This particular game began as most other BRs do.. people looking for a good game with familiar faces to play with, or against in NH. When I popped in, I saw WangsSon and StarRookie getting ready to start a game(hence forth known as Wang andStar). I've played both of these guys guys before, and I know them both to be fairly good players (amongst the "newbie community" of NH). Their challenge was accepted byZalbag{fft} andBadtz_maru(hence forth known asZal andBad). I can't say that I've ever played either of these two before, so I really didn't know what to expect, other than some silly tricks by Wang and some funny comments by Star. The game was made,
and off we went to get things going.

To my surprise, the game didn't end up on Aiur as they usually do at the Lost Temple, but rather, it ended up on Ashrigo. Here's a quick mini map for those of you that haven't seen, or can't remember what this map looks like, along with the starting locations.Wang began as Red Zerg while his partner Star began as Blue Protoss. Their opponents,Zal started as teal Protoss whileBad started as Orange Terran.

Beginning Build orders for the Protoss players was fairly basic, with both going for a standard double gateway build, with the intent of massing Dragoons. The Zerg player however, expanded twice within the first 5 minutes, and began to power like crazy. On the other side of the map, the Terran player met some technical difficulties which more than likely lead him to drop 3 Barracks, which would later double in numbers. The layout of the start positions is important here, in that the game ended up being east VS west. If the allied members of the teams ended up diagonally to friendly forces, the game would have gone much differently.

Within minutes, the east (Star and Wang) scouted their western opponents with a probe and overlord respectively. The interesting event that occurred at this point, was that Star dropped an assimulator,
and a pylon right in the Bad's main. This no doubtedly caused Bad's whole approach to change. As he was delayed on climbing the tech tree for quite a while.

Just as this was happening, Wang decided to expand for a second time, (bringing his total operational resource gathering
centers to 3). At this point he also begins morphing his 4th hatchery.

All seems to go silent for a few moments, until this comment comes across the screen:

Soon afterword, a small group of Marines (without medic support) and a mixed infantry group of Zealots and Dragoons begins to march in a south eastern direction towards Star's main base.

The offensive west is approximately double in size to
Star's defenders, however, the results end in a stand off when Star retreated to a series of photon cannons along the cliff of his main's choke point. Both forces simply remained for a few moments,
hoping that the other would seize the initiative, and attack.Both forces simply remained ever watchful of each other for a couple of moments, with just a minor skirmish here and there, until Star brought out his Dark Templars.

The screen shot says it all. Raped. The western force was simply raped. Star shows his expertise in usage of unit abilities when he places his Zealots in front, supported by Dragoons just within range of the enemy Zealots and Marines, and simply bombards into the attackers to keep them busy while the Dark Templars sneak around behind enemy lines, and begin to slice and dice away at their opponents. Both Dark Templars ended up with at least 5 kills each after this battle. Just as this encounter took place,Zal decides to expand to his natural,and begins to fortify it with cannons and Dragoons.

Zal's budding expansion is discovered by what may have been a scouting zergling from Wang's vast force. Within moments of the alert, Wang unleashes the fury of the swarm uponZal's Dragoon warriors. The result was an absolute slaughter. Even beforeZal was able to reinforce his defenses with a single unit, Wang showed mercy to his opponent, and made a tactical retreat. The screenshot below
says it all.

Knowing that the only reason he still remains is because of Wang's grace,
Zal wastes no time, and begins to heavily fortify his expansion for a second time. Dragoons. continually emerge from gateways, as Pylons, Photon Cannons and Probes continue to make their way
from Aiur. However, even before the Expansion is fully operational, it is discovered one more by what may have been a scouting zergling. However, instead of an all out slaughter, Wang agrees to allow his team mate, Star, to harass the protoss opponent with Dark templar. Little do either of them know, that Photon cannons have already
finished warping in.

The moment that they are seen by the cannons,
Zal dispatches his Dragoon force, which number 10 to deal with the threat.  However, due to poor judgment of unit abilities, Two Dragoon lose their lives beforeZal realizes that they have faded form view...

Luckily for him, his partner is able to scan-sweep the battle area, thus revealing the elusive Dark Templars to the Dragoons once again. They manage to kill 2 of the 3 DTs before the last one gets away, at the cost of 3 Dragoons. At this point, someone made a comment aboutZal's poor judgment to use all of his Dragoons to deal with only 3 Dark Templars. The comment was also made that Zal made his expansion vulnerable to a drop, going on to further mention that the 3 Dark Templars could have only been a diversion. Unfortunately, these screen shots were not captured.

While all of this is going on, The Terran player was finally able to rid his main base of Star's Pylon, and Assimulator.
He also constructed his 6th Barracks, and began to pump out Marines, and Medics alike.

More time passes as the respective teams build up their forces, Bad has gone for quite some time undisturbed, so he makes his move to make his first expansion. Little does he know however, that Star has a mixed infantry force of Dark Templars, Dragoons and Zealots stationed just outside of his natural expansion to deal with just such an attempt. Once again, an expansion for the west is halted with no problems.

