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WARNING: THIS BR IS VERY IMAGE HEAVY!!

Hey there BR fan! You have just loaded (or are still loading) my second BR I have ever made. My first BR you can find here. I said in the last one if you bothered to read it that my second one would be much better and I hope this is the case. I think my writing style has improved and I definitely think the graphics are way better and this time there are animations. I've also added my own personal thoughts on several bits now and a whole lot me. Now without further ado let me let you get one with reading the battle report. Oh and I look forward to reading your comments so please post them!

Introduction
Frank: "Welcome to the 6:00 O'clock news. On tonight's show we'll be discussing why Starcraft 2 hasn't been announced and what the future holds for Warcraft but first over to Bob-The-SCV down on a very recognizable planet. Bob...where are you?"
Bob: "Argh! Frank! You know where I am you fool! Don't f**k with me!"
Frank: [Silently] "Bob...dammit! I may know where you are but maybe the dumb-ass viewers don't...just humor me okay?"
Bob: "Bah! Okay fine! But it'll cost extra! Anyway shall I read the s**t I've had written for me or what?!?"
Frank: "If you're not too busy then yeah I would!"
Bob: "Well I was gonna wash my hair but what the hell! Here we go...oops wait...just let me turn professional mode on...la-la la la-la la"

There is a small pause whilst Bob tries desperately to find the switch.

Bob: "VOILA! Sorry about that folks. Well Frank I'm currently on Dark Temple a very popular battlefield or at least was until 'Big Game Hunters systems' were discovered. Infact there has been very little interested in this land. However a little later on tonight two factions are trying to, for one last time, to outwit their foes and take control. Rumors are flying around that this will be one awesome conflict finally deciding who the true owner of this land is! Well that's it from me down on Dark Temple...now back to the studio with Frank who is talking about Starcraft 2."
Frank: "Thanks Bob. Just a quick question before you go down to the pub to get completely stoned. What are your thoughts on a Starcraft2?"

But it was too late. Bob had already rushed down the pub and got completely drunk but he came back to answer the question - how nice!

Bob: "Well I *BURP* think...[transmission interrupted] And that why Blizzard's name sounds like a pink elephant!"
Frank: "Thanks once again Bob. By the way you're fired!"

Lets meet the players shall we?
.SpeedySmurf. having left his race to be decided by fate he found himself with the noble Protoss warriors although there was nothing noble about the game in hand. All players wanted to slaughter their opponents and no one more than .SpeedySmurf. He build order is a very common one but against Terran it is one of the best. The order was pylon on 7 followed by a gateway whilst pumping out probes and then repeating it again and again until he had three early gates up. Although it looked certain as if he was going to be performing any rushes it was uncertain as to what his next move would be.

.BrainySmurf. as his nickname would suggest is positively and undeniably brainy and so on 7 he begins an early Barracks. After this he trained few marines as well as some SCV's providing extra food by blocking his ramp with depots. In all he built three depots there in the early stages whilst pumping out marines as fast as his single Barracks could train them. After gaining enough marines for two bunkers at his ramp behind the depots he began construction of an Engineering Bay to allow himself to build two missile turrets next his two bunkers.

][_ordKheldar began his mission on the planet by building a Barracks on 8 followed closely by a depot on 9. This allowed him to get an economy thriving but left him open to a good early rush especially if the rush consisted of Zerglings. Luckily for ][_ordKheldar there weren't any Zerg in the conflict but at the time he was unaware of this only knowing his enemies chose Random for their race. Whilst training a few marines he began work on an early refinery and then teched straight for tanks with siege mode. He ended up building a second factory soon after his first tank followed by a Starport when his economy could support it.

Brad team mate to purple was as I was to find out a very inexperience newbie. During the pre-game chat he told everyone who he was going to be picking the race before the countdown even began allowing everyone to adjust their strategies accordingly. In his early build up we see that he wants to just stay alive going for just two gates after a pylon on 7. He then began warping in several Zealots for early defense against rushes but it was definitely clear that he was not going to rush. As soon as he had the spare minerals he built a forge and then two cannons at his choke.

The opening build up was now over. The players had chosen their respective builds either teching or concentrating on massing early units. With only .SpeedySmurf. not blocking his choke instead get just Zealots for defense suggests he wanted to go offensive but it was still uncertain.

