Welcome to FearTheFrog report #2. This is not the best game in the world to BR but it is short and has a very good lesson to be learned- at least in 1v1 games. How well this can be controlled in a 2v2 game has yet to be tested...

Let us begin with the introduction. This is a Solo Ladder game consisting of myself, FearTheFrog, currently level 8 against a randomly matched Ozzweego, also currently level 8. The map is Tranquil Paths, and here you may see it for yourselves. Ozzweego is shown starting at the 11 o'clock position and FearTheFrog begins at 7 o'clock. Beginning builds are: Ozzweego: An altar of storms and an orc burrow, followed by a war mill and eventually a barracks. FearTheFrog: 1 acolyte, an altar of darkness, followed by a ziggurat and a crypt. A second acolyte is summoned and next a graveyard is started.

A BladeMaster by the name of Tojara appears to lead the orc infantry- at the same time Algammon the DreadLord awakens to front the undead. Tojara, being alone (the rax isn't even half finished yet) decides to do a little solo creeping using mirror image to suck up damage. The BladeMaster, besides being able to invest in critical hits, can summon exact copies of himself to confuse enemy forces. He has poor success, however, and manages to kill only a single of the creeps before having to retreat.

Meanwhile, FearTheFrog began creeping with 5 ghouls and the sleep ability researched, making creeping more effective and much quicker. He clears the teal locations on this map to the right, and Ozzweego clears those marked in yellow. This is why undead rules, you can creep like a maniac, either by healing injured ghouls using cannabalize, replacing injured ghouls with others that were harvesting wood, or occasionally adding more ghouls from those harvesting as the need arises. By now both sides have aquired a Crystal Ball, which holds 5 charges of a nifty scout spell. Both sides use this to locate the enemy bases, and again later for timing attacks.

This is where the timing starts to come in. FearTheFrog clears the local mine and begins to haunt it. (Expanding rather than teching to tier 2). Ozzweego techs first to tier 2 (starting shamans and their dreaded BloodLust) and then expands to his freshly cleared mine.

At this point both players have tier 3 halls, with Ozzweego getting shamans and grunts (continuous 1 each from a single rax and a single spirit lodge) and FearTheFrog still creeping but rebuilding his lost expansion. Ozzweego scans again for the expansion (heres that damn timing stuff again) and starts his way to prevent it. Halfway there, however, he runs into FearTheFrog's creeping party of 11 2/2 ghouls supported by a level 3 vampiric aura, a level 1 sleep, and a level 1 carrion swarm. Ozzweego's BladeMaster is still level 2, but a confrontation would quickly up him to 3. A lot happens in this little instant of time. Both armies advance at the same time. Both engage, and both the BM and DL gain a level. The DL dies before being able to summon his pet Infernal, but the Anhk of Reincarnation brings him back after a few seconds. The Infernal is summoned, turning the tide of this battle and forcing a retreat by the orcs.

Whats left, you ask? The BladeMaster is almost level 4, and the DreadLord is newly level 6. Ozzweego has just a shaman and a grunt remaining, and FearTheFrog is left with two ghouls. It seems both players could micro and build units at the same time, however, because both sides have fresh troops waiting for them. In theory, this could continue back and forth some more, either until the Blademaster gets Bladestorm, which allows him to do 110 damage per second to surrounding units for 7 seconds (why the hell can't we find one of THOSE as an item, if we can find the Anhk of Reincarnation or a Scroll of Raise Dead?), or an attack is timed on either side to catch the opposing army offguard. Keep in mind, the only items held right now are Rings of Protection +2, and the DreadLord still has his TP scroll. Well in this situation the latter happens. Both players take a few minutes to rebuild. Ozzweego invests in a Far Seer and FearTheFrog gets two slaughterhouses. Melee upgrades are 2/2 undead against 1/1 orc, and abominations would benefit greatly right now since it appears Ozzweego is not getting taurens anytime soon. Aboms with level 3 vampiric aura > BL grunts. Using the last of his crystal ball, the DreadLord reports theres movement on the orc front.

It appears Ozzweego wishes to creep a fountain of mana, consisting of 2 level 5 ogre maulers, 1 level 5 ogre mage, and 2 level 2 forest trolls. It would be wise for the undead to follow him in, thus cornering him and forcing Ozzweego's forces to take damage from two sides. FearTheFrog gathers 11 ghouls and begins his march northward, converging with 5 ghouls and the infernal who were standing guard near the undead expansion. By unit comparison, a head-to-head battle would have favored the undead... but with the help of some fairly large creeps... it was no contest.

Here the remaining troops continue on to the orc expansion, just as the two main gold mines are near collapse. There are three watchtowers and an orc burrow protecting it, however, and FearTheFrog summons a new Infernal to suck up damage. It works, and with no orc troops coming to defend it, the expansion falls. The remainder of the game consists of FearTheFrog camping outside Ozzweego's base, containing him until meat wagons can be summoned from the slaughterhouses. Ozzweego begins production on wyvern riders, hoping to get one last advantage this game. He fails, though; the meat wagons arrive after only a single wyvern had been trained and Ozzweego folds beneath the undead forces.

Lessons learned:

1. Never go creeping after you see your new expansion get scanned.

2. If Ozzweego had been successful on his second assault to my expo, I would have lost.

3. If you are orc, and have a level 4 BladeMaster, don't get a FarSeer and simply get your hero to level 6 ASAP because Bladestorm > ghouls with or without any auras.

4. Without proper timing by Ozzweego, my expo would never have fallen. Without proper timing by myself, his forces would never have fallen as quickly as they did trapped behind ogres at the fountain of mana.

5. Infernals kick ass.

6. This is a much better report than the last one!