Once again, all is quiet and calm as the player continue to race up the tech tree, and upgrade their units. Just then, Wang goes for another expansion, which brings the east's total to 4, while the west remains with only 1. Even his partner Star, is surprised atWang's bravery as seen in the screen shot below.

Realizing that the west is yet to execute an effective and successful attack, The east finally decides to end the war at Ashrigo... As seen in the mini map, Wang commits 90% of his
total unit count to an all out attack on the enemy Protoss camp. The moving force numbers will over 30 Zerglings, and 50 Hydralisks. Star's force consists of assorted Zealots, Dragoons, High Templars, Dark Templars, and Probes who make their way west, and setup a cannon wall. What ends up happening is very different with both impending battles..

The northern battle was pure micro, VS pure macro. When
Zal sees over whelming numbers of the swarm heading his way.  It seemed as if he literally took control of each individual unit at once, It even seemed as if he directed the attacks of her photon cannons. Zerglings and Hydralisks alike stormed into the protoss base, all without fear of the twinkling northern lights of the high templar...

Zerglings were literally running to their deaths as cannons gunned them own like fish in a barrel. Perhaps this was Wang's plan, buying his Hydralisks enough time to do the real damage. However, after as noble effort on Zal's part, his cannons finally fell. Now it was down to just the Dragoons. Just as the last protoss defense structure fell, Dragoons began to retreat to the higher ground of there main, where inside were a few more fresh cannons being warped in. The Hydralisks didn't persue the Dragoons. Instead, they
continued to lay siege on the undefended expansion. Probes exploded by the dozens as the Hydralisks bunch together in large clusters to do their deed.

When the Nexus finally fell, they turned their reptilian eyes towards the Protoss, ramp, and began to make their way up for the final assault.What he found though, was a new series of Photon Cannons that mowed them down with indiscriminate justice. Once again, precisely accurate micro management techniques were employed by Zal, as he supports his Cannons with his remaining Dragoons. The actual count at this point was, 7 Dragoons and 2 Photon Cannons, against about 30-35 Hydralisks. At this point,
Wang is still relying on marco. Though he had superior numbers, only 3 hydralisks could fight the protoss at any particular time. The would come within range on the ramp, then halt their advance and begin shooting. This prevented friendly units from joining the melee as well. This effective technique caused the constant battle to be 3 Hydralisks, against the 7 Dragoons and 2 cannons.

But even after all of this, the number of hydralisks was overwhelming. Without shield battery, or high templar support, Zal was doomed to eventually fall to the Zerg swarm. The Hydralisks finally broke through the Protoss defenses, and made their way to the last Teal Nexus.. Out of no where 6-8 lurkers
joined the melee and began to send rushes of subterrian spines.

With little left to do, and only a hand full of Dragoons remaining,Zal honorably conceded the match and left the game, but not before killing 70-80 enemy units.

While these actions in the north took place,
Star and Bad were having a battle of their own. A single probe was consistently opening warp rifts to bring in Pylons and Photon Cannons. The probe went unchecked for quick sometime, until they came within range. Not a single Siege tank, firebat, or even a marine did anything to stop the incoming danger.

Eventually, Photon cannons began to rip into Terran structures, causing them to lift off, and move to safety. While this was going on, not a single other protoss unit joined into the battle. Eventually, a well structured cannon wall was in place, causing bad to make his way all the way to the far left hand side of his base. An occasional marine, tank, fire bat, and vulture showed up to try and do something, but they were no match for the many cannons already in the game. At one point, a single
siege tank managed to destroy 3 of the dozens of cannons before a single templar ended his military career with a crackling psionic storm.

At any point, the protoss player could have overwhelmed terrans but never did. Instead, he added insult to injury by bringing in his 3rd-string units...his probes to finish the job.

One after the other, Terran units collapsed into flaming piles of junk at the hand of a probe's particle beam.

Bad never gave up though, the occasional vulture would show up to take out a probe or two before falling to its beeping, and bleeping opponents.

Finally, the very bitter end came down to a single burning refinery, that Star simply allowed to burn. If that wasn't a slap in the face, nothing else was.

And so..the game ends with the combined force of Star and Wang being victorious. GGs were exchanged by all as they went their separate ways.

Quotes Section:

(Wang says it all)

(Hardcore Entertainment indeed..)

(Bad asks a silly question.)

(Star does a little trash talk as his photon cannons fire away.)

(Star reveal's Wang's little secret.)

Lessons Learned:

1)  Micro is greater than Macro.

2)  Overwhelming Macro is greater than Micro.

3)  Never fight Zerg without Psionic Storm.

4)  Never fight Protoss without Siege Tanks.

5)  Always coordinate an attack with your partner(s) in multi-player
games.

6)  Always use Medics.

7)  Never fight Dark Templars with Dragoons without detection.

Disclaimer: For those of you that may have
concerns about this report seeming one sided, please note that most of the
game took on that approach.

This has been a Battle Report by...

Lady
Paladin.