[sRH] vs [FeA] | Alliance Conquest | Season 23 Round 1

Yes! A new season of Alliance Conquest is here. In the previous season we missed the playoffs by 9 points. We are eager to try and gain an early lead by winning the first match. Our current place in the ranks is at 40. [sRH] has received several new members after a successful merger with a smaller alliance. We are excited to fight alongside our new brothers in arms. Will this season be the one in which we make it to the playoffs?

Chapter 1: Scouting and Planning

I began preparing a plan for the event. We have to prepare a new list of rally leaders. Several members have either left the alliance temporarily or have been inactive. Our strongest rally leader, Phantom 01 had joined [N0X] for this season. As always, the two strongest players will hold the mines. I suspected that there would be fierce fighting for the ports.

I began looking at the players list of [FeA]. A spear player, Bazyi, caught my eye. They appeared to be their strongest rally leader. Several other members appeared to have T5. This match will be difficult to win. I knew immediately that we would have to be quick and smart with our attacks. [sRH] needs to improve a lot in terms of rally coordination. This match will prove to be a test of our abilities. Exciting!

The enemy's strongest play will use spears. So we need to counter them. Rudi would hold the tower, while Marcellus would guarantee us at least one mine. The crucial part would be the first capture points. They would give us a big boost. All four of us are very fast. I directed other members to focus on the ports. If they decide to use another player for the mines and send Bazyi to Casterly Rock, the ports would help us counter the point gain.

Chapter 2: Tower of Mother

All the rally leaders began to focus on their buildings. As soon as the timer hits 0, four buildings will open. We need as many points as possible. The players rushed to capture the castles as soon as the timer hit 0. We captured three out of four castles! Yesss! Rudi has captured the Tower of the Mother. This would help us fight against stronger opponents. Quickly I directed others to send troops to defend the tower.

Our happiness was short-lived. [FeA] quickly struck back. They captured the tower of warrior with two successive attacks. Despite our loss, I am not frustrated. We still hold two buildings. The first capture points were still ours. With the ports opening soon, they will shift their focus there, which would let us gather our defenses in the two buildings we hold. Also, we have 2000 points separating us.

Chapter 3: Strong Enemy

Then it happened. I attacked the Targaryen outpost to try and weaken their defense and gain information on the commander formation present. KrusteBoss is a considerably strong cavalry player. This will prove to be trouble. Marcellus could defeat Bazyi; however, the defense would cost a lot.

The other rally leader, Iceman77, was stronger than KrusteBoss. He uses bows and has the help of T5. Holding two mines would cost us immensely. We will have to abandon the idea of holding two mines and gain points from the other buildings. I rushed to change the rally leaders. graycon would have to try and hold one of the ports instead.

I quickly called players to launch rallies on the enemy castles. It will do us good to increase healing costs for them while we hold the tower of the mother. However, it is increasingly becoming obvious that winning will be far from easy. In fact, we might be better off trying to get 60,000 points.

Chapter 4: Defensive Battle

Just as we began making rallies, Pacahontas' defense was annihilated by 2 quick solo attacks and a rally. Despite having ownership of the Tower of Mother, our healing costs were incredibly high. All our defenses had failed until now. I was increasingly becoming frustrated. Within minutes our hope of winning has left our minds. Now we prayed and hoped that we would be able to gain at least 40,000 points.

Only one of our two attacks on the port succeeded. We began reinforcing it. We now hold only 2 of the 6 buildings. I could not even pause for a few moments. One attack after the other. Our only hope is to defend and hold the two buildings. Soon Casterly Rock will open. I knew that I would not be able to hold it for long. At least we could try and get the first capture points.

Bazyi is shredding through our defenses. "Perhaps it would be better to let Bazyi take Casterly Rock to reduce our costs," I thought to myself. However, our players reinforce quickly to prevent [FeA] from capturing the Targaryen port. I requested players to make counter rallies on the other port.

