This is a broadcast of the Dial-up user warning system.  This battlereport contains 9+ megs of pictures that may overload your modem.  If you choose to view this battlereport regardless of this warning, prepare to experience delays or a general lack of pictures.  I suggest, if you are not bored at the moment, that you simply wait until the report is rated or sufficiently commented upon to make a decision on whether to view or not.  Or you could just tell the computer to download it and go watch TV for an hour.  Whatever.

It will take a 28.8 connection approximately 1 hour to download this fat chunk of data or half that (30 min) for a 56k.

Also, the report is best viewed with a screen resolution of "800 by 600" pixels or larger. Smaller screen resolutions can result in intense headaches and grumpiness from scrolling back and forth horizontally.  I also suggest that you don't change the text size unless you absolutely have to because picture/text orientation may be disrupted.

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Boring Introduction

Hello and welcome to a Who'sGotLag.IDO battlereport.  This battlereport will be about a game played on WarCraft III beta.  You can skip down to the next paragraph since you will not care about what follows this sentence.  This is report number 10 for me (numerically), BUT in terms of completed reports, this is number 7.  You may ask where are the other reports [Yeah, right...] and I would say incomplete or haven't started when I got bored/lazy/busy.

BTW. For those of you who have web browsers that can't display pictures with brackets, you're just outta luck.  This battlereport was designed for Internet Explorer 6.0.

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Bah... After I finish the report draft and am editing it, Beta306 comes out. Oh well, much of the data in here is now irrelevant to any current game.  Map's been changed, units changed, abilities changed, new heroes... For entertainment purposes only now I guess.

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First off, WarCraft III Beta the changes

As most of you who play WarCraft III know, beta trials are being run on the Expansion pack for it, The Frozen Throne.  Major changes have occurred up to now, patch 305 (alpha), too many to mention in detail.  The main categories of change were in (1) addition of new pieces of everything that made WarCraft III what it is [units, heroes, abilities, buildings, items, maps, mapsets, and creeps] and (2) fixing balance issues by major changes in gameplay.  All the changes had impacts on the flow of the game which is smoother and less predictable (so far).

Major changes (what I think anyway)

1. Addition of 7 new heroes, 1 per race and 3 neutral (patch305 era).

2. Addition of new land, air, and sea units.

3. Addition of new buildings such as player shops and marketplaces, which sell similar (low level items) and unique items (higher level) to players, and new defensive structures.

4. Addition of new items which influence the abilities of the units/heroes.

5. Raise in Upkeep levels (more units!)

6. Limit on experience from creeping (creeping no longer levels heroes past level 5 anymore)

7. Major balance changes (too many to be listed) but examples include: changes in armor types, abilities, unit hitpoints, and new attack classes.

8. Major increase in amount of lumber needed for tech.

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The Map

The map this game was played on is called Turtle Rock, a suggested 1v1 or 2v2 map. The reason for the name is likely the multiple "islands" on the map, the center of which is populated by the new Sea Turtle creeps.  The "islands" are not a problem to reach due to traversable water, but gives units on the islands a height advantage.  The map contains 2 Goblin Merchants and a Tavern in the center of the middle island.  Neutral Heroes may be purchased from the Tavern, which is unguarded allowing first hero purchases during the day.  There are 4 possible expansions on the center island and 2 more (1 in the northeast and southwest) separate expansions.

All of the creep locations on the center island and in the water are occupied solely by Sea Turtles except for 1 locations (which has Murlocs too) between each pair of starts.  The remainder of the map is inhabited by a combination of various Ogres and Forest Trolls.  (You'd think Sea Turtles would have a melee attack but apparently these ones have learned to use their projectile vomiting problem in a useful manner)

The following table has the creeps separated by row for general strength and difficulty in defeating. The weaker groups are on the left and the stronger ones are on the right side of each row. Typically, the biggest creep usually yields the item(s), the highest of which are level 5.

