SVH Barren Land, Server 566, Batch 21, SL 985

[Blitzkrieg]

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SOH is back on the original server after a very rough Vast Jungle event. Many of the members were discouraged by the enemy buffs last event, and our participation was very low towards the end of the event. Two weeks before the end of Vast Jungle, we were in communication with another alliance on our server to try and solve the activity issues in both alliances.

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During our previous Barren Land event, we were paired with the TVK alliance on server 566. We instantly clicked and became very close. So much so that SOH migrated the entire alliance from 590 to join them on 566. After horrible Vast Jungle events for both alliances, we started to talk about a merger. Once the event ended, we began the process of merging SOH and TVK into a new alliance called Soldiers of Valhalla (SVH).

The merging process was difficult because both alliances had so many members. A selection process began for our members based on a number of factors, including participation in the previous events. Once we had a list of selected members, we began the merging process. Members that weren’t selected to join the larger roster we placed in the SOH shell that was renamed Soldiers of Valhalla Academy (SVA). All members of SVA will have future opportunities to join the main alliance as spaces become available.

Ranks were then distributed in both alliances. There will be a shared R5 role in SVH between Achillies and myself, alternating when needed or after each event. This will allow shared responsibilities that will be easier on both of us while keeping our respective members happy that were partial to each of us leading. We built our leadership team by each selecting 5 members from each of the merged alliances with an alternating R4 spot based on the current R5. We then split the R3 roles to be fair to both sides. Now that we have merged, it truly does feel like we are one family.

The next step was to set up a new discord for SVH. After days of programming channels and permissions, the new discord went live for all members. There is a second discord built into the main SVH discord for SVA, separated by permissions. This allows both alliances to have their own discord while having a cross chat feature and shared informational channels.

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SVH is now full of power and active members that we hope will translate into future event wins! We have selected to go to Barren Land this time, because of the long wait for the Vast Jungle event. Our fear was that waiting on the server for a month would cause members to leave the newly formed alliance. So, it’s back to the desert where SOH and TVK originally met!

Everyone is excited to be one big family now, with a huge increase in power and activity. We are looking forward to seeing what the newly merged alliance can do. Everyone is getting along very well, and we have high hopes for the future of SVH and SVA. Over the coming days, we will be farming healing speedups and resources for our new adventure.

[Blitzkrieg]

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SVH has signed up for the Barren Land event and is now awaiting the matchmaking period. We hope for some good allies this time that will help propel the newly formed alliance to our first victory. Our members already have experience working together, as the two merged alliances met on a previous Barren Land event and worked very well together. We’re excited to see what we can do as one team.

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We have been preparing for the event by farming resources and healing speedups. It will be especially important to have an abundance of both for the adventure ahead. Many members of both the previous alliances ran out of healing speedups and certain resources during the last Vast Jungle event. Hopefully everyone will have enough by the time we hit the sands of Barren Land.

SVH is hoping for an 8 to 16UTC protection time, as this seems to be the common dead time for the majority of our members. We do not yet have a preferred starting zone. We will wait to speak with our allies before deciding. I have already added a new role and channel on the SVH discord to allow communication between the alliances that we will be paired with.

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Everyone is SVH is excited for Barren Land, and we will do as much as we can to prepare for the event. SOH and TVK merged to take care of the activity problems experienced by both alliances. We now have a huge increase in power and active members. We are hoping that this will translate to great things to come for SVH! Now we will fight as one family with an extended leadership team. The time is almost here to see what we can do!

More updates to come!..

[Blitzkrieg]

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The matchmaking period has ended, and SVH finally knows our allies and enemies for the event. We have been paired with RuH and Zlo as allies, and LoL, AnT, and TOR as enemies for this Barren Land. My alliance is excited to get back into an event after a few weeks back on the server. SVH has gone through a full merger and will have a significant increase in both power and activity. We’re very excited to see what we can do!

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The first order of business was to open communication with the other allied alliances. I had already prepared new roles and discord channels to accommodate our allies into the SVH server. While there is a huge language barrier, all of the leadership seems to be getting along very well so far. Both RuH and Zlo are Russian speaking alliances, so I have taken it upon myself to be the point of communication with them using a couple different translation bots. It seems to be working very well so far.

The next steps were for all the leaders to choose the R6 role, protection time, and starting points on the map. So far, we think that SVH will take the event R6 role for Wreck Camp. We have selected to close the 8 to 16UTC timeslot as our protection period. The three other enemy alliances seem to be Russian and Turkish, so this time would be their most active. We have decided to close off the enemy’s most active time to favor our camp. This will also benefit RuH and Zlo because during this time period a lot of their members are working. It will also benefit SVH, as our most active time is between 16 and 8UTC. We have decided that SVH will take the north zone, RuH will take center, and Zlo will be in the south.

