Merry Yuletide.

To all fans of things Subbuteo and any other hands on people, a very merry yuletide to you all and lets hope that the new year see a resurgence in interest in these games as people become tired of electronic games and get back to interacting with each other!!

Rules

   I have formulated a set of rules for both union and league, and have tried these out several times now. The overall impression is that they do open the game up without making it too easy. Table rugby is never going to be a pick up and play game like its football cousin, but by altering a few things the game does improve quite a lot.One of the main differences is with the 2 inch rule, to gather the ball the figure flicked at the ball must make contact with it and remain within 2 inches from it, but after that the ball can be kicked any distance. Of course the playing figure needs to make contact with the ball each time but is not bound by the 2 inch rule whilst "running". Also I use the football rule of 3 flicks, the active player has 3 flicks, but on his next move must pass as per the original Subbuteo rules. The opposition have 3 block flicks for every attack sequence, block flick rules the same as the original rules. I find more scoring opportunities present themselves this way, and for the time being I will play games this way. I think it important not to get too complicated with numerous rules, there are certain aspects of the game that cannot really be replicated at table top level! The original rules came close to working well, they just needed a little tweaking!! Any comments or alternative ideas would be greatly appreciated, as it's fun trying out different game plays.

LOGO.

 The newly formed table rugby club needed a logo, so it fell on me to come up with the goods: so here is the club logo!

                  Neat eh! Stands for: Tansor Table Rugby Football Club.

Hockey

   Subbuteo made a hockey set that was meant to appeal to the girls, unfortunately it was a flop and was hastily dropped. The production run only lasted a couple of years, but I am pleased to say I managed to acquire a set in very good condition and as I used to play hockey before I discovered rugby I was interested to know how closely it followed the rules. Verdict, pretty damned good, not tried a game yet, but may give it a go over the yuletide holiday!!

New arrivals.

  As I have a friend who originally hails from Batley in Yorkshire, I thought it only right that I should have their league team as part of my squad! So thanks to Paul Lloyd of rugby world I now have the Batley Bulldogs to run out in league games!!

More thoughts on play.

The scrum in the real game is now far to time consuming and detracts from the game, therefore I was thinking that maybe in the table top game it could be  improved to make the game flow more. The following photograph shows the set up I now use in my games, and is suitable for both disciplines.

The white team have the put in and therefore are covering 4 of the scrummer's exits, this gives a definate advantage to the side who have been awarded the scrum. Only 5 forwards are used therefore reducing the amount of time taken to set up the scrum.

Wales versus All Blacks.

 Having newly acquired an All Blacks team off trusty ebay, and Wales due to play the All Blacks today at 5.15pm, I thought we might just as well have a table rugby match beforehand to see how it went!!

                            Picture shows Wales about to kick off for the second half. The first half was pretty uneventful with neither side gaining any real advantage, and ended up with no score. The second half however saw an early try for Wales with a successful conversion attempt making the score 7-0 to Wales. A scrum from a knock on in the All Blacks half resulted in a successful drop goal attempt by Wales, making the score a healthy 10-0. The restart by the All Blacks resulted in a long kick forward and a subsequent try in the right hand corner. The conversion attempt fell short leaving the score 10-5 to Wales. With about 3 minutes to go, a good run by the All Blacks resulted in another try left of the posts, and the conversion was successful making the score 12- 10 to the All Blacks! Wales restarted, and a bad possession flick by the All Blacks gave Wales a line out down by the All Blacks goal line, from which Wales scored a try right in the right hand corner. The conversion attempt went wide and that was the end of the game.
                                 Wales 15    All Blacks 12.
      So there you have it, the All Blacks can be beaten, come on Wales!!!

Australia v England.

  As the real game is on Saturday, my trusty opponent and myself decided to stage a subbuteo version of the game to see how it would pan out!

 Teams lined up for the national anthems!

                            Australia won the toss, so they kicked off, and early pressure resulted in a lineout close to the England goal line.

                                       England were able to defend well despite a very dangerous push forward, but the ball ended up going over the dead ball line. Play then continued with no side gaining the upper hand, until a Mark called by England, the kick from this ending up in touch just off the Australian line.

