Thursday, February 26, 2004

Unfortunately I can't remember last week, and was to lazy to post an update, but I can assure you that nothing unusual happened (eg., Conor turning up). But yesterday was a different story. First off, we managed to comfortably get through 6 games (2 × 15 minutes, 4 × 20 minutes), all of which were Supercharge 3, since we had at the most only 8 people playing each game. There were, however, 9 people who showed up in total, them being Al, Kev, Dave, Conor, Colin, Blondie, Ger, Warren, Keith. Noticeable absentees being Karl, Zack & Paddy.

The first 2 games were 3v4 (15 mins), with Conor, Kev, Keith taking on Al, Ger, Colin, Warren. Red for the first game, the 3 man team managed to hold out for a draw of 132 - 132. But when Green in the return leg, the 3 man team won by 15pts.

By the time this had ended Blondie had shown up, and we made teams for the next 2 games, which would be 20 minute 4v4. The teams were Al, Blondie, Colin, Keith (Red) versus Kev, Conor, Ger, Warren (Green). In another close game (played mostly in the Green base/maze) the green team won by 29pts. The return game was more wide open, with Al, Blondie, Colin, Keith (Green) winning by 15pts, meaning that Kev, Conor, Ger, Warren (Red) won overall by a mere 14pts.

The 5th game of the night was Al, Colin, Ger, Keith (Red) versus Kev, Conor, Blondie, Warren (Green) and the Green team won quite comfortably by 123pts. Dave had arrived at this stage, and having been forced into playing the previous game against his wishes, Conor decided to sit out. New teams were orchestrated, and left us with Colin, Blondie, Ger & Keith (Green) versus Al, Dave, Kev, Keith (Red). The red team cruised to a 139pt victory in a very relaxed "warm-down" game.

It being over 2 weeks since the competition, nobody might care to know that half the photos are done and ready to be posted, with the other half on the way. The page for the photos should be available for viewing by this coming Monday Night at the absolute latest. Although they're probably not worth the wait. "This is Papa Bear. Put out an APB for a male suspect, driving a...car of some sort, heading in the direction of...you know, that place that sells chili. Suspect is hatless. Repeat, hatless."

Kev @ 1:13 PM [+]

Thursday, February 12, 2004

I suppose I should begin with first things first, the Bedford UK Championships took place last weekend, and in what was a very successful competition (with 16 teams) the BORG (Wu, Trigg, Jamie, Rob, Shaun) yet again came up trumps, retaining their UK & Ireland Champions title. South Mouth (Pepe, Hicky, Victor, Paul, Jon) came in second, while Bad Company (Matt, Alan J, Neil, Storm, Scott) and MKS/MRS (John, Graham, Deniro, Craig, Mikey) came in third & fourth respectively. As for the 3 other Irish teams, The Specials (Kev, Al, Dave, Blondie, Angela & Colin) came in the top 8 (joint 5th!!) after being knocked out in the quarter-finals, while KY Coolock (Scully, Chris, Peanut, Chandler, Conroy) & Jammie Dodgers (Paddy, Zack, Warren, Ger, Colin) both came in joint 9th (with 2 other teams), eliminated in the final 12. It was a fun weekend all round, although some of the Irish Quasar left a lot to be desired, with Peanut the closest to bringing home some Gold, but being narrowly beaten in the "Lower-Tier" 1s final. Peanut did however earn the Junior Players' award. In other awards, Neil won the Player of the Competition award, along with the 1s, while one of the Borg duos won the 2s. Anyway, I suppose a better recap could come in nicely in the near future, although I won't be making any promises since I have a 2000 word essay on European Monetary Union to do first. But, as always there are photos from the competition on the way, and since I promised Peanut, the first set will be posted by this Sunday Morning, with the 2nd 25 duo in another week. Also, the competition stats (they should be fun) have been promised to us all by the end of the week, so keep an eye on the Bedford Forums.

On to last night regs night, which threw up a turnout of 14 people, good from a fun and E4 perspective, but not considering the guns went this past weekend without any special (or indeed competent) attention.

Anywho, the 14 attendees were Al, Kev, Dave, Colin, Blondie, Karl, Zack, Paddy, Warren, Keith, with Craig, Mikey, Peanut & Jamie travelling over from Coolock. The first game was a bit of a one-sided joke, with Karl, Dave, Blondie, Paddy, Zack, Warren, Peanut (Red) versus Kev, Al, Mikey, Craig, Colin, Jamie & Keith (Green). It was an E4, 30 minute, 7v7 game (as were the next 2 also) which the greens won by 386pts, only just failing to reset the scoreboard. The teams had to be changed for the next one, which ended up as Karl, Al, Mikey, Blondie, Zack, Jamie, Keith (Green) versus Kev, Dave, Craig, Colin, Warren, Paddy, Peanut (Red). A far more evenly balanced game than the first, the Reds just about won out by 113pts, a gap constructed only in the last 5 minutes of the game. Since it was a lot closer, we went in for a same-teams, different-colours game, which was a lot less balanced (which most people attributed to the Green packs). The Green team clocked the scoreboard, and won by 614pts, scoring 27 bases on the way.