The first row requires nothing more than a low level hero and maybe a few Tier 1 units to defeat, providing easy experience for the learning hero. (level-1 or level-2 items dropped)

The second row are more difficult creep groups and require a more substantial army and/or a higher level hero.  (level-1 to level-3 items dropped)

The bottom row contains the more powerful creep groups that guard valuable, out of the way locations and yield large quantities of experience. (level- 4 or level-5 items dropped)

To open the following creep chart in a new window, click here.

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1. These easy creeps can be soloed with certain heroes but it is generally done with a few Tier 1 units supporting [One Giant Sea Turtle (4) and Two Sea Turtles Hatchlings (1)]		2. These creeps are the next weakest group and a low level hero with some assistance can easily dispatch them [Two Troll Berserkers (4) and Two Ogre Warriors (3)]
3. The classic Merchant defenders, not too weak, not too strong [One Ogre Magi (5) (Bloodlust) and Two Troll Berserkers (4)]			4. Powerful but few, these turtles guard the central Gold Mines from early expansions [One Gargantuan Sea Turtle (7) and Two Giant Sea Turtles (4)]
5. Numerous but with mostly weak members, this creep group is easy for strong armies but dangerous for weak ones [One Gargantuan Sea Turtle (7), Two Murloc Nightcrawlers (3), and Three Murloc Huntsmen (2)]	6. Unused start defenders, this powerful force guards vacant starts from small and inexperienced armies [One Troll Warlord (6) (Trueshot Aura), Two Troll Berserkers (4), and Two Ogre Warriors (3)]		7. Corner Expansion, these out of the way Gold Mines can profit a player greatly if they can defeat the powerful residents [One Ogre Lord (7) (Shockwave and Devotion Aura), Two Troll Berserkers (4), and Two Ogre Warriors (3)]

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Minimap Key

I suggest that you read this because it will probably help you to understand the mini-maps spread throughout the report

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Simple map options:

Colored dots (large) : Location of base of dot color

Colored dot (medium) : Location of expansion of dot color

Colored dot (small) : Army of dot color stopped at location for some reason

Colored arrows : Movement of armies of that color

Colored arrow pointing at different colored dot : Army of arrow color is attacking base/army/unit of dot

Text next to colored arrows : This states the content of the army indicated by the arrow

Example:

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These options are used for multi-step minimaps describing several movements in one picture:

Colored dot with colored arrow leading away to another colored dot (all same color) : This one army is doing several sequential steps starting from an origin and leading away with other arrows to new locations (Huh?)

Colored dot with different colored wedge in it (typically with wedge colored dot/arrow nearby) : Army of wedge color is attacking base/army/unit of different colored dot.

Example:

In this picture the Aqua main base is on the left and the expansion is in the southwest.  The Yellow main base is on the right and the expansion is on the east of the middle island. From the confusing array of arrows, this is what is being said:  At the beginning, both armies attacked a creep camp, with Yellow hitting creep camp 3 (northeast) and Aqua hitting creep camp 4 (south).  The colored wedges in the creep group's white dot indicates an attack and who attacked who.  Aqua then moved on and attacked Yellow's expansion base (See the Aqua wedge in the Yellow base dot?).  Yellow's army then soon after came and attacked the Aqua army (See the Yellow wedge in the Aqua army dot?)

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If you understand, congratulations! Come and get your diploma.  It's a rolled up piece of newspaper, but what did you expect since you didn't do anything?

If you didn't understand, that's too bad.  Maybe you'll figure it out or just give up and look at the other pictures.

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Pre-game

Pre-game setup in this paragraph, move on down if you don't care.  This game was played on March 30, 2003.  I logged onto Battle.net with the specific intention of finding a WarCraft III beta game to battlereport.  Being the reserved aficionado of games that I am, I immediately jumped into the first custom game using a standard Blizzard map and allowing observers.  That game sucked, so I did it again and came up with this game which made me think "This didn't suck terribly. I think it will do."  The rest is history...  

...Well no.  Actually it's below, but you get the picture.

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FYI. There is yellow text below, which contains alt-text like so.  Read at your own peril.

1v1 on Turtle Rock

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This game was a 1v1 between TryingHuman (selected Human) and Water (selected Orc) [Ooh, Christmas colors!] on Turtle Rock.  TryingHuman appeared at the 3 o'clock equivalent and Water appeared at the 6 o'clock equivalent.  As you can see from the map, the 2 starts are close together and the two forces are likely to meet early on.

