A Bridge Too Far

Background

The battlefield consisted of two sloped areas under tall trees with a creek running down the center of the field. With two base camps on opposing sides of the creek, a total of two bridges and a fording area were the only ways to cross from one side of the battlefield to another. A capture-the-flag scenario would ensure maximum conflict at the three choke points.

The "Jackson Four" team consisted of the following attendees:

     Will Montgomery (T026), Steve Tyng (T040), Joe Sommer (T010), John Pittelli (T079)

The "Guernsey Four" team consisted of the following attendees:

     Frank Pittelli (T001), Paul Pittelli (T077), Doug Conn (T058), Tracy Johnson (FA007)

In addition to the human participants, four 1:6 scale cows would be roaming the battlefield courtesy of Doug Conn's Farm Animal Factory.

Muddy Boots

It was a beautiful day in northern Maryland. Blue skies, puffy clouds and sentinel geese and shepherds patrolling the grounds. Rain from previous days, or even early morning had made for some nice bog like tank traps. The ground looked fine, until your boot was ankle deep in muck. FANTASTIC. So, of course, as soon as the Abomination was ready I had to traverse said ground. Initial test results: "No Problemo". Needless to say it was a false sense of security.

Crossing bridges or fording the creek really gave a sense of invading the opposing forces territory. And in battle number 1 we did so at will. Battle 1 required capture of the flag near the enemy base and returning said flag to your home base. It also required moving across the central bridge. I'll let some of the others fill in the details. I will say that during my dash across, after terrifying the bofors crew protecting the bridge I almost skittered off the bridge and into the creek. At one point in the battle I did get stuck in one of the bogs and was pushed out by Will's SU.

Bog Beast

It was a glorious day for a battle. The Mullin field is one of the best we've ever battled on. Hills, streams, bogs and bridges, it doesn't get any better than that! Turns out that the Cromwell is a BOG BEAST!

The first battle was capture the flag and I was teamed up with John, Joe and Will. Our first flag capture (we captured it three times), John had already retrieved the flag but was being chased up a hill behind the enemy camp. I was out of ammo and had three hits already. For the team, I decided what the hell and ran up the hill, tapping John's tank lightly to let him know I was there (more like a hard ram), and parking myself between John and Frank. While absorbing all that Frank could throw at me, Paul threw a long range shot from the bottom of the hill and hit my turret side, I was out. I figured John would be following me shortly to a reincarnate but it turned out he was able to get away and bring the flag home. The second flag capture was a straight speed run by the Cromwell too and back. The plan was for the Cromwell to hold back, hidden, and to make for the flag when the other team went to engage our teams diversionary flank attacks. Joe went left, sucking Frank in that direction, John and Will went right, taking Paul and Doug away from the objective, leaving poor Tracy alone with the Bofors to defend their flag. At this point the Cromwell made the dash straight for the bridge and to the flag, dodging a hail of fire from Tracy and back the same way. Somewhere along the run I managed to get my shoe pretty muddy, but I remembered I had that flag and just before handing it back, wiped the mud off with it. The third capture was pretty much the same thing but I had to run up the hill behind the enemy camp to elude Doug's charging Tiger and then back to base. This old tank driver isn't as spry as I used to be so I drove the Cromwell home to our base from the enemy base.

Battle Score

The scores show the total domination of the Jackson Four, who captured the opposing flag a total of three times and had only one vehicle destroyed, while destroying five of the opposing team.