Thursday, May 20, 2004
Last Night: Regs Night as usual, and in total 12 (the perfect number) of us played. Participants were Al, Kev, Craig, Colin, Blondie, Angela, Paddy, Warren, Peanut, Zack, Keith, & Ben. No shows included Conor & Ger, while Dave couldn't play since he was still suffering from having his back tatooed (wuss!). Anyway, on to the games:
First Game (E4, 30mins, 6v6): The teams were Al, Colin, Warren, Blondie, Peanut & Keith (Red) versus Kev, Craig, Angela, Paddy, Zack, Ben (Green). The green team was winning from the start, holding the advantage in all areas (in different ways), although the most important victory was in attack, were Angela & Craig hit 27 bases between them, with the team getting 30 in total. In the last 10 minutes the Green team pulled away, and eventually won by 324pts, clocking the scoreboard.
Second Game (E4, 30mins, 6v6): Same teams different colours, meaning Al, Colin, Warren, Blondie, Peanut & Keith (Green) versus Kev, Craig, Angela, Paddy, Zack, Ben (Red). The team in Green won again, although this was not a reflection on biased packs (they were superb as usual), rather on a good change of tactics from the losers of the first game. Like the first game, it was obvious that the Green team would win from the start, the only matter was by how much. The answer was 220pts, meaning that although they won the leg, the tie overall was won by the Red team.
Third Game (E4, 30mins, 5v6): Oh disaster, from a personal point of view at least. The reason why it was 5v6 was because Blondie left early, with an end of year Chemistry exam the next morning and personal problems on his mind. Anyway, the teams were as follows: Kev, Colin, Angela, Warren, Ben & Peanut (Green) versus Al, Craig, Paddy, Keith & Zack (Red). The Red team, despite being a man less, won by 299pts. Thanks to amatuerish and downright stupid play from the majority of the Green team. And in a change from the norm, I'll explain why. I must warn you, however, that this is a horrible tangent:
The tactics were to have 2 players in defence, and 1 in the Green maze, with 2 floaters and a sole attack. The point of 2 in defence and 1 in the maze was to destroy the 1 player attack of the opposition, with he/she getting very few or no bases. And so frustrate that player. The player in the maze, aswell as acting as a 3rd defender, would also be a 3rd floater, to help the float by taking shots, and stopping floaters entering the attack. With effectively 3 floaters, the float would hopefully have some joy, and be able to help the single player attack with shots in to the base, and/or bongs. The single player attack will be occupying 2 players, moving them into snipable positions, and getting a fair amount of bases without ever losing points. Sound good?
Where to start? In defence were the 3 weakest individual players (not to say 3 weakest), who would be protected by their numbers and would hopefully have the ability between them to stop 1 attacker. The 2 more solid players would be floating, with the consistency not to get overrun, and the ability/sense to help the attacker with shots. The single attacker would be the best player, able to never lose points, get a decent number of bases against the 2 weaker players in defence, and move them around so they can be shot. This didn't happen because Peanut, Ben & Angela were too incompetent and stupid to find a way to shoot Craig. All three were also too unprofessional to stick at it and make it work, and they all left their position. Warren was too happy to jump at the chance to get out of float (against 2 players he couldn't beat), and then too lazy to defend the base with skill. Colin was too stupid to realise that the 1st job of a floater is to ENGAGE the opposition float, and not to avoid Al like the plague. Admittedly, I was too impatient with the rest of my team, and underestimated the defence. Although in my defence, I would have had no problem doing my job, had the TEAM done theirs. God knows how many times I moved Paddy or Keith into the open to be sniped, or left 1 of them in the maze, waiting to be shot in the back. No shots ever came. Also, Angela was hopeless in the float, and should really try to float as often as possible, otherwise she'll never improve. Lack of sharpness(speed) and determination are what's killing you. Talking about determination, Warren & Peanut, and players of that type will be the death of Quasar - as soon as they fall behind or do badly, they're stuck in a rut and instead of facing the fact that they're not good enough to get out of it, and try to get better, they pretend not to care, and "mess" through the rest of the game.
Now I've been through this type of thing before, were tactics are, if not quite sound, at least workable, but the other players on the team don't get it. I'm sorry, but I do not have the time or the patience to explain to each player his/her specific role on the team, exactly what they have to do, and why, before the start of the game. I shouldn't need to, and in fact the people who I respect enough to WANT to do that for are the few people that don't need it. This does in fact sound very condescending, but it is, and although they are harsh words my hope is that those who listen will take them in and improve. The people who would most likely bash me for being so honest would be the first to ask for advice. Why are we playing Regs Nights but to better our game? If you don't want to do that, you will end up like Ger, or worse, Stephen King - having reach a "competent" level but unable to improve thanks to lack of effort. It may come across that I must be totally upset or pissed off with the 3rd game yesterday, but in fact I must've just been more awake than usual, so I took it all in and actually decided to tell people about it. It may also come across that I'm not giving people any respect, but in fact I give people the respect they deserve as players - if that is none, then you get none. Now, back to Regs Night...
Fourth, and final, Game (Super 3, 20mins, 4v4): A few people sat out inexplicably, and the teams were Al, Craig, Keith, Paddy (Green) versus Kev, Colin, Warren, Ben (Red). Not a bad game, a bit of fun, and it was actually pretty close for the most part. I think the Green team won, although I don't know how much by, since some fucker stole all the scoresheets.... "You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless. You gotta hope even more, and cover your ears and go 'bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla!'"
Kev @ 9:05 PM [+]
Sunday, May 16, 2004
A couple of lazy/busy weeks have passed since the last update, with not much to speak of other than the usual regs nights. There's no news from the Regs Night of the 5th (since I wasn't there), but Regs Night on the 12th was quite a good one (like they all are lately) with 5 games (albeit 3 were 20 mins), and we managed to have a few E4 games. Participants were Al, Kev, Dave, Conor, Craig, Mikey, Colin, Graham, Zack, Paddy, Warren, Keith, Ger & Ben. Can't remember the games though...
On to today, my first proper Sunday Morning Club (as in I played the whole day) since the 21st of September 2003. Worth the wait? Eh, anyway, the "regs" games included Al, Kev, Graham, Keith, Ben, Jay, Martin, Bort, Ed & young Dean. We played 4 reg only games, all of which were Super 3, while the first game of the morning was a regs-cps mixed game (and fun it was). "I assure you, I barely know the meaning of the word labour."
Kev @ 4:37 PM [+]
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