Player Info

Player	Random Information
TryingHuman	Trying Human shockingly enough prefers to play with Humans because he enjoys their "different build orders" (something like that).  He invites other players to visit the channel below Online residence:  channel clan obs
Water	No information is available on this player since I have not seen him since.

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Let's start the game

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TryingHuman started off with the conventional Human build: Altar, Farm, Barracks, with continuous Peasants for the now necessary lumber for tech.  His hero was the ubiquitous Archmage with a point in Water Elemental.  A scouting Militia was sent to scout the 6 o'clock position and report if the enemy was sighted while a Tower was constructed at home.  It's probable that the militia saw the Orc base, but since it didn't go far inside, it may be questionable (Neither player scouted any further, which may be confirmation of seeing each other...).

Water also started off with a conventional build (for Orc): Altar, Barracks, and Burrow, also with constant Peons for lumber.  His hero was the usual Farseer with a point in Feral Spirit.

Both players than proceeded to train a few melee units (Footman and Grunts) before jaunting off to their nearest easy creep site.  Each hero than summoned their respective units and went at it and killed them (the creeps, not their units).  Bored yet? Let's move on.

Both players in the meanwhile had been making more Farms (or equivalents), making more melee units, and constructing another tech building.  TryingHuman was walling in his Scout Tower with Farms while building a Blacksmith.  Water was building a Voodoo Lounge, his own personal Orc shop.  The Scout Tower could be upgraded to an Arcane Tower, a new, low-tech defensive tower designed to protect against early hero rushes with it's feedback attack that uses the heroes' mana against itself.

TryingHuman decided to proceed to the next level easy creep site, creep site 2, to level his hero (above picture).  Water though had different ideas and rushed into the Human lumber peasant line and began tearing it up.  TryingHuman decided to upgrade his Tower to an Arcane Tower and use Militia while returning at a run with his level 2 Archmage.  Several Peasants were killed before the returning army chased the Orc units away.

Water's Farseer reached level 2 off the peasants, but the recent creeping and the Arcane Tower had injured his Grunt forces.  Two Healing Salves (3 usages, effect stops if unit is attacked) were purchased from the Voodoo Lounge and some was applied to the seriously injured (no pic, cause animation is nothing special).  The Orc Great Hall was then upgraded to a Stronghold.

Both players began creeping again with Water going south and TryingHuman had left earlier going north.  The dots along the paths indicate battles with creeps.  The Human army was larger and bulldozed through the easy creeps, leveling the Archmage to level 3.

TryingHuman started his Town Hall upgrading to a Keep while producing a stream of Dwarven Riflemen from his barracks.

Water however was going creeping more slowly with his smaller army and selective Salve usage (plus healing time).  He instead was spending his money upgrading the Stronghold to a Fortress and recruiting his second hero, the Shadow Hunter, with his initial skill point in Healing Wave.

As you can see from the map update (the right one), TryingHuman's army attacked Water's creeping army from the back and forced him to retreat.  Water had made 3 Illusions of Grunts for creeping and threw them at the Human army while escaping.  The Humans, trying to get easy experience, jumped on the "wayward" Grunts and only discovered the deception after the Orcs had escaped.

The Human army then moved to the east and attacked the creeps guarding the central island's southern gold mine.  A pissed-off Water with his Grunts still slathered in green salve appeared from the opposite direction and started laying the beatdown on TryingHuman's creep fighting army (left map).

TryingHuman immediately began a retreat (losing 2 Footmen and a Rifleman) and circled around the gold mine through the waist-deep water toward home.  The retreating army then encountered his newly trained Mountain King (initial point in Stormbolt) and turned to fight at the entrance to Water's base.

The wounded human Footmen fell quickly, and TryingHuman was forced to rely on his level 2 Water Elementals as a meat shield for his Riflemen.

Water instead chose to target the Hammer-carrying Midget though, whose short little legs couldn't get him away fast enough.  The Mountain King was teleported to the Human Altar's Inbox, while the Archmage chose to Town Portal home.  The Archmage did go home with a lovely parting gift however, an increase to level 4.  The Shadow Hunter also leveled from this battle, putting his second skill point into Serpent Ward.