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Over the coming days, we will be continuing to farm healing speedups and resources for the event. We plan to be fully prepared for the long journey ahead. While it has been difficult so far with the language barrier, SVH is very excited to be working with RuH and Zlo this event! We will continue to work together as closely as possible with planning and strategy during this Barren Land, and hopefully come out with a win for our camp. We like our chances and are happy to finally hit the sands of Barren Land again as a united family.

More updates to come…

[Blitzkrieg]

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Our first week back on Barren Land has been fun. All the members are happy to be back in an event. SVH leaders have been in close communication with our both our allies, although there has not been much to plan as of yet. RuH and Zlo have some great leaders, and we’re happy to be working with them this event.

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The protection times have been selected, and Wreck Camp will have a protection time of 8-16UTC. This will block the enemy camp’s most active time period. The Stone Camp has selected to block the 0-8UTC time period. While this blocks the most active time for SVH, it will benefit our camp as a whole. The fighting time will be for 8 hours between 16-0UTC.

The tunnels to the open clash zones open in about 5 days, and all the alliances are getting ready for our first battles of the event. Wreck Camp has been hard at work building towers to gain our initial buffs before the wars begin. We will continue to take buildings and build towards the outter tunnels in our starting zones to be prepared when they open.

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This week, SVH has taken the starting zone Wonder and some of the buildings within reach so far. We will continue to capture as many as we can before moving into the open clash. Once the tunnels open, SVH will build straight towards the wonder in the northern Area 51 zone. We will be directly battling with the AnT alliance.

In the south, our allies will be building towards the southern wonder in a race against LoL and TOR. We hope that all 3 alliances can beat the enemy to the wonders and block their paths. We have confidence in the strength of our allies, and SVH will help in any way we can. We will be watching closely to any developments that arise on the battlefield, and we will use tower transfers if needed.

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A look at the current map:

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This is just the opening week for a long event, but there will be a lot of planning ahead for all the alliances. We are making use of our new discord chat for communication between the alliances, and we will also be using the in game chat for better translation and “in the moment” communication. It has been a quiet first week, but make no mistake, war is coming!..

[Blitzkrieg]

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Week 2 of Barren Land has been all about building and preparation. All the alliances worked to take the remaining buildings in their starting zones, then focused on the tunnels leading to the first clash zones in the North and South. Now, it’s only a matter of time before the real fighting starts!

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With the protection time being different from the enemy camp, we had to choose wisely on how we moved on the map. They would know our moves before needing to build. The initial plan was to not draw too much attention to any particular clash zone, so that it would split the enemy between the North and South. SVH would go North to the Area 51 Wonder, while both Zlo and RuH went South. The idea was to have SVH fight against AnT in the north, and Zlo and RuH to fight against LoL and TOR in the South. All three allied alliances have built to both zones just in case we were needed anywhere on the map.

Unfortunately, the enemy called an audible. It started with TOR building in the South with Zlo and RuH. Both AnT and LoL started building in the North. SVH was prepared to fight both alliances in the North; however, once TOR saw that Zlo and RuH had blocked them from the routes to the Southern wonder, they shifted gears and started building in the North as well.

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Now that all three of the enemy alliances are building to fight against SVH in the north, it is time for a new plan. Both Zlo and RuH will finish to secure the wonder in the South, then move to the Northern zone to help SVH battle the enemies. It appears that the enemy’s main focus has become the North where they have an advantage against Wreck Camp.

SVH fully expects the war to start in a few hours. We will try to hold the enemy until our allies can come help. It will be a long event, and today’s battles will just be the start. Our camp will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our plans and paths as needed. But, one thing is for sure…the time for war has come!

More updates to come…

[Blitzkrieg]

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Week 3 has been a week of war on our Barren Land. All the alliances have been fighting in the north and south zones constantly. RuH built up next to SVH in the north to make a push on AnT and LoL for the northern wonder. Zlo was also fighting with TOR trying to build up to us.

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In the initial battle east of the wonder, LoL was able to disconnect RuH. Both AnT and LoL then turned all their attention to SVH. They were able to hold us back, but the fight was not over. SVH planned a counterattack a few hours later to make a push for the wonder from a different location. We were almost successful, but fell short by roughly 45 minutes with the protection time. Zlo was then pushed back in the northern zone by TOR.

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In the next days, the enemies focused their attention in the south. SVH started our build in the south to the southern wonder while holding some towers in the north. LoL and TOR started building to attach to RuH and Zlo.

