Hi everyone.  This is my first battle report.  I've been an observer of br.com for quite some time and so I know most of you indirectly, even if you haven't heard of me.  I figured I'd touch up my non-existent HTML skills and see what I could come up with.  Please comment away or let me know what you think in person if you see me in NH. 

This battle wasn't exactly epic, but it was entertaining to watch. So, without further ado:

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T_mac                                           Wangsonn
SnowSquall              vs.                        Yourafatcow

This battle took place on an observer version of lost temple.

T_mac spawned as terran at the 6:00 start.

SnowSquall spawned as protoss at the 9:00 start.

Wangsonn was zerg, starting at 3:00.

Yourafatcow was zerg, starting at 12:00.

The observers were Basic!, The.Confessor, and myself (using another nick, Benny331).

The initial build orders were as follows:

T_mac went for a standard depot, rax, rax, depot build. He pumped marines consistently out of both barracks and added an academy when funds permitted.

SnowSquall also went with a basic protoss build, putting down a pylon, gateway, gateway, pylo, pylon. His zealots were rallied to the top of his ramp.

Wangsonn built a hatchery at his natural expand minerals (recall that he's in the 3:00 start, so this placement does not cover his ramp). He then added a spawning pool and extractor, and finally another hatchery at his natural, but this one was placed to the west, so that it covered his ramp.

Yourafatcow built a second hatchery at his main, then added a pool and extractor in quick succession. When minerals permitted, he began the lair upgrade and added a third hatchery at his main.

The first action of the game occurred when SnowSquall and T_mac noticed Wangsonn's early build. Thinking he would be vulnerable to a rush, they send about 10 marines and 8 zealots to his natural expansion. By the time they arrived, Wangsonn had morphed three sunken colonies, but these were quickly dispatched by the tag team. The sunkens killed or wounded most of the zealots, and newly hatched lings from Wangsonn and Yourafatcow managed to mop up the remnants of the attack. However, Wangsonn had lost one hatchery at his natural before fending off the rush.  By this time, SnowSquall had added a third gateway and cybernetics core at home and T_mac had built an engineering bay. In addition, Yourafatcow had built a hydralisk den and was working toward lurkers. 

Wanting to press the attack, SnowSquall and T_mac sent another wave at Wangsonn. This attack consisted of roughly 18 marines, two medics, and four zealots. These troops rolled through about a dozen lings and two morphing sunken colonies and razed the expansion. During this time, Yourafatcow hasn't been idle; he has a spire up and a few mutas manage to catch T_mac's medics as they stray away from the marines, and exterminate them.  They then moved up the ramp towards Wangsonn's main.  However, upon seeing the pimp squad, Wangsonn had begun preparations to save his main base: sunkens.  He was building sunkens at his main like a newbie on crack.  By the time the pimp squad made it up the ramp, there were at least four active sunkens and five more building.  The zealots think better of the headlong charge and decide to camp out at the top of Wangsonn's ramp.  However, T_mac knows that marines >sunkens in roughly equal numbers and he sends the boys in to attack the zerg base.  Anyone seen Saving Private Ryan? Just wondering. SnowSquall leaves his troops at the top of the ramp, effectively containing Wangsonn for the time being. 

During this engagement, both SnowSquall and T_mac have taken the opportunity to expand to their naturals (see mini-map).  In addition, T_mac has finished two factories, a machine shop, a starport,  and is working on a control tower as well.  SnowSquall has begun work on the templar tech tree, and Wangsonn has finished his lair.  Finally, Yourafatcow has morphed six lurkers and sends them immediately toward T_mac's natural expansion.  Midway there, they run into two of T_mac's newly created tanks on their way to Wangsonn. After the tanks take a couple of pot shots, the lurkers burrow and decimate the tanks.  During this time, SnowSquall has begun to pump goons.

