With Week Three of ANZPL Season Four kicking off tomorrow, now is the perfect time to recap all the action from last week's games with highlights from each matchup to bring you up to speed and get you ready for the games ahead!
Match One: Bulldogs v Conquerors 2:3
The Conquerors were looking very polished as they started on the attacking side of Ghost Town, making short work of the Bulldogs who opted for a heavy tank lineup on their defence. The Bulldog's lack of any light tanks made them easy prey for Bluey's Bat-Chat and he had free reign to farm up 4K of damage on the Bulldog's ill-fated attempt to force a fight over the two flag. The Bulldogs seemed to learn from their mistake in game two, this time bringing MadHouse in a Bat-Chat who despite going down early in the piece was able to do enough damage onto Whippets T-100 LT to secure a one for one trade. This left both teams with just their heavy tanks, so the Bulldogs grouped up and pushed the Conquerors who were too spread out to put up an effective fight, evening up the score on their home map.
The Conquerors impressed again as we moved onto Himmelsdorf with yet another well-executed attack. Isolating MadHouse's 113 early on Whippet and Bluey were able to bring him down to a one-shot of HP while in scenes reminiscent of game one, their Bat-Chat once again had free reign to work the outside of the map. However, it was Whippet's T57 Heavy that was the real damage dealer this time around, racking up 4K damage while KritalKil and Trax's E-100s did the frontline brawling in the game-deciding scrap. Game four saw things swing back into the favour of the Bulldogs as they ganged up on an isolated Whippet, knocking him out of the game for free. They then kept this momentum going and forced overmatches onto the rest of the Conquerors, dropping them one by one until they had a three tank advantage. From there, things were well and truly in the bag for the Bulldogs and we went onto a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker took place on Ghost Town and it was deja vu for the Bulldogs as they fielded another heavy tank lineup with similar results to game one. The Conquerors went for the one flag this time around, wasting no time putting pressure on the cap and forcing the Bulldogs to push for a reset. Without MadHouse's IS-7 that was all the way on the southern side of the map, the Bulldogs were walking into a four on five and the results were to be expected as the Conquerors walked away with the series win.
Match Two: Action X v Sentinels 2:3
Next up we saw Action X and the Sentinels in a fast-paced game on Cliff that opened with a brawl around the doughnut that saw Zanin knocking out his old team captain of Rainbow before dropping shortly after himself. The teams traded one for one from there until we had just the Vz. 55's of Val and Dongerlord left against the CS-63 of TheReturned and the Vz. 55 of Wym0. With Dongerlord on just 55 HP, however, things looked to be in the Sentinel's favour but a couple of clutch peeks from Donglord to take out TheReturned first, followed by Wym0 as he took on Val in a one v, saved the day for Action X. The Sentinels came back into form in game two despite taking a fair bit of bleed early on. They were able to juggle the damage well enough across their team without any one players being a one shot and then slowly grind down the opposition to a point where a decisive play became more and more unlikely from Action X.
Himmelsdorf was next and the tables turned yet again with the Sentinels taking too long to make a play. In the end deciding to go for a disastrous push on the two flag which Action X had set up a massive crossfire for. The Sentinels drove right into it and the result was a pretty solid win for Action X. In game four, the Sentinels got their revenge, baiting Action X into committing too many of their tanks into a fight around the courtyard as they tried to finish off a low HP TheReturned, leaving their Vz.55's further south high and dry and with that, we off to another tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker took us to Ghost Town where it was Action X's turn to attack, though you might not have known it with how aggressively the Sentinels played. Finding a four on two over-match early on in the piece the Sentinels committed to it and knock out Ironguard and Saxon. Action X traded well, bringing things down to a two on three with their two remaining Bat-Chats up against the Sentinels two E-100s and IS-7. Unfortunately for Action X, they weren't in a position to use their mobility to outmanoeuvre the Sentinel's heavier tanks and they went down 2:3.
Match Three: Skorpions v Panthers 3:1
The Skorpions had a superb night last week, starting out on the defence of Mines where the Panthers struggled against their setup, finding very little room to move. The Panthers eventually got some pressure on the two flag but there was hardly an angle the Skorpions couldn't hit the Panthers from and they came away with a very convincing win. Game two was another impressive display from the Skorpions as they took on a push from the Panthers, coming out on top despite Auzzi being on the other side of the map and the Panthers having the tank advantage. By the time Auzzi arrived the Skorpions were already well and truly on their way to winning the brawl and they went up 2:0 in the series.
Moving onto Ghost Town, the Panthers were now on the attack, choosing to go for a two flag cap. However, the cross onto the cap saw them taking some heavy damage with Twit especially taking the brunt. The Panthers managed to bring things down to a three on two but with goober on a sliver of HP things were teetering on a knife's edge. The clinch came when Russian made a rotation in his Bat-Chat to knock out goober leaving him free to unload his clip onto the backs of the remaining Panther's tanks and the Skorpions were now 3:0. The final game of the night saw the Panthers redeem themselves somewhat, taking on JT and Russian in a brawl on the dunes at the western edge of the map. Russian just wasn't able to pen his shots, going down without doing much of anything and leaving JT all alone. The Panthers were now up four tanks against two and finished off the night with a point on the board in the first 3:1 of the season.
ANZPL Fantasy League
For our avid ANZFL fans, here is the best performing team of five for week one with a maximum of 2,936 points based on a starting lineup of five. Don't forget to create your team for tomorrow's games!
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Upcoming Matches
Tomorrow's matches will see the Skorpions up against the Bulldogs followed by the Sentinels facing off against the Conquerors and lastly Action X going head to head with the Panthers.
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Leaderboard
The Skorpions inch ahead of the pack while the Panthers take a knock and the Conquerors are looking good as they slide into third place.
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