Site Home Teams

[JonesA]

Hi new here

Was wandering what you guys thought of home teams at sites? My friend and I were discussing the pros and cons of them this morning and decided to see what other people thought.

[NickM]

Totally depends on the site. For most of the sites I know of there are normally more than one. They tend to be made up of the locals and regulars. They tend to know the site far better than anyone else, which can work well if they are put onto opposing sides and balanced like you would just with numbers. It really adds to the dynamic of the day.

 

For example Team A and B play the site regularly, you get about 15 players from both teams turn up on a Sunday game at least once a month. One day a stag do turns up with 20 players wanting a good scrap, so you then have the option, play a few games with the site teams mixed in with rentals, team A vs team B with the stags split. Then the stags inevitably want to play together vs the site regulars. Or you put the stag with the rentals for a game as the VIP. It gives you options and makes games more dynamic as the rental players will learn the site, how the game works and are kept in check by the regulars. This gives the site owner and marshal team a great little resource. Works equally well with small groups of younger players, new players, guys turning up on their own etc. You become the social glue that can help a site develop a great atmosphere.

 

The team I am on regularly played one site but we would often split ourselves between the two teams to help move things along. It spread the better guns and players, the knowledge of the site and tactics that tended to work amongst the other players. Often at least for the morning the newer players to the game hang back, and are reluctant to get hit, you can take charge a little by leading and demonstrating things like fire and manoeuvre. You also become almost like player marshals, if the site know you well, you can help get games organised, help with monitoring players and still get a days play.

 

I can think of one site where they sometimes play the regulars vs everyone else, even when outnumbered the regulars wipe the floors with other players because they know the site far better than anyone else. In that case its really irritating and in my eyes doesn't help the game play very well.

 

Overall I'd say mostly a good thing, it gave us better games and a better experience for the other players, occasionally it can be a total pain if not done well.

[Chock]

They can be a bit off putting to new players. You know the scene, new guy turns up at totally unfamiliar site wearing a hoody and jeans and gets handed an adequate but not very cool full face mask and a battered JG G36, then sees five people all dressed up like they are about to do a special forces halo jump out of a C130 into occupied enemy territory, and they are not socialising with other players, but only talking amongst themselves, testing their comms and gassing up their fancy sidearms. Having said that, if new guy sticks at it, he'll probably end up like those guys in a years' time, but I usually try to make a point of talking to guys who look like they are new to it, to at least make them feel welcome.

 

Another down side to it is that such teams are often a shoe-in for victory when many other players are walk on for the day, impromptu scratch teams, formed on the spot, some of whom do not know the layout, which means they probably won't win, even though they may very well actually be better or smarter players. That is the nature of the beast of course for anyone new to any endeavour, but I've found myself teaming up with those kind of site-regular 'pro' teams on occasion, and then had guys shouting commands to me like they were some kind of veteran Sergeant Barnes and I was the FNG in some bad war movie. In such situations, I've gone with it for the benefit of the fight at the time, but whilst doing so was often thinking: 'what a fecking tool'. Especially when a lot of the time it seemed like they weren't actually issuing very sensible orders either and didn't have very sound tactics.

 

I'm not averse to people 'getting into it', but I do sometimes think the odd player really does take it a bit too seriously, and in any case it's generally not the best way toward teamwork either. Had that once with a flying instructor, he was barking orders at me from the rear seat of the aircraft like some low budget version of James Robertson Justice, as though I was some new pilot officer on my second lesson in a Tiger Moth in 1938. There's me sat there in the P1 seat of the aeroplane thinking, 'hang on a minute pal, I'm paying for this sh*t and doing it for my own personal enjoyment, we're not preparing to stem the Nazi hordes, I'm getting a PPL, d'you wanna chill out a bit?' In fairness though, that experience did actually teach me a lesson that I've carried forward into my job (as a trainer), even if the lesson was, don't train people like that f*cking idiot was doing, because it's often not the best way to connect with people.

 

So yeah, if you're into it, teams can be good, and most of them are, but some of them come across like a bunch of wannabe cock ends, especially the ones who won't take hits off new players, since they think it's somehow beneath them (and yes, I've seen that on more than one occasion).

[dex]

At my home site, the regular players don't really team up in any real sense. The organisers will pick the teams for each game and do a reasonable job of mixing up experienced players and noobs (and ensuring equal numbers of snipers). For the most part games come down to the team can organise and motivate itself winning.

 

The blokes their are generally very friendly and will talk to anyone.

[n1ckh]

I'm part of a 5 man team as we play regular together, I've kind of fallen into the lead role but also follow others aswell, I will give orders and take them

 

I find noob's will attach themselves to who they feel comfortable and relaxed with and I do tend to welcome guys into the fold

 

In all honesty, I steer clear of the guys with 'all the gear & no idea' as there in it for the glory

 

The best people to follow are the ones who just gel together no matter what there experience

[M_P]

I've got mixed feelings on home teams. My normal site has one and most of them are good guys, happy to talk to newer players etc which is nice as it isn't always the case. Some can be a bit cliquey so to speak, which isn't good for the players at sites or growth of the game, thankfully they seem few and far between.

So long as they don't receive special treatment then it's fine by me, or given benefit of the doubt if accused of not taking hits. All should be treated equally. When they become too big for their own shoes as part of a site team then things can go wrong.

 

The local team at my site are a good example of how it should be done. Treated fairly and are open to other players.

[Sotai]

Any decent site will know their regulars, how well they play etc and will balance teams accordingly making sure there are strong players who will help and mentor the new players. Most regulars to site know and understand this as they do this week in, week out.

 

Players can at times be clicky, but that comes from playing together often and is expected, but I've always experienced people who didn't come in a decent sized group will always be drawn into a group of regulars. Show me a regular who doesn't like to show off their kit or talk kit/game to anyone.