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R/C Tank Combat1st Monkton CrusadeBattle #1 Summary |
Team Selection Joe would hand control of the Hetzer to his son Ed and he would take control of Fred Simms. Remarkably, Fred Simms and his amazing quadricycle would actually participate in this battle, shedding his image as a coward (although he would continue to use the "yellow" ground frequency).
Fixed Artillery
The General and His Wife
Limosine Service At one point during the battle, the General's Wife was perched on top of the venerable Tiger-1 (one of her favorite rides), but the Tiger-1 had 3 hits on it and was feeling kind of vulnerable. So, the Tiger retreated to a position behind the Knight's home base. Knowing that Tyng's Cromwell could scream across the flat, barren field at any moment, the Tiger sought a more suitable lair (Tigers don't like open terrain). A full size pickup truck served just the right purpose, allowing the Tiger to drive underneath the truck to stay out of sight of the Gangsters. Eventually, the General was claimed by the Knights as well, and the Tiger raced out of it's lair towards the church ... mission accomplished. The Gangsters had their fair share of opportunities to get both parties to the church. In fact, at one point, they got with a few meters of the goal. The Hetzer had the General and pulled up next to the church, with the Cromwell driving fast towards the hoop. But, before the Cromwell could deliver the General's Wife, John's new Comet scored the final hits on the Hetzer, forcing them to immediately drop the General and return to base. At that moment, the Cromwell screached into the church and promptly spun around (I think he was shooting at everything in sight as he spun) and got out of Dodge city before the entire Knights team poured into the village. The entire episode took only seconds, with about 6 tanks in a 10 foot circle and shots flying everywhere ... massive confusion, lots of carnage and total fun.
Speed Kills Steve's legendary "in-your-face" battling style is well suited for his new vehicle and the first battle proved the match. Steve engaged a large number of foes, mostly at close quarters, moving from one foe to another as fast as he could. If he ran out of paint or was destroyed, he also went back to home base flat out, in order to get more battling time. All of the Knights were well aware of the Cromwell's speed and kept a close watch on it. In fact, the Cromwell didn't go anywhere without one of the Knights calling out its position and direction. Shouts such as "Tyng on the right" and "Tyng going back to home base" became part of the normal chatter amongst the Knights. Although the high-speed vehicle clearly caused a tactical impact on the battle, causing everyone to take notice and be careful, it's not clear about the strategic impact. When the battle ended, the scores revealed that Steve clearly engaged in a large number of skirmishes, scoring a lot of hits on the Knights. In some cases, he dispatched the enemy single-handedly (Steve is a deadly one-on-one battler). On the other hand, however, the Cromwell was also hit a large number of times. In fact, the Cromwell was hit exactly as many times as it hit the enemy vehicles. Part of the reason for this was because Steve is still getting used to his new vehicle and he will certainly be improving that average. Another aspect is the fact that the Knights were looking for every opportunity to unload their magazines in the direction of the "White Knight". (Often times, the Cromwell was spinning so quickly that it was easier to simply shoot in his direction and hope for a hit instead of trying to place the shot.) Whenever Steve focused on shooting one vehicle (which was feverishly trying to stay away from the spinning devil), the Knights would start lobbing paintballs into the area from as many directions as possible. The "White Knight" was quickly respected by all opposing operators and it will no doubt cause even more carnage in the future as Steve perfects it.
Hauling For Hire So, while the Knights armed vehicles were busy hauling the General and his wife around the field, Sean was busy hauling ammo out to Marty's Flak 88, which was virtually melting the barrel with shots in all directions. One trip out, one trip back, keep away from Tyng. One trip out, one trip back, keep away from Tyng. Sean was "in the zone", hauling ammo, sneaking around and keeping the fire fights going. With just a couple minutes left in the hour-long battle, Sean told Frank that he had made 16 runs so far. Frank immediately informed Sean that 17 was the all-time record, currently held by Marty Hayes (who was standing a few feet away). With immortality on the line, Sean immediately drove the Goer back to home base and attempted to make one or two more runs. Unfortunately, at about that time, the Gangsters stormed the village and started pushing hard towards the Knights home base. That prevented Sean from making another supply run, getting short his bid for the title. Sean has vowed that Marlow Shipping will take the title away from Hayes Trucking Company when next they meet. Of course, they'll both have to worry about Tanner Express, one of the most experienced shipping companies in the hobby. Although Sean didn't earn the record, he did earn 4,000 points for his team, propelling them to a land-slide victory. In fact, Sean earned more points hauling supplies then all of the supply vehicles on the other side combined. Good job, Sean.
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Offical Scores for 1st Monkton Crusade Battle #1
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