La Leggenda Hybrids

I’ve just purchased a few La Leggenda lightweight teams without bases, to compliment my collection of Santiago heavyweights. They were just teams of 10 outfield players at a very reasonable price with no box. As I’m not really a collector of Subbuteo, the lack of bases, box and goalkeeper was not a consideration for the purchase. What it would allow me to do however was assemble a few lightweight teams to try out, and could they be integrated into my solo league and compete with the heavyweights without any bias for either.

 

First we need bases

 

I really like the players on pegs as basing them is very simple there are many bases new and used around to choose from. I wanted something comparable to the heavyweight base, I wasn’t really interested in the modern flat varieties, I at least wanted bases that could possibly allow some curl as that's the way I like to play. So after looking into what was on offer I opted for the spitfire bases from Santiago Table Soccer. These are solid bases in which a triangular hole is moulded in the top to take the peg of the player and you’re all set, well that's the theory anyway, the reality is a little different however.

I chose the solid bases as I thought they may just be a little heavier than the two piece offerings, and there were no surprises there, I have a few spare lightweight players knocking about that I have used as spare goalies, and the spitfire bases do feel a little more substantial. The problem I did encounter however was that the majority of the players were a very loose fit in the spitfires. When I say problem it wasn’t a mountain to overcome, a little liquid poly cement fixed the players nicely in the base and once dried made a very nice solid construction. So for a small outlay I had 3 hybrid Leggenda teams to try out, I think the whole project cost me about £9 per team, I could have probably cut costs a little by buying unpainted players, but probably false economy if they needed to be painted.

 

 The Hybrid Leggenda on a spitfire base compared to the heavyweight 

Initial impressions

 

So Man City took on Leeds United in a solo friendly, and for people of a certain age lets hope Francis lee and Norman Hunter behave themselves today. All I can say is both teams performed admirably, the game ended in a 3-2 win for City (By the way Francis, and Norman both played the full match). Shooting with a 22mm ball seemed quite easy to chip too easy at times and low hard shots were a little difficult and had to be placed rather than the player putting his laces through it. But the power of the shooting was comparable to the heavies. Long curls not easy but saying that not too problematic and positioning off a pass was as good as the heavyweights. Tight curls will take some practice I think to get them in the heavyweight ball park, but positioning and blocking was fairly precise. An all in all pleasant experience on the whole.

Man City purely on the basis that they won now took on Ujpest Dosa from Hungary in a European friendly this time played with an 18mm ball. An end to end game that resulted in some fine saves by both keepers and a couple of stunning goals from Dosa in the second half, one which was drilled into the corner of the City goal, and a moving through ball that was hit with venom which headed towards the top corner giving the City defence no chance.

To be honest I enjoyed playing with the smaller ball better, the game seemed to flow and shots could be more controlled, they did have the tendency to lift at times but not as many as with the larger ball.

 

Heavies v Hybrids

 

Now this was the proof of the pudding and the purpose of me buying the lightweights in the first place, was it possible to play them against a heavyweight team. I decided to play with a 22mm ball, because I have a tendency to raise and chip the 18mm ball with the heavies quite easily, its surprising how many times I hit or clear the bar with the smaller ball, I can get the 22mm to chip but less frequently so I thought the larger ball would be a tad less biased and I could concentrate on just playing instead of adjusting technique depending on which team was in possession, although a little adjustment would be necessary at times. The results were about right they were both able to compete against each other with no obvious bias to either the heavyweight or the hybrid, 1 draw, 2 wins for the heavyweights and a win for the lightweights in the 4 games I played and to be honest apart from the first game which was a fairly boring 1-1 draw, after which I made my self a cuppa, before starting another match. The other 3 games were played 2 on Baize and another on the Astro proved very enjoyable and close fought encounters. The hybrids were as good as the heavies, in most ways, and I would imagine that the more games I play any differences would be negligible.

 

My thoughts

 

I must admit I didn’t expect the Hybrids to perform as well as they did, but I like the spitfire bases which in essence is what the comparison is all about heavyweight bases against the spitfires. If anything negative can be said on my part, it would be that the flat bottom of the spitfire is maybe a little too big making curling that little bit harder, but apart from that they play very well with my limited skills and were able to compete. For any one having trouble chipping a 22mm ball with heavyweights give the spitfire a go it seems easier for me at least. For any of you out there who play with an 18mm ball the spitfires seemed to hit the mark, I have trouble with the 18mm and heavyweights I cannot keep my shots down, so I think if heavies play hybrids a larger ball will be used, but hybrid games I’ll probably use the smaller 18mm. I’d like to be able to comment on the lightweight or Leggenda lightweight bases but I don’t have any so I cannot give an opinion. If anybody out there has done similar things with different bases I'd love to hear your conclusions.

Keep on Flicking.

Ian