After Yourafatcow's lurkers finish off T_mac's tanks, they continue on to his natural expansion. T_mac has four marines and a tank to defend, and a turret for detection, but his bunker is still under construction.  The lurkers prove to be too much to handle, and T_mac's forces are killed.  Yourafatcow sends about six mutalisks to harass the SCVs as soon as the coast is clear, and manage to kill several workers before T_mac lifts his command center and retreats his SCVs.  As soon as the attack begun, SnowSquall sent eight dragoons to help his partner and these arrive in time to finish off the last of the lurkers, with the aid of a comsat sweep by T_mac.  The goons, along with a hastily constructed turret, also scare off the mutalisk squad that was attempting to harass  T_mac.  In this attack, T_mac lost his refinery and a turret, but his economy was not affected very much.  During this attack, Yourafatcow uses the distraction to build a hatchery at his natural expansion and one at the base of his ramp.  It also allows Wangsonn to break the containment at his ramp and expand again at his natural.

Soon after this attack, Yourafatcow again attempts to harass with mutalisks, this time sending a handful to SnowSquall's natural expansion.  This move is unsuccessful due to the half-dozen dragoons waiting near the base, and Yourafatcow is forced to retreat with a few losses.  During the attack, be begins an expansion hatchery at his mineral only. Shortly after this encounter, SnowSquall sends eight dragoons to once again squash Wangsonn's expansion attempt and to re-establish containment at his ramp.  Frustrated at again being denied, Wangsonn attempts to goad the goons into his sunken wall of doom.  T_mac has teched to science vessels during this time, and has amassed a sizable force, which he sends on the attack.  While SnowSquall's goons keep Wangsonn contained, T_mac's force of four tanks, a dozen marines (now upgraded to 1/1), and one vessel, along with two zealots from SnowSquall, attacks Yourafatcow's position.  After murdering about twenty lings, this force moves in and kills Yourafatcow's natural expansion and ramp hatcheries. Yourafatcow has about eight mutalisks, but during the battle, these flyers are busy chasing around a small group of SnowSquall's poor zealots, who eventually expire after doing minimal damage to Yourafatcow's mineral-only hatchery.  They return to deal with the terran threat, where they are joined by a handful of Wangsonn's mutalisks.  However, they don't engage the marines, deciding to stay close by and observe.

The terrans advance up the ramp and manage to scare off Yourafatcow's looming mutalisks with the help of irradiate.  However, after a small wave of zerglings from Yourafatcow's main base whittles down T_mac's numbers, a direct attack by Wangsonn's mutalisks finally ends the marine threat. 

A quick mini-map update: SnowSquall and T_mac have both expanded to their mineral-only expansions. In addition, SnowSquall is able to destroy Yourafatcow's nearby mineral-only with a small force of ground troops.  His containment of Wangsonn is still intact (the red blob on the mini-map is actually seven dragoons).  Finally, notice that T_mac has not been idle, and he has a large mixed attack force ready to move near the center of the map.  At this point, things look bad for Yourafatcow and Wangsonn. They are being outresourced and have given map control to their enemies.  Pretty soon, things look even bleaker, as Wangsonn has notices that SnowSquall has brought archons into the fray.

Just a minute after the last attack was foiled, SnowSquall and T_mac assemble a huge army outside of Yourafatcow's base.  This force includes a dozen marines, four tanks, three vessels, perhaps ten dragoon and zealots, and two archons.  I wanted to write the whole thing without using the word "own", but I think the only way to describe the ensuing chaos is by saying that the archons owned, killing mutalisks and lings alike and leaving a bloody mess at the botom of Yourafatcow's ramp.  During this attack, Wangsonn attempts to use his sunken line of doom to his advantage by baiting his foes into a frontal attack, but to no avail.  After the force has ascended the ramp, it quickly makes work of the remaining lings (including a tour of the hatchery area by an irradiated vessel) and Yourafatcow concedes the game.  That essentially ends this one, except for some post-game festivities that involved throwing piles of marines and dragoons willy-nilly onto Wangsonn's big sunken cluster.  Good games were exchanged and your winners are: SnowSquall and T_mac.

The scores: (sorry, somehow that capture came out real blurry)

Thanks for reading. Please give me comments. Also, if anyone can recommend any free software for playing around with graphics (conversion, etc.), I'd appreciate it highly.

See you in the field,