Introduction





It's about 5 am and i'm sitting around on #nohunters waiting for breakfast to get back
on bnet (he keeps getting booted off) when Elminster and ZergFlavor decide to go at it 1v1
since we can't get enough for a 2v2. I ask if i can observe in an attempt to write my
first battle report.  They both agree and off we go to the temple.



Early Game



Flavor starts out building a depot followed by 2 barracks, Elminster goes for a Hatch at
the top of his ramp followed by a spawning pool. Elminster uses his overlord to scout
Flavor's main to the left of him and then moves it on up above his natural to keep an eye
on when he expands later. Flavor then sends an SCV to Elminster's main and Elminster lets
it sit right near his extractor for a couple minutes before he runs it out with some
lings.



Flavor then builds about 10 marines and a factory while Elminster goes for a hatchery at
his expansion with very few lings. Flavor becomes aware of this when he uses the scv that
was in Elminster's main to scout and sends his army of 9 marines to take out the hatchery
at the Elminster's natural which finishes right before the marines arrive.. Elminster
responds to this attack by sending 12 or so speed upgraded* lings to take down the marines. I'm surprised that they kill all the marines so it must
have been the upgrades that did it.  Afterwards Elminster puts two sunkens down to
stop any marine attack cold.  Flavor responds to this by placing a bunker out of
range of the sunkens all the while cranking the marines and a now a couple firebats. 
After the bunker is finished he builds an engineering bay right next to it just as a
sunken finishes within range of the bunker (Elminster does what i guess could be called a
sunken crawl to approach the bunker)  The sunken morphs in and then starts beating on
the bunker while the SCV continues construction of the engineering bay.   By the time
the bay is completed the bunker is almost dead and the scv isn't able to repair it in time
and Flavor then sends in his lings to mop up the marines and firebats who are outnumbered.

Mid Game

Flavor builds a fourth barracks and pumps tanks out of his
single factory and then tries to bunker the position he held before above Elminster's
natural only to be outnumbered to hydralisks and lings and loses a tank in the process,
sending the medics running back to his main.  Flavor then starts his expansion while
Elminster techs up and makes lurkers.  I then glanced over to check Flavor's
base for detection and within a few seconds i see both a turret go up near his ramp and a
comsat start construction at both command centers.  Flavor then floats his
engineering bay out of his natural a bit to see whats coming.  Prior to this
Elminster has burrowed 4 lurkers just outside Flavor's natural in the event he decides to
send any units out.

Elminster then decides its time to
attack and sends his 4 lurkers and ~10 lings into Flavor's natural, only to be greeted by
10 marines, 4 firebats, 4 medics, and 1 tank on top of his ramp.  Elminster's
combination proves successful as he completely wipes out Flavor's force although he lost
most of his units as well, only a lurker remained.  Here's a picture just as the
lurkers burrowed:

alt="elmin1.jpg (27946 bytes)">

After the lurker is cleared out by some fresh marines Flavor
constructs a bunker in front of his natural and places another tank on top of his
ramp.  Both sides start teching, with Flavor going for 2 starports and a science
facility.  Elminster wastes no time and continues to make hydralisks, 2 queens, and
starts an expansion at the 3:00 starting position.  Flavor then makes 2 dropships and
starts loading the dropships with tanks and marines for a drop on Elminster's main.

End Game

Elminster starts amassing his  hydralisks in the middle
of the map and sends his queens to scout Flavor's main.  Shortly after Elminster
sends all his units, some 25 hydralisks (2-2), 8 lings, and 3 queens at ZergFlavor's natural..
  Flavor's single bunker and tank are destroyed in seconds along with most of the
scv's at Flavor's natural.  Here's a picture of the carnage:

Here is what remains after the terran force has been elminated:

Elminster moves the remaining 9 hydralisks up the ramp and
Flavor, unable to produce marines quickly enough, attacks using his ensared SCV's with
little success:

As this is taking place Flavor unloads his 2 dropships to
the left of Elminster's minerals at his main and kills quite a few drones however 2
lurkers are waiting and without detection Flavor loses all his units.  ZergFlavor
realizes its over and leaves the game.

Total Game Time: 20:30

Lessons Learned

1) This game was won by sheer numbers,
Elminster just had more units when he attacked.  I have observed quite a few games
and often players will focus on teching and going for drops and quit producing ground
units alltogether.  If your opponent decides to keep producing ground units a frontal
assault can win the game.

2) Writing a battle report isn't as easy as
you'd think :> (my next one will be a lot better, i promise)