Copious usage of the Shadow Hunter's Healing Wave (big 'ole yellow twirly crap on picture) kept most of Water's Grunts alive, but losses were inevitable.  Three Grunts joined the 4 Footmen and Rifleman at the bottom of the shallow stream.  

Water then continued on moving after receiving additional Grunt and Troll Headhunter reinforcements.  The Orc army (2 Heroes, 3 Grunts and a Headhunter) moved northeast into TryingHuman's natural expansion and began creeping.  The Humans  however had a similar idea and a lone Priest strolled in from the north.  

The remainder of TryingHuman's army (2 Heroes, 3 Riflemen, and a few Priests) circled around and struck Water's army from the south, sandwiching him between the creeps and the Humans.  The Shadow Hunter (level 2) ate a Storm Bolt while the Farseer (level 4) hauled ass to grab items from the fallen creep group leader before Town Portaling the Orc army out.

TryingHuman's had started his own Player-owned shop at this point, the Arcane Vault.  Each races' player shop contains different items than other races, but they all do contain certain identical items.  Potions of health and mana are available at all Player shops as well as Scrolls of Town Portal.  The potions however are only available at the Player shops and not at the Goblin Merchants.

Now we come across the unofficial name of Patch 305, the "Tome Bug Patch".  Water, while attempting to pick up the dropped items, right-clicked on a Tome more than once and received multiple upgrades beyond the actual value of the tome.  

Using my elite counting skills, I determined that the Tome was a "Manual of Health +50" and Water had right-clicked on it 3 times giving his Farseer 100 additional hitpoints beyond the Tome's value.  TryingHuman of course was right there and spotted the naughty Tome usage and complained. (This was supposed to be a "no Tome abuse" game.)  It was generally agreed among the observers that the usage was likely accidental, but only Water knows for sure.

At home, Water bought some more Healing Salve and began rubbing it onto his sexy Grunts.

Both heroes had only been fighting low level creeps so they only had level 1 and 2 items except for a Talisman of Evasion (15% Evasion ability bottled in an item) [Ooh! level 3...] which the Farseer had gotten from the big Sea Turtle along with the Tome. 

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TryingHuman cleaned up the remaining creeps, and then bounced north and hit the top natural expansion with his 2 Hero, 4 Riflemen, and 2 Priests.  His Mountain King also picked up a Talisman of Evasion and reached level 2 when Water's Orc horde came charging in from the south.  The 2 Heroes, 5 Grunts, and 3 Headhunters first targeted the Mountain King, who apparently upgraded past "girly-legs" because he got away and ran home to the Human shop, the Arcane Vault, for a healing potion (not available at Goblin Merchant anymore).

The 2 Water Elementals (level 2), summoned for creeping, were a major turning point for the vulnerable Human army along with the Footmen who steadily arrived from TryingHuman's barracks.  Healing Wave from the Shadow Hunter couldn't prevent the loss of 4-5 of Water's Grunts who helped kill 1 or 2 Footmen, an Elemental, and a Rifleman.  The Orcs then decided to advance in the opposite direction, bravely running home.  The Humans trotted over to the northern Goblin Merchant for a short rest.

The players then began taking care of home business, with TryingHuman upgrading his Keep to a Castle and using a previously built Workshop.  Water returned home to pick up additional Grunts and a few Witch Doctors that had been trained.

For some reason, a Dwarven Mortar Team decided to try to kill Water's base by themselves and as expected, failed miserably.

Creep-fest began again after this encounter, with TryingHuman leaving the Goblin shop and hitting the northeast corner island expansion and then the 12 o'clock main.  Water chose to hit the 9 o'clock natural expansion and the northwest Turtle/Murdock group (creep site 5 on creep chart).  Healing motions of the hand and Elementals flew out in the north while various wards were flung in the west before the 2 sides collided again.

