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Bout Report: Auld Reekie Roller Girls Home Season 1: Cherry Bombers vs Leithal Weapons

2012-01-29T16:11:00.001Z

The 21st of January saw the start of the first ever Home Season for Auld Reekie Roller Girls, pitting the "steampunk/seagull" themed Leithal Weapons against the "zombie cheerleader" themed Cherry Bombers. Both teams, along with third and final home team, "80s John Hughes movie" themed The Skatefast Club, include a complete mix of skaters, from experienced Team Scotland qualifiers through to the newest rookies.
After an initial power jam to the Leithal Weapons' Admiral Attackbar (11:11) in the second jam of the bout handed them a 26 point advantage, the Cherry Bombers only managed to narrow the gap in the final few minutes of the bout itself, a brilliant power jam from Zillah (555) adding 29pts to their score, for a narrow loss of 171 Cherry Bombers to 179 Leithal Weapons.

The next bout in the season will be Leithal Weapons vs The Skatefast Club on the 25th of February.

For the first ever skateout for the two teams, the crowd was predictably excited. (VIDEO)

Period 1

Zillah leaves carnage in her wake.

The first period started with a close fought jam between Leithal Weapons captain, Minnie Riot (7) and Cherry Bombers' Circuit Breaker (100), which went to time, neither achieving lead jammer status in their initial pass. Unfortunately for the Cherry Bombers, the second jam of the period saw Zillah (555) pick up a trip to the penalty box in her initial pass, handing a power-jam to Admiral Attackbar (11:11). The Leithal Weapons jammer, who had shown good form in Tattoo Freeze only the week previously, capitalised to pick up 20 points in grand slam passes before Zillah returned to the track.
For the rest of the first half of the period, the Leithal Weapons maintained their lead, winning the majority of lead jammer statuses, and scoring slowly but consistently. The Cherry Bombers only scored in three jams in that same period, jam 5 (VIDEO) after both teams had their jammers (Minnie Riot and VeloSidy (16) ) sent off in relatively close succession, jam 6 with an almost inseparable VeloSidy and Admiral Attackbar separated by a takedown of the latter by Zillah (as pivot) on their scoring pass, and jam 7, which saw both jammers (Leithal Weapons' Kaos Moss (84) and Cherry Bombers' Circuit Breaker) sent to the sin-bin simultaneously and the jam go to time.
By the start of jam 13, then, with only 12 minutes left in the period, the scores stood at:

24 Cherry Bombers : 69 Leithal Weapons.

Danger Mouth is an imposing last line of defence...

With Leithal Weapons' Death Biffo (14) almost immediately sent to the sin-bin for a back-block major, however, this jam was the chance for the Cherry Bombers to start moving the score back their way. Some lovely pack control helped Zillah to pick up a 15 point power jam, with only some determined face-to-face blocking from Leithal Weapons' vice-Captain Alma Geddon (42) proving sufficient to slow her passes down, despite resulting in a trip to the sin-bin for Alma for blocking out of bounds.

Zillah's power jam seemed to reawaken the fight in the Cherry Bombers, the remaining third of the period staying fairly close between the teams; a rare trip to the penalty box for Admiral Attackbar towards the end of jam 17 (a lead jammerless jam) which extended over to the start of jam 18 (VIDEO) giving the biggest scoring opportunities for the Bombers' Zillah and VeloSidy. Coming into the final three jams, Circuit Breaker looked like she was going to make it three-for-three for Cherry Bombers scoring in jam 19 (VIDEO, also jam 20), slipping almost instantly through the pack and into lead jammer status while Kaos Moss was still at the back. A hard collision with the Leithal Weapons' rear wall on her scoring pass, followed up by a check by Midget Gems (873), knocked her to the track, however; by the time she'd regained her skates, Kaos Moss had whipped through a distracted pack to take the points herself.

Another successful jam for Admiral Attackbar!

Continuing their momentum, the Leithal Weapons' Yin And Bang (39) effortlessly took lead jammer in the penultimate jam of the period, with some particularly strong blocking from Death Biffo keeping Zillah from breaking through herself (and, in fact, seeing her off to the sin-bin for either the track cut or the back block involved). Despite the best efforts of the Bombers' Sunny Sheeba, the Leithal Weapons picked up a 16 point power-jam, before Zillah returned to the track with a last-minute scoring pass (apparently before the opposing team had even noticed she was back!).

The final jam (VIDEO) saw some exceptional blocking from the Leithal Weapons Bulletproof Glass (.357) and Midget Gems prevent Circuit Breaker from escaping the pack while Admiral Attackbar completed a natural grand slam; in the process of trying to escape, the Cherry Bombers jammer managed to pick up enough penalties to earn a trip to the penalty box soon after, although the Leithal Weapons had less use of the opportunity than they'd have liked, thanks to an impressive display of back skating by Bombers Captain and pivot Danger Mouth (55) forcing Attackbar to reenter almost a third of the track back from where she'd been knocked out.
With the period ending with Circuit Breaker still in the penalty box, the scores stood at:

71 Cherry Bombers : 110 Leithal Weapons

Period 2

With the second period starting on a power-jam for the Leithal Weapons, the Cherry Bombers' Sonny Sheeba, Danger Mouth and Bronx Betty (319, pivot) pulled out some strong cohesive pack work to slow Kaos Moss's initial pass, and hold her to only 3 points on her only scoring pass (VIDEO).
After a close jam between emerging rivals Zillah and Admiral Attackbar, jam 3 saw the first big scoring jam of the period, with Circuit Breaker taking lead jammer for the Cherry Bombers (despite spending a moment sandwiched between all four Leithal Weapons blockers), while Yin And Bang headed off to the penalty box. A back block major on her third scoring pass sent Circuit to the sin-bin herself, however, providing Yin and Bang with her own opportunity to fight through a strongly defensive Demon Speeding (333) and VeloSidy, picking up 5 points before the jam ended.

Circuit Breaker powering through her power-jam.

With the Leithal Weapons power-jam continuing into jam 4 (VIDEO), Death Biffo almost immediately gave the advantage up, sent off within seconds for what looked like a back block major. With Circuit Breaker released from the penalty bench after some brief confusion, she capitalised well, picking up another 11 points despite some lovely anchor work from the Weapons' Alma Geddon, before the jam ended with a returning Death Biffo finally completing her initial pass.
With the points now standing at:

96 Cherry Bombers : 118 Leithal Weapons

it looked like the points differential was finally in danger of being eroded.
A elbows major for Zillah in the very next bout put paid to that possibility for a while, however, allowing the Leithal Weapons' Kaos Moss to pick up 17 points in the resulting power-jam; with Zillah picking up a track cut major almost as soon as she returned to the track, the Cherry Bombers were without a jammer for almost the entire jam; and the second penalty continued into jam 6, where excellent jamming by Admiral Attackbar picked up another 7 points before Zillah finally returned to the track, and the jam was called.
With the points differential now back to 46 points,

96 Cherry Bombers : 142 Leithal Weapons

The first of many falls for the indomitable Bulletproof Glass
on this jam.

the Cherry Bombers would really have to work hard to have a chance of pulling out a win.
Despite Zillah leading the way in the very next jam with a 4-point single pass score, the subsequent 4 jams were dominated by the Leithal Weapons once more, with only VeloSidy sneaking in a single point score. The most determined skating was almost certainly that of the Leithal Weapons' Bulletproof Glass, knocked down four times in a row trying to complete her initial pass, but recovering with very nice rolls each time and never giving up. Rewarded by a power-jam in the second half of the jam, she picked up 7 points, to match the 9 points that Zillah had managed in the first half.
With Zillah outpacing Admiral Attackbar through the pack in the next jam (despite starting from the penalty bench), but without lead jammer, the scores stood at:

109 Cherry Bombers : 161 Leithal Weapons

with 12 minutes left in the bout.
The next jam, jam 13, (VIDEO) with some exceptional blocking from Bronx Betty and Maulibu Barbie (581) holding Yin and Bang back and then sending her off, the Cherry Bombers' Circuit Breaker was in a position to start fighting back; however, she was given huge trouble in turn from the Leithal Weapons, in particular Minnie Riot, which limited her to a single scoring pass before calling it.
With Zillah and Midget Gems both managing a single scoring pass in the next jam (VIDEO), and Cherry Bombers captain Danger Mouth fouling out a jam later, it was beginning to look more and more like a certain victory for the Leithal Weapons.

With a brief ray of hope emerging just two jams later (VIDEO), Alma Geddon giving away a power-jam to Circuit Breaker, the points differential narrowed to just 26 points. However, the Leithal Weapons responded with a much more defensive play for the final minutes of the bout, holding the score near constant (VIDEO) until the final jam of the bout.
With only time for one more jam, and the score standing at:

142 Cherry Bombers : 179 Leithal Weapons

Zillah needed to pull out all the stops to make a Cherry Bombers win possible (VIDEO). Fighting through to lead jammer status, while Bronx Betty and VeloSidy made life extremely difficult for Irn Mayhem (667), the Cherry Bombers jammer actually picked up a couple of grand slam passes before things got even better for her; Irn Mayhem picking up enough penalties to send her to the sin-bin. Capitalising fully, Zillah managed to acquire an impressive 29 points by the end of the jam, putting the final scores at a hard-fought:

171 Cherry Bombers : 179 Leithal Weapons

Awards

Leithal Weapons MVP
Alma Geddon
(and mascot)

Best Jammer
Cherry Bombers Circuit Breaker	Leithal Weapons Yin and Bang
Best Blocker
Cherry Bombers VeloSidy	Leithal Weapons Death Biffo
Best Rookie
Cherry Bombers Maulibu Barbie	Leithal Weapons Bulletproof Glass
MVP
Cherry Bombers Bronx Betty	Leithal Weapons Alma Geddon

Cherry Bombers MVP
Bronx Betty

Acknowledgements and Information

Thanks to the Auld Reekie Roller Girls for a fantastic bout.

Your announcers were: Fay Bentos and Mo B Quick.

The text, photo and videography in this report are licensed CC:BY 3.0 (Creative Commons: Attribution - free to reuse, share and modify with attribution).

All photographs are available as part of a Picasa album here: https://plus.google.com/photos/102032801144714237554/albums/5700414527868433025
and also on Facebook.

All video is available as part of a YouTube playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL206FD72375370D9B&feature=view_all

Video and Photography was taken with a Sony A580 with a Minolta 35-105 mm lens.

A gaming review of the year (2011)

2011-12-19T19:19:00.002Z

I've actually played relatively few computer games this year, mostly because my chair for my desktop PC is still broken, and my laptop is a MacBook (and therefore suffers from neither being Windows, nor having as up-to-date versions of Wine available for it as Linux-based systems). This gaming review of my year, therefore, is based almost entirely upon games I've played in the last two months (most of the games here were bought in one or other of the Humble Indie Bundles recently), or one game for Nintendo DS that I finally got around to playing (mainly due to finally having a DS Lite).
I've also not actually finished most of the games here; the ones I've completed at least once are Portal 2, SMT:SJ and The Binding of Isaac. (I've not mentioned games here that I've not played at all, but own. This is mostly the additional games that comprised the Humble Bundles, but also Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which I'm still waiting for the OSX port of...)

Shin Megami Tensei : Strange Journey (Nintendo DS)
(the first game this year to reduce me to tears (at the conclusion of the Neutral ending); also the game I stopped playing on New Game+ as Lawful, because you're forced to be such a horrible person that it was sapping my will to continue. Not released in the UK: I picked up my copy in the USA last year, in anticipation of buying a DS at some point. )
★★★★☆

Marathon (technically: the remake of Marathon in the Aleph-One open-source engine).
(Very very hard to play with a trackball or a trackpad. As a result, I've not managed to get past the first level, embarrassingly.)
unrated: not enough play time.

The Binding of Isaac
(Ed McMillen's games always have the problem that Ed has the sense of humour of a dysfunctional 12-year old. This means that the tone lurches between toilet humour and something approximating darkness, which can be mildly off-putting. Danny Baranowsky's soundtrack is the best thing about the game; the gameplay is the second, combining the best bits of Zelda, Robotron and the roguelike genre to produce something almost as good as one of them.)
★★★★☆

Super Meat Boy
(not as "hard" as it might be, which is not necessarily a bad thing; what is less forgivable is the terrible performance and surprisingly high system requirements. Once again, the main reason to play this is Danny Baronowsky's excellent music, especially if you have the poorly ported OSX release as I do.)
★★★☆☆

Cave Story +
(a platform "rpg" which really wants you to use adjectives like "enchanting" about it. I particularly like the experience mechanic - unlike most games, it's your current weapon which powers up with experience, not you (although additional health is available separately), and is depowered by taking enough damage subsequently. In terms of tone, it's towards the cutesy end of Japanese RPG design, with anthropomorphic bunnies as the majority cast members, other than the player.)
★★★★★

Portal 2
(like Portal, one of the few Valve games to throw me out of the naturalness of following the path (both games have moments where you're forced to do something obviously stupid to make the plot continue), a bit easier than Portal but also more varied (partly because it actually tries to have a plot, partly because of the new gameplay mechanics introduced), I didn't play the co-op mode because I have no-one to play with (which is one reason I took so long to buy this in the first place; also the other game that brought me to tears at the end)
★★★★★

Bit.Trip RUNNER
(one of a series of games in the Bit.Trip sequence, RUNNER is basically Simon, but with platforming: Captain Video must complete a series of auto-scrolling levels by performing the correct sequence of actions (jump, slide, kick, etc), in time with a musical background. Notable mostly for being one of the cluster of inter-pollinating Indie games of the last few years, RUNNER featuring guest characters from other games, and Captain Video likewise guesting in others (like Super Meat Boy)).
★★★☆☆

Jamestown
(a bullet-hell vertically-scolling shooter set in a steampunk world where we colonised Mars and the Spanish allied with the advanced Martian civilisation for Evil purposes, and with an excellent soundtrack,.What's not to like? Shop-based unlockables are also well implemented. )
★★★★☆

Crayon Physics Deluxe
(a winner of the Independent Games Festival, based on drawing freeform solutions to physics-based problems (in each room you have to get a ball to a star. Everything you draw becomes a rigid physical object, which you can use to solve the room in whatever way you wish. Despite this, the form is a bit limiting, and the game quickly feels a little restrictive, especially when it fails to interpret your drawings correctly.).
★★★☆☆

VVVVVV
(another prize-winning game, with another simple mechanic: Captain Viridian stars in a 8-bit styled platformer where, unusually, you cannot jump: instead, you can only invert the direction of gravity while touching a surface. The restriction provided by this is the source of multiple puzzles, many of which require you to "fall" through multiple rooms before reaching a terminal surface on which to launch yourself from in the opposite sense (often in order to accomplish a total horizontal movement of only a few blocks width over a deadly obstacle). Like Super Meat Boy, death is cheap, and twitch-sequence learning is necessary; unlike SMB, VVVVVV is consistently likeable, if surreal, and performant on basically any computer.)
★★★★☆

Edited post-25th Entry:
Gratuitious Space Battles
(GSB is Positech's interesting approach to a space tactical game, focussing on design, rather than control. Given free-reign to design ships, their deployment, and their initial orders (such as: escort this vessel, fire on any enemy attacking this ship), each battle consists of the action unfolding without your further involvement. There is an unlockables system, paid for with points awarded for how well your designs have done in each engagement (winning significantly under budget gives more points). Limited by the available number of missions, and by a difficulty cliff at the start of the game (you'll lose most of the time when you start playing, until you start to understand how the game mechanics work).)
★★★☆☆

Bout Report: Pivots of the Caribbean: Dundee vs Fair City 26 November 2011

2011-11-30T22:07:00.001Z

With only one weekend before the Roller Derby World Cup in Toronto, the last Scottish bout to be played saw Dundee Roller Girls' Silvery Tayzers play host to Fair City Rollers' Fear Maidens in nautically themed bout "Pivots of the Caribbean".
While the rematch was much anticipated, the Fair City Rollers were facing a much harder challenge than they had anticipated, with multiple players pulling out of the final line-up at late notice. With such significant last-minute changes, could they still fight to victory?

Period 1

The Silvery Tayzers dominated the first period, only letting the Fear Maidens score once in the first 13 jams; the second jam seeing Dundee Captain Psychomilly (69) taking lead jammer easily, but finding her scoring pass difficult from the start, thanks to Fair City's Vice Jill Antonic (76), Terrifying Tink (8), and Pivot Zomboobies (8008), allowing the away team's Pistol Panties (6) to pick up some points in the split second before the jam was called. The Perth skaters weren't totally outplayed, however, managing to keep a majority of the jams to no-scores.
Thanks to the Fear Maidens' tenacity, the score differential remained relatively close, only reaching

024 DRG : 003 FCR

by the end of the eleventh jam. Jam 12 was to change all that, however. Beginning with a slow start by Fair City to allow a sin-binned skater to return to the track, Nutshel (26), jamming, accelerated off the track, only to get caught behind the usual strong Tayzers 4-wall. Meanwhile, Dundee's Dr Carnage (T800) was forcing her way past Tenacious Dee (7) and Pistol Panties on the inside-line to take lead jammer. Knocked to the back of the pack by Sins 'N' Needles (89), Nutshel appeared to cut track trying to catch up again, and was sent to the sin-bin. Handed their first power-ham of the bout, Dundee effectively slowed the pack, goating Terrifying Tink for a while, while Dr Carnage picked up laps. Despite some determined opposition from Tenacious Dee on her final pass, the Dundee jammer picked up 14 points to bring the score to a more intimidating

038 DRG : 003 FCR

Jams 14 and 15 were the only times that the Fear Maidens managed to push the score the other way. The 14th jam saw Dundee's Cilla Block (24) exit the pack first, despite being knocked to the track by Jill Antonic at the very start of her pass, but a final block by Fair City's Pistol Panties (also jamming) caused her to cut track, denying her lead-jammer status. The Fear Maidens jammer was finding it exceptionally difficult to break out of the pack herself, however, with the strong Dundee blocking at the front of the track proving impregnable. A somewhat enthusiastic leaping check from Psychomilly made things a little easier, however, the resulting pile-up taking not just blocker and jammer down, but also Zomboobies and Cilla Block (just starting her scoring pass); with 'Milly immediately off to the sin-bin, the pack was thinned out just enough for Pistol Panties to fight her way through, almost neck and neck with her fellow jammer. Deciding it was worth the potential score, the Fair Maidens jammer went for her own scoring pass, both jammers passing through the pack together until a final block against Splatter Killer (3) brought Pistol Panties to her knees… and also to the sin-bin. Handed a power-jam, Cilla Block jammed a little too aggressively cutting track, to pick up her own trip to the sin-bin on her next scoring pass. Released from the sin-bin with only a few seconds left on the clock, Pistol Panties didn't have time to do much…

…but at least it meant that jam 15 would start with a full minute of power-jam for the away team. An official timeout put paid to this advantage, however, with both jammers ending up in the sin-bin at the start of the jam 15, Cilla Block leaving first, skimming effortlessly through the pack, and back into the sin-bin for track cutting! With Pistol Panties back in the running for a (brief) power-jam, she fought her way through to lead jammer status, managing a single scoring pass (despite last second opposition from Unprotected Bex (32) ) before calling it as the power-jam ended, with the score at

050 DRG : 010 FCR

While the sixteenth jam saw Dundee pick up another 3 points, jam 17 started very badly for the Fear Maidens, DRG's Littlest Peepshow (666) taking lead jammer just before their own Tenacious Dee was sent to the sin-bin for a forearm block penalty. With her teammates holding the pack almost stationary, Peepshow easily completed her first scoring pass; and her second, despite a block from Fear Maidens pivot Jill Antonic sending her to the track, where she stayed. With the jam called early for injury (from which the DRG jammer walked away with no permanent damage), the home team had still picked up 8 points, a performance that Psychomilly only slightly bettered in the next jam, beginning with the Fear Maiden's jammer still in the sin-bin. With the Silvery Tayzers taking a knee, their jammer swept through a depleted Fair City pack, completing multiple scoring passes, even after Tenacious Dee returned to the track. Indeed, with Unprotected Bex, Crown Julez (67) and pivot Viva La Derby (42) taking turns to stop her, the Fear Maidens jammer remained on her initial pass for the entire jam, for 14 points to the home team!

