Skirmish Command tourney crowns champ

Thanks to deft use of antitank units and the inadvertent creation of a Crocodile, Company of Heroes player Steven John Uray won GameSpot's Skirmish Command Tournament last Friday. Uray will receive a $600 Best Buy certificate for his expertise.

Uray and competitor Brett Ciphery were narrowed down from a group of 64 talented strategy enthusiasts. Both players showed incredible skill throughout the preliminary rounds, but in the final match, Uray's tight command over his Allied infantry helped him overcome Ciphery's vehicle-oriented tactics. "He picked the Airborne path. It's not a vehicle-intensive path," said executive editor Greg Kasavin about Uray's strategy.

From the start of the match, Uray led in victory points, and he never once gave up this lead during the course of the competition. Several minutes into the match, he forced Ciphery's infantry to retreat from a key resource point, and never let up the pressure. While Ciphery put pressure on his infantry with armored cars early on, Uray used sticky bombs to counter the threat. "That's why vehicles need infantry support," said GameSpot editor Jason Ocampo.

Also key to the winner's success was his distracting use of a Crocodile. However, Uray never intended for the flamethrower to be in the mix. "Believe it or not, that was an accident," said Uray. "I meant to hit the S key for a Sherman, and I accidentally hit the C key for a Crocodile."