The creeping Human army left the 12 o'clock expansion and headed toward the Turtle/Murdock group for more experience when they encountered the departing Orc army.  The recent creeping had given the Mountain King a "Claws of Attack +12" and the Farseer an "Ankh of Reincarnation"

The Human army consisting of Archmage (level 5), Mountain King (level 3), 4 Riflemen, and 4 Priests attacked the Orc army containing a Farseer (level 4), Shadow Hunter (level 3), 3 Grunts, 4 Troll Berserkers, 3 Witch Doctors (see map on left). [You can tell that the Troll Headhunters are now Berserkers due to the gold hair gel they use.]

 

Troll Berserkers Troll Berserkers are upgraded Troll Headhunters that have gained 75 hitpoints (425 total) and the "Berserk" ability (think SC infantry "stim pack") which causes 50% faster attack speed in exchange for 50% more damage received. The Berserker upgrade requires Tier 3 tech and a Warmill.

TryingHuman's Mountain King darted in and out of the battle Thunder Clapping Orc troop masses as both sides' ranged units opened up.  The 2 remaining Grunts concentrated on placing their axes in the middle of 2 Priests faces, while the Shadow Hunter placed it's first Serpent Ward so far.  The Water Elementals soaked up damage as the Riflemen and Berserkers/Witch Doctors whittled each other down.  The Mountain King gave a third and final Thunder Clap, summoned a Red Drake, and then ran like a pansy while taking concentrated fire, encouraging Water to pursue while escaping with his weakening army south (Especially since he had no Town Portal).

TryingHuman lost at least one Water Elemental (3), two Riflemen, and a Priest while Water lost at least one Grunt and one Berserker.  Numerically it seems that TryingHuman lost this battle, but of course, Water had to flee while taking enemy fire, and perception counts for a lot too. Both armies parked at their respective Goblin Merchants (north and south) while recuperating from the battle (Priest Healing and Healing Wards).

Upgrade Update! TryingHuman's melee units are at (0/1) attack/armor while Water's Grunts are at (2/2). What are the upgrades for the ranged units consisting of 1/3 of both armies?  I didn't take pictures of them and it's not like I can watch the replay and see.  Casters don't get upgrades if that makes you happier (I don't mean adept or master-type upgrades so be quiet, they are both obviously at master level  =P ).

The fleeing Mountain King ran all the way home and probably picked up a heal potion in addition to an Orb of Fire (5 points additional damage, attacks now give splash damage, and the unit has a ranged attack when fighting air).  Even though the Mountain King was only level 3, because of 3 items it carried, it had an possible attack damage of 51-61 plus the fire splash damage from the new Orb [Claws of +12, Circlet of Nobility, and Orb of Fire.  12 + 2 + 5 = 19 + (32-42 base capacity)].

Water sent reinforcements to meet his returning army and apparently researched the Backpack upgrade [Allows certain regular ground units to carry items], because a Grunt was sighted lugging a Town Portal.

TryingHuman, after spending getting some R&R at the Shop, marched his army down to the "Footmen Summer Camp" at the base of Water's eastern entrance.  There his new army consisted of his 2 Heroes, 4 Footmen, 1 Knight, ~2 Riflemen, ~3 Priests, and 2 Dwarven Mortar Teams [Red Drake's got a fat ass so I can't tell for sure].  The Mortar Teams fired a few shells into an outlying Orc Barracks before some angry green and blue gentlemen ran in from the west.  TryingHuman reformed his army to face Water's incoming forces and waited near the 6 o'clock easy creep site (creep site 1 on the creep chart).

[0:00] With meaty (and metallic clangy) "thumps", melee units began to engage in mortal combat. The Orc army, consisting of a Farseer (level 4), Shadow Hunter (level 3), 5 Grunts, 4 Berserkers, and 4 Witch Doctors, began firing on the Human melee units.   [0:23] Level 3 Water Elementals and Spirit Wolves [Farseer (5) AND Shadow Hunter (4) leveled early in the battle] were summoned for battle to assist both armies.  [0:23] TryingHuman used Thunder Clap, dispelled Stasis and Healing Wards [Serpent Wards are non-dispellable], and had his [0:09] Mortar Teams concentrate fire on the Troll units [Casters' unarmored-type armor takes extra damage from siege] in addition to fighting.  [0:30] Water's Trolls began using 3 different (Stasis, Healing, and Serpent) wards and all ranged units began concentrating fire on the Mountain King.