                     England quickly gathered the ball, and a neat run with the ball produced a try right under the posts.

                                     The conversion was good and with only seconds to go of the first half England ended up leading 7 points to nil.
                   Unfortunately the camera batteries ran out so was unable to film the second half.The second half was pretty uneventful for most of the time, with both sides attacking and defending equally well, but with 10 minutes remaining, England tried a drop goal that was successful. Australia came back attacking with vigour, and  also tried a drop goal attempt, but the ball failed to achieve enough height. Australia continued to pile on the pressure, and with less than a minute to go, scored a try in the right hand corner. The conversion was going to be a bit tricky from such an acute angle, but despite this was a good kick the went right through the middle of the posts, this was then the end of the match, final result: England 10 Australia 7.

Ireland match.

Having found someone as daft as me to play a game, I thought it only right that Ireland should have a proper match against an opponent. Decided on 30 minutes each way with 5 minutes half time for a beer, and me playing for the Barbarians!!

 Ireland won the toss, so they kicked off, a bad defensive move by me gave Ireland a penalty on the half way line, Mike decided to go for goal, but despite good hieght and length, the ball just went wide of the left hand post. The game then progressed to a very tight to and fro match with neither side being able to take advantage of the play, resulting in a half time score nil nil. The second half started well for the Barbarians with a good tactical kick into the opponents in goal area, but the try attempt was missed resulting in a 20 metre drop out. The game again tightened up until 10 minutes to go, an off ball tackle gave the Barbarians a penalty from the 10 metre line, this was successful. The restart produced a great kick forward and follow up by Ireland, and  some bad defending by me resulted in a great try for Ireland in the right hand corner. Unfortunately the conversion attempt went wide, and that was time up, so Ireland won 5 points to 3.
  It was a damned good gfame, and it is great to be able to play against a proper opponent, even if he does play mainly table football!!!

Ireland team.

 Newly acquired team off jolly old ebay. Tried a quick game with them against the Barbarians, not too good at the moment, lost 12 nil!!!
             Will give them a proper try out when I have more time.

Interesting stats.

I found an article from 2007 that was in the Northern Echo newspaper about subbuteo football leagues. Apparently there are hundreds of tournaments and leagues for table football worldwide, with the majority being in Europe. Britain it seems is fairly poorly represented, with England only able to field 70 players at the highest level! Interestingly enough, 70,000 football sets were sold in the U K that year, and also of note was the fact that on the continent subbuteo is sold in sports shops as opposed to toy shops, with the game being recognized as a serious sport. Also in this article was stated that European professional players can earn as much as 40,000 euros annually.
                     Hmmm, methinks I had better start limbering up my fingers, maybe a table rugby world cup could be in the offing!!!

International.

 Having acquired the England team, it seemed the logical thing to do was have a game, and what better than Australia as opponents!!

                 Australia lined up for pre match photo!!

               England ready and in the frame.

            I decided to make the game more open with a slight tweak to the rules, normally to run with the ball the figure must having made contact, remain within 2 inches of the ball, the kicking wedge base is 2 inches long. However that can make progress a little slow, so I think the best ploy is, once possession has been established the figure may then have 2 kicks of any length, but after that must again do a possession flick, or any player that was behind the play of the ball may attempt to gain possession. If possession is gained, then up to 2 kicks of any length are again allowed, but must be followed with a regain possession flick.

           The game works well played like this, with some pretty decent runs, and makes for a more flowing game. Australia executed a great long kick, putting the ball in the far left corner of England's in goal area, players of neither side were particularly near the ball, and Australia's attempt at possession fell short, but alas so did England's, this left Australia in a good position to attempt a try, which was successful right in the left corner. This of course meant a fairly tight angle for the conversion attempt, but the ball sailed right between the posts in spectacular fashion! There was only a few minutes of the first half left, and England managed to get in position to attempt a drop goal, but the ball fell short of the posts, and that was the end of the fist half.

