Introduction
After the total domination of the Red Team in the first battle, it was
evident that the teams needed to be re-shuffled. And, since the Tiger
has never done well with Russian wing-men, it was decided that the second
battle would pit the Germans (Tiger, Panzer IV and Hetzer) against the
Russians (T-34, SU-100, and KV-1) in a classic WW-II match-up.
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Charlotte, with some help from her dad, would operate the
M520 Goer,
which was the only operational
supply vehicle. Since only one supply vehicle existed, it was decided
that the Supply Slave game would be played. That is, the
supply vehicle would start in the middle of the field and it would
become the slave of the first team that scored a hit. It would then
haul supplies for that team until it was hit again by the other team, at
which point it would switch sides.
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In addition to the tanks, this battle would also see the use of two
artillery pieces, a
155mm Howitzer
operated by Billy and a
Pak 40
operated by Amir, who arrived on the scene during the lunch break.
The artillery would be loyal to
whatever team currently owned the supply vehicle, providing both sides
with an incentive to keep the supply vehicle well-protected.
(Amir regretted not having his own T-34 running, but he quickly forgot
his disappointment as he plastered everything that moved with the
Pak 40!!!)
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Click Photo For Enlargement (409 Kb) |
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To make the game interesting, the artillery would be considered "invincible".
That is, they could not be shot at and could not be destroyed. (This
was done in part to prevent 10 yr old Billy from getting hit, but also
to see how effective such artillery could be.) They were
positioned in the middle of the field next to some hay bales and were allowed
to fire 10 rounds at a time, as long as they were re-supplied by the
supply vehicle.
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One In A Million
With the Russians on the Western Front and the Germans on the Eastern Front
(ok, so we didn't think through the home base layout properly) the battle
began with both teams moving quickly towards the Goer in the middle.
The Hetzer's speed was an advantage, but the T-34 and SU-100 were both
skilled at long range shots. And then, it happened. With the Goer facing
towards the Hetzer and away from the Russians, shots were fired from both
sides at the same time, with a large paint splot from the Hetzer appearing
on the windshield of the Goer, just as the Russian team yelled out "we hit it".
Frank called time and ran over to inspect the back of the Goer. Seeing
no paint hit on the back and a large one on the front, he declared that
the Germans owned the Goer and the battled continued. The Russians weren't
happy, but the call was made and the game kept going.
After the battle, the full details were finally revealed when someone said
that the Russian paintball hit the wire frame used to hold up the Goer's
trailer canopy. From their vantage point, they could see the paint splatter,
but it didn't leave any paint splot. Moreover, their hit happened at exactly
the same time as that from the Hetzer, which further added to the confusion.
Clearly, the fog of war is just as thick in the R/C combat world as in
the real world.
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Firepower Is A Good Thing
As soon as the Germans tagged the Goer, they moved quickly to push the
Russians out of the center of the field. With the artillery in a strong
position on the Southern Front, the Tiger and Hetzer moved to the wide open
northern terrority. That would allow the Hetzer to use it's speed, while
the Tiger prowled along the edge of the Forest. The Panzer IV would
take up a central position, shooting from medium range at all of the
Russians. The German offense accomplished two goals: keeping the Russians
pinned into their half of the field (for the most part) and allowing
the Goer to freely supply the artillery.
Of course, the T-34 can never be controlled for long and Steve wanted to
show everyone that his lunch-time gun repairs were working. So, in the
early part of the battle the T-34 took the battle to the speedy Hetzer.
With some long-range gunnery assistance from Will's SU-100, Steve showed
that his gun was working properly now, forcing the Hetzer to retreat
to home base for re-incarnation twice. The T-34 then went on to score
2 hits on the Panzer IV and 2 more on the Tiger. Unfortunately, near the
end of the battle, Steve's gun problems started to appear again, leaving
the rest of the battle to Paul and Will.
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Behind Enemy Lines
The lunch break saw a lot of gun repairs, with Steve and Frank trying to
get their GTV-1s to fire reliably and Joe fixing a gun mount jarred by
an accidental collision with the Tiger. All of them declared victory
before the battle, but only the battle would prove them right. The Tiger's
gun worked well in the beginning of the battle, but then started working
erratically, firing only occassionally when the transmitter button was
pressed. Nonetheless, Frank decided he would press the battle hard and
hope that the gun would fire when he needed it.