Despite the fact that we had one more game on the way, a few people (Dave, Blondie, Paddy, Peanut, Jamie) didn't have enough left, so with Chandler arriving to play we had a 15 minute 5v5 Super 3 game. The teams were Kev, Colin, Craig, Warren, Chandler (Green) versus Al, Mikey, Zack, Karl, Keith (Red). The red team won by 85pts, so ending my 100% record for the day. Not bad. "You call that a knife? This is a knife!...... Ooh, down I go."

Kev @ 1:52 PM [+]

Thursday, February 05, 2004

The competition starts tomorrow, with the vast majority of Tallaght & Coolock players going over to Bedford to participate. We'll have 4 teams attending in all, and some of us managed to get some last minute practice in last night.

There were 13 people playing yesterday: Al, Kev, Colin, Karl, Blondie, Craig, Deniro, Mikey, Graham, Peanut, Paddy, Warren, Keith. For the first game(E4; 7v6; 30mins) the teams were Al, Karl, Keith, Graham, Paddy, Craig (Green) versus Kev, Colin, Blondie, Deniro, Mikey, Peanut, Warren (Red). Despite having the extra man, the Red team lost by over 250pts. Strangely (considering the margin) we went in with same teams different colours: Al, Karl, Keith, Graham, Paddy, Craig (Red) versus Kev, Colin, Blondie, Deniro, Mikey, Peanut, Warren (Green). The Green team, who lost the first game, won this time around, but only by around 200pts, losing overall.

The third E4 30mins game was another unbalanced one, with Al, Colin, Mikey, Karl, Keith, Paddy, Warren (Red) versus Kev, Deniro, Graham, Blondie, Craig, Peanut (Green). The red team won by around 300pts! Thus showing the positive effect that the extra player can have. But (thank God) Dave Shiels arrived in time for the return leg (with Zack playing instead of Peanut) and the losers from the first game got their revenge, with a 21 base attack in the 20 minute game, which they won by over 200pts. Good games if not great, and a good appetiser for the weekend ahead. Until probably Monday - after the comp!!

Kev @ 10:50 PM [+]

Monday, February 02, 2004

With less than 5 days to go before a 20-strong Irish contingent travels over for the UK Championships, it was Challenge Matches galore last night as we had a welcome visit from the senior Coolock regs, aswell as the monthly Challenge Match games. Let's start at the beginning, which wasn't actually at 8.00pm as promised, but a half hour later.

Pretty much everyone showed for the first time since, well, ever, apart from a couple of people. Even John McGann turned up. Just when I was starting to lose the faith, there he was. Fantastic. Anyway, on with the Challenge Matches. 2 × 15 minutes, E4 6 on 6. The teams were as follows:

Team A: Dave Shiels (c); John McGann; Angela Dwane; Ger Byrne; Paddy Kelly; Zack Brennan.
Team B: Al McMahon (c); Kevin McMahon; Conor Farrell; Al O'Loughlin; Stephen Warren; Keith Raftery.

Personally, they were 2 of the most enjoyable games in a long time, which really says something since they've all been of the highest quality of late since the "return" of regular E4. For the first game Team A were Green; Team B were Red. It was a close game throughout, with the teams quite evenly matched in all areas, and Team A won by 47pts. A very good (an somewhat unexpected) victory. However, in the return a slight change of tactics went against them, and Team B came out comfortably on top all over the arena, and won by 144pts.

No time for talk, the next games had to go in since we had to be out by 10. The deal was this, the Coolock guys would play against a "junior" team, just to re-acclimatise and adjust again to both playing and the arena, and then we'd play a small Challenge Match between the 2 top Irish teams going to England. John, Philly, Graham, Deniro, Craig (Green) took on Paddy, Zack, Warren, That Guy, Keith (Red) in a 15 minute game (Super 8 - Compeititon format & rules) and the Coolock team won by around 200pts.

After that we went in for the "proper" Challenge Match:

Team Tallaght (as yet untitled): Kev, Al, Dave, Angela Blondie (6th player Colin wasn't there)
MKS/MRS: John, Graham, Deniro, Craig, Mikey

A really fun, competitive (as always) and excellent game was played, with the scoreboard tight throughout, but the Tallaght team winning by 6pts gained on the very last download. Until Wednesday Night's reg's Night, when hopefully the good turnouts will continue."I haven't had an injury in ages....."

Kev @ 1:00 PM [+]

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