         Second half got off to a good start for England, though their attacks were met with good defence, and it looked like they were never going to score. However a good kick forward put the ball in front of the posts, and the resulting swerve shot to gain possession was pure magic with the player ending up right by the ball, from there it was relatively easy to score the try just to the right of the posts. From this position the conversion should have been a piece of cake, but unfortunately swung wide of the right hand post. The rest of the half seemed to swing evenly either way, and in the closing minutes England again were in a threatening position right down by the Australian line, but did not take advantage of the situation, thus allowing Australia to clear their line, and end of match.
 Australia 7     England 5.

England team.

   New purchase from e bay, England team.

Just need South Africa and the All Blacks now and we will be well away!!

Rest of the team!

To complete the figures making up the cricket teams we have the following players!

 These two chaps are a slip fielder and a standing fielder, who looks bored with the proceedings!! The tray in the front has an indentation, if the ball comes to rest in that it is a catch.

Finally we have the wicket keeper and a bowling figure, not to be confused with the bowling device explained in a previous posting!!

Batsmen.

There are two batsmen in a standard set, one striking and one standing!

These are the two batsmen in my set, if the ball hits the batsman and then careers of, the score determinator can be used to determine the run or runs scored, similarly if the ball was then to hit the wicket, that would count as out ,played onto wicket, and likewise if the ball was to end up in the cup of a fielder, it would count as being caught.

Fair play!!

         All the sets contain two umpires, to give the game a little authenticity!

            The photo shows the two umpires that I have in my club edition set, they might not actually do anything , but at least they look the part. It's quirky things like this that appeals to my strange sense of humour, may the madness be with you!!!!

Bowling.

When I first was aware of subbuteo cricket I did not bother with it, being of the opinion that the bowling would consist of some sort of ramp contraption resulting in the ball rolling somewhat lamely towards the wicket!

                However I was pleasantly suprised to find this not to be the case. The picture shows the bowling figure, use of which I have shown in a previous posting. This method enables the ball to be pitched short, long, or to either side providing quite a challenge for the batsman! With a bit of practice, one can send the stumps flying in spectacular fashion, or deflections to the slips or wicket keeper, it is actually quite clever, and once one has got the hang of it can be great fun!!

Cricket musings.

Rugby has been getting a good airing of late, so I thought it was maybe time for some more matters cricket.

            Here is a picture of one of the wicket bases complete with stumps in place and bails. Quite often when tracking down the old sets for either collecting or amusement, the most likely item to be missing is the bails, or should that be are the bails!! I was fortunate to aquire a complete set with both sets of bails present.
            The raised areas are for deflecting the ball either to the slips, or the wicket keeper, if the ball ends up in the cup of either figure, that counts as being caught behind.It is quite common for this to happen once the bowling technique is acquired.

Scrum.

Previously I have stated that the scrum machine was random as regards to which side the ball emerges, however I have been experimenting lately, and if the ball is tilted slightly towards the team taking the scrum, 3 out of 4 times the ball comes out that side of the scrummer. Therefore in some situations it would be better to take the scrum than to play advantage.

Scoreboard.

As with the other games in the subbuteo series, rugby has a scoreboard to chart game progress.

 It would really require another person solely manning the scoreboard in an actual game, but it is good for boosting one's moral with scores that you would like to see!!!

Heavy and light.

There are basically two types of playing figures, the earlier teams were what is classed as heavyweight, whilst the later teams were of the lightweight variety.

The yellow figure is of the heavyweight variety, whilst the red figure is of the lightweight type. As can be seen the bases vary slightly and so do the figures, as can be seen the yellow figure is chunkier. Also control when attempting swerve shots seems to be more reliable with the heavier figure.

Penalty

          The kicker is used for kickoffs, re starts and penalty attempts. Sometimes it goes just right and the ball pleasingly sails between the posts and then again it can also go really wrong!! In the picture it shows the kicker about to be used for a penalty attempt.

   On this occasion it went wrong, and although straight, it fell short of the cross bar!!!

Line out.

If playing union, then a line out occurs when the ball goes to touch. I use this as a means of getting the forwards up the pitch in the hope of making scoring a try more possible. I use either the method described in the old rules, or by flicking the ball up the kicking wedge.

