After Marseille

[Nick Brockdorff]

I think this event was just about the best ever in Europe, only second to Paris last year.

The turnout of non-paintballers was fantastic, and my guess is this weekend did a LOT for paintball in the Marseille area.... nobody can bring in the crowds like Laurent, and I hope the MS utilises his marketing expertise at the remaining 4 events also.

- BTW - it would be a wise move for the MS to choose 5 new cities every year, now that they have proven they can make it work to near perfection at a new venue... that way not only the same 5 cities get the benefit of a major event to grow paintball locally... but all of Europe.

Reffing was generally better than in many years, and the only things I was unhappy with, was the usual lack of 141s when players did dirty runs - and then the preoccupation with pulling 141s under the new rules, which often saw players incurr penalties before they had even hit the bunker they were trying to reach and had a chance to check themselves or call for a check.... some of those refs were a bit overzealous... but that happens every time the MS introduces a new rule, and hopefully Ulrich will have those guys sorted out for the next event.

Also - can we please get rid of deadmans walks once and for all? - With no armbands and guns shooting 15 BPS, we are just waiting for an accident to happen, when players forget to put a hand on their heads!

The M7 format was a smashing success from a spectator standpoint.... if the rumour of 50 boxes of paint used per team is true, it will however be difficult to implement in lower divisions, which is a clear problem. - We SHOULD strive
for a situation where all divisions have the same number of players on-field, as the other thing is just too damn confusing for people outside paintball..... thinking caps on please.... maybe "first to 3 points & 4 prelim matches" for division 1?

I MUST mention Menace at this junction... NO team in Europe deserves a major win as much as them, because no team has worked so hard, so wholeheartedly and for so long, to reach that goal, and to finally see all that dedication pay dividends is a beautiful thing that should teach all European teams a valuable lesson.

I have to mention One4One also - what a class act they are... videos online before the event is even over, and live coverage throughout the event... NOBODY in paintball does a better job at covering and broadcasting paintball!

Oh yeah - I shouldn't forget.... please have Marcus commentate as much as possible throughout the season - he is a hilarious and competent commentator - possibly the best I have ever heard in paintball (and please teach Matty the difference between left and right before Bitburg )

This was the best season start the MS has ever seen in its existence, and if they keep this up, this year will be the best we have ever had in European paintball, american team participation notwithstanding!!!

Nick

P.S. - If anyone is wondering... my new team got a fairly rough wake up call this weekend, that I as coach really appreciate .... climbing to the top of paintball is a long process and my players learned some very valuable lessons this weekend. With everything going to the masterplan, you will see a lot of improvement already in Bitburg, so don't worry about us (as I am SURE you did)

 

[Chicago]

I propose the following Dead Man's Walk Rule:

If your ass is still on the field without your hand over your head, your opponent's can shoot you again.

We gotta give up on this "It's not nice to shoot people who are eliminated!" It's not nice to be standing around on the field of play after you've been eliminated either. It takes 4 seconds tops to get up and get your ass of the field. If you're just slowly walking off without your hand above your head and get shot again it's because you deserve it.

If you still want to make a rule, start penalizing people who don't run off the field once they've been eliminated. Cut down on "moseying" players getting in the way of the game, make it much harder for anyone to pull of a dead man's walk, and cut down on that ref-distracting post-elimination "But I'm not REALLY out..." bitchfest.

 

[Mazz005]

The M7 format was a smashing success from a spectator standpoint.... if the rumour of 50 boxes of paint used per team is true, it will however be difficult to implement in lower divisions, which is a clear problem.

Most teams that got through to the finals in the M7 didnt use over 40 boxes....Fact! so 35/40 boxes divided by 6 games = 6 1/2 boxes approx per game...not bad to be honest...

 

[jj igotcha]

excellent tournament, excellent venue, in the past i have criticised the millenium when i think they have not delivered but this was a great event. the M7s were great to watch, there were some really exciting games.
the commentary could be improved as some points needed to be explained to the crowd but on the whole pretty good.
i think the field promoted fast aggressive play but then menace won and they were probably the most conservative team on display so what do i know.
paint consumption averaged about 1 box per point played from the teams i spoke to so 5-9 boxes per game may be a bit demanding for some div 1 teams, but i would agree that the whole tournament should be playing with the same team size.
finally well done to the brit contingent, Shock always seem to turn it on at the milleniums and are arguably the best british team we have, nexus/reapers got a good win under there belts against powertrip and in all honesty that was probably all Robbo would have expected. and the tigers narrowly missed out after 3 tight games in a tough group, they had a real young and inexperienced squad that will improve as the season progresses.
where can the final placings be found and is the draw for germany based on the positions in marseille?
cheers jj

 

[Buns of steel]

Sands not best for Paintball.