The period ended with what looked to be another impressive jam by Dundee's Cilla Block, taking lead jammer with Teenie Bash stuck between a 2-wall at the front of the pack. With a big pile-up on her scoring pass ending in several skaters remaining still on the track, the jam ended early due to injury, with Dr Carnage seeing particular attention from the medics present. A single grand slam pass resulting wasn't anything to sneeze at, however, and with no skaters permanently injured, the period ended with the score:

090 DRG : 010 FCR

Period 2

Coming into the second period, the Silvery Tayzers looked like continuing to dominate the period as they had the first, beginning with a 13 point jam for Cilla Block, without a power-jam. Things got a little more interesting in the second two jams, Teenie Bash dodging around DRG blocking to take lead jammer for the Fear Maidens in jam 2, picking up a single scoring pass for the away team, despite some aggressive blocking from Splatter Killer at the back of the pack, giving up jamming herself to try to stop her opponent. The third jam was more mixed, with the Tayzers taking a knee into the jam to exploit a pack advantage. Both jammers experienced tough resistance, but DRG's Littlest Peepshow won through the pack first, without lead jammer status. After picking up a grand slam pass, she was joined by Jill Antonic also failing to take lead jammer. With the jam running to time, the superior coordination of the Dundee skaters told, the Fear Maidens jammer being held in the pack on her scoring pass by pivot Viva La Derby until her own pivot, Pistol Panties, helped her out; only for Unprotected Bex to take her pivot's place. Nevertheless, Jill Antonic eventually won through, managing to begin her second scoring pass before time was called, moving the score to:

117 DRG : 022 FCR

This surge of fight from the Fear Maidens couldn't last any longer, however, subsiding until the 7th jam of the bout. With the Silvery Tayzers picking up a big score in jam 4, keeping Teenie Bash locked in her initial pass, despite a hard fight (partly thanks to some fortuitous timing from DRG jammer Dr Carnage, completing her first scoring pass at precisely the right moment to knock an escaping Teenie to the ground), while picking up grand slam passes themselves, followed by a pair of less exciting single scoring pass jams, the score by the start of the seventh jam had moved on to

140 DRG : 022 FCR

Jam seven saw the Fear Maidens fight back with a combination of skill and luck; with jammer Teenie Bash taking lead jammer, DRG's Crown Julez found unexpected opposition in the pack, starting with a casual block to the ground from Jill Antonic. Fighting her way through the inside line, the Dundee jammer cut the track, and was sent to the sin-bin; throwing a power jam to the Fear Maidens. An impressive display of jamming followed, with the Maidens slowing the pack enough for Teenie Bash to weave her way through it a total of four times before time was called, picking up a big 20 points to almost double her team's score!

140 DRG : 042 FCR

This turned out to be an isolated incident, however, with the next seven jams all resulting in scores for the home team, and no points to the Fear Maidens.

The Fear Maidens finally got a break in the 14th, Pistol Panties taking lead jammer, while DRG's Viva La Derby (42) was trapped at the back of the pack by pivot Knock-Turnal (616) and Tenacious Dee. Eventually fighting her way through her initial pass, the Dundee jammer only had enough time to score a pair of points while Pistol Panties completed her first scoring pass and called it.

Despite their best efforts, the away team couldn't maintain the pace into the next, Teenie Bash (2) perfectly matched against Splatter Killer for a no-score, leaving the score sitting at:

188 DRG : 046 FCR

That was the last chance the Tayzers gave the Fear Maidens, the final five jams all going the home team's way. The bout ended with a final power jam, the Fear Maidens' Teenie Bash just slipping her skate outside the track while completing her initial pass to pick up a trip to the sin-bin rather than lead jammer. Dundee's Littlest Peepshow was happy to take the time to pick up last minute points, completing two grand slam passes before calling the jam, the period, and the bout, with a final score of:

207 DRG : 046 FCR

Discussion and Awards

While the Fear Maidens fought hard through-out the entire bout, the Silvery Tayzers showed their superior skill over-all. That said, there were exceptional performances by some Fair City skaters, in particular Pistol Panties and Teenie Bash jamming, and Jill Antonic and Tenacious Dee blocking. With a bit more pack cohesion, the Perth team could well have presented a significant challenge to the home team; perhaps next time, with the line-up they'd expected, they could fight to victory.

Awards

Best Blocker

DRG

Viva La Derby

FCR

Jill Antonic

Best Jammer

DRG

Cilla Block

FCR

Teenie Bash

Most Sin-Binned

DRG

Psychomilly

FCR

Zomboobies

Most Valuable Player

DRG

Psychomilly

FCR

Nutshel

Credits and Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dundee Roller Girls and Fair City Rollers for a fantastic bout.
Thanks to FCR's Van Damn and DRG's Go Go Gadget Skates for the awards info.
And thanks also to Sins 'N' Needles for an excellent bout programme.

Your announcers were: Kinkhey (for DRG) and Detroit Dangerous (for FCR).

The text of this report is licensed CC:BY 3.0 (Creative Commons: Attribution) by me.

All photos are licensed CC: BY-NC 3.0 (Creative Commons: Attribution, Non-Commercial) by Laura MacDonald, taken on a Canon 450D with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Note: this article has been updated with additional information concerning the background of FCR's entry to the bout, at 16:47 1 December 2011.

Bout Report: Glasgow Roller Girls Season Two Intraleague Final: Death Stars vs Bad Omens

2011-11-16T19:33:00.001Z

After battling through the qualifying bouts, the Death Stars and the Bad Omens faced each other in the Season Two final on the 12th of November, just as they had in Season One. The Death Stars were the clear underdogs, having been beaten by the Bad Omens in every face off over both seasons, so it was up to them to topple the champions and make history.

Of course, first there has to be the skateout, featuring the Psychopants delivery cart and Corvid for the Bad Omens, and, of course, a personal appearance from Lord Vader and his honour guard for the Death Stars.

Period 1

The bout started with an almost immediate blow to the Death Stars' chances, however, with jammer Marshall Lawless (42) off to the sin-bin in the very first jam! With the Omens slowing the pack to a standstill, jammer Meg 4 Mercy (4) garnered 2 Grand Slam passes, and a final partial pass, despite tenacious blocking by Death Stars' Wild Oates (3), Mistress Malicious (99) and Whisky Galore (11).

With only one jam spent, the score was already:

00 Death Stars : 13 Bad Omens

Malky Traz and Mazzy Chaos put an end to Meg's scoring.

The Death Stars didn't let this initial setback phase them, however, Rogue Runner taking lead jammer in jam 2, despite last-second blocking by Lily Lethal (5). With a good lead over the Omens' Slain Austen (823.7) thanks to Mazzy Chaos (R10T) and Peggy Su-icide (14), the Death Stars only attained a pair of points, thanks to an impassible Tarcenic (41). The challengers continued their press into the third jam (VIDEO), Mistress Malicious (99) picking up an easy scoring pass before calling it. Meg 4 Mercy pulled the points back in the next jam, however, with a good lead over Marshall Lawless thanks to Marla Mayhem's blocking; knocked to the ground herself by Malky Traz (137) and Mazzy Chaos (pivot, R10T), the champions' jammer called it immediately for three points.

Keen to continue her fellow jammers' work, Slain Austen rocketed through the pack first in jam 5, but cutting track on the outside line; a track-cutting penalty and a trip to the sin-bin was not what she expected from her jammer ref. The Death Stars' Rogue Runner found it hard work to exploit the power-jam, however, the Omens' Haberbashery (88), Bashin' Berserker (83) and Chemikill Hazard (LD50, pivot) proving difficult to pass on both initial and scoring runs, limiting the challengers to a single grand-slam pass.

With Slain Austen starting from the sin-bin, the Death Stars' Mistress Malicious had a significant advantage in the next jam, (VIDEO), but failed to cleanly complete her initial pass, not achieving lead jammer status. Still the Death Stars jammer was in the lead; a fast pack and excellent blocking from pivot Marla Mayhem (13) and Lily Lethal (5) prolonged the challengers' first scoring pass for long enough that both jammers picked up points, before Slain Austen called it.
With the scores so close, it only needed one good Death Stars jam to switch the lead; and that's what Marshall Lawless gave us in jam 7, bringing home a perfect scoring pass, to edge the challengers into the lead by a single point!

21 Death Stars : 20 Bad Omens

The next jam started extremely defensively, both jammers trapped behind strong walls in the pack; the Bad Omens' Jess E Ska at the front, and the Death Stars' Rogue Runner at the back. While the Omens' jammer managed to break through her wall, thanks to DS pivot Mazzy Chaos (R10T) being sent off, the Death Stars were not so lucky. One Grand Slam scoring pass later, and the Omens called it, to swing the lead right back their way.

21 Death Stars : 25 Bad Omens

Things hadn't settled down yet, however, a similarly defensive jam 9 seeing the Death Stars' Mistress Malicious fight through to lead jammer, while Slain Austen was given a hard time by Death Stars pivot Viper (29) and Wild Oates, the latter getting herself sent off for a somewhat messy, yet effective, last-second block. Finding herself unable to break through, while Mistress Malicious was racking up grand slam passes, the Bad Omens jammer eventually passed the star to pivot and Captain Haberbashery (88mph), who faired somewhat better, for a last-second score as the jam was called.
With such a fantastic jam under their belt, the Death Stars had finally resolved the lead switching for a while, the score standing at:

35 Death Stars : 27 Bad Omens

The Champions weren't about to give up without a fight, jam 10 (VIDEO) seeing Meg 4 Mercy break through a fast Death Stars wall with the aid of Marla Mayhem to take lead jammer, but with Marshall Lawless too close behind to score. Similarly, Jess E Ska raced into lead jammer in the next jam (VIDEO), but with Rogue Runner in close pursuit. With most of the Omens at the rear of the pack, the Death Stars picked up a couple of points before the Omens called it, despite being behind on the track. Meg 4 Mercy finally grabbed some points for the Champions in jam 12, perhaps due to three of the Death Stars blockers starting in the sin-bin! This was merely whittling the score down, however; it was the 14h jam that saw the big Bad Omens fight back, Slain Austen battling through a strong 3-wall to take lead jammer, while Marshall Lawless found Bad Omens pivot Marla Mayhem too tough to handle, kept almost continuously at the rear of the pack. Slain Austen, meanwhile, showed some tremendous skill, dodging past all defence on multiple grand slam passes, bringing the lead back to the current champions at:

37 Death Stars : 47 Bad Omens

While Meg 4 Mercy effortlessly took lead jammer in the very next bout (VIDEO), she didn't have any time to score, with Rogue Runner right behind her. Trying to engage, the Bad Omens jammer misjudged a block slightly, ending up in the sin-bin instead. Picking up multiple scoring passes as the pack was held stationary by her teammates, Rogue Runner eventually made a mistake, a back-block sending her to the sin-bin, and freeing her opponent.
The Omens jammer had barely enough time to complete her first scoring pass before the jam was called, allowing the power-jam to continue into the next jam (VIDEO). Jess E Ska was up for the champions, making fast work of her initial pass, and her first scoring pass, despite the efforts of Wild Oates. Her second scoring pass went badly wrong, starting with a collision with Death Stars pivot Sykes, sending her to the ground, and the jammer to the sin-bin for a back-block major.
With a bit of help from Whisky Galore and Wild Oates pushing the Omens out of the way, a returning Rogue Runner quickly began restoring the challengers' points differential, despite the Omens making her work for every pass. In the end, the pair of jams ended with the Death Stars favour, reversing the lead once more:

65 Death Stars : 61 Bad Omens

With the Bad Omens depleted on track, Slain Austen cougaring off, the challengers had the advantage again going into what could be the final jam of the bout (VIDEO). Nevertheless, neither jammer escaped the pack quickly, with Chemikill Hazard holding back the Death Stars' Mistress Malicious near single handledly at the front of the pack for a whole minute, before Mazzy Chaos managed to break her control. Meg 4 Mercy had less friends in the pack, however, and looked increasingly desperate as the challengers began picking up grand slam passes. A star pass to pivot Marla Mayhem solved that, the new jammer easily escaping the pack and forcing the Death Stars to call the jam, with the score:

79 Death Stars : 61 Bad Omens

Despite the period timer being clearly at zero, it looked like a further jam was about to start, but it was quickly stopped after some confused looks from the referees (VIDEO), leaving the score unchanged as we entered half-time.

With all apparently well with his favoured team, Lord Vader found the time to pose for publicity photos during half time,

while the Death Stars themselves discovered that they have a fan-club amongst the spectators.

Period 2

The Death Stars re-entered the second period aggressively, determined to push their advantage (VIDEO), although with mixed success, the Omens' Slain Austen scoring in the second jam, while Mistress Malicious pushed the points differential pack the challengers' way the next jam. The teams were closely matched, however, Meg 4 Mercy taking lead jammer in jam 4, with sparse packs on both sides (Rogue Runner cougaring off for the Death Stars, and two Bad Omens blockers in the sin-bin already), and Lily Lethal (until a forearm block sent her to the sin-bin), and Chemikill Hazard proving too much for the Death Stars' Marshall Lawless. Once again, Mistress Malicious pushed the challengers' lead back to quo in the very next jam.

Marla Mayhem earning that Best Blocker award.

With the Omens taking a knee for a change in the sixth jam, to exploit a slight pack advantage (VIDEO), it was Meg 4 Mercy who took lead jammer, working her way past pivot Whisky Galore at the front. With half a track's lead, a little help from Lily Lethal, and a last-second lean of the hips, the Omens picked up a complete scoring pass, calling it just before the Death Stars' Rogue Runner began her own. Of course, as previously, the Death Stars restored their advantage in the next jam, Marshall Lawless picking up her own scoring pass against Slain Austen in jam 7.

The Death Stars' enthusiasm for taking the knee close to the jam line was finally curtailed in jam 8, Mistress Malicious' attempts to pass the 2-wall of Chemikill Hazard and Marla Mayhem resulting in an back-block minor sending her off to the sin-bin. The Omens' Jess E Ska still had to complete her initial pass to make use of the power-jam; Whisky Galore and Sykes were perhaps a little too determined to stop her, both picking up trips to the sin-bin themselves in close succession. With only two Death Stars on the track, this was now an easy scoring opportunity for the champions, 14 points starting to narrow the points differential for the first time in the period.

With the Omens now taking the knee to exploit the sparse pack, (VIDEO), the next jam was a predictable success, Meg 4 Mercy fighting her way quickly past Wild Oates and Mistress Malicious, while Rogue Runner was unable to pass the pack stacked against her. A single scoring pass, and the scores were potentially just a jam away from switching lead once more...

94 Death Stars : 90 Bad Omens

…but it wasn't to be, the next 4 jams seeing the two teams alternate scoring passes almost like clockwork, despite the Bad Omens taking the knee into each one.

With only two Omens blockers on track, the Death Stars took a knee into jam 13 (VIDEO), undoubtedly expecting an easy jam. While Marshall Lawless did exit the pack first, despite a last second (and low) block from Lily Lethal, she also picked up enough minors to send her to the sin-bin! Despite the power-jam, Omens jammer Jess E Ska only picked up a single scoring pass, her second spent behind an impassible Death Stars wall, or on the track where pivot Viper shoulder-checked her!

Breaking the deadlock, some exceptional pivot work by Sykes in the 14th jam saw the Omens' Meg 4 Mercy shunted behind a Death Stars wall and the Death Stars' Marshall Lawless handed a clear outside line in a single block, beautiful walling and some hammer-and-nail work from Whisky Galore, Wild Oates and Sykes keeping the Omens' jammer bouncing around on her initial pass while their own picked up a total of three grand slam passes! With that impressive performance, the Death Stars had restored their initial lead, the points now:

116 Death Stars : 99 Bad Omens

The worst luck comes in clusters. In this case (VIDEO), Slain Austen, having easily taken lead jammer, picking up a track-cut penalty on her scoring pass, and a trip to the sin-bin before Mistress Malicious had even made it out of the pack. The chance of a power-jam scoring galvanised the Death Stars blockers, however, Mazzy Chaos and pivot Viper trapping the Omens' pivot Chemikill Hazard to place their troublesome 3-wall out of play, freeing Mistress Malicious to score. The Omens weren't going quietly, forcing the challengers' jammer to pick up minors on her first and second scoring pass that sent her to the sin-bin instead, releasing Slain Austen onto the track. Barely had she returned, before she was knocked to the track by a combined block by Viper and Sykes, causing the jam to be called for injury. Luckily, it was nothing serious, and Slain Austen was not only able to make it off track, but also returned to jamming later in the period.

Still, the immediate effect of the early stop was to make the 16th jam (VIDEO) open with the power-jam still in place. The Death Stars had the pack advantage, though, and Chemikill Hazard found it nigh impossible to break through their defence, particularly that of Whisky Galore. By the time she'd finally completed her initial pass, the power-jam had ended, only enough time remaining to score a pair of points before calling it.

With Meg 4 Mercy continuing the Bad Omens resurgence into the next jam (VIDEO) for a couple more points, the champions took a knee into jam 18 (VIDEO) as well, only for the Death Stars' Mistress Malicious to take lead jammer, the Omens' Marla Mayhem getting sent off for blocking out of play to boot. A relatively easy scoring pass kept the points differential relatively safe for the challengers. A close run jam 19 (VIDEO), with lead jammer Rogue Runner only metres ahead of Slain Austen, didn't change much, both jammers scoring, to put the score at:

126 Death Stars : 111 Bad Omens

With only a few minutes on the clock (VIDEO), the Bad Omens had to continue pressing their attack to have a chance of pulling off a win. While Meg 4 Mercy took lead jammer, she was quickly outpaced by the Death Stars Mistress Malicious. Oddly, the Omens jammer was happy to waste time, coasting along until just before the challengers could score before calling the jam.
With just enough time for a final jam (VIDEO), the Bad Omens must have been praying for a power-jam, only 14 points separating the scores. If they were, the Gods were clearly fickle, as it was Slain Austen who got sent off, picking up a 4th minor for blocking with forearms. The Death Stars hardly needed the extra points, but Rogue Runner wasn't averse to good fortune, picking up a single grand slam pass against heavy opposition, to bring the unofficial final score to:

131 Death Stars : 111 Bad Omens

That wasn't the end of matters, however, with an unusually long post-bout deliberation from the referees, and the score unconfirmed.

Finally, with everyone agreed, the final score was up as:

134 Death Stars : 111 Bad Omens

ticking up to

during the high-fives.

Conclusions and Awards

This was an exceptionally close fought bout, both teams showing why they deserved to be in the final. While the Death Stars certainly earned the Championship, having the lead more often, and for longer, than the Omens, it was never a sure thing; had the final jam been a power jam in the other direction, the Bad Omens could easily have retained the Silver Helmet for another year. This can only be a good thing for the spectators and the skaters, however, and next year it could all change again; maybe even the Hell's Belles could make their way to the final!

Awards

Best Blocker

Death Stars

Whisky Galore

Bad Omens

Marla Mayhem

Best Jammer

Death Stars

Mistress Malicious

Bad Omens

Meg 4 Mercy

MVP

Death Stars

Sykes

Bad Omens

Chemikill Hazard

Notes and Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Glasgow Roller Girls for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Helliverance and Sven?.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with a second-hand 24-105mm Minolta AF lens, and no flash.

A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:
YouTube Playlist
Picasa Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/GlasgowRollerGirlsIntraleagueFinal12November2011DeathStarsVsBadOmens?authuser=0&feat=directlink
(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

Professional photography for GRG is handled by the excellent Dave McAleavy, who has a website for his bout photos.

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author.
You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

GRG Death Stars vs Bad Omens Macaron Special!

2011-11-11T10:24:00.001Z

So, I blogged about macarons last around the time of the first Team Scotland public bout, when I gave my recipes for Team Scotland and Team Steve Macarons.

Since then, I've also baked macarons the second Team Scotland outing (against the Northern AllStars), but didn't really change the recipe much, so there wasn't much point in blogging.

This Saturday, however, is the final of the Glasgow Roller Girls Intraleague Season Two, featuring the Death Stars vs the Bad Omens for the second time!

In honour of both teams, I have prepared some new macarons, which I shall tell you how to make.

Death Stars on the left, Bad Omens on the right.

All macaron shells are based on the recipe linked in the previous article.

Death Stars Macarons

Shells

Make the shells as with the above recipe, substituting vanilla sugar for granulated sugar.

