Invasion of Smallville

The General and His Wife
When the General returned from his morning chores, he found a battlefield littered with the remains of paintballs fired from both sides. His wife was at the center of one of the bloodiest battles ever seen in the hobby. Needless to say, he was pleased and he wanted to celebrate with a nice dinner on the town. So, the word went out "Get the General and his wife to the village for a night out on the town". A hefty award of bonus points would go to the team that made it all possible.

The Lions, led by Dr. Sommers, would consist of the following team members:

Joe (T010), Frank (T001), Paul (T018), Chris (T005), Tom (FA003) and Jesse (SV005)

Will (T026), Steve (T040), John (T039), Tony (T012), Rick (T038), Marty (FA004) and Justin (SV004)

The mission was to secure the General and his wife in two separate vehicles and deliver them to the village inn for a pleasant dinner. The General would begin his afternoon walking near the Lions' home base, while his wife was seen frolicking near the Avengers' home base.

Strategy, What Strategy?
When the battle began, the Lions all agreed that they would stay together, protect the General and try to make the Avengers come to their side of the field. This would help to negate some of the speed advantage of the Cromwell, as well as drawing the long range gunners further away from their base. Unfortunately, this would also mean that the Navarone Gun would probably fall to enemy fire and probably would not be able to be re-supplied very often ... a basic trade-off.

Sticking to their plan, the Lions sent the Tiger, KV-1 and T34 into the long grass on the south side of the field (closest to the cars) where they could play cat and mouse with the Cromwell. The Cromwell took up the challenge. While the rest of the Avengers took over and occupied the town, the Cromwell drove into the thick grass and tangled with the Lions. Although all four tanks had no problem navigating through the thick grass, firing through the thich underbrush was another story. Basically, you had to get within 10 feet of another tank to get a good shot. Needless to say, at that range, one mistake could get you killed.

The Cromwell tried a number of runs at various tanks, but with three tanks working constantly to surround him, Steve kept on the move and eventually had to run back to base for supplies.

Brains, not Blood
Unlike the first battle, the second battle would be more about brains than blood shed. The goal was to secure both the General and his wife, but at the beginning of the battle, both teams hid one each near their home base while the other side wasn't looking. Find the other spouse and a large reward was waiting in the village.

With visions of massive wealth, Frank and his Tiger set out on a long voyage. The Tiger would go completely around the large grass areas on the southern side of the battlefield, out of range of the Avengers occupying the town, and deep into Avenger territory. The goal: hunt for the General's Wife and bring her back to the Lions side of the field. As the Tiger moved deeper into Avenger territory, Frank watched for the reaction of the Avenger commanders, while the Avenger commanders paid close attention to the location of Frank and the Tiger. Who would flinch first?

After passing down the entire southern flank, the Tiger started hunting through the weeds for signs of vehicles moving previously through the area. The Avengers kept their distance and didn't close in on the Tiger, which was strange indeed. Little did he know at the time, but Frank and his Tiger came with 5 feet of the General's Wife who was laying in the weeds. Had he seen it, the game would have blown wide open.

But, without seeing the General's wife, the Tiger continued searching behind the Avengers' home base and basically took up residence there. If he couldn't find the General's Wife, he might as well make it difficult for Avengers to operate out of their own home base.

We Must Defend Our House
With cat and mouse battles being waged all across the battlefield and the Tiger sitting behind the Avenger home base, Steve Tyng decided that enough was enough. So, after re-supplying his Cromwell, he charged straight towards the Tiger and we soon joined by Rick's Leopard. The Tiger retreated into the tall grass (aka Tiger country) and prepared to defend itself, while the Cromwell and Leopard closed in.

A 2-on-1 battle on open ground is usually quickly concluded, with the single tank being destroyed, especially with veteran commanders at the helm. But, in thick grass and heavy brush, it's a totally different game. The Tiger kept moving into positions that split the angle between the two attackers and provided protection from their guns. Frank didn't think he'd get out alive, but he wasn't planning on leaving without scoring some hits himself.

Spotting a nice stand of small trees, the Tiger looked for a way through the trees that would prevent the Leopard and Cromwell from flanking it. Unfortunately, the Tiger backed itself into a circle of trees that prevented it from going anywhere except back out the way it came: a Tiger cage!!! If the Leopard and/or Cromwell could get into the right place on the outside of the cage, they could quickly kill the Tiger without mercy.

Fortunately, both the Cromwell and Leopard were finding the terrain as nasty as the Tiger did. The Cromwell tried to stay closer to the open ground, where his speed could be used to great advantage if the Tiger ever broke out. But, the Leopard had different plans. Rick saw his opportunity to flank the Tiger, but feel into another stand of trees that formed a Leopard cage. In fact, the Leopard had an even more difficult time getting out, because the cage door was only a few inches wider than the Leopard. At one point, both big cats were caged within 10 feet of each other, but neither could get a open firing lane to the other.

Eventually, the Leopard and Tiger freed themselves and the Tiger tried to make a run for it. As soon as the Tiger hit open ground, not only was the Cromwell and Leopard in hot pursuit, put they were assisted by the Comet as well. It didn't take long before the Tiger was destroyed and driving back to home base (a long way away) for re-incarnation.

Left Jab, Right Punch

While the Tiger, Cromwell and Leopard danced, the rest of the Lions over ran the town and silenced Marty's Flak 88, which was a constant source of trouble for them. The Hetzer, KV-1 and T34 worked together to force John's Comet and Will's SU-100 out of town, where they were both a source of trouble with their long range gunnery. With the Comet and SU-100 retreating back to their side of the field, the Lions dug in and waited (in vain) for the retrieval of the General's Wife by the Tiger. Fortunately, during that time period, Jesse was also able to make a number of supply runs which turned out to be critical points in the final tally. The Avengers were unable to make any supply runs during the battle, because of a drained battery in the UN Supply Vehicle.

The last two battles have shown that both Paul and his KV-1, and Chris and his T34 have adapted well to battles involving barricades and buildings. Both have a knack for picking a defensive spot and using it as a base of operation. If you come into their sector, they come out, slug it out with you and then return to their corner of the world. Unlike the Hetzer, Cromwell, Leopard and Tiger, which tend to roam the whole battlefield looking for trouble, these counter-punchers, along with the Comet and SU-100 tend to secure and hold territory. And, if that territory is in the middle of the field, the long-gunners and artillery can make it difficult for anyone to move around.

The combination of battling styles is what makes this game truly interesting. If used effectively, lots of different combinations can be successful depending on the mission at hand.

It's A Tie

Unlike the outcome of the first battle, the second battle scores clearly show that both sides were evenly matched. In fact, it was dead even, with both sides earning the same number of points. Although the Avengers destroyed more assets than the opposing side, the Lions earned enough points running supplies to pull even at the end. A truly great battle.