A little while after the battles started in the south, SVH saw the opportunity to make another solo push in the north. The objective was to draw LoL back up north to fight while trying to push through once again to the Northern Wonder while gaining more champion points. Both LoL and AnT fought us trying to hold us back until protection started.

After an unsuccessful attempt to push through 2 alliances at once, SVH decided it was time to take a rest day and recover after 4 straight days of fighting two alliances. All the alliances started building towards buffs to make it easier for our camp when the next zone opens. The enemy took this opportunity to push all three alliances back in the north.

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The tunnels to the next clash zone open in a couple of days. The plan us for SVH and RuH to take the top tunnel, while Zlo will go from the bottom tunnel. We will build as quickly as possible during the enemy protection time and try to set up a base near the wonder to hold them out. Once we have the wonder secured, we will then build out to more buffs in that zone.

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While my camp has been pushed back in the northern zone, we still have the south. The way things are looking now, we will tie phase 1 with wonders and win by champion points. The focus now turns to the next critical clash zone and phase 2 of the event. We will have full fungi and new buffs for the fight ahead.

[Blitzkrieg]

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It has been another week of war on our Barren Land. The tunnels to the last clash before the Tree Zone have opened and all the alliances built into the zone to fight for the last wonder. Wreck Camp had the advantage of the protection time to build first into the zone. In our 8 hours, we were able to build to and surround the wonder. Stone Camp used the following 8 hours during our protection to surround our towers. Once the protection dropped, the most intense war of the event unfolded.

On the north side of the wonder, SVH was fighting both LoL and TOR. RuH came a little later, but were helping to the northeast to try and keep TOR busy. Zlo was in front of the wonder fighting both LoL and AnT. At many times during the first day of war, it looked like Wreck Camp was in a losing situation with the enemy pushing from all sides. We lost some towers, but we were able to hold our ground without the enemy touching the wonder.

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The second day of war pushed everyone to their limits. RuH built back to TOR on the northeast side of the wonder to keep them off of SVH towers. Both LoL and AnT tried to focus on Zlo. SVH was full focused on pushing back LoL to give Zlo a fighting chance. The enemy made a fierce push, and took out many of the Zlo towers, but Zlo did an amazing job to hold their position until SVH arrived.

After hours of battle, the enemy presence started to decline, and my camp used this opportunity to push them away and secure the wonder. All three allies worked together to push the enemy far enough back that they posed less of a threat.

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The third day, my camp focused on pushing the enemy back even further. SVH worked to completely eliminate LoL from the clash and sealed the tunnel. Zlo chased after AnT to the south and built a barrier, so they had no chance of pushing back through. RuH held TOR northwest of the wonder until SVH was done with LoL. Then, SVH built and tore down towers until we took their level 8 residence. Later, after reset, SVH took the last open wonder.

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As of today, my camp continues to tear down towers and take residences from the enemy camp. SVH was able to build and block the other enemy tunnel while pushing our way north to help eliminate TOR. RuH is fighting in the north of the map to help also. Zlo is pushing their way south to capture AnT towers and residences before making their way to the top tunnel of the Tree Zone.

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After a week of fierce battles, our camp came out victorious in the new clash zone. We will continue to try and eliminate the enemy camp before turning our attention to the Tree Zone. We have all started our way towards the tunnels, and are planning the next phase of the event. We have a significant lead in champion points, and will continue to monitor the map for enemy movements. This battle is won, but the war is not over!

[Blitzkrieg]

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This week Phase 3 opened up with the opening of the Tree Zone tunnels. All the alliances were prepared and had built towers to accommodate all of our members for fast capture. SVH and RuH were at the Southeast tunnels, while Zlo was at the northern tunnel. Once reset hit, it was off to the races!

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The plan was for SVH and RuH to build straight across to block and take the enemy tunnels before our protection time started. With the enemy locked in their protection, all they could do was watch. SVH was able to make it across and take all 3 tunnels. This prevented the enemy from doing anything until 16UTC.

Once protection dropped, SVH was in charge of holding all 3 alliances at the tunnels as long as we could while Zlo came from the top of the map to assist. RuH built around near the bottom to help and block the southern ferry access. LoL, AnT, and TOR were able to break through relatively quickly due to the limit space SVH had at the tunnels. LoL started pushing north, while TOR and AnT started moving south.

Zlo was able to cut off LoL from advancing out of the “sandwich” area. TOR and AnT pushed SVH back to the ferry where we had the assistance of RuH across the river. Unfortunately, RuH’s only access was at the ferry, so AnT tried to use this situation to their advantage by closing off the ferry every 30 minutes to double team SVH with TOR.

