From March, 31st till April 2nd the skies were on fire with
Guns Of Icarus Alliance. Corresponding with the launch of Guns of Icarus’ single player expansion Alliance, Stack-Up, Gamechangers, Save The Children, and Doctors without Borders played hundreds of matches of steampunk airship battles in the skies over this fictitious “Risk” (board game) style map.
Each win would allow the Charities in-game faction to gain ground on the giant metagame map, with the four factions trading territories back and forth all weekend long. At the end of the weekend, one Charity would be the winner and take home $10,000 for their efforts.
The actual action took place in-game during massive PvE battles featuring up to 16 players across up to four ships. One person would pilot, then you had a crew of three other players who were gunners or engineers, repairing or shooting at targets as needed. This led to a gameplay style that was focused on communication and teamwork, where victory could only be attained by working together.
The Stack-Up Red Shirts were more than up to the challenge. We gathered an army of streamers all flying the Stack-Up colors and went to battle. It was a fantastic weekend of teamwork and comradery but with a sharp focus. We started off with an early lead, flipping the meta-map entirely to our faction (The Fjord Baronies) in less than 8 hours. However, the battle would not end so quickly or easily.
By the morning of the second day, the other amazing participating charities had battled back, and we had lost most of our territory. It would be a hard-fought day with the factions trading land back and forth. The Red Shirts hunkered down and pressed on.
We were aided in our battle by some fantastic streamers from the Trick2G Army along with some amazing donations, which during the charity battle had a direct impact on the game in the form of in-game gold being rewarded to factions based of off the donations gathered by streamers. This in-game gold could be used to reinforce and buy territories or prevent the enemy from taking land on the map.
Keeping our resources in reserve, the Red Shirt Raiders spent most of the night trading land back and forth in exciting battles across the skies. At one point we managed to secure the map once again for our faction, but it was not to last. Everyone was here to represent for their amazing charities, and as the map flipped colors, it was truly anybody’s game.
Sunday morning was the final day of the war, and it started out bleak. We had lost most of the map during the night and though we had amassed quite a bit of gold to gain us an advantage we knew it was going to be another embattled day in the skies.
We manned the guns and took our airships into the fray. We at times fielded upwards of six boats each with a full four-man crew as we battled for control of the map. It literally came down to the final moments, as ships exploded in the air and gold was exchanged for reinforcements the map swapped colors back and forth and finally, the developers of Guns Of Icarus, Muse Games, announced through the server that it was over.
A few faint clicks still clattered over the voice coms as the message that the battle was over spread. We waited with anticipation for the results. We had done our best, and we had fought hard, but only the final tally would decide the victor.
Finally, word came…the Fjord Baronies the Stack Up faction had won the war!
A cheer went up through the Discord! All of the hard work, planning, and hours of airship battles had paid off. We want to thank Muse Games for organizing this amazing event. We also want to thank all of the other fantastic charities and their participant streamers. It was a hard fought battle full of excitement.
We also want to thank Trick2G and his amazing group of streamers who flew the Stack-Up banner for us all weekend. Also, thanks to all of the people who made donations in support of the event. Not only did we win the $10,000 from Muse Games, but our supporters raised a combined $5,726 for a total of $15,726 to Stack-Up in support of our mission!
Finally, we thank all of our amazing Red Shirt Raider community members. Thanks to you it was truly an amazing weekend full of fun and friendship!