Coach Shawn

I still paint my own or buy them already painted. Luckily I have two daughters that are amazing at arts and crafts and I have managed to get several painted teams out of them. The teams they paint are far superior to my painted teams.

No, that idea has never appealed to me. EF is the chance to play the game without the unfortunate realities that hurt the game. this is also why I don’t use random penalties. I only call penalties when the figures actually commit a penalty (usually Pass Interference). I can understand someone wanting to simulate everything about the NFL but that level is not for me.

I had the same thought, he did a great job applying them.

He always has an interesting take on whatever topic he explores. I think FAT8 did a video a few years back with ball on base passing but AEFL has expanded this by creating the passing angles based on QB and receiver position. Once again his focus is on consistent and quick application of a rule. By having the set angles and positioning of the ball on base it eliminates the pondering of where to place the ball on base. While I don’t think it is for me it is still fun to see the innovations and I get inspired with new thoughts if my own.

Thanks for the info. I have heard of excaliber but had never seen their product,

In my setup sequence: 1. the offense sets up its formation. 2. the defense sets up. 3. the offense rolls dice to determine their play that they must run. However, they can call an audible if the play is a run. The audible is perhaps not a true audible as the new play is limited to simply mirror the rolled run to the opposite side. Also this audible costs the offense one pivot (they get two pivots normally after the defense has setup). The defense gets no pivots. I started doing this as some of my solitaire teams can only run one way and this allows them to run to their preferred direction. Though I do try hard to run the dice direction if at all possible. I also allow the offense to use a timeout instead. This allows them to either: re-roll the play, or, to mirror the run to the opposite side but keep both pivots.

I bought two sets of Tudor’s Army and Navy teams. I then painted the extra set to be the missing jersey (for army I painted their black jersey white and for Navy I painted their white jersey navy blue). I read that Army often just places tje word “ARMY” on the jersey instead of the players name and I liked that so I did that for both services.

It is interesting that passing gains use more time than running gains of equal distance. I guess I have never thought it through as it makes sense.

Thanks. It is pretty pricey. I may have to wait for this piece.

Finally Got this stadium off Ebay. This came with the Tudor 500 board back in 1964 and 1965 I believe. It has been my favorite since I was a little kid. So for nostalgia but also for the art. I love the players on the bench.

Nice find. This is one EF treasure I would also like to collect.

Always liked Craig Morton. As a kid I remember him playing hurt and I liked his toughness. Although low scoring there was plenty of action. I love sacks and tackles for loss. Great game.

Wow the Sirens D-line was really dominating in those videos. Still have to give credit to the RBs for finding a seam and coming oh-so-close to making a big play!

Some really good plays in this video. Both offensive lines were impressive in their run blocking. The RBs also had me cheering for the way they seemed to follow the blocking perfectly. To me those plays are the ones that delight me most, when plastic figures conduct plays in an almost life like manner. congrats on a great game.

Due to the recent conversation on laterals I decided to try to set up a lateral play. I setup the two RBs already angled to the outside and then after the defense was set I pivoted the TE to block the OLB and the WR to block the CB. the plan was for the HB to run until he was forced to lateral to avoid being tackled. Unfortunately Army’s Safety missed his gap which allowed the HB to keep the ball instead of doing the lateral. nice run though. (As an Army veteran I am chagrined that it appears my navy team may be better than my army team). IMG_2892.MOV

I sure would. I love the third and long balls! Mine have held up much longer than the regular felt balls.

Ideally if it is legal in real football then EF should also allow it. But the rub is to match the rule while still maintaining a fair game. Allowing laterals is fine for the offense but is the defense being unfairly treated? After all the defense is not reacting like living players would. Most will be headed far far away from the play. So a rule that works great in real football may need some extra thought when applying it to EF. at the very least the defense should pivot any unengaged player when a lateral is attempted. I am not opposed to laterals, in our league we have never actually outlawed them, no one has ever bothered to try them. If someone did I suppose defenses would develop to guard against that.

After some thought I decided to answer myself. In the rules I use a direct hike would have a different effect than a pitch. in my rules the defense is allowed to pivot when a pitch is made just as they do for a pass. I have never used directed snaps in my rules but it seems reasonable to say The defense cannot pivot to a direct snap, like they cannot pivot for a handoff. Or should the “hangtime” of the long snap allow for a pivot by the alert defense?

Couldn’t you get a similar result by snapping the ball to the QB by starting the field for a mere instant then have the QB pitch the ball to the desired player? Now the lateral downfield is something I have never seen allowed in EF rules. Not sure why.

Carl from the AEFL has developed an interesting idea that helps minimize bias during pass plays. His method takes the decision of whether to throw or not out of your hands. He does this by using what he calls Coverage Circles. Coverage Circles are templates that you will use to determine whether you can throw to a specific receiver or not based on how “open” they are. Carl explains this in his youtube video; I am planning to try the Coverage Circles for my solitaire league. Many times I decide against a pass as too risky but then I always wonder if I did that team a disservice. Using the templates will take the onus of that decision off me. all of his videos in this series are extremely well done and he has developed a well thoughtout rule system. Check them out if you haven’t already.

I apologize. I got home and realized I don’t have access to my 620 field.

When I get home I will check this for you.

I used helmet to helmet just to keep measurements consistent, Since QB to Receiver is measured helmet to helmet. Also, we decided not to worried about orientation of the blitzer to avoid arguments about “is he” or “isn’t he” pointed correctly. Just clarifying our thinking on the pressure stick rules, That being said you should always modify rules to your own taste.

My hobby room is not air conditioned and right now is running 84 degrees but will soon be hotter. LOL, I love your comparison of domed vs non-domed stadiums.

I have noticed that this is true. My players do seem to run better after they have been on the field for a little while. One of the aspects of tweaking that I want to test is; My presupposition is that your bases are optimized to run best when the temperature of your game environment matches the temperature that prevailed while you accomplished the tweak. Therefore colder or hotter temperatures should have an effect on the base movement. Perhaps there is an optimal temperature that you should tweak at to get the best performance in a variety of game weather conditions. Often I tweak in the heat of summer and think I have tweaked a champion only to find once the cold winter hits the base gets benched.