Kingdom vs Kingdom | k226 vs k198 | The Kingdom That Refused to Fall

Rale was never a big fan of KvK. Not because he disliked the event itself, but because KvK usually came at the wrong time for him. Real life obligations often kept him away, and that made it difficult for him to stay active for an entire KvK day. Many times he could only join for parts of the battles, watching the rest from reports, chats, and messages from his teammates.

In the previous few KvKs, SFu on Kingdom 226 had not faced many real challenges. The opponents had been relatively weak, and victories came without too much difficulty. Castles were captured early, points were secured quickly, and most of the time the battles never truly became intense.

But maybe that was also part of the problem.

This time felt different.

Most of the alliance’s strongest and most war-focused players were no longer on K226. Many of them had already moved to other kingdoms in search of more active and competitive KvKs, which meant that this time the players remaining on 226 would have to rely mostly on themselves.

And as the new KvK approached, one question stayed in Rale’s mind:

Were the remaining players on K226 truly ready for what was coming this time — without the help of the teammates who had carried so many battles before? 

This KvK also started slowly for the sleepy K226. Mostly because KvK began right after the game reset, which for the Europeans — who make the majority of SFu — meant late night hours. But it was also not far from the truth to say that many of them were generally inactive during the day as well during this event, or simply not very interested in it.

The opponent was K198, home of the KFr alliance, with several strong players and enthusiasts. However, just like SFu, they also did not have their full group of strong players on their main kingdom. The main threats to K226 were instead two players in particular — the solo raider and both spear-type players III NAZGUL and HD! xONURCANx.

Either way, somehow quietly, everyone decided to focus on early farming and gathering, without too much desire for fighting. And in that spirit, a new and seemingly not very exciting KvK had begun.

Let the KvK begin.

During the Sunday morning hours, Rale had many real life obligations. For a moment, he checked the KvK score and sent troops to gathering, hoping to gain individual points and at least finish the KvK respectably that way.

And he had something to see.

The score was heavily in favor of K198, even though only one third of the KvK day had passed. Rale immediately started asking himself how that was possible. Did someone from SFu get zeroed? Was KFr really that strong and managing to keep the lead by holding castles, especially King’s Landing? All of these thoughts went through Rale’s mind.

However, when he checked the personal scores and rankings, he noticed that most of the names in the top 10 and top 20 belonged to the TW1 alliance.

“What is this now? Who are they?” Rale wondered. “And how are they leading by this much?”

No matter the situation, he had to return to work again, but he made a mental note to check the kvk score again in four or five hours when he's back and send his armies gathering again.

The other SFu players were mostly doing the same thing — farming — but there were also signs of possible action later on. Buhara and DS were already asking around and looking for plans for future attacks.

After several hours, Rale finished work and was finally able to stay online for the rest of the day. Not because of KvK specifically, but because there were still many daily things to finish in the game.

The first thing he checked when he returned to the match around 17:00 were some surprising battle reports. Someone from KFr had been attacking his gathering troops in the mines.

“Unbelievable,” Rale thought. “They are already leading by more than double, and even that is not enough for them, so they are attacking us like this too.”

After that, he checked the castles on both kingdoms and saw that KFr, together with players from the III and HD! alliances — NAZGUL and xONURCANx — had captured and were holding several castles, increasing the lead even further.

None of this really worried or stressed Rale too much. He simply did not plan to play heavily. Alliance Conquest season was already active, and every death in KvK would mean losing troops for other, more important events.

And then something happened that completely changed Rale’s decision.

What could it have been?

No one would believe it, but it was world chat.

KFr players had started chatting, provoking SFu and calling them out publicly. Shocked, Rale read the messages:

“Where is SFu?”

“Why are they not playing?”

“What are they afraid of?”

For a moment, he could not believe what he was reading.

And then he became stubborn.

With an angry look and tone, Rale said to himself:

“They will soon see where SFu and its players are.”

Now the real part was beginning.

The enemy lead was huge, but still reachable. There was still enough time left before the end — around seven hours.

The first thing Rale did was ask in the group chat who was online and ready for action. Buhara and DS had been waiting for that moment and immediately answered that they were more than ready. Soon after, several other players replied as well, including Guts and Harry96.

Right after them, Rale’s wife, EnchantressM, also joined in. Since returning to K226, she was always ready for action and KvK. Rale never doubted that for a second.

“You, my dear, I did not even have to ask. I already knew you would be here.”

“Hehe,” everyone laughed.

Now all that remained was to prepare a strategy and wait for some of the stronger players to appear online. Rale immediately sent messages to Beha and MaceWinduJr, the two strongest SFu players stationed on K226.

“Guys, my idea is for us to win this and turn it around. I’m working on a plan, just be patient and stay online.”

In that situation, MaceWinduJr also had to hide the rest of his army, because without his lord he would become an easy target for solo attacks from strong players like Nazgul and xONURCANx.

Beha was the only real protector there, since he was strong enough that nobody from K198 would dare to attack him with either a solo hit or a rally.

EnchantressM, Guts Black, Buhara and DS formed the reinforcement team. Later, Matrix and Dasharath joined them as well, while Harry96, KingsyD, JohnHawkwood, Mirjan and Sire Much acted as supports, sitting nearby under bubble protection.

King Rale also took part in all of this, of course, but he too had to remain in a support role. Having too many troops, he was unable to hide everything, so that was his only option.