Filling

(blueberry butter icing)

Make butter icing as in the above recipe for Team Scotland macarons. Reduce 200 to 300g of frozen blueberries, with a tablespoon of water to stop them burning at first, until they form a thick jam. Strain, and allow to cool. Gradually blend the blueberry essence into the buttercream until you achieve a strong colour and taste without thinning the mix too much. Adjust sweetness and consistency with additional sugar (castor or icing).

Assembly

Pipe the blueberry icing onto one shell, and assemble with a matching shell with a slight twisting motion.

Bad Omens Macarons

Shells

Make shells as with the Best of the Rest chocolate macaron shells.

Filling

(raspberry butter icing)

Make as with the above Death Stars icing, but substitute raspberries for blueberries.

Assembly

As above!

Bout Report: GRG Irn-Bruisers vs Rainy City Roller Girls 29 October 2011

2011-11-06T17:49:00.000Z

As I mentioned in the previous report, last Saturday's Hallowe'en themed roller derby at Glasgow was a double header. Having covered the international bout first on the agenda, this report covers the second: the traditional yearly matchup between Glasgow's 'A'-team, the Irn-Bruisers, and Manchester's Rainy City Roller Girls. The previous two years had been wins for the hosting team - Glasgow in 2009, and Rainy City in 2010 - so the onus was on the away team to break the pattern this time!

First, of course, the skateout!

Period 1

The first five jams of the bout were somewhat inconclusive, neither team managing to get a cohesive advantage over the other (see, for example, jam 4 (VIDEO) ). As with the previous bout, it was to be a power-jam that finally broke that deadlock.

Randi Razorlegs and Marshall Lawless contest for lead jammer.

Coming into jam 6, it looked like Randi Razorlegs (L11) had successfully slipped around the inside-line to take lead-jammer, but the eagle eyes of referee Karl Lager-Filled detected track-cutting, for which the Rainy City jammer was sent off to the sin-bin. Slowing the pack, pivot Viper (27) and the rest of the Bruisers blockers made it easy for jammer Marshall Lawless (42) to rack up the points: 22 of them before the power-jam ended!

As with so many bouts, a single jam was enough to shake the scoreboard up, the scores now:

30 GRG : 13 RCRG

With their lead established, the home team continued to press their advantage, jams 7 (VIDEO) and 8 seeing great defensive work in the pack to give jammers Marla Mayhem (13) and Megan Hyndman (4) strong leads over Rainy City's Missy Rascal (6) and Elle Loco (K-133), enough to score single passes each.
Clearly, the Rainy City skaters needed to think outside the box to break through the home team's impressive blocking. In the ninth jam, they finally got a chance to do so: with the pack formed up against the jam line (GRG taking a knee to exploit a numerical advantage), RCRG's Missy Rascal immediately performed a star pass, reaching over the entire pack to hand her jammer panty to pivot, Dee-Mise (18), at the front. While this didn't grant them lead-jammer status (Dee-Mise not actually having passed any of the opposing team in the pack), it did seem to confuse the Irn-Bruisers sufficiently to break their grip on events, Hardcore Prawn (88) battling her way past Missy Rascal (apparently attempting a Gotham-style face-to-face block) but without lead-jammer status. With neither jammer in a position to call the jam, it went to time, both teams picking up multiple passes, to bring the score to:

Dee-Mise and Missy Rascal's star pass gambit in process.

45 GRG : 24 RCRG

This is the kind of trick that only works once, however, and the away team might have played it too early, the next 4 jams proving as inconclusive as the first five had, despite yet another power jam in jam 10 for the away team. With a fast pack limiting Belle-istic's ability to score, she called the jam; the rest of the power-jam much better exploited by Rainy City captain Missy Rascal, accounting for most of their points here. With Rainy City taking a knee into the next jam (VIDEO), it was Marla Mayhem who took lead, setting the theme for the next few short jams.

Hardcore Prawn had to fight for every point here.

Just as in the previous case, the run was ended by another dramatic power-jam, in the 14th jam. With Rainy City taking a knee into the jam, to exploit a numerical advantage, both Hardcore Prawn and Elle Loco faced a strongly defensive pack, the Rainy City jammer faced with a strong forward wall from Lily Lethal (5), Chemikill Hazard (LD50) and Slain Austen (823.7), and Hardcore Prawn the blocking expertise of Dee-Mise, Sookie Sock'em and Mama Firefly (667). After a last-second block from Dee-Mise put paid to the Bruiser's break for freedom, it was Elle Loco who took lead jammer, only to be sent to the sin-bin during her first scoring pass. Adapting quickly to the change in circumstances, Hardcore Prawn fought her way repeatedly through a slow moving pack to take 10 points in the power-jam, and setting the score at:

59 GRG : 35 RCRG

With the dying seconds of the power-jam extending into the next jam (VIDEO), Marshall Lawless was a little too hasty getting through the pack, failing to do so cleanly enough to take lead jammer. Her haste did her no favours in her scoring pass, either, some track cutting on the outside line sending her to the sin-bin just as Elle Loco was coming back on track. The excitement wasn't over, however, the Rainy City jammer managing to get herself sent off again on her second scoring pass for a back block major, returning Marshall Lawless to the track just as two of GRG's blockers left it for the sin-bin themselves. With the pack balanced against her, the Bruisers' jammer fought hard to complete her scoring pass, barely managing to do so as the whistle blew.

They're not really quite this different in size in real life!

While Marshall Lawless and Hardcore Prawn had already managed high-scoring power-jams, Marla Mayhem was about to demonstrate it was quite possible to do the same thing with your opposing skater on the track. With only Viper and Chemikill Hazard on the track for the Irn-Bruisers, it took some help from their jammer to hold back Elle-Loco (starting from off track) as the jam began; as soon as her services were no longer needed, with Lucky Hateball (8) emerging from the penalty area, Marla Mayhem surged ahead to take lead-jammer. With the Rainy City jammer held securely behind a forward wall, the home team picked up a safe pair of scoring passes before calling it as she emerged.
Despite high scoring on both sides, the points differential had barely moved, the scores now standing at:

73 GRG : 43 RCRG

While Rainy City had a chance to recoup their losses in jam 17 (VIDEO), a messy start seeing the Bruisers' Megan Hyndman sent to the sin-bin on her initial pass, while Belle-istic took lead jammer. Not many points in this power-jam, however, the Rainy City jammer calling it immediately after being blocked off the track by pivot Wild Oates. This did mean that the majority of the power-jam extended into the next jam (VIDEO); however, with Randi Razorlegs struggling to pass a strongly defensive GRG forward wall, Megan Hyndman was back on track before Rainy City had picked up any points. To add insult to injury, the Rainy City jammer was sent off almost immediately for blocking to the back, handing the power-jam across. With the home team lined up stationary at the outside of the track, it seemed that Megan Hyndman would have no trouble picking up points; ironically, a back-block major on her second scoring pass put paid to that, sending her back to the sin-bin as the jam whistle blew!
Jam 19 (VIDEO), then, started with both jammers in the penalty box, even if Rainy City's Randi Razorlegs was standing ready to reenter the jam. Once again, an exceedingly strong defence from the home team, Wild Oates and Lucky Hateball in particular, minimised the losses, until the jam was called early due to injury.
When play resumed, there was only time for a single jam before half-time, (VIDEO), Rainy City's Belle-istic taking lead jammer over Marshall Lawless thanks to some exceptional blocking from the away team. The Rainy City jammer found her scoring pass curtailed by another one of those impassible GRG walls, however, and left it slightly too late to call the jam, both teams picking up points and leaving the score at half time:

82 GRG : 55 RCRG

After half-time, play resumed in period 2, which started a little late as the scores had apparently been accidentally reset for both teams!

Period 2

The second period started as closely contested as the first had, both teams slowly edging their scores higher, with perhaps a slight advantage to the away team (for example, see the first jam (VIDEO) ). The first big score of the period had to wait until jam 5. With GRG's Viper in the sin-bin, Rainy City took a knee into the jam, but it was the Irn-Bruisers' Marshall Lawless who fought her way through their forward wall first, to take lead jammer, Rainy City's Randi Razorlegs ending up in the sin-bin instead. She didn't spend long there, however, an incident during the GRG jammer's scoring pass sending her straight to the sin-bin herself, and releasing her opposite number in turn.
Continuing their power-jam into the sixth jam, captain Missy Rascal effortlessly took lead jammer (with a little help from pivot Dee-Mise), picking up another 9 points before calling it to prevent a returning Marshall Lawless from scoring.
With that good fortune, the Rainy City Roller Girls looked like they might be able to pull things back in the second period, the score now a considerably closer:

99 GRG : 89 RCRG

With that confusion over, the next two were almost sedate, Marla Mayhem picking up a single pass' worth of points in jam 7 (VIDEO), and then Missy Rascal managing a partial redress, with 2 points in the next.

This became something of a habit during the bout...

The ninth jam started a little messily, both jammers having to fight through strong walls after a Rainy City knee released them into the pack. While Marla Mayhem fought her way through the wall at the front, Randi Razorlegs was less fortunate at the rear, ending up sent to the sin-bin instead. This time, however, the away team proved themselves in defence, the GRG jammer failing to pass their wall on her third scoring pass (knocking Sookie Sock'em over in the process), instead herself heading off to the sin-bin! With Randi Razorlegs back on the track, the Rainy City blockers slowed the pack down; two more Irn-Bruisers getting themselves sent off in the process! With Marla Mayhem being sent off so late in the jam, the situation continued into the next jam, (VIDEO) team captain Missy Rascal taking full advantage of the reduced GRG presence on track to pick up 8 points before the Bruiser's jammer returned to the track.

After that excitement, the home team needed to show they handn't lost heart. Megan Hyndman was the one to do it, taking lead jammer she took no issue in knocking down Elle Loco to make herself more space on her second scoring pass, taking the score to:

124 GRG : 103 RCRG

that 20 point lead looking pretty constant.

This wasn't much of a respite. History repeated in jams 12 and 13: once again handed a power jam, Marla Mayhem proceeded to lap a stationary pack repeatedly, fighting her way through the Rainy City wall each time. Inevitably, the penalties accrued eventually sent the GRG jammer to the sin-bin, allowing a last minute scoring push by Missy Rascal. As before, this Rainy City power-jam extended into the next jam, where (VIDEO) Belle-istic (13) fought her way past a two-wall of Slain Austen (823.7) and Lucky Hateball (8) to continue the scoring run. Once again, however, the home teams excellent blocking limited the damage done, the scoreline sitting at:

139 GRG : 111 RCRG

With Missy Rascal stuck behind the Bruisers' wall once more in the next jam, Megan Hyndman had no problems picking up 8 points to increase the home team's lead again, although her call was too late to stop Rainy City picking up some points of their own. The 15th jam was a little more clear cut (VIDEO), Marshall Lawless managing a clean 4 point pass before calling; the very next jam (VIDEO), Missy Rascal repeating the same for the away team. With Megan Hyndman returning to repeat the process for the Irn-Bruisers in the 17th jam, the score, with only about 3 minutes left on the clock, was:

155 GRG : 119 RCRG

The penultimate jam of the bout started slowly (VIDEO), Hateball and Wild Oates (3) keeping the rest of the pack pressed up against the jam line while they waited for their fellow blockers to serve their time in the sin-bin. When the action finally started, with RCRG taking a knee to destroy the pack, it was only for their jammer Missy Rascal to immediately get herself sent off for a back-block to Wild Oates. A sedately skating Irn-Bruisers pack kept things slow for Marshall Lawless to capitalise on the power jam, which she did, despite some heavy blocking from Oona Bomber (75) and Sookie Sock'em. Fifteen points later, and all hope for a last-jam resurgence by the away team had evaporated, the score sitting at:

170 GRG : 119 RCRG

And, indeed, the final jam (VIDEO) only cemented that; with Missy Rascal sent off again, Marla Mayhem didn't have to do much in her new power-jam, which was lucky, as the Rainy City blockers weren't about to let her pass. Considering the scores, Marla was content to just wait behind the stationary pack until Slain Austen and Sykes (360°) made her a path, calling the jam well before a returning Missy Rascal got to pick up any points.

With that, then the final score of the bout sat at:

175 GRG : 119 RCRG

Conclusions and Awards.

This was a spectacular bout, if for some of the wrong reasons. While Rainy City's star pass was a great piece of tactics, and the Irn Bruisers' blocking was impressively solid and coordinated, this was perhaps overshadowed by the huge number of power-jams (and multiple power-jams in one jam) that occurred.
It also continues the trend of each team tending to win on their home ground; we'll have to wait until 2012 to see if the Irn Bruisers can be the first to break it when they play in Manchester.

Awards

Best Blocker

Glasgow Roller Girls

Lily Lethal

Rainy City Roller Girls

Belle-istic

Best Jammer

Glasgow Roller Girls

Betty Gogo*

Rainy City Roller Girls

Missy Rascal

MVP

Glasgow Roller Girls

Marshall Lawless

Rainy City Roller Girls

Dee-Mise

*(who didn't jam - perhaps the Rainy City girls were thinking of Mistress Malicious, who skates as 99 to Betty's 999?)

Acknowledgements and notes.

Thanks to the Glasgow Roller Girls and Rainy City Roller Girls for an excellent game.

Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Helliverance and Handsome Joe Hanson.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with a second-hand 24-105mm Minolta AF lens, and no flash.

A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:

YouTube Playlist

Picasa Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/GRGIrnBruisersVsRainyCityRollerGirls29October2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

Professional photography for GRG is handled by the excellent Dave McAleavy, who has a website for his bout photos.

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author.

You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

Bout Report: GRG Maiden Grrders vs Malmö Crime City Rollers 29/10/11

2011-11-04T21:09:00.000Z

The 29th of September saw Glasgow Roller Girls host their traditional Hallowe'en themed bout, with fancy dress and a generally ghoulish theme. While the bout against Rainy City is the regular feature, this year's "Monster Bash" was a double-header, featuring new Swedish team Malmö Crime City Rollers first up on the agenda. Facing Glasgow's 'B' travel team, the Maiden Grrders, this promised to be an exciting bout.

First up, of course, we have to be introduced to all the skaters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwbSRQmACSg

Period 1

Fightin' Torque faces off against CCR's Barbara Barfight.

For almost the entire first period, Malmö Crime City Rollers and the Maiden Grrders looked almost inseparable in performance. Despite an early power-jam handing GRG's Fightin' Torque (531) the chance to pick up 14 points, only two jams later Jess E Ska (31) handed the sixth and seventh (VIDEO) jams to Crime City, JJ Fury (159) and Curly Håår (100) taking advantage of their own power-jams to reverse the situation, until a bad challenge in jam seven saw the CCR jammer sent off herself. Entering the eighth jam once again with only their jammer on track, and a numbers advantage in the pack, the Maiden Grrders took a knee, and the chance to push the score once again in their own direction. With the Malmö blockers outnumbered, they were unable to prevent GRG's Rogue Runner (210) from picking up an impressive haul, two more skaters finding themselves sent off for blocking out of play as the home team simply stood still on the track!

The excitement wasn't finished, however, with Peggy Su-icide getting herself sent off in the very next jam, CCR's Ankefar getting the chance to show her own mettle on the track, bringing home 24 points in a single jam!

41 GRG : 49 CCR

After all that penalty time, both teams seemed to have worked out their tensions, and the next five jams saw more cautious play, the home team gradually eroding the small points deficit, starting with a conservative tenth jam (VIDEO) from Fightin' Torque, and continuing through the 13th (VIDEO), bringing the score eventually to a close:

61 GRG : 59 CCR

at the end of the 15th jam. All this was about to change, however.

With only 4 minutes left in the bout, it was GRG's Peggy Su-icide up, jamming against Malmö's Happy Army (217). (VIDEO) Both jammers were given a hard time, Happy Army skipping around Grrders co-captain Haberbashery (40), before encountering the two-woman blocking team of Jackash (911) and Mazzy Chaos (R10T) out front. Being blocked out into the crowd wasn't the worst of it, for the CCR jammer, who was immediately sent off for track-cutting, just as Peggy Su-icide took lead jammer. With the Glasgow blockers simply stopping at the edge of the track, Crime City seemed unable to get things moving again, wary of their experience of jam 8; with the addition of some excellent jamming, this resulted in a massive 28 point power jam for the home team!

For the first time in the bout, there was a clear leader, the score now (with one jam left in the period) at:

89 GRG : 59 CCR

Shrugging off this last minute blow to their chances (VIDEO), Ankefar dodged past GRG's Lola Bruises (96, pivot), while teammates Barbara Barfight (101, pivot) and Fröken Smacky (85) made things hard for GRG's Rogue Runner, who was freed only after the pack was intentionally split (and after a scoring pass by Ankefar). With much more resistance on her second pass, especially from Lola Bruises, the Malmö jammer didn't manage to call it before her opponent also picked up a couple of points, leaving the score at half-time:

91 GRG : 67 CCR

After a half-time filled with costume contests (for which the Bride of Frankenstein won the adult costume prize), and unexpected performances...

Period 2

Curly Håår means business.

Returning to the second period, Malmö had clearly been given a pep talk from their coach. Over the first five jams, they outplayed the home team, wearing away at the spoils of that late power-jam inexorably. Jam 1 (VIDEO) and jam 4 (VIDEO) are reflective of the experience; Ankefar picking up a good lead over GRG's Rogue Runner thanks to good walling from pivot Barbara Barfight, Fröken Smacky and Belgian Bob^*(88), and then Curly Håår totally outskating the GRG blockers to take the lead in jam 4. So cohesive was the CCR blocking that Jess E Ska had to resort to a star pass in the third jam, handing over to pivot Lola Bruises, just to limit the away team's scoring to a pair of passes in the jam.

At the end of jam 5, the away team had actually taken the lead, the score now sitting at:

91 GRG : 94 CCR !

Jam 6 initially looked like it would be the start of a Maiden Grrders push back, Peggy Su-icide taking lead jammer for GRG for the first time in the period, only for CCR's JJ Fury (159) to overtake her on the track, nullifying her advantage. It was only in the next jam (VIDEO) that Fightin' Torque acquired a good enough lead to bring home a single scoring pass, a performance that they couldn't sustain into jam 8, Malmö's Happy Army instead taking lead jammer while most of the Maiden Grrders ended up in the sin-bin.

Indeed, with jam 9 (VIDEO) another no-score, and jam 10 seeing the Malmö team once again scoring it wasn't looking that good for the home team, with the score halfway through the period standing at:

99 GRG : 112 CCR

Peggy Su-icide faces off against the CCR pack.

As with the previous period, it was a power-jam that properly kickstarted the home team's return to the game. With Ankefar and Fightin' Torque racing each other through the pack, it was the CCR jammer who make it through first, only to be sent straight to the sin-bin for an illegal procedure. While some exceptional walling from CCR's Sister Stitch (2), Venom (11), Fröken Smacky and Happy Army delayed the GRG jammer for some time (despite Happy Army getting herself sent off for blocking out of play), eventually Fightin' Torque won through, with GRG holding the pack almost stationary as in the first period. Things got even worse for the away team, however, with Ankefar returning to the track only to almost immediately get sent back off again, just in time for the end of the period. Despite Malmö taking a time-out to argue against their jammer's position, jam 12 (VIDEO) started, with Ankefar still in the sin-bin, and GRG's Zombilina (15) capitalising on the second power-jam in a row to pick up yet more points for the home team.

Two jams had completely reversed the situation on track, the score now standing at:

128 GRG : 112 CCR

GRG couldn't maintain the momentum, however, failing to accrue any points in the next two jams, Rogue Runner picking up only a pair of points in jam 15, and jam 16 (VIDEO) yet another no-score, Fightin' Torque unable to outpace Ankefar on the track.

Curly Håår, about to take lead jammer.