.SpeedySmurf. then got an assimilator up which is essential for produce anything more than the most basic units. Protoss are a very gas heavy race demanding tones of green stuff so I am sure it wouldn't be long before he would have to expand most likely to his natural. Once he had collected enough gas and minerals he began teching heavily getting first getting a Cybernetics Core followed by a Citadel of Adun and Templar Archives and then a Robotics Facility suggesting a late Reaver drop but instead building an Observatory before any tech units. Also he was building several more Zealots from his three gates. .BrainySmurf. however had built a Factory and a Starport and began production of tanks and wraiths. Not far after this his team mate .SpeedySmurf. expanded to his natural sending his zealots to his expansion entrance to guard along with an observer. .BrainySmurf. was still to expand though.

Whilst this was all going on ][_ordKheldar had expanded to his natural to help support his production of tanks and Wraiths. Once his first two Wraiths had popped out of his Starport ][_ordKheldar to liven up the game a little by going hunting for creatures home to the twilight worlds. ][_ordKheldar's economy was now thriving and was able to begin production of an offensive attack. In the mean time he sent out his two Wraiths down to .SpeedySmurf.'s expansion after having scanned to see whether it was in use. The Wraiths destroyed the few probes mining there but then a single dragoon slid down the ramp and began to fire upon the Wraiths. Instead of fighting the dragoon ][_ordKheldar pulled the Wraiths away to live to fight another day. However his team mate wasn't doing quite so well. Brad had concentrated on securing his ramp and protecting himself from drops round the outskirts of his base by building cannons. He had only a small mobile force containing just Zealots leaving them open to air attacks if out of range of the cannons.

.SpeedySmurf. decided to perform a little drop on his own most likely to test the water with Brad. The shuttle shuttled across two Dragoons to the far corner of Brad's base. The dragoons went for the probe line but a group of nearby Zealots and Dragoons were sent to rid the enemy presence. Due to bad microing on Brad's part most of his Zealots stayed behind the Dragoons and so it was a Dragoon VS Dragoon fight. .SpeedySmurf. microing as well as you can with two units directed the Dragoons to hide behind the mineral patch and then hopefully get some free shots on the probes before dying but unfortunately they didn't and the Zealots now joining in the fight ripped .SpeedySmurf. hopes and attack apart. Straight after this attack ][_ordKheldar sent a drop ship containing two SCV's to the bottom-right island. One of them began construction of a Command Center whilst the other worked on missile turrets around the island.

Suddenly the first real action of the game began if you don't count the earlier hunting. The attack upon ][_ordKheldar's base came in the form of a double drop. Both a shuttle and a drop ship flew over to the top-right of the map and landed above the peon line where there was no defense apart from a siege tank behind the Command Center. Once the contents of the ships had been dropped which were four Zealots and a goliath with two marines and a medic, the siege tank got many free hits without being attacked back because .SpeedySmurf.'s and .BrainySmurf.'s units struggled to get past the SCV's mining. When they finally got through the mining line they were greeted with new Goliaths and the attack was vanquished. Brad at this point should have done a counter attack whilst the Smurfs were busy in his team mates base and catch them off guard but he didn't and I guess we will blame that on him being a newbie. Below you can see exactly what happened for yourself!

At this time there have been two mini-battles and one good conflict that have taken place. Currently ][_ordKheldar looks the favorite although he hasn't attacked anyone yet apart from destroying two probes which isn't something to be proud of. However he had one expansions fully working and another one being established and had a good transport route set up. Brad his team mate wasn't playing particularly impressive but he was coping. The Smurfs were playing a good game working exceptionally

well together complementing and supporting each other.

][_ordKheldar's 2nd expansion (not including his main) was now functioning. 4 missile turrets had been set up covering practically every inch of the island and SCV's were happily mining away the minerals minding their own business. However .SpeedySmurf. needed to expand. He was probably thinking his natural would be under attack the whole game after the Wraiths incident earlier so to be able to defend his expansion at his natural he would need to expand elsewhere first. The preferred option is of course the islands so he sent a shuttle containing probes to begin warping in a Nexus but upon arrival of the bottom-right island the shuttle was under heavy attack by three missile turrets and destroyed the shuttle which made no attempts to turn around.

Unfortunately not long after that attempted expansion by .SpeedySmurf. .BrainySmurf. took us all in to the 'Waiting for players' screen. Of course we are all used to lag and were expected the screen to disappear within a few seconds but it didn't. It ended up that .BrainySmurf. dropped from the game which was not only a shame but hd a major affect on the game. I didn't quite know if .SpeedySmurf. wanted to keep playing and wouldn't just leave but he immediately stated he did so all was okay if you don't count the fact that it was now a 2v1 game.

After such a lot has happened we now reach the end game. .SpeedySmurf. now a lone warrior meant the odds weren't in his favor and he knew it. Could he just manage to survive and scrape through wiping the planet clean of the enemy and claming it for himself?