This picture shows the method of throwing the ball in according to the original rules, what I find is the ball quite often does not go straight, and takes a bit of practice to get a fair throw.

 This picture shows the method that I mainly use for the throw, it is fairly easy to get a straight throw this way, minimising the amount of re throws that need to be taken. All a matter of taste I suppose, but I like the game to be fair for both teams!!

Union game.

Well I am meant to be doing music practice, but as everyone is out of the house or otherwise occupied, I thought why not have a good ole game of rugger! So we have Australia versus the Barbarians. I decided on 25 minutes each half, with 5 minutes half time for reflection on tactics etc. The game developed into a very close and defensive game, despite trying to open play up, but a fortunate tactical kick by the Barbarians resulted in a try fairly close to the posts, with a very easy conversion. There was only 2 minutes remaining of the first half, and despite a promising restart by Australia, they were unable to make anything of it and the first half ended Barbarians 7, Australia 0.
                 The second half got off to a flying start for Australia, with a very game possession move from the kick off, resulting in a good tactical kick, and a good run with the ball, resulting in a neat try in the right hand corner. Despite the angle for the conversion attempt, the kick was good, resulting in a drawn scoreline. From there the game got very defensive, with no side getting any real advantage, until a good tactical kick forced a line out inside the Australian 22 yd line, and the resulting possession by the Barbarians resulted in a short run with the ball, a tactical kick, and a copy book try. The conversion attempt should have been staightforward from a fairly easy position, but fell just short of the cross bar. Minutes to go an Australia restarted with good possession and a line out well in the Barbarians half, but good defense kept them from scoring and the full back's kick to touch being well into injury time, signalled the end of the game.
      Final result:  Barbarians 12.  Australia 7.

Play Ball

In rugby league, when a tackle is complete you have a play ball situation. The tackled player is placed in front of the ball with a receiver approx 30mm behind, the opposition have 2 markers in front of the player and the rest of the side behind the play. The player is then flicked at the ball thus passing back to the receiver, the ball must make contact with the receiver, if the ball misses then a scrum is awarded to the other side. 5 tackles are allowed, after that the possession goes over to the other side, therefore the best ploy is a tactical kick and try and keep possession.

       Picture shows the play the ball situation.

League match.

   Having a spare hour I thought I would set up the pitch and try a league match, and also try and open the game up a bit! So Halifax took on Bradford Northern, I decided on 20 minutes each way, being a suitable time to try out different theories. When possession is established, I would when practical, resort to tactical kicking to gain ground. This seems to work well enough, without making the game easy, in fact the first half finished nil nil.!! The play ball scenario of league speeds things up a little, but scrums instead of line outs probably take up just about the same time. A fortunate tactical kick by Bradford put the ball in the in goal area, and despite a game blocking flick, Bradford swerved neatly around the figure and scored a try. The resulting conversion attempt sailed beautifully between the posts leaving Bradford leading 6 nil. Near misses by Halifax were becoming somewhat frustrating, until in the final 2 minutes a brilliant tactical kick put them in a very favourable scoring position, a poor blocking flick resulted in Halifax securing a much needed try. All that was needed now in the dying seconds was a conversion to draw the game, sadly the attempt literally just brushed past the outside of the left hand post, and full time being up the final score was Bradford Northern 6 Halifax 4.
                The more I play this game, the better I like it, there is still a way to go with the rules, but it's fun trying out different ideas. It is probably some 40 years too late for the game, and it is never going to compete with all the electronic gizmos, but to people like me who prefer hands on, I think it just may still appeal.
            Rugby Union season has just started, so I had better stage some union games, watch this space for future matches!!!!

Subbuteo Rugby Association.

     I mentioned the rugby association site in a previous posting, but have since found out that the site is about defunct. It seems that the guy who set it up has walked away from it so to speak, and therefore nothing is happening on the site. The trouble is, the front page still has a subscribe option, which under the circumstances would be a waste of money, just a warning in case anyone reads my ramblings.

Scrum

Here is an example of the scrummer in action, the teams shown ready for the ball to be put in.