It was the seventeenth jam before any real movement happened, with only 8 minutes left in the bout. With CCR's Curly Håår slipping around the outside line to take lead jammer, GRG's Rogue Runner found herself trapped behind an impenetrable wall. Unable to pass Sister Stitch and Fröken Smacky, the Maiden Grrders jammer picked up a trip to the sin-bin instead, and Curly Håår capitalised. With her teammates slowing the pack, despite some determined blocking from the home team (which resulted in two trips to the sin-bin), the Malmö jammer managed to pick up 20 points by the time Rogue Runner returned to the track, bringing the scores back to within a single point:

131 GRG : 132 CCR

A tense series of jams followed, Fightin' Torque effortlessly taking lead jammer in the first (VIDEO), but with only two blockers to oppose her, Happy Army only a short distance behind. Two points to GRG; just enough to switch the lead over, but still only with a single point in it! Ankefar faired a little better in jam 19 (VIDEO), out of the pack while Rogue Runner struggled once more with great defensive walling; the CCR jammer was missing lead status, however, and as soon as Rogue Runner escaped the pack (with the help of Zombilina), she called it; but not before the score had swung the other way, with a whole 5 point lead for the away team.
With only enough time for one or two jams, the Maiden Grrders would have to manage something special, and Fightin' Torque did (VIDEO), taking lead jammer and multiple scoring passes while some excellent waterfalling and walling from Mazzy Chaos, Jess E Ska and Mona Rampage (22) kept Curly Håår locked up in the pack. The result? The fourth lead change in as many jams, with GRG now sitting with a 6 point lead entering the final jam of the bout.

Ankefar knew that a Malmö CCR win was on her shoulders, and she fought her way through to take lead jammer, despite a parting block spinning her half around (VIDEO). With more than half a circuit's lead over Rogue Runner, Ankefar easily completed her first scoring pass, slipping past the pack without the Grrders even noticing. To the surprise of the crowd, however, she almost immediately called the jam, despite needing a second pass for her team to actually win.

With that tactical misstep, then, the bout ended, the final score:

143 GRG : 141 CCR

Awards and conclusions

After a tremendously hard-fought final third, neither team really deserved to lose here; although, sans-power-jams the bout would have been much less close. Crime City Rollers can particularly congratulate themselves on an exceptional opening to the second period, as Crime City captain, Barbara Barfight, and jammer Ankefar noted when I caught up with them after the bout. Asked how they felt the bout had gone, they responded positively:

Barfight: I think we have a team of very different types of skaters; we hadn't played that much together in this specific team and [with] these players. I think that we did a very good job today: we worked well together building our walls, and the jammers did a really good job too (laughter from Ankefar) . I think that we did, in the second half of the bout, an even better job; I think we caught up a bit.
And it's difficult to, to come here and to know how the Glasgow girls will play. That's always difficult to know.

Ankefar: but we've learned very nice things that we can take with us back home.

Barfight: definitely!

With Team Sweden about 50% Crime City skaters, this performance can only bode well for their performance in the World Cup next month! Of course, the winners here were the home team, who also upped their game in the second period, Fightin' Torque in particular showing her usual high quality jamming.

Awards

Best Blocker

Glasgow Roller Girls

Scara-leigh

Crime City Rollers

Dusty Minefield

Best Jammer

Glasgow Roller Girls

Fightin' Torque

Crime City Roller

Curly Håår

MVP

Glasgow Roller Girls

Jackash

Crime City Rollers

Barbara Barfight

^*Not in programme.

Acknowledgements and notes.

Thanks to the Glasgow Roller Girls and Malmö Crime City Rollers for an excellent game.

Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Helliverance and Handsome Joe Hanson.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with a second-hand 24-105mm Minolta AF lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:

YouTube Playlist.

Picasa Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/GRGMaidenGrrdersVsMalmoCrimeCityRollers291011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

Professional photography for GRG is handled by the excellent Dave McAleavy, who has a website for his bout photos.

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

Bout Report: Glasgow Roller Girls: Intraleague Season 2. Death Stars vs Hell's Belles

2011-10-12T21:17:00.000+01:00

The 8th of October saw the third and final of the "qualifying rounds" in Season Two of Glasgow Roller Girls' Intraleague tournament. With the Bad Omens already through to the final, after defeating both challengers, the following bout saw the Death Stars and Hell's Belles fighting it out for the remaining place.

Skateout VIDEO
-

Period 1

Fightin' Torque and Jess E Ska neck and neck in the pack.

Opening the first period fairly evenly matched, the Death Stars still finished the first five jams ahead by 15 pts to 1, mostly thanks to a power-jam for Mistress Malicious (99) (VIDEO) in jam 3 (the Hell's Belles' Slain Austen (823.7), skating in her first bout since recovering from injury, having been sent off, after struggling to pass the Death Stars' Wild Oates (3)).

15 Death Stars : 01 Hell's Belles

Not to be out-done, the Belles showed that they could fight just as hard, Slain Austen triumphing over Mistress Malicious in their rematch, to score a single pass in jam 6. This seemed to be the signal for a Belles resurgence, with Meg 4 Mercy (4) (VIDEO) managing a single scoring pass in the next jam, despite not taking lead jammer (the Death Stars' Sykes (360°) did, and called the jam immediately), and Fightin' Torque (531) doing likewise in jam 8, to bring the scores level at:

15 Death Stars : 15 Hell's Belles

with more than half of the period still to play.

Slain Austen pulls ahead of Wild Oates,
thanks to pack advantage

Slain Austen wasn't finished making it clear she was back and fighting fit, however. With both Mistress Malicious and Rogue Runner in the sin-bin for the Death stars, the Hell's Belles took the knee into jam 9, where Slain Austen showed her true form, blasting through the pack to take lead. While Chemkill Hazard (LD50) and Haberbashery (40) kept Wild Oates locked up in the pack, the Belles picked up 12 points worth of grand-slam passes.

Meg 4 Mercy did a little less well in her next rematch against Sykes (VIDEO); the two jammers proved equally matched this time around, and the jam was called no-score.
Obviously, however, the current scoring trend was starting to worry the Death Stars, and they called a time-out for bench manager Knuckles to dispense wisdom.
On return, however, things didn't seem to have changed much, Fightin' Torque still managing a full scoring pass ahead of Mistress Malicious in jam 11 to put the score at:

15 Death Stars : 31 Hell's Belles

Things started to slip by the very next jam, however, Death Stars jammer Marshall Lawless (42) managing a dead-heat through the pack against Slain Austen, calling it for a no-score.

And then we reached the 13th jam of the period (VIDEO), pitting relatively new jammer Rogue Runner (210) against the Belles' Meg 4 Mercy. The Death Stars took the knee into the jam while Sister Grimm was in the penalty box for the Belles, the advantage proving too much for the Hell's Belles jammer, who eventually managed to get herself sent off herself, just as Sister Grimm reentered the track. With the Death Stars taking Belles' pivot Lola Bruises (96) as a goat, Rogue Runner almost effortlessly picked up a whole 15 points in a single power jam.

30 Death Stars : 31 Hell's Belles

A single jam had almost completely reversed all the good work the Hell's Belles had put into their lead. It would be hard not to be demoralised by this turn of events, and it certainly seemed as if the Death Stars had regained the advantage, the next 4 jams showing Marshall Lawless and Rogue Runner (VIDEO) both scoring for the dark side of the force (with Mistress Malicious proving equally matched with Slain Austen in the next episode of their shared jams (VIDEO)), bringing the score, with just one jam left in the first period, to

50 Death Stars : 31 Hell's Belles

With their last chance to change the momentum of the bout ahead of half-time ahead of them, the Belles played experienced Slain Austen against the Death Stars' new star Rogue Runner in jam 18 (VIDEO). Both jammers found the pack unforgiving, but it was Rogue Runner who slipped around the inside of the Belles' Sister Grimm (57) to take lead jammer. Indeed, the difficulty of the pack caused Slain Austen to eventually make her second trip to the sin-bin, handing the Death Stars a power-jam. Despite Lola Bruises (96) and Sister Grimm making things as hard as possible for Rogue Runner, a pack numbers advantage for the Death Stars made it easy for the lead team to repeatedly put them out of play, allowing their jammer through. With a final haul of 15 points before Slain returned to the track, the first period ended with the score:

65 Death Stars : 31 Hell's Belles

-
-

Period 2

If the last jam of the first period had been horrible for the Belles, Fightin' Torque was determined that the first jam of the second would be better, battling through a nearly-out-of-play Death Stars wall to take lead jammer ahead of Marshall Lawless (VIDEO). Only enough of a lead to take 2 points, but still, a sign that the Belles were still in the game.

65 Death Stars : 33 Hell's Belles

The next two jams saw the teams trading points: Mistress Malicious picking up a full scoring pass ahead of a throughly trapped Slain Austen (the Death Stars jammer could have comfortably tried for a second, but didn't bother), only for Meg 4 Mercy to pick up another 2 points for the Belles in jam 3.
So, with the points differential back to what it was at the start of the period, it was Marshall Lawless for the Death Stars against Fightin' Torque for the Hell's Belles in the fourth jam of the period (VIDEO). Marshall Lawless powered through the pack, shrugging off a block from Lola Bruises to take lead jammer... while Fightin' Torque found an increasingly fast pack hard to escape from. With Sister Grimm, and then pivot Lola Bruises both sent to the sin-bin, the numbers were against the Belles; the Death Stars picked up 14 points in grand-slam passes before Torque escaped from the pack, Marshall Lawless immediately calling it.

83 Death Stars : 35 Hell's Belles

Slain Austen jinking.

With the Death Stars' Marshall Lawless cougaring off at the start of jam 5, the Hell's Belles had the ideal chance to attempt a resurgence, and they took it. Released immediately with her teammates taking a knee, Slain Austen jinked around the outside of Sykes at the head of the pack to take lead jammer, while the Death Stars' Rogue Runner was faced with a nigh-impenetrable Belles wall at the rear of the pack. Four points for the Belles, and the chance to show they still had a fight in them. With more Death Stars in the sin-bin at the end of the jam, the advantage was still to their opponents. Things only got better for the Belles when Mistress Malicious managed to get herself sent to the sin-bin for her involvement in a multiple skater fall, handing Meg 4 Mercy a power-jam. With the numbers still to their advantage for much of the jam, the Belles slowed the pack, allowing their jammer to pick up 15 points before the Death Stars' jammer returned to the track and completed her own initial pass.

83 Death Stars : 54 Hell's Belles

The Death Stars weren't about to let their lead evaporate just like that, however. The very next jam (VIDEO) saw a bit of help from pivot Viper (29) propel the Death Stars' Rogue Runner into lead jammer status, ahead of Fightin' Torque, who was given significant trouble by Jess E Ska (31) and Viper. Enough for a pass and a bit of scoring, the Death Stars not being in any rush to pick up tons of points.

Marshall Lawless, behind an amazing cooperative
Death Stars block.

This attitude was made more obvious in jam 8, Marshall Lawless picking up a scoring pass' worth of points ahead of the Belles' Slain Austen, but happy to let her opponent skate around the track a bit before calling the jam. The trend of Death Stars dominance continued for the next nine jams, the Belles barely seeing a scoring opportunity. Most dramatically, a repeat of period 1 saw the recurring rematch between Mistress Malicious and Slain Austen in jam 11 (VIDEO) become a power-jam, the Hell's Belles jammer finding herself in the sin-bin for the second time in the bout.

Only Fightin' Torque managed to score any points at all, escaping from a Death Stars wall at the very climax of the 16th jam (VIDEO) to grab three points. The Death Stars were barely dismayed by this, however, Wild Oates (VIDEO) still managing to pick up a full scoring pass in the next jam, despite half of the Death Stars blockers sitting in the sin-bin, bringing the score to:

138 Death Stars : 57 Hell's Belles

Finally, with minutes left in the bout, the Hell's Belles managed to get their skate together (VIDEO). After another slow Death Stars start, pivot Mistress Malicious apparently reluctant to come and play with the others, it was Meg 4 Mercy who slipped around the outside line, and into lead jammer status, despite the numbers advantage to the Death Stars. Still, with the pack kept exceptionally fast, the Belles' jammer only had time for a single pass before Sykes caught her up, The Death Stars pivot proving an almost impossible challenge at the head of the pack.

Finally, with sisters Slain Austen and Scara-leigh (616) facing off in the last jam of the bout (VIDEO), it was the Belles' jammer who managed to escape the pack first, Scara-leigh being given a very hard time by Jackash (911) and Lola Bruises. It wasn't a large lead, but Slain Austen used it well, slipping around the inside of the Death Stars' fast-moving front line to take a final 4 points for the Belles.
It was never going to be enough to win the bout, but maybe it was enough to retain the Belles' honour, the final score standing at:

142 Death Stars : 65 Hell's Belles

Aftermath, Awards

Despite the look of the scores, both teams played an exceptionally good game, with the first period particularly filled with close-run jams. If anything, the Death Stars benefited slightly more often from a pack numerical advantage, with several of their skaters obviously trying to avoid penalties and stay out of the sin-bin.

The result, however, means that the Death Stars go forward to the season final, fighting out with the Bad Omens as they did last season.

Awards

Helliverance giving Belles'
"Best Jammer" Meg 4 Mercy
a victory whirl.

Best Blocker

Hell's Belles

Mazzy Chaos

Death Stars

Whisky Galore

Best Jammer

Hell's Belles

Meg 4 Mercy

Death Stars

Marshall Lawless

Most Valuable Player

Hell's Belles

Chemikill Hazard

Death Stars

Mistress Malicious

More conventionally,
Death Stars MVP
Mistress Malicious
goes for a hug.

Acknowledgements and Disclaimers.

Thanks to the Glasgow Roller Girls for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Helliverance and the other guy (who's never mentioned in the bout programme).
The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with the kit lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:

YouTube Playlist
Picasa Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/GRGIntraleagueSeason2DeathStarsVsHellSBelles?authuser=0&feat=directlink
(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

Professional photography for GRG is handled by the excellent Dave McAleavy, who has a website for his bout photos.

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

Bout Report: Team Scotland vs The Best of The Rest (aka "Team Steve")

2011-09-12T22:25:00.000+01:00

As everyone who follows roller derby should be aware, the first ever Roller Derby World Cup is due to be held in Toronto, in the first week of December. 13 countries are sending national teams to the event, including Scotland. The final make-up of Team Scotland has been determined for a while now, after a series of elimination rounds, to select the best candidates from those who put themselves forward.

Of course, the one problem with having a national team is... who do you play against?

Team Scotland decided to solve this problem in the most pragmatic way possible: since no other team exists who can play you in Scotland, you'll have to make one. Thus, "The Best of The Rest" team (playing under their adoptive name of "Team Steve") was formed, consisting of the best players from Scottish leagues who either didn't make the national team, were ineligible for selection (by, for example, not being Scottish themselves), or just didn't put themselves forward. Indeed, Team Steve even contains Dundee Roller Girls' Psychomilly^*, Granite City's Rock'n Riot and Ruby Riot and Auld Reekie's Velosidy; the reserves for Team Scotland itself!

With a suitably awesome team created, all that was left was to set a time to play them. 10/09/11 has a nice feel to it as a date...

So, assembled in the ARC sports hall, at Glasgow Caledonian University, at 1300 hours, the world's first public demonstration of what Scottish Roller Derby could manage began...

...with the skateout! (Here we can see just how awesome the Team Steve boutfits are, which is impressive, considering how little time they had to make them...)

(For this bout, we'll be referring to The Best of The Rest as Team Steve and TBoTR, to save electrons. "TS" will always refer to Team Scotland.)
^*In addition to the Team Scotland fund for attending the World Cup, Dundee Roller Girls have a separate fund for flying Psychomilly over as a reserve. The donations can be made from the Dundee Roller Girls website.

Period 1

The bout proper began with Team Scotland demonstrating extremely impressive team coordination over the first seven bouts, with Team Steve scoring only a single point, to the national team's 29 (that point being in the 4th jam, where Ruby Riot (08) fought her way through the pack ahead of Marshall Lawless (f104), but only scored a single point before she had to call it, thanks to great cooperative blocking from Fight Cub (182) and Bronx Betty (319), and from pivot Viper (29) ). In fact, it was the difference in blocking cohesion that made the difference in many of the jams; in the first jam of the bout, for example, Team Steve jammer Megan Hyndman (4) was neck and neck through the pack with Team Scotland's Minnie Riot (7), when Fight Cub and Bronx Betty knocked her down, handing Lead Jammer to Minnie. Jam 3 (VIDEO) was another excellent example, with TBoTR's Psychomilly (69) only caught at the last second by pivot Crazylegs (77), allowing Mo B Quick (66) to pass her and get those lovely points.

Marla Mayhem storms through the pack (jam 5).

So, with the first period almost one-third gone, it was looking as if the national team was going to find this very easy, the score standing at:

29 Team Scotland : 01 TBoTR

You can never afford to be complacent in roller derby, however, and while Team Scotland decided to take the knee into jam 8 (video), it was Psychomilly who stormed through the pack to take lead jammer, and 3 points, while Team Scotland's Fight Cub was recovering from a hip-check from Tartan Tearaway that knocked her off track.

Go Faster Swipes caught as a goat.

Things quickly started going the national team's way again in the next jam, with TBoTR's Megan Hyndman sent to the sin-bin for one track-cut too many, handing Mo B Quick a power jam (although not lead jammer). With Team Scotland's fantastic blocker teamwork enabling them to grab Go Faster Swipes (17) as a goat, the pack was essentially stationary for a good part of the jam; the only serious opposition to the TS jammer endlessly completing scoring passes being Sykes (360°). The only consolation for Team Steve was Megan Hyndman returning to the track, where she managed to pick up a single scoring pass herself before the jam went to time.

After an official time-out to check the minor penalty totals acquired by skaters, leading to TBoTR's Sister Grimm (57) skating off to the sin-bin, play resumed in jam 10 with Team Scotland once again taking the knee.
For the second time in the bout, this back-fired on them, Team Steve's Ruby Riot squeezing through the inside-line (with a little help from pivot Venus Velocity (666)), ahead of Marla Mayhem (13), although not cleanly enough to take lead-jammer. In fact, the TS jammer spent much of the jam stuck behind a wall composed of Venus Velocity and Lucky Hateball (8), while Ruby Riot lapped the pack a couple of times, Cilla Block (24) clearing TS blockers out of her way.

Now that The Best of The Rest had warmed up, it looked like this might be a bout to watch, with the score now standing at:

50 Team Scotland : 17 TBoTR

half-way through the first period.

Announcer Helliverence engages in his favourite pastime:
Mexican Wave directing.

With Team Steve down a blocker to the sin-bin, the national team took a knee into jam 11 and for the first time managed to get lead jammer, Minnie Riot completing her initial pass ahead of Psychomilly, despite Jackash (911) and, at the head of the pack, Velosidy (16) doing their damnedest to stop her. Minnie didn't have enough of a lead to score points, however, with the pack fast.

Another official time out, and a Mexican Wave orchestrated by announcer Helliverence, later, we started jam 12 (VIDEO) with Marla Mayhem poodling off to clear her minors for later jamming. An exceptionally slow Team Steve split the pack at the start of the jam proper, but Team Scotland's Clinically Wasted (111) exited the pack first, with Danger Mouth (55) delaying Megan Hyndman long enough for the national team's jammer to pick up a single scoring pass before calling it.

Mo B Quick and Rock'n Riot, no distance, no score.

It looked like Team Steve were slowly gaining the measure of their opponents, and the next two jams continued their pattern of incremental improvement. Jam 13 started very slowly, with Team Scotland dawdling behind the pivot line, but it was TBotTR who excelled themselves in blocking, a wall of Velosidy, Sister Grimm and Tartan Tearaway proving sufficient to block Mo B Quick at the front until their own jammer, Rock'n Riot (9) had fought her way back through the rest of the pack, after an early block by Marla Mayhem put her some distance behind. As it was, the two jammers exited the pack near simultaneously, and the jam ended with no score.

Marshall Lawless experiences a... small impediment
to her initial pass.

With Psychomilly poodling off at the start of jam 14, it was Sykes' turn to jam for Team Steve again, and she effortlessly threaded through the pack to take lead jammer, a safe distance ahead of Marshall Lawless for Scotland. Bronx Betty proved a little harder for Sykes to pass when scoring, however, and the Team Steve jammer was forced to call the jam in the middle of the pack; but not before an astonishingly fast Marshall Lawless shot through the entire pack on the inside-line!

With less than a third of the period left, that excitement had only moved the scores slightly from their earlier position:

57 Team Scotland : 19 TBoTR

Cilla Block, Leeeaaad Jammeeerrr!