Not knocking the tournament in any way, and not telling Laurent & Co anything they shouldn't have worked out for themselves, but one big problem was trying to set up the field on the "Beach".
Having been involved with quite a few tournies I have 1st hand experience of a tourny organizers worst enemy, Strong winds. The netting system the millenium uses copes with this very well, but that is because you can fix the bases solidly into the ground. The solution used here of weight being added to the bases would also work if the ground was solid but the constant swaying started to shift the shingle which meant the strapping needed to be tightened to straighten the poles, which left them at some wierd and wonderful angles. Laurent and his crew did a supreme job to get the tourny to the end, but talking to one of the locals, the winds were quite light for the region if the big winds came along the beach would have been cleared of paintballers quicker than a request to help clean up the site.

 

[sponge10]

Great event for the first millennium of the year if the rest of the season goes on like that it should be a good year for euro paintball.

M7 was excellent to play and watch,the format worked really well,the only complaint i have is the tie-breaker at the end of game time,they should just run the game untill a team wins the last point as there was a few games when this happened and the team that was winning that ponit actually lost the tie-breaker either during the game or on last years millennium rankings!!

Well done to menace they played good soild ball all weekend and deserved the win,also well done to shockwave who almost made it to the finals,thanks for the comments jj,hopefully we'll be there next time,as you said we have a young squad this season(5 of them hav'nt played pro ball before marseille).

Well done to all the other brit teams,kellys on 2nd place div1(you should have asked how the finals field played would have only been to glad to help) and outrage on winning div 3.

See you all in bitberg!!!

 

[Oli HPG]

We had the pleasure of reffing the M5 in Marseille. I think it was a good idea to start this as it has enabled many younger teams to take a shot at the MS.

One thing that really stood out was the level of fair play from the Jersey Warriors last weekend. Guys, it was a pleasure to reff you! Every time they came on the pitch they acted like real sports men. Thanks for making our life a bit easier. Well done to SmartParts for winning all their prelims. Good gaming, well impressed with little Billy Webb!

About the new 1-4-1 rule. The first day we had to pull quite a few 1-4-1s all day but with more and more games played, players started to be more aware of incoming paint and took themselves off the field. Overall it felt that the rule improved the game. Only draw back I have seen is that the games lost some agression. Less run-throughs and a more static game.

Location as Nick said was awesome! Weather was great...but I cannot handle the French food. We went out and ordered some pizzas and mine had a raw egg in the centre!

I would like to say thanks to a few peeps: My crew from HPG who went down there to reff with me: Dave, Syd, BigSte, Wonder, Rob and Andy. Oh by the way...cheers Andy for making sure I was the field Ultimate
Daniel, Schumi, Angelo and the other German reffs on our pitch for some good laughs! Nick and Jabba for helping out all weekend when it got "busy"!
Ulrich for keeping things moving!

Luv,

Oli

 

[PEBBLE]

We had only 5mins to walk so we asked a few of Shock but 5mins is ludicrous for any team to walk the field

p.s thamx Shock (Chris Ed, and Al)

 

[Jaime Menino]

Hands Up for Laurent for a once again great tournament.

The Good:
-Venue, Air supply H-Pac Rules, The competition, The city and spectators, Field layouts, The tournament itself, Player area really secure, The fruit...

The not so good:
-Rules not available, ear that the rules didn't change at the captains meeting and are still the same from last year doesn't cut it. Isn't there somebody to edit and save as a pdf on the MS website?
-The reffing, as always first event lack of consistence over the fields.
-The BPS green machines, simply not accurate enough, were they tested side by side with a PACT timer? We had a couple of timmys doing 30 bps readings on the chrono area (probably reading the valve and the real shot).
-Some over zealous refs.
-Food prices on the site, could be better, the bakery in the promenade right in front of the site had better prices.

The Bad:
-The ref that probably cost a’lot of teams their moneys worth of having a good time on the Tomahawk field.
The "I am the gun ref your gun is illegal because it ramps to soon" when all the markers were tested and passed by the chrony ref on the same field.
We (Trolls) got screwed on the first game of the tournament with an alleged illegal marker that ramped to soon, "psp mode". It was not.
And on next day game almost the same thing happened to another player from my team if we didn't argued to re-test the marker with the chrony ref, this time all the markers were tested and ensured they were legal before the game.
I've seen better refs being fired for doing less as this gentleman did, and with much less lack of manners.
Definitely there has to be at least a thrust from the players to the refs calls, this way it is impossible, MS has to have someone on all the fields policing the refs, or get machines to prove that the ramping point is illegal below 7.5 bps.

M7 ruled, but I think a scoreboard is in order.

My 2 cents.
Jaime.

 

[Buns of steel]

Failing to prepare, prepare to fail.

We had only 5mins to walk so we asked a few of Shock but 5mins is ludicrous for any team to walk the field

p.s thamx Shock (Chris Ed, and Al)

That is ludicrous, but a quick look at the folder you were given when you registered would have shown you that the finals were going to be played on the Millenium fields, might have been a waste of time for some teams to walk this field on Thursday, but from what I've seen of you guys this last year, would have been well worth your time walking it.
I would definately look up the schedule in Bitburg, and I'm sure all the guys would be happy to give anything they notice from playing it, just ask.