new tests

Hello lords and ladies of GoTWiC! Welcome to another brief adventure across Westeros! My travels over the past few weeks took me to several kingdoms, where the risk grew exponentially with every attack. Yet, my thirst for new adventures grew just as much. Every small tweak or upgrade spurred me to test things out against real targets.

While I make my way along the long road to unlocking another 4-star F5 commander, there are countless other areas deserving of attention that yield significant improvements. Advisors, troop appearances, army size... and - to my pride - my dragon and its eight ancient skills!

The newest one was Bleed! Its absence had bothered me for some time; since I play with an infantry setup led by Sinara, this skill would significantly boost the damage dealt to my enemies.

Once again, I set out to scour the *Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming* kingdoms in search of a target. Given my relatively high power- and having once again missed the chance to participate in the CCS and burn off my excess troops - finding a suitable target wouldn't be easy. Locating a truly vulnerable castle is no simple task: many of the targets I found weren't worth the travel cost; some belonged to extremely strong players from major alliances, while others appeared to have already been emptied of troops. I no longer had many scout accounts available to hop between kingdoms and gather reconnaissance reports. Consequently, with every jump, I had to weigh the cost in Teleports, the time wasted hitting a castle with no troops, and the risks of venturing into unknown lands.

Old lessons learned through hard-fought battles resurfaced in my mind. I struggled most against well-organized archer castles; the cost of previous attempts to attack such targets had been painful. I recall the difficulties I faced against Lord Phoenix’s castle, or even the recent battles against [Edf] Lord Dovankindrago (revisit them here: https://forum.gtarcade.com/topic/258326), where we only managed to crush the target with the help of friends.

I persisted in my search, and my efforts were rewarded. The kingdom was K451. There, King's Landing was held by an alliance named [Ful]. It was an alliance completely unknown to me, but I wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating my opponent. After all, there are always great players lurking out there. Upon reviewing the alliance's member list, I spotted a few very strong players who could pose a real challenge.

Lord Goshann’s castle stood unprotected in front of KL. With Sheila as the Lord, it was a sign that I might be facing an Archer castle. Was that really what I was up against? Given the potential power gains, it was worth the risk, so I teleported to K451. Upon arrival, I checked the kingdom rankings to size up my opponents. There were a few Infantry players, like Lord Goblin, with setups similar to mine, as well as a strong Cavalry account belonging to Lord Polo, which could cause me trouble with its female-synergy formation featuring Dany and Senelle.

Proceeding cautiously from a safe distance, I sent scouts toward Goshann's castle; a blind attack would have been sheer folly. My spies slipped silently toward the enemy stronghold. The sound of hooves crossing the terrain toward KL was muffled by the indistinct noises of the night. Taking advantage of a momentary lack of sentries, my scout returned with the vital information I needed. Eagerly, I opened the scroll and viewed the size of the defending force: eight million soldiers. Personally, I had expected more, but I was satisfied nonetheless. My attack had to be clean, swift, and silent—my goal was to decimate the opposing troops before any members of the Ful alliance could reveal themselves to defend their comrade or activate the alliance tower.

I activated the dragon's bite ability to lower the enemy's stats. Even without any synergy on their wall, Theon, Egbert, and Kravas, once awakened, would launch consistent attacks against my troops. Archers would always be a curse! lol

Using my infantry led by Sinara, I also chose to include Patelo in my formation to minimize the damage sustained from the enemy. My troops advanced like a rock toward the enemy walls. Overhead, my dragon soared above the enemy castle, incinerating everything in its path. My new ancient skill proved effective, inflicting additional bleeding damage on the opposing troops.

The force of my attack was devastating. Nearly 5 million enemy soldiers were eliminated in this initial strike. Yet, Lord Goshan still held firm, and I failed to capture his lord in the attack.

I quickly changed my location to avoid being tracked, healed my few troops, including some T4s, and, without wasting any time, launched another attack...

This attack was devastating! The remaining troops faltered as my soldiers stormed the castle like an unstoppable blast. Victory was mine! Yet I knew I could not let my guard down... once again, I teleported away and released the enemy lord. It wasn't worth the risk to plunder resources - resources I didn't actually need.

In the end, my thirst for adventure was satisfied by that brief battle!