Chapter 5: Casterly Rock

I looked over the elimination ranking. Barely two players from [sRH] have made it to the top 10. It is looking bad. I am thankful that we hold the tower of mother. Otherwise this match would have been over a long time ago. Marcellus offered to capture and hold Casterly Rock until the mines open. It felt like a good idea. However, Casterly Rock opened before either of us could coordinate. In a desperate move, I sent my army to capture it.

I won the race! Finally, there is something we can be happy about! We have received 2200 points for free! I called for reinforcements. We have to act fast! The other members quickly sent their cavalry. Bazyi would surely attack us. We have to hold this city for as long as possible. We still hold the lead. If we play our cards correctly, we could gain 60,000 points. I could feel relief. However, we must act now.

Chapter 6: Misery

I called for the other rally leaders to attack other cities to distract them from Casterly Rock. It would be great if we succeeded in capturing one as well. I looked over to my right. A defeated message had popped up a second ago. My heart stopped. I slowly opened it.

In my state of happiness, I had forgotten about the Targaryen port. Bazyi wasted no time in capturing it from greyghost. Once again, we are on the back foot. And just like that, we have squandered a lead. I feel an immense pressure.

Rudi is also struggling to defend the tower of the mother. Repeated cavalry assaults have made it expensive for him. The others have been trusting me to plan for these. I have failed them. Within 10 minutes of the match, so much has happened. For everything we did, [FeA] had an answer. I have failed my team.

Chapter 7: Resurgence

I was sitting silently as I realized something. "We have 50 minutes to change our luck!" I slowly gathered myself. It is true. A long way to go. Bazyi will be stuck at the port, unable to remove me from Casterly Rock. If they decide to attack us at Casterly, we can take back the port. Just as I began to gain confidence, another factor boosted it. graycon won! He has captured the Lannister port. Things are finally looking good for us!

[FeA] players began rallying Casterly. They were largely unsuccessful. Sensing the urgency, Bazyi retreated from the port to attack Casterly Rock. Marcellus, seeing an opportunity, quickly captured the port. We are on fire!

james successfully defeated the defense at the tower of warrior. Nomad swooped in to capture it. We now hold 6 out of 9 buildings! More than [FeA]! It is incredible! And we still hold the lead! Seeing the players fight hard brought tears to my eyes. I have to fight for them!

Chapter 8: Mines or Theirs?

As expected, I lost casterly after several minutes. However, we still hold most of the buildings. We have to make as many points as possible. We cannot win; however, we can give them a fight. The only thing that had not gone to plan was that Iceman77 had taken Casterly instead of Bazyi. This would leave Bazyi free to attack our cities.

Quickly they began to attack our ports and the towers. Some held strong while others fell. We waited patiently for the mines. Many buildings exchanged hands multiple times until the mines opened. We have 36,000 points, while [FeA] has 42,000. They are going to win it anyway. However, we were easily going to get past the 40,000 point milestone. I was proud of our team. We are fighting well against such a strong opponent.

Soon the mines opened. Marcellus was quick/ As expected Bazyi captured the Lannister mine while we captured the Targaryen mine. Strong fighting has left most of us without enough healing. So we have to capture the mine to reach 60,000 in the remaining time. However, I am incredibly proud of my team.

I watched as the counter went down. We have gathered 51,000 points against an incredibly strong opponent. It was incredible to watch the team work very hard for this. Perhaps we deserved 60,000 points. However, I did not let it make the moment sad. Everyone was happy. We had worked hard for this. We failed to reach 60,000 points. However, our hard work has kept the gap to just 18,000 points.

Chatper 9: End

Despite it being a defeat on paper, I was incredibly happy with how the team played. The rallies and speed at which we captured buildings were impressive. We do have a lot to learn and change. But the progress is visible. 51,000 points to the opponents; 69,000 is a victory in my eyes. Especially with such a significant difference in elimination rankings highlighting our varying levels of strength.

We can be proud of our battle today. Sure, we did not have the start we hoped to have. But the match was fun. I hope that in the next match we can experiment with new methods and improve ourselves further. We do need to work on coordination. I need to improve communication. Let us hope we do better in the next match!