The New Bastogne Second Annual Tank Rally

Saturday September the 8th was the first day of New Bastogne's Second Annual Tank Rally. Inspired by the "World of Tanks" computer game, the event was sometimes called "WoT2." The event was sponsored by New Bastogne's 1. Armee, in addition to Patrick Paspund, JessicaBelle Dayafter, and Sunshine Juneberry. Fox Cheri acted as an umpire for the event.

The Tank Rally differed from normal ground combat in the New Bastogne area. There would be no infantry involved, only heavy, medium, and light tanks. The combat tags normally worn by soldiers and tankers would not be used, although tank damage was dealt and recorded using the VICE system. Participants from both Allied and German factions were randomly placed into red and blue teams. So each usually had a mix of Allied and German tanks, sometimes a mix of Western Allied, Soviet, and German. Participants wore the flags of their teams, red and blue, on their backs, which poked out through the tops of the tanks.

At one point the participants were greeted by an official looking figure in a tricolor sash, "Heil pour le Maréchal Pétain! … I am the new mayor, Etienne Vigée, nice to meet you." He stated that before long, there would be an election with at least one opponent. It was not mentioned whom would be voting.

The tank battles were fought in both countryside and urban terrain, taking a little time for the forces to meet. But once the battles were joined, the action was usually fast and furious. The first round was in hilly country, with Fatalitywolf Firehawk, Vickster Khun, and Ayane Sauber on the red team. Killingowl, JessicaBelle Dayafter, and Toscha Vayandar were on the blue team. Both teams rolled out from their bases. But when they met, red team had their guns pointed right at two of blue, whom were driving across their line of sight. Vickster soon took out two, but JessicaBelle's light tank avoided the red team's fire and soon took out one. But her computer crashed, and so the match was declared a red team victory.

Round two took place in mostly urban terrain. Red team's Toscha Vayandar destroyed all three blue tanks. Round three, which took place in central Bastogne, started with the two bases not far apart, and the teams soon met up. This time Toscha's luck did not carry over, and his red tank was blown apart without a kill along with Blue's Crymson Serenity's. Blue Team's JessicaBelle was the winner with two kills, with Ayame Sauber having one. Red team's KillingOwl and Fatalitywolf got a kill each before their tanks were disabled.

The fourth round was in New Fallout, normally the home base of the Soviet team. The terrain here was hilly, with trees, boulders, and some trenches. Red team had Vickster, Ayane, Toscha. Blue had Fatalitywolf, JessicaBelle, and KillingOwl. Meeting up, Fatalitywolf and KillingOwl fell to Vickster and Toscha after several rounds of cannon fire. JessicaBelle once again was outmaneuvering the Red team, but her tank ended up caught in a ditch and without mobility was quickly smoked.

Under the point system, Vickster was the winner of Day One of the Tanl Rally with 1800 points. JessicaBelle was second with 1200 points. Toscha was third with 1100. Ayane Sauber was fourth with 700. They along with others who scored received Linden cash prizes. Vickster as the top tanker also won a new tank of her choice. There was also a raffle, in which the winner was due a second tank, along with a new plane from Dayafter Productions and a new uniform from Sunshine. The prizes just for this first day exceeded 6000 Lindens, two tanks, one uniform and one airplane. The points will be accumulated throughout the Rally until the end.

The Tank Rally goes on in New Bastogne every day to next Sunday, September 16.

"Play hard, and play to win!"

Bixyl Shuftan

Weekly Tank Rallys in New Bastogne

This March, the New Bastogne combat RP area has been holding a weekly event every Saturday: tank rallys. They’re held on a huge sky platform over the sim at (71, 199, 3001) from 3 to 5:30 PM.


The event will consist of two lap races on our combat course, using the free Blitz! tanks provided by Joe Sparrow of Astral Tek. The races will be live fire events. Each tank will be manned by a driver and a gunner. The main goal for each driver/gunner team will be to cross the finish line first, secondarily the goal will be to eliminate the competition before they eliminate you! This will be a no holds barred event! Blocking, pushing, and other aggressive maneuvers not normally sanctioned in SL racing events will be allowed! The course itself will be perilous, with tank traps, obstacles, mines and explosive fuel drums! The track will be open for practice for the month of March, and you are welcome to play anytime, just be mindful not to reset the gate while practice races are in progress.


Three models of small two-man tank are available for the race for free, the T1 Cunningham, the MA-1, and the VK 31 Leichttraktor. The vehicles are a little different, the T-1 being slightly faster than the others. German teams were free to take American tanks, and vice-versa.

The first rally went well, the first race the gunners having a little trouble shooting, so the winner was the one whom went around the obstacles the fastest. The third race was the quickest. The four tanks involved began firing on one another as soon as they crossed the starting line, and in less than a minute three were smoking wrecks. AngelBlue Xeno/Kenji Feiri won by taking out the others, including some top officers.

There would be a few more races, though none had a gunfire duel as intense as the third. Vickster Khun, the leader of the German Armee team and one of the administrators, took part in one race. Unfortunately, her tank was outfought in a duel. Climbing out of the smoking wreck, she grabbed a gun from her inventory and began chasing the other tank, firing all the way. But without her VICE meter, this was just funning around as the bullets harmlessly bounced off, and the tank went on to finish the race.


The tank rally takes place every Saturday from 3 to 5:30 PM at New Bastogne (71, 199, 3001).


Bixyl Shuftan