The Human melee troop line folded and evaporated under the pressure of the Orc army, taking 2 Grunts with them, but leaving TryingHuman without a melee line.  The level 3 Water Elementals served in a pinch while the Mountain King (300/975 hp) retreated to break target lock.  [0:50] Concentrated fire on the returned Mountain King forced the Human army to retreat from the battlefield.

AA GIF movie is available on the above battle here (1.9 meg), not recommended unless you're bored.

Both players' gold mines collapsed just prior to the battle and neither was in any hurry to risk their remaining units.  The two damaged armies retreated to their respective bases for some much needed healing.  Water also dispatched a Peon to his natural expansion which was just north of the previous battleground. 

TryingHuman ordered his badly damaged army to retreat back into his base, probably with a right-click, and the unit Artificial Intelligence (AI) took them home.  Unknown to TryingHuman was the fact that his lumber Peasants had cut through the wall of trees on the south side of his base, opening up a third entrance to his base.  The unit AI took the shortest path to it's destination... 

Straight through the acquisition range of the Southeast Sea Turtle/Murloc camp! Five Murlocs and a Gargantuan Sea Turtle charged after the battered Human army and started knifing them in the back.  At least one Peasant and one Rifleman (and maybe one Priest) were killed during "Murloc Madness", but the general weakness of the Murlocs prevented them from doing any major damage.  Actually its most likely that the Sea Turtle made 2 of the kills while the Murlocs concentrated on bunching up and dying.

Water ordered his pre-positioned Peon to construct a Great Hall at his natural expansion, while TryingHuman was fighting at his main.  Soon after the Murlocs/Sea Turtles were killed, TryingHuman moved his army across the map to the 9 o'clock start to destroy the creeps residing there.  Along the way, the army passed through the center of the middle island and may have passed into visual range of the constructing Orc building.  Water, in an effort to preserve his dwindling supply of gold, immediately canceled the Hall.  TryingHuman, most likely unaware of the panicked response of his opponent, had his army continue across the map and deploy at the creep camp.

TryingHuman was also short of gold and needed additional amounts to build his own expansion.  To retrieve the much needed gold, he used the well-known conga line, utilizing every single Peasant he had.

Water ordered his Orc horde up along the same route that the Human army had just passed through and encountered the stream of gold peasants lugging their heavy sacks.  Water, most likely worried about the workers health from carrying such heavy loads, decided to give the Peasants a vacation from their duties, a permanent one.  The army pursued the beleaguered Peasants to their main base, handing out pink slips that were thoughtfully attached to their weapons' tips and edges.  The army consisted of the remnants of the previous battle: Farseer (5), Shadow Hunter (4), 2 Grunts, 4 Berserkers, and 3 Witch Doctors.

Unknown to Water was the fact that earlier TryingHuman had sent a single Peasant to the northeast corner expansion (northern creep site 7) to begin construction of an expansion.  The Human army then left the 9 o'clock start and marched through the center island to Water's natural expansion site.  Finding nothing, they continued on to the Orc main.

Prior to the movement of the Human army, the Orc Peon that was at the natural expansion was moved to the Northern natural expansion site where he sat around twiddling his thumbs.  After the Human army passed by and didn't see him, the Peon was ordered to build a new Great Hall there.

On reaching the edge of the Human base, Water concentrated fire on the closest outlying building, the Arcane Vault [look 2 pictures previous].  After destroying the Vault, the horde moved in and razed the lone defensive building, the Arcane Tower, before finishing laying off the remainder of TryingHuman's Peasants.

TryingHuman had finally reached Water's main by this time and destroyed one of his Barracks.  Water rushed his own army over to defend his burning main, losing a Burrow [Not a reinforced Burrow. I'm so disappointed. =P] in the meantime.