Knowing that few tanks would attempt to drive in the really rough terrain
in the Forest, the Tiger pushed steadily along the border of the Forest
towards the Russian home base. That forced the Russians to start moving
into that area as well, which in turn allowed the Hetzer and Panzer IV to
move in even closer. The Tiger used the Forest as a safety zone, taking
cover whenever it's gun failed. After jarring the gun in the rough
terrain, it would usually start working again and the Tiger could come
out to pester the Russians again.
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Joe's Hetzer attacks Paul's KV-1 as it attempts to get the Tiger
out of the woods behind the Russian home base. Trees and heavy
brush definitely cause all battlers to change their tactics, which
can sometimes swing the battle one way or the other. During such
paintball exchanges, the camera crew was right on top of the situation,
angling for the best shot, while the battlers did the same.
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Defend The Homeland
Although the Germans clearly caused problems for the Russian home-front,
the Russians were certainly capable of defending their homeland. In fact,
Paul's KV-1 was having perhaps it's best battle. The distinctive rattle
of the KV-1's attachment chain track was heard everywhere as it shuttled
back and forth keeping the Germans at bay. The KV-1's gun was working
quite nicely and Paul was starting to make his presence known. Tasked
with keeping the Tiger in check, the KV-1 hugged the border of the
Forest to protect itself from the Hetzer and Panzer IV, while keeping
the Tiger at bay. With sometimes 2 or 3 tanks against it, the KV-1 was
destroyed twice, but it also destroyed the Tiger twice, to keep everything
in balance. In fact, after the Tiger made a run completely around the Russian
home-base, the KV-1 took it head on and scored 4 hits for the total kill.
In stark contrast to the "in your face" tactics used by the T-34 and KV-1,
Will's SU-100 played mainly a defensive role in the battle. Sitting just
outside the Russian home-base it took medium range shots at any German
vehicle that looked the other way. The strategy paid off, with the
SU-100 participating in almost all of the German kills, while only be
killed once itself.
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Bill Johns rolled his 1/5 scale Sherman onto the field to show
off his great work. It rolled well over the rough terrain,
showing that all-wood construction does have a place in combat
modeling. After seeing the Sherman in operation, all of the
battlers were looking forward to seeing Bill's completed Mark V.
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After the battle, Will carts the SU-100 back to the tent area
for repairs using Frank's custom low-rider "tank recovery vehicle"
which has been designed to roll or carry any vehicle.
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After the battle, the camera crew wanted to make sure that they got
all of the "good stuff" on film, so they simply asked the battlers
to talk about what transpired. We may never see all of the interview
on TV but it was lots of fun in person recounting the best events
of the day. It was generally agreed (as determined by the laughter) that
Paul's nickname for the day should be "Sherwin Williams" because of the
vast amount of paint he collected early in the first battle.
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Offical Scores for Coxsackie Battle #2
| Team |
Asset |
Operator |
Hits
Taken |
Hits
Made |
Runs
Made |
Moves
Made |
Steals
Made |
Mission
Pts |
Points
Given |
Points
Earned |
Points
Pct |
| Germans |
T001 |
Frank Pittelli |
8 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2,000 |
500 |
0.200 |
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T010 |
Joe Sommer |
9 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2,250 |
3,500 |
0.609 |
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T012 |
John Pittelli |
4 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1,000 |
2,000 |
0.667 |
| TOTAL |
21 |
24 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5,250 |
6,000 |
0.533 |
| Russians |
T005 |
Steve Tyng |
12 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3,000 |
2,000 |
0.400 |
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T018 |
Paul Pittelli |
8 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2,000 |
1,750 |
0.467 |
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T026 |
Will Montgomery |
4 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1,000 |
1,500 |
0.600 |
| TOTAL |
24 |
21 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6,000 |
5,250 |
0.467 |
| Asset |
Type |
Net Points |
| T010 |
JgPz 38(t) Hetzer |
1,250 |
| T012 |
Panzer IV |
1,000 |
| T026 |
SU-100 |
500 |
| T018 |
KV-1 |
-250 |
| T005 |
T-34-85 |
-1,000 |
| T001 |
PzKpfw VI-I Tiger |
-1,500 |
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The battle was well fought and despite the fact that the Germans
controlled the Goer and the artillery the entire time, the score was
very close. Even though both sides destroyed six vehicles on the opposing team,
since the Hetzer has a defensive rating of 3 it is only worth 750
points, which gave the Germans a close victory.
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