 The next picture shows the ball having come out and hit one of the forwards.

 This player is then moved to the front of the ball ready to pass back to the scrum half.

To complete the action, the last picture shows the pass having been completed and from there open play can resume.

Other interesting aspects.

  All sports have different aspects that brighten up the game, and rugby is not alone in this. Here is an example of an interesting diversion from the norm, I wonder what ever became of her???

More thoughts on rules.

            This thingy is the scrummer, the opposing forwards are positioned either side and the ball is then dropped in the hole at the top. The ball should then come out one side or the other, that side then deemed to be in possesion. If the ball comes out either end, then the ball is put in again until it comes out one side or the other. The rules state that the forwards should be placed as close as not touching to up to 30mm apart. The problem that I see, is that the ball then ends up at the front of the scrum, not the back. What I do is have the forwards spaced about 20mm apart, and when the ball comes out, one of the front row is moved in front of the ball, and flicks the ball back to the scrum half. The scrum half can then either pass back to the threequarters, or take a tactical kick, or even try running with the ball!! I personally think this makes a more realistic state of play, and tends to open the game up a bit. What I need now is someone else to play against to see how well these things work when actually playing an opponent.

Rugby boxed set

  So here is what you get for your money, this is one of the later sets, approx 1978 I believe, it consists of 2 sides of 15 players, 2 kickers, 2 rugby balls, kicking wedge, scrummer, 2 goals and bases and a pitch. The earlier sets had a cardboard inner, and normally the heavy weight players, but contents were the same.
            For a more concise history check out www.peter-upton.co.uk/rugby

Rules and thoughts.

   The rules of the game were somewhat unplayable, but with a little thought, and trial and error a playable set of rules should be possible. The only real way I can see of doing this, is to play games trying different ideas out, and making a note of what works and what doesn't. Hopefully then a set of rules can be written up, and these then put to the test to see if they indeed work.
            The drop goal was an area that I felt needed looking at, according to the rules, a drop goal can be attempted at any time using the kicking wedge as in the picture. I would stipulate that an attempt can only be made if there is room to position the wedge without moving any playing pieces, including the kicker.

 Pealty attempts use the kicker as shown in the photo, but the kicker can also be used for the 20 metre restart or the 20 metre drop out.
         There are various phases of open play that I am experimenting with to open the play up and make for a more fast moving game, but several scenarios have to be taken into consideration before finally commiting one way or another.

Rugby ramblings.

The previous picture of the rugby game was what is classed as a lightweight set, that is the later games had the football figures of the lw variety. I also bought a couple of older rugby teams, classed as heavyweight, these are allegedly Australia and the Barbarians. Barbarians I always understood to play in black and white stripes, well my old barbars top was black and white!!!
                            Well I thought, what difference does it make to playability. So I decided to try a game with a hw team against a lw team. Therefore the Barbarians took on Wales, interesting in as much as the drop goal attempts by Wales although on target did not acheive sufficient height to go over the cross bar, and the penalty attempt sadly just sailed past the right hand post. I have noticed that all the kickers behave differently, and I hadn't realised that the Welsh kicker tends to kick to the right! The Barbarians on the other hand had two out of three drop goal attempts go straight over. The final result was Barbarians 13 Wales 0.
    The Barbarians scored a try, conversion and two drop goals. Must get some practice in with the lw teams methinks!!!

Boxed set complete.

The triangular thingy is the score determinator, if the ball is the length of the base line away from the nearest batsman to the ball, then that counts as one run, and if two lengths then it's two runs etc. The little indent is for placing at a fielders feet, if the ball is within the triangle, then an attempt at a run out may be made, this is done by flicking the ball at the wicket, if it hits them then it is a run out.

Bowling method.

The top of the bowling figure is flicked with the forefinger as shown, thus propelling the ball at the opposite wicket. The wire triangle that the ball sits in can be angled whichever way one wants, to produce different types of delivery. Too hard a flick would make the ball fly too high which would therefore be a no ball, so skill is needed to get things just right!!

Cricket game set up and ready to play.