Battle Report III: Othello motw is Terran's dream!

We begin on Othello with the Protoss spawning in bottom right and yours truely bottom left. He scouts after gateway and arrives to see standard rax/gas timing. I've recently fallen in love with 1rax FE vs toss, but Othello has a rather oddly shaped natural and I didn't want to risk a small mistake in my building positioning costing me the game so I fell back on opening with FD.



I scout him first as well and spot normally timed range, the proper number of pylons, and a 2nd gate going down. The good news is that I don't have to worry about proxy cheese or absurdly fast dt or reaver, the bad news is that I have to play defensively with my FD.



My brave scv scout barely escapes the clutches of his first goon. Unfortunately for the little guy, he only gets a brief respite before I command him to return to the Protoss base. I'll have to send a letter home to his family saying that he gave his life giving us the valuable intel of a protoss expansion. I'll just get my adjutant to do it. I take my own base and mine up the nat.





It took me 200+ games to perfect the factory expand build, and I can hold 90% of all-ins up until this point. But since mastering the FE I have been really uncomfortable with how to follow it up. My attempts at fast 3rd + armory always end with Toss breaking my 3rd, or later miss-microing my 200/200 army or double recall in main in the ONE spot I didn't lay enough mines. So recently, I have been playing around with 4-6fac pushes with some amount of success. With Othello however, the map just begs for something special.



Drop Play! While the starport is underway, some well placed vultures snipe a greedy probe at the top right main. Even better, I correctly guess that his backup plan is to take his closer 3rd rather than waiting for another probe to travel all the way north. A 2nd group of hitmen vultures pick off another would be expansion.




Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I finish my 4th fac and dropship. Time for the fun to start!



I begin with a surgical strike on his natural. My tanks kill 10-12 probes before he reacts to save them. After forcing the probes on walkabout and killing their brothers, I add insult to injury and escape with no damage just as his zealot arrives.




Confident that I have a solid lead in the game, I take my own 3rd and add factories.




He comes forward to pressure my front, but my tank line is too strong and he falls back after destroying a few mines.



He has secured his closer 3rd already, but my ninjas vultures had snuck back in after he cleared it out the first time and continue to deny expansions at top right.



And just when he was starting to feel secure, I drop vultures at his natural and then escape once again after a handful of probe kills. Almost at the same time, I siege up the cliff at his 3rd, but he finally has adjusted to my style and defends it with a shuttle without taking casulaties.




But the failed drop at his 3rd inspires my next move. I mine up the choke point, move out with my tanks to siege the low ground on my side and drop the cliff!




He loses a few more probes and is forced to mine only half of his 3rd. Unfortunately, having so many tanks on the lowground makes for some really strong zealot bombs! He bought himself some time, but I prepare to retake the cliff.



Just then, he takes advantage of my forward tank positioning and attacks my 3rd!




I know that if I can save it, the game is as good as won, but if I lose it, it just might even things up. Fortunately, my macro had mostly kept up during my harrass and my reinforcements from my rally point form a wall that breaks the protoss tide.




I lift my cc and retreat it towards safety, but will it make it!?




Phew! Meanwhile, the vice has tightened on his 3rd. Tanks on top and mines down low makes his 3rd inopperable.




To make matters worse, I slip a force of homicidal maniacs vultures through a poorly built wall at his 4th and decimate the probe line.




I start slow pushing his 3rd towards his main.



The completely demoralized protoss abandon the world of Othello to Terran rule!



GG