Everyone on the team understood that this strategy would work. The only question was whether it would be enough for a complete comeback before the end.

Now the enemy could no longer seriously threaten King’s Landing, neither with solo attacks nor rallies, and through it K226 was now earning significantly more points than earlier from simple gathering.

And in case the enemy attacked the team hive, Beha would defend the teammates.

Everything seemed so simple now.

All they had to do was wait and stay patient.

After two hours, nothing had happened. All of the war-focused players from K198 had suddenly disappeared, but the lead was not decreasing very quickly either. TW1 was the one doing the important work — gathering and farming were keeping the difference alive.

Rale decided to tease the players a little on world chat.

“So what is happening now? SFu showed up… and what now?”

After a few tense messages, the teams started casually talking to each other. K198 probably believed their lead was unreachable, so in a confident and victorious mood they could afford to joke around. KFr still had friends inside SFu, so there were no real arguments or insults between the sides.

At one point, both kingdoms even started joking together about TW1 being farming experts. One KFr player jokingly said that they even had weekly farming competitions inside their alliance, which made players from both kingdoms laugh.

Meanwhile, Nazgul did not want to stay quiet. He constantly scouted and prepared for possible attacks. However, he only managed to directly hit MaceWinduJr once, and even then he only killed some of his T3 troops, because the rest had already been hidden successfully.

King’s Landing remained untouched.

It continued to get scouted, but never followed by an actual attack.

After a few scouting attempts, xONURCANx no longer appeared for the rest of the KvK. Nazgul also disappeared. KFr Ebano did not want to start a rally on King’s Landing, but the question remained whether even with his cavalry formation he would have been able to seriously damage MaceWinduJr. Most likely, during any possible rally, KFr players would have needed to expose themselves, which would immediately make them easy targets for Beha, who had been waiting exactly for that opportunity.

However, as time passed and the end approached, the lead was not falling quickly enough, and it was becoming more and more obvious that the comeback attempt had started too late.

“Guys, my friends, my brothers… maybe we simply do not have enough time for a comeback. The strategy is good, but TW1 are excellent farmers and they are managing to maintain the lead,” Rale said in a worried tone.

Then, almost out of desperation, EnchantressM came up with an idea.

“Why don’t we start attacking their gathering sites? That way we would gain extra points while also denying them gathering points.”

To everyone, the idea sounded like a winning combination and perhaps the final chance. But at the same time, it was considered something unpopular and not very honorable. Even EnchantressM herself was not someone who liked doing such things, despite being the one who suggested it.

In the end, the decision was left to Rale.

He hated that style of play and had almost never done it before. But he wanted victory so badly that maybe he was finally ready to consider that option as well.

The decision was put to a vote among the online players. Everyone seemed hesitant and uncomfortable with the idea, and they all kept asking the same question:

“Did K198 attack our gathering players first?”

If they had started it first, then perhaps it would at least justify K226 responding in the same or even stronger way.

Nobody had the answer to that question.

Nobody except, believe it or not, King Rale himself.

He checked the reports and saw that KFr players had indeed attacked him while he was gathering resources in the mines earlier that day.

And that was enough for him to finally give SFu on K226 the green light to do the same.

A team immediately formed and began heavily attacking enemy farms and gathering sites. Dasharath, DS, EnchantressM and of course Beha led the attacks. Each of them wanted victory just as much as Rale did, and everyone was enjoying the team spirit that had developed throughout the day.

The previously active world chat slowly became quiet. Only Ebano commented:

“Respect, you will actually manage to turn this around in the end.”

After several hours of nonstop pressure on the enemy gathering sites, the lead had almost completely disappeared. In fact, it was becoming more and more likely that this would eventually become a convincing victory for K226.

K198 had completely given up.

EnchantressM and Beha continued attacking tirelessly just to make sure the victory was secured, while King Rale watched everything from the side, smiling because of the happiness and teamwork that had filled the entire day.

At one point, after checking the rankings, EnchantressM screamed with happiness after seeing herself in first place in the points rank and 3. in eliminations. Everyone was happy for her, because even though she was not one of the strongest players, she showed courage in battle after battle.

During the final hour, some players had already started leaving for a well-deserved rest. The victory was secured, everyone was extremely happy, and even the opposing players appreciated it and congratulated them on world chat. 

As the KvK slowly came to an end and the final minutes passed by, the atmosphere inside the SFu group chat was completely different from the one at the beginning of the day.

What had started as another sleepy and uninteresting KvK had turned into one of the most memorable comeback victories K226 had experienced in a long time.

Not because of overwhelming strength.

Not because of impossible rally plays.

And not because they had the strongest players.

But because they had played together.

Every player had their role that day. Some defended, some reinforced, some attacked gathering sites without stopping, while others simply stayed online to support the team however they could. Little by little, hour after hour, the impossible comeback became reality.

Rale watched the final score with a smile on his face.

For most of the day, he had not even planned to truly participate in the KvK. But in the end, what mattered was not only the victory itself. It was the feeling that the old SFu spirit was still alive on K226.

The laughter in voice chat.

The jokes on world chat.

The teamwork.

The patience.

The determination not to give up even when the score looked hopeless.

And maybe that was the real victory for Rale.

Not the points.

Not the rankings.

But seeing his friends once again fight together like a real team.