>>>"OK here we go with the final nail,"
Dude, I ain't getting in that coffin yet...
>>>"Secondly, the Legion basically taught themselves, their melting pot of experience was none other than Russia itself (hardly the hotbed of paintball), they developed their techniques from reading PGI and particularly the articles I wrote (Sergei Leontiev's words not mine). These guys are virtually self-taught with only infrequent outings to the Millennium as a test bed for their play.
So no giants in Russia to learn from that I can think of !! "
Which backs my point. Remember what I said about the Legion 'standing on the shoulders of giants'? Well they did - and you are certainly a mainstay of that as they themselves are only too happy to tell everyone. However, your ability and knowledge of the game did not come from a lightning bolt or a chat with he Almighty, but from experience. You played, you watched, you absorbed and you experimented. And where was your proving ground and classroom? The UK tourney scene...so the Legion learnt directly from that scene.
The fact that The Legion didn't get to play these people are neither here nor there...Kant didn't sit in the debating room with Socrates did he, he learnt from his writing.
>>>"The Turks were, sociable, drunken fun loving, totally unprofessional paintballers who never did a serious day's training in their lives, I think you would not contest one iota of that statement. The Legion however are, serious, hard-working, sober, professional proballers who train their nuts off 3 times a week. Just this piece of comparative information tells us all that no matter what era you select, the best generally comes from those who work hardest. "
Generally, but not always...there are mavericks like George Best and Jimmy Greaves, no? Well, The Turks were pball's mavericks.
>>>"And so to the last piece of the nail, Schwarzkopf would indeed win the battle of the generals were he to come up against Alexander and his army but his victory would be because of his superior hardware, so no comparative analysis could be effected anyway.
The modern day clash of Legion and Turks has the same weaponry and therefore is a common denominator and not a differential as it would be in the one sided battle of Schwarzkopf and Alexander.
So that hypothetical scenario falls flat on its face with no erroneous inference being drawn because the fight would not have been fair due to hardware differences. "
Puh-leeeeese grant me some intelligence. Did you REALLY think I was talking about an army with tanks, machine guns and air support taking on some guys with swords!!!???!!! Maybe I didn't clarify my point well enough; I was talking about strategic ability. All things being equal, Schwarzkopf would beat Alex cos he would have learnt from him and all who had gone before thru books, same as The Legion have done from you/PGI.
There are two points you've mentioned in the course of this discussion which are worthy of threads in themself, BTW...
1 - Tech differences. Do you really think there is so little difference between the hardware we use now and that of 5-6 years ago? I'd say that shooting an Adrenalin Angel or a Freeflow Cocker is streets ahead in every way of a Promagged Automag or standard Cocker from the mid-90s...anyone else who's been playing for a while wanna comment there?
2 - Cheating. As someone who's played a lot of woodland tournaments and a lot of arena one, I personally experienced and saw maybe 10 times the amount of cheating in the woods. And just imagine what you don't see, given the nature of woodland play. I ask again, do you seriously believe cheating is just as bad on Sup'Air fields??? Again, anyone who's had experience of both, jump in...
Peace