[0:00] The base rescuers were greeted by a healthy dose of Mortar fire and the Shadow Hunter received his own Storm Bolt to the head.  [0:22] Water's ranged units focused fire on the lone Mortar Team and a Priest, ignoring damage until their targets were dead.  A Witch Doctor and a Berserker had succumbed during this period when the remainder of the Orc army turned on the Mountain King whose "Talisman of Evasion" was still working beautifully.

[0:37] The "Talisman of Evasion" and a set of Healing Wards that the Mountain King had picked from the 9 o'clock start's creeps kept him alive while 3 summoned Water Elementals (level 3) were smashing the Orc units.  [1:01] Water withdrew his forces further into his base with the Mountain King in hot pursuit.  The Mountain King and Water Elementals killed the remaining 2 Berserkers, before the Dwarf began showing his running skills again [1:28], pursued by Orc Heroes weapons' fire and 2 Shadow Wolves.  [1:36] The Mountain King returned to the battle and began to fight when he experienced a sudden heart attack caused by a Farseer shot exploding on him and died.

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Both Orc heroes leveled off the MK's death with the Farseer reaching level 6 and the Shadow Hunter going to level 5.  The Orc army then turned on the remaining Human hero and the Archmage of course ran away a bit.  The battle continued with the Archmage and 3 Elementals fighting the 2 Orc heroes and 2 Shadow Wolves, when all the heroes had to withdraw from the battle with low health.  Both sides left the battle down to summoned units with the Archmage returning to bring supporting fire again and fleeing again with critical health, when attacked by the Orc heroes.  This was likely due to the fact that TryingHuman wanted to keep the battle going while resurrecting his MK.

Water pursued the Archmage with his entire army, 2 Heroes and 2 Witch Doctors, but the wily old man evaded him twice and escaped with 17 hitpoints.  The Archmage reached level 6 while running, due to global experience received from his Water Elementals killing both Shadow Wolves.  The Orc "army" then paused to heal the Farseer with a ward while the Archmage scouted expansion sites.

The Town Hall and Great Hall finished construction before the Mountain King kicked the bucket, with Water being slightly faster in training new Workers.  TryingHuman however found the undefended expansion with his Archmage and summoned a Water Elemental to harass the Peons.  The Orc army killed the Water Elemental (who did insignificant damage) while the Archmage visited the southern Goblin Shop and purchased a "Tome of Retraining".

The Archmage used the "Tome of Retraining" to erase all his abilities and allows him to redistribute his skill points wherever he desires.  TryingHuman decided to place his 6 skill points in level 3 Blizzard and level 3 Brilliance Aura [I assume, since Teleport won't be very useful now].  He did this most likely to allow the Archmage to "Blizzard raid" the undefended expansion.  This coupled with his hidden working expansion in the north could allow him to win the game.

Water, seeking to bring an end to the game [and/or to hopefully to kill the annoying old guy], attacked TryingHuman's main with his troops.  A lone Grunt was the only addition to his old army of 2 heroes and 2 Witch Doctors.  TryingHuman had retreated his Archmage to his main and met up with the newly, resurrected Mountain King waited for him.  Water had his entire army attack the still badly damaged Archmage (now 157 hitpoints), while the Mountain King and Archmage focused on the Orc ranged units, ignoring the Grunt.

Both sides placed a Healing Ward down [last one for the Mountain King] to heal damage, which the Human heroes doled out.  [0:09] The Mountain King gave a Thunder Clap to the Orc ranged units while the Archmage rained down level 3 Blizzard on their heads.  [0:16] The Archmage couldn't take fire for long and was forced to retreat, with a newly trained Priest moving toward him to heal.

[0:23] The Archmage unfortunately did not have enough hitpoints to escape alive and TryingHuman hadn't built a replacement Arcane Vault to buy heal potions from so the old man joined the crowd of Peasants in retirement.  The Mountain King faced the Orc heroes, Grunt, and the last Witch Doctor with the questionable help of the Priest and a Peasant hiding behind the Altar.

[0:35] Water took out all the stops when dealing with the troublesome Mountain King and summoned Shadow Wolves to surround him, placed a Serpent Ward to do additional damage, and even used a Healing Wave to keep the Shadow Wolves alive.

GG TryingHuman and Water.  [And Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate I guess) even though it's April]