Gettysburg 2008

Scenario - Kelly's Heroes Casino Heist
With a wonderful large town to battle in, a "Kelly's Heroes" scenario was chosen, in which each team would have 30 minutes to get past the town's defenders, blow open the front door of the casino and transport a large hunk of gold via tank back to home base. With the Navarone Gun supported by two tanks and two supply vehicles defending the town, the three attacking tanks would definitely have to be well-coordinated to accomplish the mission.

Team Selection
The teams were selected randomly as follows:

Kellys Heroes

Will Montgomery (SU-100), Steve Tyng (Cromwell), Doug Conn (Tiger)

Townies

Frank Pittelli (Tiger), John Pittelli (Comet), Paul Pittelli (Navarone), John Marlow (Mule), Joe Sommer (X2)

Battle Summary
With the Pittelli Clan defending the gold, the attackers needed to be aggresive and relentless in order to have a chance at the gold. The Navarone was set up in front of the town, to prevent any front-on attacks and to force the attackers to choose between the open field on one side of the town and the forest of pine trees on the other side. With Tyng's Cromwell on the loose, the attacks could come from either side.

The battle began with Will's SU-100 going into the open field and securing a position outside the town. Throughout the battle, he would rain down long-range paintballs on the artillery guardsmen (a total of four for this battle), the supply vehicles (which were required to come into town from the field side) and the two defending tanks. Paul did a good job to keep the SU-100 at bay, but Will also did a good job keeping everything in town pinned down behind buildings.

While the SU-100 was on one side of town keeping everything pinned down, Doug's Tiger came right up the chute and attacked the Navarone head-on. That kept the Navarone swinging from one side to another through about 90 degrees to keep both attackers busy. Eventually, the accurate shooting by Will and Doug retired all four guardsmen and the Navarone was silenced for a while until the supply vehicles could bring it back to operational status. But, the Navarone gave out more than it took, working with both Frank and John to help destroy both the SU-100 and Tiger once each.

With Doug's Tiger and Will's SU-100 raining down paint throughout the battle, John's Comet and Frank Tiger's stayed hidden amongst the buildings and in the trees most of the time. Although they would come out occasionally to help the Navarone destroy an attacking tank, their primary mission was simple: Keep Tyng's Cromwell from stealing the gold. With speed and aggression on his side, there was no doubt that Steve would try one of his patented high-speed assaults.

The first attack came from the open field side of town, with the Cromwell driving towards the back of the town and then racing through an opening in the defensive fences and barricades. The Cromwell came screaming into town straight at Frank's Tiger that was partially covered by a tree. The Cromwell charged in, the Tiger spun and both fired rapidly. Just as rapidly, the Cromwell was headed back to home base to wipe off 4 hits from the Tiger. Round one to the Tiger.

With time winding down, the Cromwell made a second solo attack, this time through the trees. Steve drove into the trees from his home base, while John and Frank looked on. With the cover of trees helping him, Steve could come racing in from any angle with little warning, so both the Tiger and Comet went on the hunt themselves. Unknown to them, the Cromwell was much further into the forest than they were looking ... a little bit of panic ... where was the Cromwell?? The Tiger pushed deeper into the woods to investigate, while the Comet stayed closer to town just in case. Catching a glimpse through the trees, Frank immediately hid himself and the Tiger in hopes that Steve wouldn't see either. He knew the Cromwell would have to come across his path, but he didn't know when or where, so the Tiger's gun was leveled out and a finger was placed on the trigger ready to fire. Then, with branches and grass crunching under tracks, the Cromwell drove out of the trees right across the Tiger's path at about 30 to 40 feet, much further down range than Frank anticipated. The Tiger shot quickly, scored two hits and hit the gas to pursue the speedy Cromwell as well as it could, all the time while Frank was screaming "Tyng is coming ... Tyng is coming" in hopes that the Comet was ready.

With the sounds of paintballs being fired everywhere, Frank didn't know what was happening while he raced through the trees. Did the Cromwell surprise the Comet and overwhelm him? Did Will and Doug crash into town at the same time in a coordinated attack? Did the Comet pick off the Cromwell at close range and end the nightmare? When Frank and the Tiger finally got back to town (just 10 seconds or so later), he discovered that all of the above happened. The Cromwell did surprise the Comet by coming into town well behind where he was expected. The Cromwell eluded the Comet and attacked the casino, but had trouble blowing open the door because of obstructions in town. The Comet quickly moved into position and scored a 3rd hit on the Cromwell, right before Frank's Tiger returned to town to finish off the Cromwell with a rear-end shot. And while all that was happening, the Navarone was busy keeping Doug's Tiger and Will's SU-100 from coming any closer.

The 30 minutes ended with the gold still in the casino.

Scoring
The scoring for the first battle was as follows: