBe players known to Valravyn... then we waited for the matchmaking phase.

The matchmaking was good in some ways, since Astrryx's team always supports us against any enemy, but on the other hand, the battle against BDR became difficult because we were up against Denkura's group, which is mostly cavalry and lancers. We needed infantry of SkyRocket's caliber, because Neveziad and I probably couldn't fight against his team in the defenses; and relying on an ally isn't always good because things can turn out differently than planned.

The strategy was simple... set up offensive lancer camps to take the adjacent house and immediately destroy them to take trading posts and fight to obtain maiden altars. This strategy would work, but we realized in the process that Denkura's team had also devised a similar plan... clearly this is a way of challenging us and saying, "Hey, my plan is similar, but I'll be the one to execute it better."

House Baratheon was taken quickly. We destroyed the enemy camps to immediately build trading posts, waiting for the second row of construction and the first altar, to start fighting Denkura's team. At first, there were no problems because, being few buildings, Astrryx's team had it under control.

But there were problems in the enemy house. The mirrors revealed Valravyn, who would be the occupant of that house, since the enemy rallies were mostly infantry troops, his counter. So I decided to go solo to kick my shadow. It took two hits to take over the house, but I wasn't programmed to defend it, so I left immediately so someone else could occupy it.

Meanwhile, at the Maiden altars, a duel was taking place for control of the buildings. Since they had devised the same tactics, only one would be effective; the other would be forgotten. Derkobold was trying to defend a Maiden altar, but he had forgotten to equip his commanders' special hand weapons, which would work against him. Although he was able to withstand several blows from Sickness, this bleeding was crucial for Denkura to finish him off... It was here that we noticed the absence of the previous captain, but we didn't give up; we decided to send Neveziad.

But the result was the same, as was the attack plan: Sickness, Baba Yaga, and Naima, being cavalry, would be constantly bleeding, and Denkura would be the one to finish them off with his rally attack.

While this attrition meant a loss of troops for those going solo, it played a crucial role in the end, as it constantly put pressure on the Maiden Altars.

We decided to send Nyl Payne to fight against the BDR team, but the result was the same. This time, however, it wasn't Denkura who finished them off, but Sickness. We had already been kicked by a spear rally attack, and the cavalry rally attack would be even worse.

The pressure at the Maiden's Altars was so intense that the scoreboard began to reverse, leaving us in third place. Astrryx's team intervened to try and kick them, but the result wouldn't change since we weren't strong enough to fight them. Derkobold forgot his weapons, and Neveziad and Nyl Payne weren't strong enough to tank a rally attack. In addition, House Baratheon was under constant threat, so, tired of so much change, I decided to become the guardian of the house, requesting some reinforcements to keep it safe.

The team, seeing the score widening, realized the plan had been ruined. Adding to their woes, the BDRs who had entered were a constant nuisance in the buildings. They knew they could win even with Astrryx's intervention, but a good warrior knows when they've lost... so in the next round, we would go all out and be well prepared, especially with our attack and defense hammers.

Epilogue

After the duel between those three powerful factions ended, ours took third place on the podium, but the defeat was mainly due to the absence of Captain SkyRocket and not having infantry strong enough to defeat Denkura's team. However, the battle was spectacular, and we gave our best with the members who were there... despite the ruined plan, we would continue to present new and functional strategies to stand out in this fifth season.

It was so close but at the same time so far, 8000 points difference.