AoH Madness: Our Spear That Held the Crown

For the next two weekends we get back to back AoH matches and honestly, compared to KvK or CCS, I think I actually prefer AoH. The gameplay feels cleaner, more strategic, and even with my account not being one of the monster ones on the map, I still feel like I can contribute in meaningful ways.

Unfortunately, the upgrades I planned for last month are still delayed and now this month is almost over too, so my “power spike” is taking a bit longer than expected. Hopefully next month everything finally comes together and I can stop feeling like I’m the little fish every match. And yes, I know what Qui-Gon Jinn said😅

For now, after failing my experiments with holding the NPC House, my role is more about supporting the map where I can actually make a difference: Septs, random side objectives like Altars, kicking spam marches and especially in the small mines phase. And once again, just like last week, those mines would end up deciding the game alongside the City of Glory.

The roster this week was slightly different from our usual lineup, but overall the setup remained the same. Every troop type except bows, and rally leads for every troop type except bows😅

When I port onto the map and scout the enemy teams, I immediately realize this won’t be an easy match. Both enemy factions have strong accounts and solid rosters. The objective quickly becomes simple: don’t finish last: AoH Match Start Scout

The game starts cleanly and we secure the first row of Strongholds fast. I go for two since I’m no longer tied to defending an NPC House, but I overlap with a teammate and only end up taking one. Not ideal, but still a smooth opener overall.

Second row starts and we execute the usual timing for the NPC House perfectly. Despite the points showing us slightly behind an NPC faction at one point, I’m actually really happy with how clean our opener looks. We’ve struggled with slow starts in previous weeks, but this time the execution feels crisp.

Then comes the funniest part: nobody wants to build their second row first. We’re all probably staring at each other waiting to see what troop camps the others choose so we can counter properly.

Eventually both enemy factions lean toward Trading Camps, so we gamble on double Troop Camps instead.

Once our Inf and Cav camps finish, troop migrations begin immediately and everyone starts scrambling to steal Maidens and deny resources.

That part becomes extremely contested though, so instead I settle into my usual comfort zone: expanding toward the right side next to our NPC House, taking Septs and trying to defend them whenever possible.

This has quietly become my go to part of AoH lately. Not the most exciting, I'll never be the MVP doing it, but I contribute in my own way.

But sometimes my effort turns into feeding eliminations... At one point I march for what looks like a free altar only for Zarachiel to step in at the perfect moment and absolutely demolish my troops. I honestly don’t think it was intentional bait, but if it was, it was perfectly timed😶

I keep one eye permanently on the Sept timers because that’s where I know I can reliably help the team the most. I already have my little routine planned out for those rotations: Sept Routine Gameplay

As the game develops, our map control stabilizes and we settle comfortably into 2nd place. Stark is miles ahead thanks to an insane Trading Post strategy while Lannister is basically out of the game already. So the big question becomes obvious:

Do we settle for a safe 2nd place… or do we gamble everything for center and try to steal the win?

And because we’re apparently incapable of making rational decisions, we decide to go for it.

In hindsight, the logic actually makes sense. If we can secure the City of Glory, we get close enough to Stark that a stronger mines phase could theoretically push us into 1st place. Risky? Absolutely! But with Lannister so far behind, even if we fail we probably still keep 2nd.

So when center opens we commit hard.

Our first attempt with the Inf rally lead isn’t enough to hold the building, but then we make the real play. We send in our monster Spear account and the situation changes. Reinforcements flood in, the building locks and for the first time all game, we’re #1!: Center Fight and Hold. That’s the turning point we were hoping for.

With City of Glory secured, we barely overtake Stark in points and suddenly the impossible matchup to win becomes very real. Now the win condition is clear: hold center, have a good small mines phase, and don’t lose map control. Easy on paper. Slightly harder in reality.

When the mines open, disaster immediately strikes for me personally. I lose my races and fail to secure my usual mines. I end up desperately scouting for something I can solo... and that takes some time. Eventually I do find one mine I can take, but super slow. Meanwhile Discord is exploding about how amazing our mines phase is going overall😳

Turns out my teammates were absolutely carrying the mines while I was running around fighting for scraps😱

But in the end, that’s what really matters. AoH isn’t about individual MVP plays. It’s about whether the team executes together.

As the mines start drying up, the scoreboard becomes absurdly close. We’re technically 1st, but only barely. Every point matters now.

Then, just when we think the game is stabilizing in our favor, House Stark suddenly captures a third House from the collapsing Lannisters in the final minutes of the game. Now things get scary once again.

At that point the entire match comes down to one thing: hold center. Everything else is a side quest.

Everyone focuses on defending the City of Glory while responding to altar and dragonpit hits whenever possible. The tension stays high until finally the lock timer reaches the final four minutes and center officially becomes secured for the remainder of the match.

The moment that happens, Discord collectively exhales a sign of relief. That was the win condition and we delivered.

From there we spend the last minutes cleaning up the map, taking back a few objectives and farming some final eliminations while waiting for the scoreboard to roll in.

And when it finally appears, we realize we actually pulled it off.

Against what initially looked like an impossible matchup, we somehow fought our way into 1st place through an incredible second half centered around the Spear hold in middle and a massive mines phase from the team.

A ridiculously close win, but probably one of our best AoH performances lately.

And with another AoH weekend coming right after this one, I can’t wait to do it all over again😏