With Team Scotland taking the knee into the 15th jam, once again to take advantage of Team Steve having a blocker in the bin, Team Steve took the benefit; Cilla Block weaving through the inside-line and to Lead Jammer status ahead of Clinically Wasted. With an impressive turn of speed, the Team Scotland jammer showed why she's in the national team, eating up the TBoTR jammers' 120° lead and passing her just before she was due to score. Cilla had no choice but to call the jam immediately, no score.

The 16th jam (VIDEO) started with Team Steve pivot Jackash taking a fall inadvertently back-blocking against Bronx Betty, and taking out Team Scotland jammer Mo B Quick before she could get up. It was probably worth the trip to the sin-bin, as Rock'n Riot took lead jammer pretty effortlessly with the resulting lead, and looked on track to complete a perfect scoring pass until Fight Cub hip-checked her to the ground; by the time she was up, Mo B Quick was almost through the pack herself; the Team Steve jammer called it, but all too late.

Team Steve's good luck continued into the 17th (VIDEO) jam, Team Scotland blocker Lily Lethal (5) having been sent to the sin-bin in a short time-out immediately before. With both teams below strength in the pack, it was Psychomilly who slipped down the inside-line to take lead jammer while Velosidy and Ruby Riot caused trouble for the national team's Wild Oates (360°). With the pack pretty fast, Psychomilly had just enough time to pick up 3 points before calling it.

With only five minutes left in the period, Team Steve were slowly nibbling away at their points deficit:

60 Team Scotland : 26 TBoTR

Team Scotland took their time passing the pivot line at the start of jam 18 (VIDEO), so that Lily Lethal could complete the last few seconds of her penalty time and rejoin them on track. Obviously, it was worth it, with jammer Fight Cub effortlessly threading through the pack to take lead jammer, while Team Steve's Cilla Block was taken out by Marla Mayhem (who subsequently took a trip to the sin-bin). With a stupendous lead, the Team Scotland jammer had no trouble completing a scoring pass, calling it safely immediately after.

Jam 19 (VIDEO) saw Mo B Quick storm through the pack to take lead jammer, despite there only being two Team Scotland blockers on the track. Despite having a good half-track lead on Rock'n Riot, the Team Scotland jammer called it with no score as she faced a seemingly impenetrable (and very fast) TBoTR wall on her scoring pass.
Intense blocking from Velosidy and Scary Wollstonecraft (27) ultimately failed to prevent Marshall Lawless from taking lead jammer for Team Scotland in jam 20 (VIDEO) either; Psychomilly got the worst of it, however, after numerous hip-checks from Danger Mouth eventually sent her to the track… where she didn't get up. The jam was called (with no score) by the referees for medical attention to be rendered; after some checking that all her pieces were still attached, the Team Steve jammer was able to hobble off the track to cheers and applause from the audience.

The unexpected pause in proceedings meant that there was time for just one more jam in the first period, with TBoTR taking the knee into the jam for the first time in the bout, (VIDEO) releasing Megan Hyndman to elegantly thread through the pack, squeezing between Crazylegs and Fight Cub to take lead jammer. Minnie Riot wasn't too far behind her, however, and with a fast pack (and the intimidatingly good Bronx Betty first to pass), Megan called it with no score.

Leaving the score at half-time at:

64 Team Scotland : 26 TBoTR

This is the dedication that fans bring to Roller Derby!

With half-time comes the prospect of cakes and merchandise. In this case, the cake bakers had excelled themselves, with the massive array of cupcakes proving particularly attractive to buyers.
Meanwhile, the fully stocked Team Scotland stall was available, with Team Scotland t-shirts, fridge-magnets, pendants and many other items for sale, including t-shirts from all of the contributing leagues.

Period 2

Returning to play in the second period, Team Steve were obviously keen to get going, taking a knee into the first jam (VIDEO), but their efforts were in vain; both jammers effortlessly skating around the pack in almost identical time (Marla Mayhem on the inside line, and Megan Hyndman on the outside). With Marla outpacing her in the open, the Team Steve jammer called it with no score.

Sykes and Wild Oates, inseparable!

The next three jams didn’t go very differently, with only a single point being scored by TBoTR’s Cilla Block in jam 2 (VIDEO), and jams 3 and 4 ending with no score. (Jam 3 due to Megan Hyndman exiting the pack first, but uncleanly, allowing Clinically Wasted to call it as lead jammer a few seconds later. Jam 4 featured almost synchronized skating between jammers Wild Oates and Sykes, sharing numbers (360°) as well as performance; with literally no distance between them, there was no chance to safely score.

With the teams apparently deadlocked, it just needed one side to slip up for it all to change.
In the fifth jam, that’s what we got, Marla Mayhem threading through the centre of the pack to take lead jammer, while Cilla Block was hampered by a coordinated Team Scotland pack, recalling their performance from the very start of the bout. Walling from Whisky Galore, Lily Lethal, and (Danger Mouth/Bronx Betty taking turns) kept the Team Steve jammer within the pack for two whole scoring passes by Marla, who was happy to call the jam as soon as Cilla escaped.

With just one jam, Team Scotland had shifted the score to:

74 Team Scotland : 27 TBoTR

With Clinically Wasted cougaring off at the start of jam 6 (VIDEO), we returned to normal service for the period for a while, Crazylegs foiling Megan Hyndman’s almost flawless initial pass with a great hip-check; whilst the Team Steve jammer still exited ahead of Marshall Lawless, there was very little in it, Hyndman called the jam with no-score.

Similarly, although TBoTR took the knee into jam 7 to take advantage of one of Team Scotland being in the sin-bin, and Ruby Riot took lead jammer, she had too little time on Fight Cub to safely score.

Two disappointing jams for Team Steve, then, but third time's the charm; jam 8 (VIDEO) saw Team Scotland's Mo B Quick checked at the front of the pack by Velosidy (pivot) and Jackash, allowing Psychomilly to take lead jammer with a very comfortable lead. In fact, Mo B Quick was still in the pack when the Team Steve jammer made her scoring pass, only to be comprehensively hip-checked by Danger Mouth; the jam was called from the floor!

Still, all this positive momentum for the underdogs was catching, and Team Steve took the knee into the next jam to preserve it. It paid off, Megan Hyndman squeezing narrowly down the inside line to take lead jammer impressively quickly, while Minnie Riot was still catching up to the pack. Nevertheless, there wasn't much space between the jammers until Minnie slipped on the track, leaving the TBoTR jammer enough room to score a single pass before calling.

A rare moment with no Team Scotland players
on the track at all!

You can't blame Team Scotland for getting a little bit rattled at all this sudden resistance from their opponents. Maybe what they needed was a little quiet time to cool off. Despite a nice Team Steve wall at the front, Clinically Wasted took lead jammer as the pack was split by her teammates to free her. Meanwhile, Sykes was having trouble with TS pivot Crazylegs and blocker Danger Mouth, keeping her in the pack despite the best efforts of her team mates. Even after a tumble saw Alma Geddon sent off for a low-block major, and Marla Mayhem joined her shortly after for blocking out of play, the two TS blockers had the TBoTR jammer safely controlled… until they were sent off too!
It was a short trip to the sin-bin and out again for the latter two skaters, however, as the rules prevent more than two blockers per team remaining in the sin-bin at a time. As soon as Alma Geddon and Marla Mayhem had served their full minute, however, the pair had space to sit in for longer; Alma and Marla were happy to take over the job of making Sykes' life a misery. Indeed, despite all of Team Scotland's blockers being sent off in short succession, they were also the only team to score in the jam, Clinically Wasted completing two grand slam passes over the full two minutes.

A day in the life of a blocker.

Coming into jam 11, with two blockers still in the sin-bin, Team Scotland’s Fight Cub really showed what she was made of, taking lead jammer just ahead of Psychomilly, despite the pack being biased against her. Given a fast pack, the TS jammer took the time to coast around the track with her opponent until Danger Mouth and Crazylegs had served their penalties, then turned on the acceleration to score some points!

With 15 minutes left on the clock, Team Scotland were starting to pull ahead again, the score at:

87 Team Scotland : 37 TBoTR

With the 12th jam of the period, Team Steve were handed a chance to reverse the trend, however, with resilient blocking forcing Clinically Wasted to cut track just a bit too far, ending up sent to the sin-bin. With a power-jam handed to her (but without lead jammer, due to her own track-cutting), Megan Hyndman found Team Scotland’s blocking cohesion to be a major impediment. An impenetrable wall from Minnie Riot, Whisky Galore and Viper kept her from completing her first scoring pass for the entire 2 minutes, leaving her with only 2 points to show for her efforts.

Team Scotland weren't about to let Steve pick up any more momentum, however. After a time-out to discuss strategy, they took the next jam, (VIDEO) hard and fast, Minnie Riot storming through the pack, although not cleanly enough to take lead jammer. That didn't matter quite so much, however, as Ruby Riot also failed to make a clean pass, meaning that the jam would run to time. With both jammers performing excellently, there were plenty of points for both sides before the end; only slightly fewer for the national team, thanks to some sterling blocking by Team Steve pivot Lucky Hateball at the front of the pack.

Team Steve try desperately to stop Mo B Quick picking up more points
in her power jam.

It was the 14th jam that really started to seal the national teams' victory, Mo B Quick storming through the pack, avoiding a last-second block from Jackash to take lead jammer. Cilla Block, jamming for TBoTR, was having a harder time of it, having to battle past hip-checks and blocks from Bronx Betty and Lily Lethal, only to get sent off as she cut track a little to pass Lily at the front. Handed a power jam, Team Scotland grabbed Venus Velocity as a goat to slow the pack, although the rest of Team Steve didn’t make life easy for Mo; Sister Grimm being a particularly persistent assailant. Still, there was a limit to the resistance TBoTR could provide, with Team Scotland (+goat) able to split the pack to eliminate the most resilient walls. By the time Cilla Block returned to the pack, 14 points had wended their way Team Scotland’s way.

With only 8 minutes left in the bout, Team Scotland looked like having an unassailable lead,

110 Team Scotland : 51 TBoTR

not that that means there's any reason not to keep fighting.

Indeed, jam 15 (VIDEO) saw another photo-finish initial pass by jammers Fight Cub and Megan Hyndman, although Hyndman took lead-jammer, Fight Cub's superior pace forced the Team Steve jammer to call it with no score.

Jam 16 (VIDEO) looked like being yet another photo-finish pass by Team Scotland's Alma Geddon (42) and Ruby Riot, only for the TS jammer to be sent off (her referee had actually been trying to send her off for some time when she noticed). With the risk of a serious score from the power-jam, Team Scotland pulled the pack speed up as fast as they could, really making Ruby Riot work for her points. By the time Alma Geddon returned to the track, Ruby had only completed her first pass, her second being abruptly curtailed by Wild Oates hurling pivot Minnie Riot into the jammer to knock her off track. Playing it safe, the Team Steve jammer called it soon after.

After minimising the effect of a power-jam, Team Scotland obviously felt the need to improve their points buffer just a little bit. (VIDEO) Clinically Wasted stormed through the pack double-quick, while Psychomilly found Fight Cub and Danger Mouth impossible to pass, despite them being the only Team Scotland blockers on the track! By the time the rest of Team Scotland had returned from the sin-bin, Clinically Wasted had scored a pair of grand slam passes, only to get stuck behind Psychomilly herself, still on her initial pass. Deciding she'd done enough for one jam, the TS jammer called it, the score now at:

120 Team Scotland : 56 TBoTR

with only 2 minutes left.

The penultimate jam of the bout (VIDEO), saw Marla Mayhem vs Megan Hyndman. The Team Scotland jammer powered through the pack effortlessly to take lead jammer, with Hyndman delayed by just long enough by Mo B Quick for Marla to complete a single scoring pass, weaving through the opposing blockers at speed before calling it.

And finally, with 55 seconds on the clock, the final jam of the bout. (VIDEO) Fight Cub exited the pack first, slipping around the outside line, and taking lead jammer, with Ruby Riot two-thirds of the track behind her. Despite the lead, a Team Steve wall composed of Venus Velocity and Scary Wollstonecraft and Jackash delayed the TS jammer long enough for her opponent to catch up, both jammer completing their scoring passes as the jam was called…

…leaving the Final score:

127 Team Scotland : 60 TBoTR

Aftermath + Awards

Although the score apparently belies it, this was a hard fought bout by both sides, which is no embarrassment to Team Scotland, considering the number of reserves and final-round candidates in The Best of The Rest. Still, the team with the superior cohesion and team-work won out, and their performance bodes well for the World Cup in December.
(Team Steve, meanwhile are looking for a rematch, so watch this space.)

Team Scotland and Team Steve!

The awards (awarded to players by members of the opposing team) were:

Hateball, Team Steve's MVP

Best Blocker
The Best of the Rest
Velosidy
Team Scotland
Wild Oates

Best Jammer
The Best of the Rest
Megan Hyndman
Team Scotland
Clinically Wasted

Most Valuable Player
The Best of the Rest
Lucky Hateball
Team Scotland
Crazylegs

Crazylegs, happy MVP!

Notes and Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Team Scotland Roller Derby for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, Lucky Hateball, and to announcers Helliverence and Mistress Malicious.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with the kit lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/TeamScotlandVsTheBestOfTheRest10September2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Video: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7ED7E9764DA8AB62
(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

Professional photography for Team Scotland is handled by the excellent Dave McAleavy, who has a website for his bout photos.

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

Team Scotland vs The Best of the Rest Special Macaron Edition

2011-09-09T21:47:00.000+01:00

For the Team Scotland vs The Best of the Rest bout, Team Scotland's inaugural roller derby bout against the best players from Scottish Leagues *not* in the national team, I made some macarons.

Here's how to make the same macaron for yourself:

The Macaron Shells.

I follow the recipe from Mrs Humble's blog , along with the general baking instructions. I only age my egg-whites for about 2 days in a fridge, and that seems to be sufficient.
You can add colours with the sugar and dried egg whites into the whisked egg. Use gel/paste colours, because dilute liquid colours are too watery and mess with the consistency.

Piping the macaron can be easier if you draw 3.5 to 4 cm diameter circles on the reverse side of your baking parchment as a guide.

It is very important to test your oven's actual temperature - our oven is around 10°C hotter than the setting indicates. You want to aim for an actual oven temperature of 140 to 150°C.
Your macaron are done when they no longer wobble when you prod them - around 13 to 16 minutes. Don't test them before about 12 minutes.
Don't worry if they don't easily come off the sheet - take them immediately out of the oven, and off the sheet, with the baking parchment, and onto a cooling rack. Don't try peeling them off the rack until they're cool.
(As well as the above link, the macaron articles at Syrup and Tang are very useful, and include a good alternative salted caramel recipe. Another good recipe is at the honey and soy blog.)

The macaron variations:

Team Scotland Macaron

(Blueberry syrup + Vanilla buttercream)

The shell

Add navy food colouring to the meringue.

The syrup

150 g blueberries

1/2 tablespoon of granulated sugar

Add blueberries, sugar and 1/2 tablespoon of water to a small saucepan. Cook over a medium temperature, while the berries swell and burst, and then the mixture reduces to a jam.

Press through a fine sieve, before it sets completely, into a bowl.

The buttercream

125 g unsalted butter, softened

250 g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla essence and some vanilla seeds if you have them.

Beat the butter until pale and creamy. Gradually add the icing sugar, while still beating, until smooth.
Mix or beat in the vanilla essence and vanilla seeds.

The assembly

When the macaron shells are cool and separated from the sheet, gently spread them with a thin layer of the syrup on their bases.
Pair them up into closely sized sets. Pipe one of each pair with a dollop of buttercream in the centre, and surround with around three blueberries. Gently press (with a twisting motion) the top shell onto the mix to form the sandwich. Fill in any gaps with a little more piped buttercream.
Age in the fridge for 1 to 2 days for best texture.

The Best of The Rest Macaron

(Chocolate and Salted caramel)

The shell

Add liquorice food colouring to the meringue.

For the dry ("tant por tant") remove 1 tablespoon of icing sugar, and add 2 tablespoons of good quality cocoa.

Salted caramel

75 g caster sugar

75 g muscovado sugar (dark)

50 g unsalted butter

100 ml double cream

1/2 teaspoon flaked salt (not fine salt!)

Dissolve the caster sugar in 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan over a low heat. Once dissolved, increase the heat to medium-low, bring to the boil. Remove from the heat as soon as the syrup turns amber. Add the muscovado, butter and cream, and stir until dissolved and fairly uniform. Return to a low heat until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, add the salt and pour into a bowl to mix and cool.

Optional: whip the cool caramel into a light golden whipped filling, rather than the dark salted caramel.

The assembly

When the macaron shells are cool and separated from the sheet, pair them up in roughly matched sets.
Spread the "bottom" of each pair with some salted caramel, and gently press the top shell on with a twisting motion.
Age in the frige for 1 to 2 days for best texture.

Note:
Fillings based on recipes from "macarons: chic and delicious French treats", Annie Rigg. ISBN 978-1-84975-085-1

Bout Report: Glasgow Roller Girls Intraleague Season 2: Hell's Belles vs Bad Omens

2011-09-04T21:07:00.000+01:00

After a brief break (while GRG played Auld Reekie, and then jaunted off down to Leeds to play the Leeds Roller Dolls), the second season of the Glasgow Roller Girls Intraleague bouts continued, with last season's victors, the Bad Omens playing the Hell's Belles.
After their win against the Death Stars in the first bout of the season, the Omens only needed to win this game to win their second season in a row. However, with jammer Hardcore Prawn not able to play, due to lingering issues after the previous game, and team captain Chemikil Hazard out with a broken toe from the day before the bout, the Omens came to this bout a little under-strength.

As is usually the case, both teams were fielding additional players from the third GRG team, the Death Stars.

Before the bout, there's the Skateout. If nothing else, the Bad Omens probably won this one, on the rarely contested creepiness metric...
-

Period 1

Wild Oates jamming for the Belles (one of the Death Stars
loans, and of course, one of the Team Scotland team).

If bouts were won in the first few jams, then the Hell's Belles would have been supremely confident here: jammers Marla Mayhem (13) and Wild Oates (3) taking lead jammer in all 3 jams they skated in, and picking up a good haul of points. The Bad Omens' Meg 4 Mercy (4) was the only fly in the ointment, responsible for all 9 points her team scored, in a single jam!

Less than 7 minutes into the first period, the score stood at:

09 Bad Omens : 17 Hell's Belles

Meg 4 Mercy and Fightin' Torque, too close to call.

Things are rarely that simple, however, and in the fifth and sixth (video) jams, neither team managed a score, Meg 4 Mercy close enough behind lead jammer Fightin' Torque (531) to prevent the Belles' scoring, and then Belles' Venus Velocity (666) eventually fighting her way through an exceptionally defensive pack, but proving unable to score. In fact, her efforts at the end of the jam resulted in her making her way to the sin-bin as the jam was called...

...handing the Omens a power jam, which they, of course, took a knee into. Meg 4 Mercy is good at the power jam thing, and, sliding past a last-minute block by pivot Wild Oates, she easily took lead jammer and a couple of scoring passes, Oates and Mazzy Chaos (r10t) providing the only resistance at the front of the pack each time. With 13 points in one jam, the score, and the lead had shifted:

22 Bad Omens : 17 Hell's Belles

With the Belles taking a knee into the following jam to give Marla Mayhem more time to pick up points, the score reverted to an even 22 all, but both teams had trouble creating a permanent lead after that. Whilst the Omens opened up a lead in jams 9 (video) and 10, the Belles reacted in 11 and 12 (video), bringing the scores almost level again, and then starting to pull ahead once more in jams 13 and 14, Marla Mayhem and Wild Oates once more bringing in the points.
So, with a tentative

28 Bad Omens : 33 Hell's Belles

lead, it was all about ready to go horribly wrong.

Meg 4 Mercy in her second power jam of the bout...

Coming into jam 15, Belles' jammer Fightin' Torque was blocked out at the front of the pack by Lily Lethal, knocking her down, and leaving her limping off the track. With Torque out of play, this was effectively the second power jam of the bout for the Omens and Meg 4 Mercy, and they took full advantage of it. With the Belles' Sykes trapped as a goat, the excellent walling by the rest of the Belles (Venus Velocity, Mazzy Chaos and Betty Go Go (999)) was put out of play, and the Omens' jammer managed a couple of laps before the jam went to time.
One injury can make quite a difference, and this one had put the Omens back in the lead once more:

38 Bad Omens : 33 Hell's Belles

Jackash shows how to block out a jammer...

