Solo Subbuteo 101

Well the B&B Trophy got underway this week and all Quarter Final matches were completed by both David and myself. My Legs of the Trophy produced 14 goals, David's 12 goals. So the goal tally was more or less equal considering we play by slightly differing rules, and we both recorded 2 home wins out of the 4 games we played, so no complaints all round. The Bonfire Alliance Home Legs Buxted Park Rangers v Eastroke United First up was the Alliance’s 3rd placed team Buxted Park Rangers v Eastroke United who finished 2nd in the Brookfield League, on paper this seemed an even encounter although Rangers form of late has left a lot to be desired. They had led the table by 4 points at the halfway point, but results in the second half of the season saw them drop to 3rd after only picking up 7 points from the final 7 matches. The match started with Eastroke taking the initiative after only 2 minutes, a well weighted through ball a...

Maybe all you require is a few grandstands full of spectators and a crowd noise recording to create atmosphere, If that floats your boat you have my blessing. I on the other hand think of other things when I want to add a little realism into my miniature games. I must admit though, that some of the stadiums I’ve seen have been works of art, and they really bring things to life in one respect, and I greatly admire the effort that some people have made to produce these stadiums in miniature. As for their practicability whilst playing a game that may well be questionable. To me on pitch realism is what happens on the pitch not around it, I want it to be as close to real football as I can, or as close as possible given the obvious constraints of the game.   Foul Play   Foul play is part and parcel of football, how many games these days go by without a yellow card, and the occasional Red one thrown in for good measure. Players can accumulat...

I’ve been in some congenial consultation with David Forsyth about a possible end of season competition involving teams from our respective Fantasy Leagues, it’s format will be a joint solo venture. As both our respective seasons will finish within a month of each other, we’ve both agreed it could end our seasons quite nicely. For me personally it gives a little more purpose to those last few league games when qualification for a competition is still a possibility.    Competition Format   As with all competition a few ground rules needed to be addressed so things can run smoothly given we both play by differing rule sets. We agreed that we would just play our own particular rules and play each match over 2 legs, one leg played by each of us and the winner will be determined by the aggregate score, and away goals counting double in the event of a draw. If no winner can still not be decided a replay would be played to a conclusion in a...

In the last blog post we read David Forsyth’s account of the organising rule and how he incorporates it into his solo play. Well this started me thinking, a bad habit I know, because most of the time I end up trying to out think myself which mainly ends up being counter intuitive and usually ends up with me going full circle and losing the plot in the process. Mind you my darling wife thinks I lost the plot years ago, and was convinced that her suspicions were proven when I got back into Subbuteo. Comments like “How old are you?”, and “Are you going upstairs to play with yourself again!!”. Both valid comments, to which the answers are surprisingly “Old enough”, and “Yes”. But as normal I digress, I must be playing with myself too much. I’m going to share how I do things, no hard and fast suggestions, just my take on the rules whilst trying to keep things within the spirit of the game we all enjoy, so lets get started.   Corners an...