About now I am sure ][_ordKheldar was feeling ever so confident that the game was in the bag so he initiated the biggest attack of the game. What does: Siege tanks plus Goliaths plus Wraiths + higher ledge equal? Answer: Total Destruction of .SpeedySmurf. natural expansion. The four siege tanks unloaded from their drop ships and sieged up and began their pounding of the expansion. Next unloaded were four Goliaths with two Wraiths arriving on the scene at the same time. .SpeedySmurf. brought from his main a group of just Dragoons with another group probably 3/4 full of Dragoons with some Zealots. First they were ordered to attack but were pulled back as only one could fire at the group of tanks at a time and it was just suicide. Instead of trying to save his base .SpeedySmurf. this attack force out towards Brad's hoping to get some revenge for his death which was now more certain than ever infact it was bound to happen.

The Dragoons which were 1/1/1 wandered over to Brad's front door and instead of knocking just tried to waltz on in. However there was a substantial defense stopping this from happening. There were cannons along the cliff edge of Brad's base which were firing upon the Dragoons and then the Zealots when they finally reached their destination. The three cannons with a shield battery behind them along with 5 Dragoons with a few Zealots were quite enough to stop the attack from proceeding any further but he did lose all the defense at the choke but that didn't matter. For those interested Brad's were 0/1/0 so it kind of suggests that .SpeedySmurf. wasn't managing the attack very well if at all.

During this attack of .SpeedySmurf.'s he shuttled a lone probe over to the top-left island which hadn't been taken over yet and began a Nexus there. He then began mining his ally's natural but he couldn't afford a Nexus there at this time and was forced to send the probes up and down the entire map. Brad rebuilt his defense which had been destroyed earlier and now seeked to expand for a 2nd time. He searched the top-left island and found probes mining it so he sent a shuttle loaded with Zealots to go and rape the base which was backed up further by his team mate's siege tanks which were dropped down. Once the base had been blown apart Brad began building his own Nexus and then probes to mine the expansion. Then once the destruction of his natural expansion had happened ][_ordKheldar dropped the tanks in between his partner's and .SpeedySmurf.'s base to begin the destruction of his main from the safety of any ground attacks. The tanks ripped the base apart and then were loaded back in to the drop ships and dropped in to the base this time taking down the last of .SpeedySmurf.'s dragoons.

Finally after lots of debate questioning the fairness of the game due to .BrainySmurf.'s unfortunate disconnect. .SpeedySmurf. was screaming for rematch and telling me not to BR this game. Well I did as I thought it was worth the time. .SpeedySmurf. did play well but a rematch was not necessary.

Winners
][_ordKheldar & Brad

Post game interviews
After the game the statistics of the game popped up as always I can see who the best player of the game was. Today folks it was ][_ordKheldar so here is a quick interview I had with him, the player of the match:

JHill1: Well done on your win!
][_ordKheldar: Thanks. It was a good game.

JHill1: So what do you have to say for yourself after gaining that win?
][_ordKheldar: Well first I am sorry that Speed's ally lost his connection during the game but acting the way he did in the game was pretty childish and from what I could see it was a pretty fair game.

JHill1: Did you always know you were going to win or not?
][_ordKheldar: Yeah I did think about half way during the game that I was going to win as tanks own goons and I had Goliaths for back up aswell. It was a fair game I think and could have easily gone either way.

JHill1: Yeah. Anyway well done on your win and thanks for letting me watch
][_ordKheldar: Sure no problem. Cya.

I was going to have interview with Brad and .SpeedySmurf. too but Speedy didn't wait in the channel we met in afterwards like I asked him too probably because he was so devastated at losing and Brad to go quickly for a reason which he didn't say. A shame but at least we talked to ][_ordKheldar.

Lessons learnt

As I proved in my last BR - 2v1 are almost impossible even if there are newbies involved.
.SpeedySmurf. should have definitely used his templar archives to better use. A few well placed psi storms would have easily changed the situation around. A few Dark Templar would have been well used too but alas he didn't build any.
Defense is important but so is offense. Brad had a good solid defense that would have been hard to break but he never went offensive. A mobile defense is the best solution that can both defend and then attack. Static defense is still important but a good balance needs to be found.
The drops which occurred during the game all happened too late. If the players who dropped were planning to drop they should have gone straight for drops and do them earlier when the likes of Goliaths aren't around too stop the attack,
And so many more that you should be able to pick out of this BR yourself. I hope that this BR may improve your game in someway.

Thanks for reading my second ever BR. I hope your enjoyed it and you'll post positive response in the comments section. If you want to contact me you can at: jhill_home_hotmail.com. I am not sure when my next BR will come along but if this BR does well then you won't have to wait too long. Thanks again.