Of course, the Belles weren't about to sit back and take it; just as before, the next few jams saw the fight back from Wild Oates, Lola Bruises (96) (taking as many points as Omens' lead jammer Rogue Runner in her jam, thanks to an excellent hip check by Belles' blocker Jackash (911)), and Marla Mayhem (video), bringing the lead back to the Belles:

40 Bad Omens : 41 Hell's Belles

and then, despite a no-score tie between Wild Oates and Rogue Runner (video), extend it over the last three jams (videos 20, 21, 22), with Marla, Oates (thanks to some last-minute blocking of Rogue Runner by Sykes (360°) ), and then, most significantly, Marla once more, completing an effortless scoring pass in the final jam of the period, to bring the score at half-time to:

40 Bad Omens : 50 Hell's Belles

As is usual, in the half-time period, bake stall, refreshments and t-shirts were available for purchase.
They were joined today, as with the ARRG bouts, by the Team Scotland stall, selling t-shirts (in white and black), badges, patches, and other paraphernalia.

Half-time: time to get in a few winks for the referees.

Period 2

With the general trend of the first period, it was no surprise to see that both teams started off the second period fielding their strongest jammers, Meg 4 Mercy facing off against Marla Mayhem (video) in a short jam that saw both pick up a couple of points.
The surprise turned up in the second jam; Wild Oates proving unable to pass the blocking team of Lucky Hateball (8) and Whisky Galore (11), while the Omens' Zombilina (15) faired rather better, picking up a couple of grand-slam passes over the full 2 minutes, to narrow the Belles' lead to just 3 points.

49 Bad Omens : 52 Hell's Belles

Marla Mayhem, mid-scoring pass.

The Belles weren't about to stand for this, and they took the knee into jam 3. Marla Mayhem did her usual magic, slipping around Meg 4 Mercy (pivot), while the Omens' Rogue Runner proved unable to pass Sykes and pivot Sister Grimm (57), eventually getting herself sent off. Subsequently, Marla showed that she was just as good at exploiting power jams as her opposite number had been in the first period, picking up 17 points before time was called (with the help of a goated Scara-leigh (616) letting the Belles slow the pack).

Meg 4 Mercy, again with the scoring.

Unfortunately for the Belles, history was repeating itself. Jam 5 saw Meg 4 Mercy comfortably back with her jammers' star, held back only on her initial pass by Betty Go Go. Meanwhile, Wild Oates was having trouble with Omens again; this time Lily Lethal (5), Whisky Galore and Lucky Hateball, keeping the Belles' jammer locked up in her initial pass for most of the jam. The Omens had almost undone all of Marla's good work, bringing the points differential back down to 5 points.

Unlike the Omens, the Belles couldn't quite manage to respond in kind once more, Marla only managing enough of a lead over Zombilina in jam 5 to pick up a pair of points.
Following the alternating pattern that the Belles had adopted in the second period (with Fightin' Torque unable to skate after her injury), Wild Oates was back on next, up against the Omens' Rogue Runner. (video). With the Omens jammer out of the pack first, Oates was obviously keen to escape past her continuing nemeses, but instead picked up an elbow-block penalty and a trip to the sin-bin. Another power jam thrown the Omens' way was just the thing to finish off that lead, and Rogue Runner took full advanage, despite the best efforts of pivot Venus Velocity, and Mazzy Chaos. 23 points added to the Omens' score, made things look more like this:

87 Bad Omens : 71 Hell's Belles

The Belles responded as they had before, taking the knee to exploit the last few seconds of numbers-advantage (with one Omens' blocker in the sin-bin), and sending Marla Mayhem shooting off...and straight to the sin-bin. With her third power jam of the bout, Meg 4 Mercy was in the zone for more points; although not so much that she managed to get lead jammer, so the jam would run to the full time. Despite the best efforts of Lola Bruises blocking at the front of the pack (and eventually getting sent off for out-of-play penalties), the Omens' jammer picked up another 15 points for her team.
(This was aided somewhat by Marla getting sent off the track again almost as soon as she returned, for some reason.)
Now things really were looking dangerous for the Belles, two power jams in a row having brought the score to:

102 Bad Omens : 71 Hell's Belles

Luckily for the Belles, the Omens failed to do any more damage in the eighth jam, Rogue Runner failing to exploit the last moments of power jam before Marla Mayhem returned to the track, and the jam was called.
Neither, however, could the Belles counterattack get solidly started, Wild Oates once again battling with her second-period nemesis, Lucky Hateball (video), while Meg 4 Mercy picked up a single pass' worth of points, extending their lead a little more. In the tenth jam, Marla Mayhem also found unexpected resistance from Rogue Runner, both jammers picking up points; although Venus Velocity stalled the Omens' second scoring pass, such that Marla got the better haul.
With the points differential slowly whittling down again, now at:

111 Bad Omens : 78 Hell's Belles

The star on the other head: Marla Mayhem blocking out
Omens' jammer Rogue Runner.

the Belles just needed to keep on pushing. And push they did, Wild Oates seeming to return to form for the next jam, taking lead jammer ahead of Meg 4 Mercy; although with only enough of a lead to pick up a single point. Unfortunately, this effort also led to Oates entering the sin-bin...

...so the Omens took the knee into the resultant power jam in jam 12, Rogue Runner doing the jamming. Marla Mayhem proved an effective blocker, as well as jammer, however, and managed to prevent the Omens' jammer getting lead; as a result, the jam ran to time, Wild Oates even managing to pick up a couple of points after returning to the track. In a strange piece of reciprocity, Rogue Runner managed to get herself sent off at the end of the jam...

...giving the Belles a power jam in jam 13 (video), with only 6 minutes left in the bout. Could the lead be about to switch places again, at the last possible moment? With Whisky Galore, Lucky Hateball and vice-captain Haberbashery forming an impenetrable force at the front of the pack, it looked unlikely, Belles jammer Wild Oates failing to pass them before Rogue Runner returned to the track. In the end, the jam resulted in a single point for the Belles, bringing the score to:

118 Bad Omens : 82 Hell's Belles

Still, there was still time for the Belles to pick up points, with Marla Mayhem facing off against Meg 4 Mercy in the 14th (video) (and antepenultimate) jam... if she didn't get sent to the sin-bin almost as soon as the jam began. With yet another power jam handed to her, Meg did her usual best (Jackash was the goat selected by the Omens for this jam's pack slowing), until an accidental elbow block against Belles pivot Betty Go Go saw her sent to the sin-bin herself. Marla really showed how it was done as she returned to the pack at speed, effortlessly completing her initial pass and a scoring pass in the seconds remaining before the end of the jam!

Things were heating up now, with only enough time for a couple of jams left in the bout, and the score at:

131 Bad Omens : 87 Hell's Belles

Perhaps it was too late for the Belles to win, but it wasn't too late for them to make things closer. With that in mind, Marla Mayhem remained on track for the power-jam that was jam 15 (video). With the Belles' blockers intentionally splitting the pack, Marla raced through her initial pass with no opposition, and was battling through her first scoring pass when Omens' blocker Lily Lethal took a tumble onto her face, and stopped moving. The jam was immediately called so first-aid could be administered, and after some attention from the first-aiders, and a bit of water, Lily was able to hobble off the track.

The bout wasn't done yet, however, just enough time remaining for one final jam (video), Marla and Meg 4 Mercy facing off at each other yet again. This time, Marla was a bit too aggressive in her jamming, getting through the pack at the cost of being sent off for track-cutting. The Omens jammer wasn't having too good a time of it herself, however, with Wild Oates and Betty Go Go holding her at the front of the pack for almost half the jam. With Oates, Betty and Sister Grimm proving equally difficult in her scoring pass, Meg 4 Mercy finally had a less-than-perfect power jam, picking up only a single pass.

With no more time left in the bout, imperfect was more than good enough, though, with the final score:

135 Bad Omens : 91 Hell's Belles

Post-bout and Awards

Just from the first period, no-one would have guessed that the final score would be such a strong win for the Bad Omens. It's a testament to the Omens' skill, but also almost certainly, a testament to the difficulties of running a team with only two jammers; having Fightin' Torque injured off in the first period meant that Wild Oates and Marla Mayhem were lifting the entire jamming load for the second period between them (while the Omens could field three jammers, with a more relaxed schedule).

Still, especially with the second half of the second period being so strong, no-one could say the Omens didn't earn their win, and their effective interleague championship (the final bout yet to come; but it can now only decide second place).

Of course, after the bout, there's the love:

and the awards:

Awards.

Wild Oates gets her MVP
award from Helliverence's
assistant.

Hateball goes for the hug.

Best Blocker

Mazzy Chaos (r10t)
Hell's Belles

Whisky Galore (11)
Bad Omens

Best Jammer

Marla Mayhem (13)
Hell's Belles

Meg 4 Mercy (4)
Bad Omens

MVP

Wild Oates (3)
Hell's Belles

Lucky Hateball (8)
Bad Omens

Acknowledgments and Notes

Thanks to the Glasgow Roller Girls for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Helliverence and the other guy (who's never mentioned in the bout programme).

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with the kit lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:
YouTube Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1BED994EBE335E06
Picasa Web Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/GRGIntraleagueSeasonTwoHellSBellesVsBadOmens?authuser=0&feat=directlink
(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

Professional photography for GRG is handled by the excellent Dave McAleavy, who has a website for his bout photos.

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

The unbearable lightness of Macaron.

2011-08-27T21:48:00.001+01:00

So, somehow I managed to promise Team Scotland some macaron for their inaugural bout on the 10th of September.

This may or may not have been a problem, considering that I've never made them before.

--
For those of you not aware of them, macaron are French confections, made by carefully folding almond flour and whipped meringue, and piping out small biscuits. They're almost always served sandwiched around a stiff filling, like a flavoured buttercream or ganache, which permeates the macaron with its flavour over a day's maturation. The British macaroon is a kind of de-evolved offshoot of them, despite being almost totally different nowadays.

Macaron are also famously finicky to make, being very sensitive to oven temperature, undercooking, over (and under) mixing, and excessive haste. In particular, it is essential to rest your piped macaron before cooking, for up to an hour, and they are at their best a day or two after cooking (macaron that appear overcooked can improve tremendously after sitting and absorbing moisture from their filling for a while).

Considering their forebodingly exacting requirements, I was wondering if I would ever be able to make workable biscuits, so I did a test run this evening...

(The following macaron use the recipe from http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/08/macaron-troubleshooting-new-recipe.html which also include an extensive list of tips on how to improve your macaron.)

Unbaked, resting macaron. They're just starting to develop a skin here. (The blue colour is from a single drop of food colouring gel added to the mix. I think I probably need a second drop to get the right hue.)

Macron post cooking. They've browned a little too much, so our oven is clearly a little too hot.

Base of macaron - you can tell it is cooked, as the base is almost totally flat.

Closeup of broken macaron - notice the lack of large internal bubbles (a sign of undercooking, or undermixing of the macaronage). Notice also the feet on the base of the macaron, which are a little extended, due to the too hot oven.

A completed macaron, a little messy since it's just a test. The filling is an orange buttercream, made to the recipe on http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2008/01/lavender-and-orange-macaroons.html

So, actually, my first macarons have turned out okay, actually. Certainly not a disaster.

I encourage everyone else to try making these excellent little French confections, they're not as scary as you think!

Bout Report: Auld Reekie Roller Girls' Twisted Thistles vs Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz 20 August 2011

2011-08-22T21:24:00.000+01:00

Two weeks ago, in their first Edinburgh Fringe bout, Auld Reekie Roller Girls' Cannon Belles defeated Glasgow's Maiden Grrders in an exciting bout that saw a huge number of new Roller Derby fans.

On the 20th, Auld Reekie's A-team, the Twisted Thistles, played the second Fringe bout, taking on Stuttgart Valleys' Rollergirlz in an international bout.
The last time the two teams played, the Thistles won a convincing victory, with 92 points to SVRG's 68; could they repeat the performance this time?

This bout was also streamed live by UK bout video team
rduk.tv

In addition to the rematch, this bout was special for featuring the last appearances of popular ARRG skaters Juicy Lucy (off to London, and the LRG), and Fight Cub (off to Aberdeen, and the GCRG). Obviously keen to make the most use of them before they left, the two featured in a huge number of the line-ups in the coming bout. (Okay, it's because Fight Cub's a great blocker, and Juicy Lucy is an excellent jammer, but...)

Before the bout, there's always the skateout, introducing our two teams. SVRG excelled themselves with a complex counterskating pattern (which was very difficult to film adequately).

Period 1

ARRG prevent SVRG's Vegas from getting past...

Starting from a no-score first jam, where Polly Purgatory (13) only just outpaced Juicy Lucy (666) out of the pack, the difference between the teams was impossible to call. The first jam is pretty much always a warm up and a chance for the teams to test each others' mettle, however...

Having apparently warmed up, the home team proceeded to dominate the next 6 jams, picking up 31 points to SVRG's 2 (both picked up in jam 4, by Polly Purgatory ), and taking the knee in most of them to hurry things along. Most of ARRG's gains came in two power jams, both exploited well by a fast Blazin' Phoenix (28), picking up 14 points in jam 3 and 9 in jam 7 .

Ciderella comes off worst trying to block Polly Purgatory
from scoring more points.

Ironically, it was the last seconds of that 7th jam that gave SVRG the seed of their resurgence, the ARRG jammer getting herself sent to the sin-bin in her final scoring pass, and the final seconds of the jam. Starting jam 8 from a power jam situation, the away team's Polly Purgatory hextupled their score to 12 in a minute's play. Continuing SVRG's lucky streak, the 9th jam saw their Vegas (80) effortlessly gain lead jammer. Frustrated by her lack of progress, ARRG's Juicy Lucy handed her a Power Jam, track cutting once too often.
Although Vegas was forced to call the jam moments later due to great blocking from ARRG's Minnie Riot (7), SVRG took the knee into jam 10, allowing Blitzkrieg Baby (9) to take full advantage of the remaining solo time, picking up another 10 points for the away team.
Halfway through the first period, ARRG's initial lead had crumbled, the score now standing at a competitive:

31 ARRG : 25 SVRG

Stuttgart Valleys' run of power jams looked like it was about to continue for at least another jam, with ARRG Captain Zillah (555) attaining lead jammer, and then a trip to the sin-bin on her scoring pass. This time, however, SVRG fumbled the chance, their own jammer, Public Enemy (1) also getting herself sent off before she could score more than a couple of points, returning Zillah to the fray.

Zillah called the jam, handing the extra power jam time over to Blazin' Phoenix in jam 12, but she played it safe, just taking a single grand-slam pass before calling it herself.

After an official Time-Out, and with now only 10 minutes remaining in the first period, it was still all to play for, with just 11 points between the teams.

Blazin' Phoenix (28) outskates SVRG's Vegas (80) to
shut down her chances of scoring.

For the first time unaided by a power jam, SVRG grabbed points in jam 13, Polly Purgatory beating Zillah out of the pack and to a scoring pass. Trying it again, Vegas beat Blazin' Phoenix out of the pack in the next jam, but the ARRG jammer's superior track speed allowed her to pass her opponent; the jam was called no score. SVRG were tenacious in their new aggression, however, Blitzkrieg Baby also leaving the pack first in jam 15, but without lead jammer. Good blocking from pivot Public Enemy and Titty Twister held Zillah back in the pack for some time, however, so SVRG managed to pick up a couple of points before she could call it.

Now really pushing things, after a series of very short, low-score jams, SVRG took the knee into jam 16. Blazin' Phoenix took lead jammer, however, and a couple of points before Polly Purgatory got close to the pack.

The low-scoring, evenly-matched jams continued over the next 3 jams, the teams trading lead jammer, but not picking up many points either way. (17, 19)

And then, with only about 3 minutes left in the period, jam 20 was finally a full length jam, although not by choice - neither Zillah nor Vegas attained lead jammer status due to unclean passes. With both teams blocking strongly in the jammers' scoring passes, Vegas managed to pick up enough minors to get sent to the sin-bin, handing Zillah a late power jam. A strong leading wall stopped Zillah from doing as much as she might have done, however, with Teaze The Tiger (16) and Noxious Angel (17) particularly problematic for the ARRG jammer. In the end, she only picked up 5 points by the end of the jam.

The final two jams, (21, 22) were back to the rapid pace of the majority of the period so far, with both teams picking up points in the penultimate jam, but Blazin' Phoenix proving her worth once again in the final jam, effortlessly taking the outside line past the pack while Alma Geddon (42) and Danger Mouth (55) slowed SVRG's Blitzkrieg Baby sufficiently to allow their jammer to pick up a brace of points.

At the end of the first period, the scores stood at:

57 ARRG : 45 SVRG

In the half-time break, there was always time to go buy tee-shirts, crafty things... and usually cake. This time the cake stall sold out of all of its produce, however; could the tension of the close bout have been giving everyone munchies?

In any case, people could still spend their cake money on other worthwhile causes, including the first appearance of the official Team Scotland merchandise.

The Team Scotland Stall sells another T-shirt.

Team Scotland's first bout is on the 10th of September, with the selected team members facing a team of those Scottish players who didn't get to be in the team ("The Rest").

Period 2

Coming back into the second period, Stuttgart Valley had a 12 point points deficit to make up. In the first jam, they showed how they planned to deal with it... jammer Polly Purgatory slipping through the pack first, but without lead jammer status. That wasn't so much of a problem, with ARRG's Juicy Lucy failing to get by a strong SVRG defence, led by Titty Twista (81) and Teaze The Tiger, without a bit of track cutting, robbing her of lead jammer status as well. Polly Purgatory proved the better at jammer-to-jammer blocking, knocking Juicy Lucy to the track, to increase her lead, while Titty Twista once more became the ARRG jammer's nemesis when she entered the pack. With Teaze The Tiger pushing ARRG blockers out of the way, the SVRG jammer picked up a mighty 13 points to ARRG's 3 - and it wasn't even a power jam! With only a single jam into the second period, the score now stood at a nigh-equal

60 ARRG - 58 SVRG

If the away team could have kept that level of play up, it would have been a very different second period. As it was, they seemed to have exhausted themselves for the next 3 jams, neither team scoring anything until the 5th jam.

The 5th jam, however, was worth waiting for, SVRG's Public Enemy picking up a single pass's worth of points, just enough to put the away team in the lead for the first time in the bout. Polly Purgatory continued the theme in the next jam, picking up a pair of points but unable to pass Minnie Riot and Fight Cub (182) to get the complete set.

Obviously, ARRG weren't going to stand for losing without a fight, and Blazin' Phoenix picked up her own pass' worth of points in jam 7, bringing the scores back to a fragile balance at:

64 ARRG : 64 SVRG

Juicy Lucy on the track to score!

Galvanised by their brief experience of being the losing team, Auld Reekie led a fight back in the next five jams, Juicy Lucy, Zillah and Blazin' Phoenix all eking out single pass scores to inch the score back to a more comfortable margin. Jam 8 was a case in point, Fight Cub and Minnie Riot causing Polly Purgatory trouble in the pack while Zillah was safely through (despite an early bit of jammer-on-jammer blocking leaving Polly ahead).

Jam 13 could have been the deciding jam of the bout, Polly Purgatory getting herself sent to the sin-bin, and handing Zillah a power jam. However, before Zillah could do much with her advantage, the jam was called early due to an injury to one of the SVRG players.

After an official time-out for treatment, play resumed with the ARRG power jam still in play, and 15 minutes left in the bout.

SVRG took full advantage of the power jam, and the depleted ARRG pack, Polly Purgatory lapping the pack multiple times with no real opposition. With a massive 20 point total, the score was utterly reversed, now standing at:

79 ARRG : 87 SVRG

Blazin' Phoenix can't outpace Public Enemy.

Despite Stuttgart Valley taking the knee in the next few jams, the momentum didn't really exist for them. While Blitzkrieg Baby took lead jammer in jam 15, Zillah was so close to her that she couldn't score; the next jam, Blazin' Phoenix found herself in the same situation vis Public Enemy.

Jam 17 finally saw some few points scored, Zillah fighting past SVRG's Titty Twista, and pivot ElliMinate (8) to score a trio of points before Vegas fought her way past Ciderella (-3°C) and Mallory Powers (9mm) at the rear.