The first day was a critical battle to hold the enemy within the confined zone. The enemy was able to make significant progress in pushing our alliances back and gaining ground. Wreck Camp went into full defense mode. We were able to hold them until protection started, and began planning for the next day.

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With new towers placed, RuH focused on AnT while SVH primarily focused on TOR. Zlo was alone in the north fighting against LoL. When AnT would close off RuH with the ferry, SVH changed focus to keep the AnT tower from gaining health back. Eventually, with the long march times of the enemy as an advantage, we were able to start gaining some momentum. RuH was able to break through and build on the other side of the ferry, alleviating the focus of AnT from SVH. AnT began to fully focus on RuH and SVH was able to start tearing down TOR. Zlo made significant progress against LoL. Together, after hours of fighting, the enemy was pushed back to the tunnels. TOR was then sealed off while we cleared the enemies from the Tree Zone.

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With Stone Camp eliminated from the Tree Zone, all we had to do was keep the tunnels sealed and protect the towers so they couldn’t enter again. With all three alliances together, we now have complete control over the zone. The next step was to divide the remaining buildings and build to the tree.

We have agreed that the best way to handle the tree was a lottery lucky last hit. All three allies have surrounded the tree which we will take at 17UTC tomorrow. While the event is not over, we have made significant steps to winning this Barren Land. With the tree secured, we will watch the enemy movements. They have started to turn their attention to the southern zone. We will be prepared if they get close to our wonder.

Last update to come…

[Blitzkrieg]

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The final week of our Barren Land is coming to an end. The enemy is defeated, the tree has been taken, and everyone is ready to get back to the regular map to start planning our next adventure.

After all the fighting last week, Wreck Camp was able to hold Stone Camp out of the tree zone. SVH, Zlo, and RuH built around the tree and had a last hit lucky chance shot to win. After planning to take the tree at 17UTC to accommodate and give all three alliances a fair chance. Zlo came out victorious.

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Although the event was pretty much won, SVH decided to try one last time to make it to the Northern Wonder. We built to the LoL and AnT towers surrounding the wonder and broke our way through. At the same time, we built to a couple of the TOR residences. After a couple days of fighting, SVH was able to take back two residences in the north and capture the wonder for our camp.

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This event has been a great experience for SVH. We were able to find out our true strength and activity level after the merger. We had great allies in Zlo and RuH. We are privileged to be able to have them with us this event. A special thanks to Zlo and Malume for going above and beyond this Barren Land. They have a similar fighting spirit to SVH, and we couldn’t have done it without them.

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We will be back on the original server tomorrow and start planning for our next event. The next steps for SVH will be to analyze member activity from this Barren Land to find out who will stay and who will leave, farm resources and healing speed ups for the next event, and recruit new members into our family, and vote on which event we will go to next. We are excited to get our well deserved rewards and start planning for what comes next!

Blitzkrieg signing off…

[blue.nabi]

So well written and you didn’t miss anything. Thank you so much for your hard work during this event. The time and dedication you put in even when you had health issues won’t go unnoticed.

It’s nice to see such a beautiful summary for this event. I absolutely love this alliance. This merge was the best decision for both alliances after the previous VJ event.

Thank you for having me as a member of SVH. I have good friends here and the game is more fun with a relaxed atmosphere in the alliance chat where everyone jokes and shares their tips. I honestly feel like I’m part of a big family. We’ve been together through think and thin and I’m proud of everyone’s hard work to make this alliance work the way it does. And of course the discord server which is the best server I’ve ever been part of!!

Thank you @Blitzkrieg and the leaders whom made time in their busy schedules not only to run the alliance but to plan the event as well. You made the game fun for everyone else. I hope you have the chance to enjoy it as much as I do.

Keep up the great work,

Love and hugs,

Nabi

[JOSUE_DARIO_CASTILLO]

Saludos, fue un evento muy divertido excelente trabajo equipo

[Blitzkrieg]

Thank you for your kind words, @blue.nabi! This family we’ve built is the best on the game, and we’re very happy that you’re a part of it. As our first event together after the merger, I’m very impressed with the way things turned out. We will continue to grow and dominate, and I appreciate every member that we have. SVH is the best alliance I’ve been a part of, and I’m honored to be able to lead such a great group of people. Our leadership team works very well together, and made everything in this event possible. To the last ant!

-Blitzkrieg

[Happy_Giant]

Great job on this article @Blitzkrieg this event was one of the best for me in ants thanks to the leadership of our new alliance and our members that gave it all they had. It’s nice to read and recollect the exciting battles that we have and many more to come. Thank you.

[jennyoung]

You guys rock as always!! Good job SVH!!