CustomRCmodels - Events 2006 | home
R/C tank-battle event Danville , VA September 2006
RollinThunder event at the Danville Tankmuseum
this was again a great event with a lot of new vehicles and different types of battle-action,
most likely with the most intense battle-action we have done so far ..
unfortunately this time I don't have many tank-photo's ,
since the event was so action-packed ( read Jake's after-action report below )
that I did not had time to take battle-action-photos
but here we have at least some photos from the support vehicles :
Roel's and Willy's trucks
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Nat's Berge-Panther
and here the smallest but fastest full-option battle-ready tank :
Nat's Luchs
photos from Roel , Mike and Nat
here is the "after-action report" from Jake :
LIGHTNING AND THUNDER
SEPTEMBER 2006 ROLLIN' THUNDER IN REVIEW
`Welcome to Fight Club…'
Despite a plethora of personal issues with people that sapped about
1/3 of the participants away from September's Rollin' Thunder
(weddings, baby, mugging, etc) the event launched as was a huge
success. Half the people showed up on Friday and the rest Saturday
with a total of 22 of about 30 showing up. One new group the is new
into the 1/16 field, are the VAD group out of Lynchburg, and
communicated to each other during their battles in Klingon, yes in
Klingon. The participating clubs were ACE, ETO-AG, MAAD, VAD, and
HEAT. Most of the event comprised not only new equipment and
configurations, but most of the battles and what were involved in
them were entirely new. Friday's events involved increasing the
implementations for each battle that was very frustrating during the
first few battles especially as the teams' CO and XO were figuring
out how to conduct themselves especially when they were knocked out
awaiting vehicle repair/recovery or when they could induce artillery
strikes on the enemy. With the latter, the Germans had a much better
handle on. After an evening of digesting it all, the battle options
were in full-swing for Saturdays events.
Battles would regularly included mines, air attacks, and artillery
strikes (the actual team members induce these), and of course vehicle
recovery and repair on three different maintenance levels.
Limitations were introduced limiting the amount per battle, and the
degree at which they were done. One campaign that was the
continuation of the 1946 campaign during the May event comprised
battling over 10 zones with three different forces that were still
hostile toward each other, with the Americans finally winning. This
was all followed by Phase-I of the two-man controlled tank battles
with three tanks configured as such. Battles with these tanks against
each other and combined with single-operator tanks lasted about 1 ½
hours. Phase-II which will directly affect the battling aspects of
the TBU will be introduced in the spring, with Phases-III and IV at
the next subsequent event. Each one is a separate application of
increasing the operational and battling aspects of what are now
largely toy tanks. This was an information gathering battle that
will be fully utilized in the future. Another information gathering
battle was the `War-Wagonin' with Willy' where two battles were run
to further find out what was the best configuration to apply these
types of battles. During this type of battle, some tanks are mounted
and combat while on the back of tractor trailers accompanied by other
tanks fighting normally. Like the two-man tank battles, it's an
exercise in communicating as team members to conduct the operations.
The campaign Saturday involved 9 consecutive battlefields each with
it's own particular aspect that imposed ever-increasing restrictions
on the attacker. The Germans won this campaign, not as they had
better operators, but they had a better grasp on the different tools
at their disposal. There was a truckload of new and unusual equipment
on the field this time. Foremost was Nat's scratch-built Pz II Luchs
that clocked in so fast that we threw the entire speed requirement
out the window (largely irrelevant anyway). It was by far the
fastest critter on and off the field, and through it all really held
up well. Nat also brought his BergePanther and worked the vehicle
repair side with that too. There were no less than four tractor
trailers on the field this time conducting vehicle repair and
recovery. Willy also brought his half-track that's based on a Pz IV
hull for vehicle repair, but this one has a TBU system installed and
could be knocked out of action. Keith Graybeal of MAAD not only
provided superb assistance during the event, and even stood in as
BATTLEMASTER running some battles, but among the vehicle he brought
was a 1/18 SdKfz 251 halftrack that he has converted over to full
battling operation and really pummeled and outmaneuvered the tanks
into submission sometimes. Willy said he packed really light this
time, but had more vehicles bringing 2 tractor trailers, one half-
track(battle capable), a tank with a crane, a few tanks, and so much
assistance to other participants that he spent about a third of the
event getting other participant's problems resolved. During some of
the battles when the bridges were out of service, the tractor
trailers were utilized as bridging equipment to insert tanks safely
across the river behind the enemy. What a terrific additional aspect
they provided. Some of the other stuff that occurred was the
visitation by veterans of the 661st Tank Destroyer Battalion, and E-
Toys had a huge sale going on during Saturday.
Because of the sheer weight of new material for this event, it was by
far the most difficult one not only to design the material and
equipment, but to stay within the bounds of participant's
understanding. Some stuff was conducted the same such as frequency
control, but check-in of vehicles was made even faster. For next time
I hope to get some of this even further increased in efficiency while
discarding the superfluous. I want to thank each person for coming,
for some it was extremely difficult, but I really want to thank Bill
Will and Willy Loewer. Thanks guys. Lastly, the best part of the
entire event happens after the event at the Comfort Inn. The next
Rollin' Thunder event (no#6) is tentatively scheduled for November in
Tennessee, and this time hopefully will not involve waking up to
crashing trains at 2:30am.
Jake
Rollin' Thunder Battlemaster
I also would like to say " thank you "
to Karen , Bill and Doug from the Danville Tank-Museum
check the Museums website for future RollinThunder events
I didn't want to edit Jake's after-action-report ,
but the next "Rollin' Thunder event (no#6)"
is NOT an offical open to the public battle-event
it will be a private fun-weekend with tank and truck action ...
mainly for ACE/ETO/MACV members
but if anybody else likes to come , pop me an email
Willy
CustomRCmodels
ACE