Control Over Conquest - The Turtle Strategy

After the grueling defeat our team suffered last AoH round, today we're going in with fresh expectations and a few lessons learned.

Our team is looking good as usual and we're curious to see who we'll encounter on the map today.

It seems today we're going to forsake the new Troop Camps build characteristic to the Season 5 meta and go back to our old time favorite, the Trading Posts. But this time with a twist. We'll also build Trading Posts on the Strongholds from the NPC house we're taking. We usually ignore these, but not anymore.😜

I don't know why we never tried this before because it seems both simple and highly efficient. Yet somehow we're only testing it now, near the end of Season 5. 😅

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf7jIy-Dt28

As the game starts there's the usual rush to claim and build the first row of Strongholds. But now there's another twist to the twist. We're also building hybrid Troop Camps because we still want to compete for the initial capture points.

I'm not the biggest fan of the build > destroy > rebuild gameplay because it locks a lot of troops away for a large portion of the match. But then again, I can't exactly carry fights with my account, so contributing through "macro" gameplay is perfectly fine by me.

The first row goes smoothly and by the time the second row opens we're already marching in. The NPC house should be coming under our banners shortly, which means we need to hurry because we'll soon have even more Strongholds demanding attention.

And just like clockwork, the second house becomes ours.

As usual, we're finding it difficult to spread troops everywhere at once, but things are looking good. We picked up some nice first capture points and our Trading Posts in the NPC area are progressing steadily.

It takes us around twenty minutes to finish building them all and honestly it feels like forever.

But while we're slowly constructing our economic empire, something interesting is happening on the scoreboard: We're in first place.

And unlike our usual games, nobody is running around like their hair is on fire. #Dexter meme anyone? No? Just me? Ok.😅

This strategy doesn't require us to be in ten places at once. We just need to be in ten places over the course of twenty minutes. Like the tortoise in the fable, slow and steady wins the race. And for now, it looks like we're winning.

Before I realize it, we're already approaching the midpoint of the match and the City of Glory is about to open.

This is normally the moment where everything explodes. But today our plan is different.

We're replacing the remaining Troop Camps with even more Trading Posts and our main objective is simply to maintain control of our Houses and Altars. We have absolutely no intention of making a serious play for Center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eag15R0yPzM

After what happened last game, we're paying close attention to our own Houses. Without Troop Camps, our NPC reinforcements are weaker, so we can't afford to get careless. And that's when the real game begins...😏

The other two houses start preparing for Center while we quietly watch. On paper, Center should decide the match. But in reality, we don't actually need it. What we need is for the right team to take it.😜

If Stark captures Center, we're in a fantastic position. If Targaryen captures it, we'll have to start taking their Altars and slowing their point income wherever possible.

So instead of fighting for Center ourselves, we're fighting for who gets to own Center. It's a strange feeling.

For once, we're not trying to be the strongest faction on the map. We're trying to be the smartest one.

While Stark and Targaryen invest troops, speeds and attention into the City of Glory, we continue expanding our economy and controlling the map around them. The whole match starts feeling less like a battle and more like politics.

As the small mines phase begins, I'm so relaxed I don't even manage to snipe my usual two mines.😱

No matter. My teammates with bigger accounts already control several of them and I simply reinforce where needed to help them deplete faster and move on to new targets. The mines phase goes... decently well for us.

Even better, our little political experiment works perfectly. Stark ends up controlling Center and that's exactly what we wanted.

The scoreboard tells a different story than the battlefield. We're comfortably sitting in first place while the other two houses are practically fighting each other for second.

We poked both sides just enough throughout the match to keep them focused on each other instead of focusing on us. Kind of like real world politics, now that I think about it.

As the match enters its final stages, someone realizes we've completely forgotten about the big mines. Oopsie!😅 We quickly grab them for some extra points. They don't really change the outcome anymore, but every bit helps toward the 180k points reward thresholds.

The game ends in spectacular fashion and I have to say I enjoyed this victory just as much as I hated the defeat from last week.

It was probably one of the calmest AoH matches I've ever played, yet it felt incredibly satisfying.

The Trading Posts strategy alone isn't enough to win. Because we sacrifice troop production, we need to commit more of our own troops to defending houses and maintaining map control. That means fewer troops available elsewhere and a smaller overall presence.

The game becomes less about what we can take and more about what we can prevent others from taking.

It's a slower style, a more strategic style, and today it worked beautifully.

My only regret is that Season 5 is coming to an end. We probably have one, maybe two matches left and I'm almost certainly not finishing my AoH skin before the season ends. No Glory Drake upgrade and no Castle Skin wasn't exactly part of the plan.

But once Season 6 starts and those fresh Glory Coins roll in from the rank reset, I'm hoping to unlock both very quickly.

Until then, I'll happily take wins like this one. Sometimes the best victory is the one where nobody realizes you're winning until the scoreboard appears. 😄