With SVRG determined to preserve their lead as long as possible, and ARRG determined to erode it, the final 10 minutes of the bout was a fussilade of short, tightly contested jams, with neither team scoring a significant number of points. (20 21 22 23 24) On balance, though, the home team had the slight advantage, inexorably grinding down their points deficit (and taking the knee repeatedly to gain the time to do so), until with only 41 seconds left in the bout, the score hung at

93 ARRG : 95 SVRG

Taking the responsibility firmly on her shoulders, team captain Zillah took the jam line for the home team, against SVRG's Vegas. All she had to do was gain lead jammer and pass just 3/4 of the opposing blockers on her first scoring pass to win^*. After a hard fight, she managed the first part, but the away team weren't about to make it easy on her with the second. With Vegas close to starting her own scoring pass, Zillah called the jam at the last possible second, apparently passing her second blocker at about the same time...

The unofficial final score, being checked for the first of three times.

...but the referees didn't seem to agree, the unofficial final score standing at:

94 ARRG : 95 SVRG

With such a close fought final jam, and such a close scoring point at the very end, the referees tripled checked every point, but the final confirmation didn't change anything; SVRG had won the bout by the narrowest of margins!

Awards and After-bout.

As usual, Roller Derby continued its tradition as the friendliest of sports, with the traditional post bout hug:

and the traditional post-bout awards, given by each team to their opposite numbers.

Awards

Best Takeout:

Tease The Tiger

Crazylegs

Most Feared:

Polly Purgatory

Danger Mouth

Sin-Bin Queen:

Public Enemy

Juicy Lucy

Best Jammer:

Blitzkrieg Baby

Juicy Lucy

Most Valued Player

Titty Twista

Zillah

^*Passing 2 players wouldn't result in a draw; like tennis, roller derby switches to sudden death jams to decide scoring ties, with both teams playing "lead jammerless" jams until one ends with a points advantage.

Notes and Acknowledgements.

Thanks to the Auld Reekie Roller Girls and Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Stephen Talking and Fay Bentos.
Also, thanks to ARRG's live bout-tweeter for continuing the ARRG tradition of rapid, detailed play-by-play tweets.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with the kit lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:
YouTube Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE6AEAE2386064B40
Picasa/Google Photos album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/ARRGTwistedThistlesVsStuttgartValleyRollergirlz20August2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink
(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

Bout Report: Jamming at the Fringes: ARRG Cannon Belles vs GRG Maiden Grrders 6 Aug 2011

2011-08-08T20:57:00.001+01:00

In order to let more people know about the magic that is Roller Derby, Auld Reekie Roller Girls have worked with the Edinburgh Fringe to offer two bouts under the Fringe banner this year.
The first of these was a rematch between ARRG's B Team, the Cannon Belles and Glasgow's equivalent, the Maiden Grrders. Around a year ago, when the two teams last faced each other, the Maiden Grrders were triumphant. This time, with new skaters on both teams, would ARRG manage to reclaim Edinburgh's honour?

(The second Fringe bout is on the 20th of August, and features the Auld Reekie Roller Girls Twisted Thistles vs Stuttgart Valley's finest. There's still time to book tickets, so don't miss out!)

Every bout starts with a skateout (it's in the rules!), and this was no different:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpXHTtyjCgM

Period 1

GRG's Fightin' Torque starts the bout
in the worst possible way.

If the Maiden Grrders wanted to replay their performance last year, then a good opening jam would set them in good stead for the bout. That wasn't what happened, GRG Jammer Fightin' Torque (531) getting herself sent off in the process of leaving the pack first, handing ARRG's Kaos Moss the lead, and a Power Jam first thing in the game! Despite their best efforts, the Grrders couldn't stop the Belles picking up 15 points by the time Torque returned to the field.

Things continued in a bad way for the away team for the next 5 jams, almost one-third of the first period! Perhaps the Meadowbank's floor was slippier than they were used to (something which previously caused them problems away against Stuttgart Valley), but in the second jam, GRG's Sykes (360°) managed to hand over another Power Jam to the home team for track cutting (only to have ARRG's Skinn'er Alive (85) hand the power jam back to GRG for track cutting herself... and Sykes get herself sent back off soon after^*).
In the third jam, continuing with Sykes still in the sin-bin, ARRG newbie Sharkée (273) proved herself worthy of the team by picking up another 14 points before Sykes returned to the track...

Can you believe this is Sharkée's first bout?

...all this trend leading to the Maiden Grrders taking their first Time-Out of the bout, to discuss how to stop themselves from haemorrhaging points so rapidly.

Venus Velocity (obscured) and Jackash hold the back of the pack.

Whatever they'd discussed, it was a more aggressively defensive GRG pack that returned in the 4th jam, which began with a lot of falls on both sides. While ARRG's Queenie Ville (1) managed to attain lead jammer, GRG's Mazzy Chaos (R10T) blocked her down to the track on her scoring pass, limiting the loss to a more acceptable 3 points.
Similarly, while Kaos Moss managed to get lead jammer in the 5th jam, Grrders captain Venus Velocity (666) and vice Jackash (911) proved impossible to pass for score, limiting her to a single point.

Unfortunately for the Grrders, it all went wrong again in jam 6, ARRG's Debris Harry (83) handily passing the pack, while GRG's Peggy Su-icide proved unable to escape the strong Belle's blocking team of vice Crotch Lightning (T10) and Shootin' Annie (.45). Debris picked up a grand slam before Peggy finally won through, with the points total after 6 jams finally standing:

51 ARRG : 0 GRG

Danger Mouth takes exception to Torque trying to pass her.

Only now, with nearing half of the first period gone, did the Maiden Grrders catch a break. At the very start of the 7th jam, Skinn'er Alive collected enough penalties to get herself sent to the sin-bin, handing Fightin' Torque the first full power jam for GRG. The Belles didn't make it easy for the GRG jammer, but in the end, though, Torque fought though, smiling, to 14 points.

Next jam, GRG's Jess E Ska (31) did almost as well without a power jam to help her, Venus Velocity , Mazzy Chaos and Tarcenic and Old Laces (41) proving enough to stop ARRG's Crotch Lightning from escaping the pack too quickly. Tarce even found the time to help Jess through the pack as well...

This time it was a shaken Auld Reekie who called a time-out, amid chanting from the GRG end of the audience.

Mazzy Chaos and Lola Bruises sacrifice themselves
for the greater good.

When play resumed, it was terrifying ARRG newbie Sharkée who knocked the fight back out of the Grrders again, outpacing Fightin' Torque through the pack to 4 points gain.

With their momentum slowing, the tenth jam completed the reverse for GRG, jammer Peggy Su-icide handing ARRG yet another Power Jam (possibly for her involvement in a messy block with ARRG's Danger Mouth (55) ). Kaos Moss knew what to do with the situation, and despite the best efforts of Mazzy Chaos and Lola Bruises (96), she increased the Belles' lead by another 10 points before the power jam ended.

The eleventh and twelfth jams saw a slight wrinkle in the home team's dominance, Skinn'er Alive exiting the pack first, but not lead jammer (due to track cutting), letting GRG's Jess E Ska call the jam on her exit; and then ARRG's Sharkée showing her first hint of mortality, failing to pass Venus Velocity and Mazzy Chaos' wall on her scoring pass.

With little time left in the period, the score now stood at:

69 ARRG : 27 GRG

The Maiden Grrders had already shown they were capable of great things earlier in the period; with ARRG faltering again, could they repeat the performance?

Jess E Ska shows how you pass Queenie Ville (pivot)

Apparently, yes! In the 13th jam of the bout, Peggy Su-icide effortlessly threaded through the centre of the pack, while Debris Harry found GRG's Bashin' Berserker (83) and Coco Pox (76) almost impossible to pass at the front. The ARRG jammer finally won through, only to be sent to the sin-bin for track cutting, throwing a power jam situation GRG's way. Unfortunately for the away team, Peggy had also been having a terrible time passing the ARRG blockers on her scoring pass, only managing when 2 of them ended up in the sin-bin along with their jammer... just in time for the end of the jam.

This did mean that the 14th jam started with Debris Harry still in the sin-bin, and the Grrders took the knee to maximise jammer Jess E Ska's scoring time. Winning past ARRG pivot Queenie Ville (1) for lead jammer, Jess was on track for a big score, and team mates Venus Velocity and Lola Bruises helped things along, keeping the ARRG jammer unable to score until the end of the jam.

Keeping the momentum going, and with only enough time for 2 jams left, Fightin' Torque fought her way through to lead jammer (despite being blocked into the sin-bin bench by Crotch Lightning (T10) ), in a power-jam situation thanks to Skinn'er Alive getting herself sent off. Despite aggressive blocking from Queenie Ville and Danger Mouth (the latter earning a trip to the sin-bin), Torque picked up another 9 points for the away team before the ARRG jammer returned to the track.

And now, it was time for the final jam of the period. After slow start to allow Sykes out of the sin-bin, Peggy Su-icide looked like continuing the last-minute GRG fight-back, gaining lead jammer and a comfortable lead on ARRG's Kaos Moss. Her scoring pass was another matter, ARRG's Miss Collie Check knocking her to the ground right at the start (at roughly the time Kaos Moss was completing her initial pass), setting the tone for the next 20 seconds ... which was roughly as long as it took the ARRG jammer to circle all the way around the pack and complete her scoring pass effortlessly. Getting up from the track again, Peggy called the jam to limit the damage, but too too late.

Going into half-time, the score had slipped back to

73 ARRG : 50 GRG

Half-time provided a chance for the audience to go and sample the ARRG Vendor Village, featuring (along with the traditional t-shirts and bake sale) the chance to win a cake by guessing its weight. All proceeds from the cake guessing feature went to Team Scotland's funds to send them to the Roller Derby World Cup in December.

Period 2

From the first seconds of the second period, you'd have thought that we were at the start of the first period again, ARRG jammer Kaos Moss exiting the pack quickly (although without lead jammer), whilst leaving Fightin' Torque trapped between blockers Danger Mouth and Queenie Ville. Torque also failed to get lead jammer, despite help from Jackash, so the jam ran to the full time, both jammers picking up a single pass's worth of points.

Danger Mouth and Sunny Sheeba: Blockers extraordinaré!

That was obviously just a practise for the second jam of the period, where everything went perfectly for the home team; Skinn'er Alive completing multiple grand slam passes whilst Danger Mouth and Queenie Ville kept GRG's Jess E Ska safely locked up in the pack. 10 more points to ARRG, although at the cost of several blockers sent to the sin-bin.

Keen to capitalise on a numbers advantage in the pack, the Maiden Grrders took a knee into jam 3.

Even ARRG's Sharkée couldn't pass a pack this heavily weighted against her, and her efforts got her sent to the sin-bin for track cutting. Sykes, meanwhile, jamming, had already gained lead jammer status and began to rack up the points in the power jam she'd been handed.

This is not a position Danger Mouth finds herself in often.

Once the pack returned to a more even weighting, it was Sykes' turn to get herself sent off (in a repeat of last period) for back-blocking against troublesome ARRG blocker Sunny Sheeba (33). With Sharkée released back onto the track, ARRG picked up a couple of points before the jam ended, with Sykes still in the box.

Taking the knee into the remaining power jam time in the 4th, Queenie Ville jammed up a nice scoring pass before Sykes reentered play and she called it (from the floor, after a heavy shoulder-and-hip block from Venus Velocity).
4 Jams in, the score now stood at:

93 ARRG : 66 GRG

the away team's points disadvantage starting to widen again.

Mazzy Chaos attempts to whip Torque to victory.

The Grrders started the next bout slowly, splitting the ARRG blockers in two with a strong wall. As soon as the jammers were released, the GRG wall took to the inside track, trapping the Belles' Kaos Moss and opening up the outside line for Fightin' Torque to head along to the front of the pack. Kaos picked up what looked like a back-block major almost immediately, handing a power jam to Torque. As before, just facing a power jam didn't make it easy to score against the impressive ARRG pack, with Torque being made to fight for her scoring pass through a pretty fast pack. Nevertheless, she picked up a single grand slam before the ARRG jammer returned to the track and forced her to call it.

Obviously keen to keep the momentum up, the GRG opened the sixth jam on the knee, allowing jammer Peggy Su-icide to zip through the inside line to take lead jammer almost as soon as was possible. ARRG's Miss Collie Check wasn't far behind, however, having taken the slightly longer outside path with a similar lack of opposition, and she quickly outpaced the GRG jammer, forcing her to call it with no score for either side.

Determined to continue to press (especially with terrifying ARRG blocker Danger Mouth safely in the sin-bin), the Grrders took a knee into the seventh jam as well, Sykes eventually winning past determined positional blocking from captain Lilo & Stitches and pivot Miss Collie Check to exit the pack ahead of the Belles' Sharkée... but without lead jammer status due to her final pass being unclean. Fighting through the GRG front line, Sharkée did gain lead jammer, but didn't call the jam until Sykes had managed to pick up a single point.

Almost half-way through the second period, the scores now stood at:

93 ARRG : 72 GRG

With the scores just a good power-jam apart, the bout looked increasingly unsafe for the Cannon Belles.

Yes, it's Danger Mouth being impassible, again.

The Belles knew it, too, taking a distinctly defensive approach to the next jam, Queenie Villie and Sonny Sheeba proving an almost impassible rear wall against the Grrders' Fighting Torque, whilst their Skinn'er Alive dodged past Venus Velocity at the front to take lead jammer. By the time the GRG jammer escaped the pack, with Lola Bruises help, Skinn'er Alive was completing her scoring pass. Naturally, Torque didn't get a chance to score before the jam was called.

Sharkée fairing rather better than Peggy Su-icide, for the moment

Jam 9 saw a very slow moving pack, with more internal jostling for position than forward momentum, prove difficult for both jammers - GRG's Peggy Su-icide faced with Shootin' Annie right at the back of the pack, and ARRG's Sharkée facing Coco Pox nearer the front. Despite both being blocked to the track, it was the ARRG jammer who escaped the back first, although with less of a lead than she would have liked. On the scoring pass, the GRG blockers proved an equally obdurate defence, eventually forcing her to call the jam from the centre of the pack. Still, those 4 points proved enough for ARRG to break the triple figure barrier, the score now, with 13 minutes in the bout, standing

101 ARRG : 72 GRG

And, after a time out for the home team, things just kept getting better for them.

Venus shows off her excellent positional blocking skills.

Jam 10 saw GRG's Fightin' Torque trapped at the back of the pack behind a strong ARRG wall along with Sykes. While ARRG's Kaos Moss was similarly unable to pass Venus Velocity at the head, the Belles' control of the pace let them put her out of play, handing their jammer the lead. Meanwhile, Torque managed to get herself sent off, still having been unable to pass the pack for the first time. With a power jam situation, the Belles made use again of their pack control, splitting the pack to free their jammer from determined blocking. Despite the ARRG domination, GRG's Jackash perhaps got a tiny piece of recompense, blocking Kaos Moss down to the track just before the jam ended.

Lilo & Stitches, Crotch Lightning and Miss Collie Check goating GRG's Scara-Leigh to split the pack
and free jammer Kaos Moss from the Maiden Grrders' wall.

Torque relieves some tension on Skinn'er Alive

Starting her jam from the sin-bin in the eleventh jam, Fightin' Torque had no chance of catching an unstoppable Skinn'er Alive dodging her way through a dispersed pack to lead jammer. Scoring once again proved a little trickier for the ARRG jammer, with Coco Pox and Mazzy Chaos proving an impassible wall at the front of the pack, although with Torque yet to really enter the rear of the pack past an equally impassible Queenie Ville, she had all the time in the world to do so. Torque being stuck at the back of the back proved an unexpected advantage on Skinn'er's second scoring pass, her blocking proving more effective than anyone else's at holding her rival jammer at bay.

The Cannon Belles continued to demonstrate their skill in the next jam, captain Lilo & Stitches and Wild Zero hanging around at the back of the pack to snag GRG jammer Peggy Su-icide whilst pivot Crotch Lighting knocked GRG's Venus Velocity off balance just long enough for Sharkée to sneak past her into lead jammer position. Peggy Su-icide wasn't far behind, however, and the ARRG jammer had only enough time to snag a couple of points before she had to call it.

Sykes, leading the final 8 minutes of GRG fight back...

With only 8 minutes left in the bout, the Maiden Grrders would have to start any last minute resurgence right now if they were to have a chance of pulling a win out of the bag.

Lucky for them, Jam 13 seemed to be just what they needed, although it didn't seem that way from the start; Miss Collie Cheque, jamming, slipping past the entirety of the GRG blockers without them even noticing, took lead jammer while the Grrders' Sykes was still fighting her way into the rear.

On the ARRG jammer's scoring pass, however, she picked up a trip to the sin-bin instead of passing Lola Bruises. With a power jam fairly late in the jam, the GRG pulled out all the stops to help Sykes pick up their much needed points. ARRG's Danger Mouth and Sonny Sheeba proved their usual effective selves, however, and the GRG only picked up a single grand slam pass before the jam ended.
Still, it was perhaps the spot of hope the away team needed...

...and for a moment in jam 14 it looked like it would be the start of a glorious fight back, Fightin' Torque slipping through on the inside line (from a GRG knee) only to be unceremoniously blocked to the floor by ARRG pivot Crotch Lightning. Before Torque had even regained her feet, ARRG's Skinn'er Alive had already shot through the pack to take lead jammer, with a tiny whip from Lilo & Stitches to send her on her way. As previously, the Maiden Grrders proved more effective at obstructing the Belles jammer on her scoring pass, with Venus Velocity, Tarcenic and Old Laces and Mazzy Chaos forming a fast moving wall at the front of the pack; however, with ARRG's Queenie Ville and Crotch Lightning proving equally impossible for Torque to pass at the rear, the home team still managed to pick up a good handful of points before the jam had to be called.

After an incredibly long official time-out, jam 15 began with the Cannon Belles severely outnumbered on track - only Queenie Ville and Danger Mouth versus a full set of Maiden Grrders. That didn't make it any easier for Peggy Su-icide to pass them, the two ARRG blockers taking it in turn to hip check her to the track, whilst Miss Collie Check found herself unable to pass Jackash, Venus Velocity and Lola Bruises' wall at the pack front. Winning her way through to lead jammer after Danger Mouth was knocked over, and Queenie Ville sent to the sin-bin (thus leaving only Lilo & Stitches, fresh from the sin-bin, to stop her), Peggy Su-icide took her chance to score points with both hands, managing a grand slam (Collie Check still trapped behind Lola Bruises), and a second pass after the ARRG jammer finally won free. 9 points more for the away team, but this return to form was a little too late for more than honour.

With the 16th jam also the final jam of the bout, the Maiden Grrders would have to score 42 points in a single jam to take the lead. All that was left was to put up a good show. With only two blockers in play from each team, there was every possibility of a high score for at least one team... and that team looked like being the Maiden Grrders, with jammer Jess E Ska jinking around Shootin' Annie and a downed Crotch Lighting (side-checked by Mazzy Chaos) to take lead jammer, with Kaos Moss walled out by Sykes and Mazzy.

Not the final score...
(as you can see from the deliberating zebras)

By the time the GRG jammer began her scoring pass, however, Queenie Ville and Lilo & Stitches had returned from the sin-bin, and they proceeded to make life very difficult for her indeed. Finally winning past some exceptional positional blocking by Venus Velocity (but only from the blocker ending up out of play once more), Kaos Moss eventually forced the jam to be called, leaving the final score (after some extensive deliberation):

126 ARRG : 91 GRG

Conclusions & Awards

All in all, this was a closely-matched bout between two excellent teams. The final point difference in the scores was less than the massive lead gained by the Cannon Belles in the first third of the first period, where the Maiden Grrders seemed to have trouble with the track surface, so the rest of the bout was actually pretty closely matched. ARRG, in particular, seem to have picked up some extremely effective new talent, with Sharkée a particularly striking performer (especially for her first bout!).

After the bout, the group photo:

and the awards:

For Best Jammer:

GRG's Jess E Ska

and

ARRG's Miss Collie Check

For Best Take-Out

GRG's Venus Velocity (perhaps for taking out a ref spectacularly? :D)

and

ARRG's Danger Mouth (well, she did so many of them...)

