Our Closest AoH Win of Season 5

AoH Season 5 is almost over and with only two days left to play, it's time to wrap up another successful season.

As a team we've had an amazing run and I'm closing the season with almost 500 Fame under my belt.

Unfortunately I won't be getting my Castle Skin this season. Despite dumping every single Glory Coin into skin fragments and completely ignoring my Glory Drake upgrades, I'm sitting at "just" 70 fragments. The shop keeps teasing me with more fragments, but my Coin balance is looking pretty sad. Realistically I'll probably end up with 80 fragments. A little disappointing considering I've played every match of the season and with good results too.

But enough about that. Let's see how these final matches play out before doing the Season 5 recap.

Our composition looks solid again. We've moving away from the Spear/Cav setup and now landed on a balanced Inf/Cav/Spear roster with at least one Rally Lead for every troop type.

We've had a few strategic hiccups recently, but we've always managed to adapt mid game, so I'm expecting a similar outcome today.

The objective is the same. We usually play around Center either holding it or denying others from having it, the goal is always to finish 1st and maximize our points. Now let's see what teams we got this time:

The game starts with the usual chaos as everyone rushes the first row of Strongholds.

At this point I'm convinced next season we should assign "seating positions" before the match even starts. It wouldn't just tell people where to port in our "hive", it would also assign Strongholds automatically based on proximity, or something like that. This isn't the first time we've double marched the same objective while another one sits empty, and wasting precious seconds in the opener is far more important than it looks.

We open with Spear Camps as both enemy Houses also invest into troops... except one of them soon changes into Trade Camps.

And I'll admit it... this Trade Camp strategy is starting to worry me.

For a long time it was our preferred playstyle before Troop Camps became the Season 5 meta. Now both strategies seem perfectly viable, but with the addition of a second House and so many more buildings to manage, Trade Camps look incredibly safe while still scoring an absurd amount of points with zero stress.

So the match immediately turns into two questions.

Can our Troop Camp strategy outperform House Stark, who's also running Troop Camps?

And even if we hold Center... can we actually beat House Lannister who's quietly getting a shit-ton-o-points with Trade Camps?

When the second row opens, the mistakes from our opener become obvious.

The first row isn't even finished yet and nobody is moving into the second one. I send my Lord march over and there's still an unmanned Stronghold sitting next to me.

Not exactly the clean start we were hoping for.

Before our Camps are even completed, the Altar wars begin.

Naturally it's House Stark we're constantly fighting because they're also playing Troop Camps, while House Lannister is sitting back, peacefully upgrading Trade Camps and waiting to capture their NPC House so they can build... even more Trade Camps.

I swear this Trade Camps strategy looks so relaxing compared to what we're doing. 😅😅

Our second House camps develop super slow because we're constantly trading objectives with Stark, but little by little we expand our territory.

When the Sept opens, which has unofficially become "my job" every match, my Lord march is still busy building inside the NPC area.

I try using my secondary march instead but, with my rather weak Female synergy, I fail to break the defenders. Not my proudest moment. 😒

Soon enough the Altar spam begins. Everyone is throwing tiny marches around the map trying to flip buildings for a few extra buffs.

And once again the difference between both strategies becomes obvious. Trade Camps only really care about holding the Maiden Altars. Everything else is nice to have.

But for our Troop Camp play? We fight for every single buff because every percentage directly impacts our troops, our first objective captures and ultimately our score intake.

So while the Lannisters quietly count points like the Lannisters counting gold in the TV series, we're locked in a constant dance with House Stark.

And the worst part is... the Lannisters are already comfortably ahead of both of us, by doing basically... nothing.

That means Center suddenly becomes mandatory for my team. If we want to win this match, we have to take it.

When Center opens we're still running across the map fighting over Altars. Thirty minutes in and this is one of the most stressful AoH games I've played all season.

I'm spending more time chasing tiny spam marches than actually fighting meaningful battles, burning Boots like crazy just trying to be everywhere at once. AoH is still my favorite event... but this particular gameplay is definitely testing that opinion.

Thankfully our Rally Leads absolutely deliver, like usual. The moment Center opens, we take it.

Everyone speeds in to reinforce while House Stark immediately starts launching their timed rallies to contest.

This could be the turning point of the match. If we hold Center, we jump into 1st.

If Stark takes it, they jump us instead.

So it isn't just about owning Center anymore. It's about making sure Stark doesn't. But for now, we're holding beautifully.

Every successful defense buys us another precious minute at the top and, after such a hectic first half, finally gives us a chance to breathe.

Whenever I'm not reinforcing Center like one of the defenders at Helm's Deep, I'm off causing trouble elsewhere.

Sometimes I get flattened.

Sometimes I get a report like this. I'll happily take those personal victories.

As the game moves into its final stretch, though, the pressure starts building again.

Despite Center constantly feeding us points, House Lannister refuses to fall behind.

Those four full rows of Trade Camps never stop working. It's honestly impressive.

We're fighting for every building, every buff, every rally counts... while they're quietly farming their way into first place.

We keep battling for every inch of the map. Smaller accounts like mine handle the spam marches and nuisance objectives while the heavy hitters fight over Dragon Points and the important Altars.

Everyone is doing their part. The problem is... it still isn't enough, and very Lose report hurts more and more.

Even with Center under our banner, we spend more time sitting in 2nd than in 1st.

Our usual comeback tricks aren't working. The small mines phase is good... but not great. The late-game sabotage plays never materialize. And for the first time in a while... I'm honestly running out of ideas.

Then, with barely eight minutes left, I notice something! Our Big Mine. Nobody took it?

With all the chaos around small mines, Center and map control... we'd completely forgotten the free points sitting in our own backyard.

I immediately call it out on Discord and send my Lord march to claim it.

Now we just need enough reinforcements to empty it before the timer runs out.

Most of the team is still busy defending our map control, so reinforcements show up slower than I'd hoped.

For a while I'm genuinely not sure we'll finish mining it in time.

Every tick matters. Every second matters. Then... with only four minutes remaining...

The final mining tick lands. The mine depletes and our score jumps. We're back in 1st.

I honestly don't know if those points alone won us the match, but I'm absolutely convinced they made the difference.

Now all that's left is waiting for the final scoreboard while wondering whether us or the Lannisters get the last scoring tick.

When the curtain finally falls...we've done it.

By the slimmest of margins, we edge out House Lannister and steal another 1st place finish.

I'd easily put this game in my Top 3 most intense AoH matches of Season 5.

Not because of huge rallies or dramatic last minute Center fights, but because every single point mattered.

It also leaves me wondering if the meta is quietly shifting again. Trade Camps looked incredibly safe throughout this match and nearly beat us despite us holding Center for most of the second half. That's definitely something we'll have to think about going into Season 6.

But for today, another clutch win goes into the books.

We congratulate each other on yet another hard fought victory and head back to our own little corners of Westeros.

Until the final battles of Season 5 begin in two weeks.