For Most Feared

GRG's Lola Bruises

and

ARRG's Shootin' Annie

For Sin-Bin Queen

GRG's Sykes (mostly when jamming)

and

ARRG's Queenie Ville

and, For MVP

GRG's Fightin' Torque

and
ARRG's Lilo & Stitches


Belles' Captain Lilo & Stitches, happy MVP awardee.	Grrders' Fightin' Torque, incredulous MVP awardee.

^* A point of order here, as the second time Sykes was sent off, Skinn'er Alive was sent back on immediately, which shouldn't have happened unless she really had served her full time in the sin-bin at that point.

Notes and Acknowledgements.
Thanks to the Auld Reekie Roller Girls and Glasgow Roller Girls for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Helliverence and Fay Bentos.
Also, thanks to ARRG's Crazylegs for keeping up the tradition of Maul Flanders in extremely rapid, detailed bout tweeting.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with the kit lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:
YouTube Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC10BB8D9787F62E5
Picasa/Google Photos album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/AuldReekieRollerGirlsCannonBellesVsGlasgowRollerGirlsMaidenGrrders6August2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

Bout Report: Glasgow Roller Girls: Intraleague Season 2. Bad Omens vs Death Stars 30 July 2011

2011-08-01T11:21:00.001+01:00

As well as playing other leagues around the country and the world, Glasgow Roller Girls also have their own intraleague tournaments each year (they'd not really be much of a "league" if they didn't, really ;) ), their three league teams - Hells' Belles, Bad Omens and Death Stars - playing each other in a round-robin tournament.

The 30th of July saw the first bout in the 2011 season, previous season winners, the Bad Omens (red and gold, ominous (natch) crow and moon logo) facing off against the Death Stars (blue and black, powers drawn from a mysterious force that binds the universe together^*). With both teams having had a little reshuffle after the previous season, would the Omens still triumph over a reinvigorated Death Stars?
There was only one way to find out:
Skateout!

With a win by acclamation on the skateout, the Omens looked good for a win in the bout itself...

Period 1:

Chemikill Hazard (LD50) keeps Marshall Lawless (42)
in the pack.

...and starting the period confidently, Omens Jammer Meg 4 Mercy (4) certainly didn't diminish that impression, teammate and pivot Chemikill Hazard (LD50) blocking Death Stars jammer Marshall Lawless (42) at the last moment, and allowing Meg to fight her way to lead jammer and 5 points.

While Marla Mayhem (13) managed to garner a pair of points for the Death Stars (racing to the lead with lovely blocking from her team), before Hardcore Prawn caught up with her, it was the Omens who scored a full 4 point pass in the third jam, Jess E Ska (31) eventually fighting her way through a very strongly defensive pack (for both teams) ahead of the Death Stars' Fightin' Torque.

Marla gets by with a little help from her friends.

The pendulum swung imperfectly back again for jam 4, Marshall Lawless making use of a lovely open outside line provided by her blockers to grab lead jammer, but not far enough ahead of Meg 4 Mercy to score more than a pair of points (especially after a crushing block from Omens pivot Lucky Hateball (8) ).
Continuing the trend, Marla Mayhem once again grabbed lead jammer in the 5th jam, but was almost immediately blocked, forcing her back into the pack behind Omens captain Haberbashery (40) and Chemikill Hazard. With Hardcore Prawn (88mph) already free of the pack, there was nothing to do but call it.

Jammer party in the Sin-bin.!

By now the frustration was probably getting to the Death Stars, but it was the Omens who made the first big mistake in the 6th jam, Jess E Ska getting herself sent to the sin-bin for track-cutting passing Venus Velocity (666). With the potential for an early power-jam, and two Omens blockers also in the sin-bin, it seemed that the jam couldn't be better for Fightin' Torque... until she almost immediately got herself sent off as well. With no jammer having legally passed the pack, there was no lead jammer, so the jam ran to the full 2 minutes for the first time in the bout, with the final score, 6 jams in, at:

13 Bad Omens : 08 Death Stars

The scores pretty low for this point in a period, anything could still happen, and jam 7 showed that the Death Stars really could punch at the same weight as their opponents. Whilst the Omens tried to waste time with the pack moving at a crawling pace, Death Stars jammer Marshall Lawless effortlessly weaved through the opposition to nab lead jammer, with Viper (29) , Sykes (360°) and Whisky Galore (11) keeping Omens' Meg 4 Mercy firmly behind their wall, and then Lola Bruises (96, 69 in programme) blocking out of bounds to take her down on Marshall Lawless' second pass. Six points was just enough to bring the score to:

13 Bad Omens : 14 Death Stars

placing the Death Stars in the lead for the first time in the bout.

Oates realises that Marla might need a bit of help here...

The Bad Omens didn't seem to phased though, taking the knee in the 8th jam to help Hardcore Prawn get them back into the lead as fast as possible. Despite opposition from Venus Velocity, the Prawn took Lead Jammer quickly, whilst the Omens' Hateball and Bashin' Berserker (83) kept the Death Stars' Marla back in the pack, despite assistance from Wild Oates (3).
Three points later, and the Death Stars' slim lead had reversed again; pressing their momentum, the Omens took knees in the next two jams as well, Jess E Ska and Meg 4 Mercy each doing their bit to pull up the Omens' lead once again.
So, by the start of the 11th jam of the bout, with half of the first period gone, the score stood at:

24 Bad Omens : 15 Death Stars

Fightin' Torque forced off track (and soon to be into
the sin-bin.)

A time-out for the Death Stars later, the 11th jam saw them launch a second counter-attack, Lola Bruises knocking Hardcore Prawn off the track, while Marla Mayhem made her way into the lead jammer position. Four points later, and it was looking like another jam like that could put the Death Stars in the lead once again.
Sadly, it was not to be, the 12th jam seeing Fightin' Torque sent to the sin-bin for track-cutting while trying to pass a strong Omens' wall. With a power-jam handed to them, Jess E Ska was quite capable of capitalising, lapping the pack several times despite some strong blocking from the Death Stars (and a final, parting, somewhat illegal block from Wild Oates, which was still great to watch...).

The momentum back with the Bad Omens, the 13th jam continued the swing their way, with a depleted Death Stars pack unable to prevent Meg 4 Mercy taking lead jammer immediately, although with a whip-assisted Marshall Lawless not far behind.

Lead Jammmeerrrr!

Pressing the time again, taking the knee, the Omens failed to stop Marla Mayhem from fighting her way through the pack at the start of jam 14, whilst Hardcore Prawn was kept behind for a time. 3 points for the Death Stars followed, could this be their fight back?

The Bad Omens clearly didn't think so, taking the knee yet again to press their attack in two successive jams; first, Jess E Ska picking up a couple of points before being knocked to the track by Marshall Lawless herself on her scoring pass.
In the second, Meg 4 Mercy was handed a power jam, with Death Stars' Marla Mayhem sent to the sin-bin at the very start of the jam. A skilfully slowed pack, and Hateball and Haberbashery making room on the outside line, helped the Omens jammer to an impressive 15 points before Marla returned to the track.

With that disruptive jam, the score stood at:

55 Bad Omens : 22 Death Stars

the worst points differential for the Death Stars since the bout began.

Hateball and Haberbashery make room, make room!

And, as might be expected in this situation, the Omens were keen to press the attack, taking a knee and putting Hardcore Prawn out to jam, in Jam 17 . The Death Stars were having none of it, however, Prawn failing to pass Wild Oates and Fightin' Torque's wall at the head of the pack until Marla had fought her own way past Hateball at the tail. Exiting the pack together, it was Marla who administered the final block, knocking the Omens jammer down to the track (and behind the pack again). With her lead, Marla managed a complete pass before the jam was called (apparently by Prawn, who by rights should have been lead jammer - although it took several seconds for the referees to agree if that was the case).

Hopeful that this could be the start of something, and keen to gain more points before the end of the period, the Death Stars took a knee into jam 18 (whilst the Omens' Jess E Ska cougared^** off). Despite this, the Omens' Meg 4 Mercy just pipped Marshall Lawless through the pack; but not with a clean pass, giving Lawless Lead Jammer status.
Unable to pass Meg with much of a lead, Lawless called the jam, no-score.

With only a few minutes left in the period, jam 19
saw the Death Stars taking the knee once again, only for Hardcore Prawn to show why she gets to be jammer, effortlessly racing through the pack. Once she got lead jammer status, however, she was content to loaf a little, wasting time while the Death Stars' Sykes caught up with her. With their lead, the Omens didn't want the Death Stars having any time for last second resurgences...

...and indeed, thanks to the time wasting, the next jam had to be the final jam of the period. Perhaps just the knowledge that this was their last chance was what spurred the Death Stars onto a great final jam, Marla Mayhem streaking through the pack to take lead jammer, whilst the Omens' Jess E Ska seemed unable to pass first Whisky Galore, and then, trapped at the back of the pack, Jackash (911). Picking up multiple grand slam passes, it looked like this was going to be a massive score for Marla, until a block from either Jackash or Fightin' Torque sent Jess E Ska to the track... where she didn't get up.
As soon as the referees noticed, the jam was halted whilst the medics in attendance did their stuff (all the players taking a knee). Luckily, it seemed that there was no significant damage and, with the jam called as Jess E Ska hobbled off track (not permanently injured, as she returned in the second period), the score stood at:

56 Bad Omens : 42 Death Stars

a tremendous come-back right as half-time arrived!

GRG Announcer Helliverence betrays his true sympathies at half-time...

Period 2:
With such a massive resurgence at the end of the first period, the Death Stars were anxious to continue their fight-back as soon as possible. As a result, it was they who took the knee for the first four jams in a row, launching jammers Fightin Torque [first and fourth jams], Marshall Lawless and Marla Mayhem through the pack as soon as each jam began. In the event, it was the Omens who profited most from the fast start, with Chemikill Hazard fighting through the pack in the second jam to pick up 4 points.
This was the best that it got for either team, however, with good blocking from both teams, and evenly matched jammers leading to a lot of no-score jams called early.

Chemikill Hazard (LD50) waits for Hateball (8) to plough the Death Stars out of her way.

And this trend continued on for a further 3 jams, a very slow start on the 5th jam called by the Omens' Hardcore Prawn exiting the pack after Marshall Lawless but with lead-jammer, another early call by the Death Stars' Marla Mayhem unable to outpace Meg 4 Mercy in the 6th, and an early lead by Hardcore Prawn again in the 7th (thanks to a fall by Chemikill Hazard) garnering only 2 points thanks to a shove from Viper and Wild Oates as she passed them.

With the scores after 7 jams hardly any different, at:

64 Bad Omens : 47 Death Stars

it was only now that the trailing team got to continue their fight-back.

Meg 4 Mercy gets up just to sit down again (in the sin-bin).

With the Omen's Meg 4 Mercy sent off for her involvement in a pileup, the Death Stars took advantage of the power jam to lower their points deficit by 10 points, good pack control from Jackash, pivot Venus Velocity, Scara-Leigh (616) and captain Whiskey Galore enabling them to take Chemikill Hazard as a goat and really pull the pack's speed down for Marshall Lawless to lap.

...allowing Marshall Lawless to take Lead Jammer and
exploit the power jam!

The fight-back continued into the 9th jam, with the Death Stars' Marla managing to get in a single scoring pass ahead of Hardcore Prawn, and, despite resistance in the 10th (with Fightin' Torque blocked out from significant scoring by pivot Haberbashery), a knee helped Marshall Lawless retain the momentum into the 11th, with another pass' worth of points, just enough to bring the score to:

67 Bad Omens : 68 Death Stars

the Death Stars tasting the lead for a second time, with only 15 minutes left in the bout!

Venus and Lola make it hard for Prawn once...

...twice...

...three times.

Alas, as with the last time, the taste of victory was cruelly snatched away in the very next jam, Marla Mayhem managing to get herself sent off passing through the pack, handing the Omens' Hardcore Prawn lead jammer, and a power jam to boot. Determined not to let victory slip too far from their grasp, the Death Stars made life hard for Prawn, pivot Venus Velocity and Lola Bruises particularly persistent in taming the Omens' jammer. As a result, it was a particularly low scoring power jam, with only a single scoring pass before Marla returned to the track and Prawn called it.

Except that Marla started the next jam from the sin-bin, with the Omens taking a knee to give their jammer, Meg 4 Mercy the best possible time advantage. Just as Marla was entering the track, however, Death Stars blockers Sykes and Viper were entering it, leaving Wild Oates as the only blocker on the track for the team! Despite the advantage, Meg played it safe, calling the jam as soon as Marla completed her first pass, picking up 4 points for the Omens.

Wild Oates (3) and Marla vs the entire Omens
(Death Stars watching from the Sin-bin :D )

Marshall Lawless just about to get Lead Jammer, despite
the Death Stars being outnumbered 2:1!

With the Death Stars pack still depleted at the start of the 14th jam, the Omens took yet another knee, hoping to exploit the situation further. However, it was the Death Stars' Marshall Lawless who burst through the pack first to grab lead jammer, with Omens' Prawn in hot pursuit. Despite the initial lead, Prawn's speed made the difference, catching up enough to grab a single point before the Death Stars jammer called it.

While events looked like they were starting to swing back the Bad Omens' way, there was still little more than a single pass between the scores, so there was all to play for going into the 15th jam of the period. With the Omens taking the knee once more, Meg 4 Mercy exploded through the pack to take lead jammer within the first few seconds. Unfortunately, it didn't take a lot longer than that for the Death Stars' Fightin' Torque to leave the track entirely, headed for the sin-bin. The Omens' Tarcenic and Bashin' Berserker (83) were quick to take Wild Oates as a goat, slowing the pack for Meg to pick up a nice 20 point haul.
Now, with less than 10 minutes left in the bout, the Omens looked like they'd reconsolidated their lead, with the score back to:

97 Bad Omens : 71 Death Stars

Oates explains to Jess E Ska that it's polite to ask first before
overtaking.

Marla Mayhem tried to lead a fight back in the 16th , gaining lead jammer, only for Hardcore Prawn to do to her what she'd done to Lawless only a few jams previously, catching her up and scoring points before Marla could call the jam. Similarly, in the following jam, with Jess E Ska's attempt at passing the pack thwarted by Wild Oates, the Death Stars' Fightin' Torque looked like she'd be able to score a nice set of points, but was stuck with only one, thanks to an exceptional rear defence from the Omens.
Only in the 18th jam did the Death Stars finally make their fight-back stick, with Marla managing sufficient lead over Meg 4 Mercy to pick up a single complete pass.

The Omens weren't about to see their lead eroded again, however, entering the 19th jam (with only 6 minutes on the clock) on their knee, with Hardcore Prawn launching herself from the jam line at full speed... and straight into a determined Venus Velocity and Lola Bruises. Despite being knocked down, Prawn still fought her way through to lead jammer ahead of the Death Stars Fightin' Torque, and managed to score a couple of points before a second whack from the Death Stars' Whiskey Galore hurled her off the track and into a wall, where she failed to get up. With the jam called by the referees for medical attention, everyone was relieved to see Hardcore Prawn eventually get up and hobble her way to the bench.

Once play resumed, the Death Stars had opportunity to restart their counter-attack when handed a power jam in jam 20 (literally - Omens' jammer Meg 4 Mercy being sent off for blocking with hands), but the Omens' Lucky Hateball and Chemikill Hazard proved a tough challenge for Marshall Lawless in her initial pass, taking up enough time that she only had the time for a single scoring pass before Meg returned to the track.
After a time-out for Death Stars strategy, play resumed with the score at:

102 Bad Omens : 84 Death Stars

a lead, but not an unsurmountable one, given a little luck.
Unfortunately, the Force was not on the Death Stars side, as taking the knee into jam 21 only helped the Omens' Meg 4 Mercy get Lead Jammer a little faster, with Marla Mayhem having to settle for chasing her down and forcing a no-score. Jam 22 was almost a repeat, the only wrinkle being that Meg failed to get lead jammer on her exit, making it even easier for Marla to end the jam when she made her escape.
And so, in the end, it came down to this, the final jam. With Marshall Lawless jamming for the Death Stars this time, Marla Mayhem got to revenge herself against Meg 4 Mercy in the blocking role, helping to give Lawless a significant lead for scoring. Unfortunately, there was only time enough for a single pass, Hateball and Chemikill Hazard keeping the pack pretty fast at the head... leaving the score at the final whistle:

102 Bad Omens : 88 Death Stars

and an exceptionally hard-fought bout by both teams!

Awards:
After the bout, there's the love:

Derby love, post-bout. Don't try this during...

The Winners (they're all winners, even announcer Helliverence!)

and the awards for Most Valued Player (awarded to a member of each team by the other team).
For the Death Stars, Marla Mayhem won MVP for blocking and jamming excellently,
while, for the Bad Omens, Chemikill Hazard was the player the Death Stars most feared.

This time, however, there was also a surprise in store, the members of the previous seasons' Bad Omens line-up being assembled to win the newly-instated GRG Intraleague Trophy:

Team Scotland (and GRG) photographer Dave McAleavy captures the Bad Omens (season 1) and their new shiny thing.

^*Duct tape, obviously.
^**"Cougaring" refers to the process of deliberately gaining a 4th minor penalty in order to get sent to the sin-bin and clear your status. Usually done at the start of a jam by deliberately lining up behind the pivot line as a blocker (and almost always done because the player wants to be able to jam next, and therefore needs to have a clean slate to jam more effectively).

----

Thanks to the Glasgow Roller Girls for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme (I'm guess it was Hateball, but it doesn't say), and to announcers Helliverence and the other guy whose name I didn't catch.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with the kit lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:
YouTube Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF63D920227A39C8A
Picasa/Google Photos album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/GlasgowRollerGirlsIntraleagueSeason2BadOmensVsDeathStars30711?authuser=0&feat=directlink (Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.

Review: A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin.

2011-07-26T20:53:00.000+01:00

While most people probably only became aware of George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" sequence with the launch of the HBO TV adaptation, "A Game of Thrones" this year, fans of the original novel sequence have been waiting for 6 years for the most recent book, "A Dance With Dragons", not without some bitterness from some of them.
Now that it is finally here, how is it?
Well, it's basically everything you'd expect of Martin from the previous novels: a somewhat dark, mostly realistic medieval fantasy, which doesn't flinch from depicting the worst kind of people, as well as those who aspire to being the best. (Martin is not lacking in cynicism sufficiently to believe in perfect heroes, although he's happy for people to claim to be such.)
Of course, the grittiness of the setting suffers somewhat by comparison with more modern works that attempt the same thing: in the 15 years since the first book, "A Game of Thrones" was first published, writers have been inspired enough by its then refreshing grit, and tendency to kill off even apparently major characters, and now "A Dance With Dragons" is just another novel with such a setting.
Where Martin still excels, however, is in the complexity of his plotting and internal referencing; multiple long-running plot lines continue in not entirely expected ways (I don't think anyone who had read the previous books would quite predict Tyrion Lannister's story in this novel), and long-buried comments are referenced for the awake reader. (I must admit, while I was proud of spotting some of these, I missed others due to the 6 year gap between this book and my reading of the previous one, and even missed something that I suspect Martin expected to be obvious in the later sections in Winterfell...). Sometimes this gets a bit much, and while Martin has apparently tried to build in a few more hints for the reader in deference to that long inter-book stretch, it is quite possible for a reader to miss one thing while trying to remember just who that other guy was, or what that prophecy was about, precisely.
There is also some lovely use of the chapter titles; with so many viewpoint characters, Martin has traditionally named his chapters after the viewpoint character in each one. However, several characters with changing personal identities in "A Dance with Dragons" get chapters with variable names - the name of each reflecting their particular self-image in the chapter in question. In one case in particular, this underscores a particular case of self-rediscovery that would be awfully cruel to spoil for those who've not read the book yet.

Is it worth buying? On balance, yes; although, as with many multibook sequences, this kind of recommendation is moot; readers of the previous books will buy it anyway to find out what happens to their favorite characters (especially because some of them haven't been seen for a whole book, due to the way Martin split up plot between "A Dance With Dragons" and "A Feast For Crows"), and those who haven't read the rest of the series would be lost without doing so (or perhaps waiting for the first 4 seasons of the HBO TV series...).
The only consideration now is how long the final two novels will take to produce - with the TV series using a novel's plot per series, Martin can't afford to take 12 years to put out the two of them; if two novels even prove sufficient to complete the whole narrative (originally a trilogy, then a quartet, a sextet and now a septet, the amount of plot that apparently remains still seems too big for only two novels to complete).