So our season is over. It was the best season we have ever had.
We went from 51/51 at SBPLI to being a pick in the first round and finishing in quaterfinals after 3 very close matches against the #1 seed. We technically won those other matches but the calls on the field stand. (Not salty at all)
Regardless, we would like to know a few things about practice field construction.
We are going to do a lot of upgrading. We especially are interested in computer vision since we have never done it. For that we need a field.
We are going to build a 1/4 field. Basically 2 faces of the castle and, 2 defense platforms.
From there we want to build a few defenses including (The low bar, Cheval de frise, rockwall and, possibly a drawbridge.
Does anyone here have any sort of price estimate?
We have a lot of 1/8th and 1/16" lexan laying around so we will probably cover the defense platforms, and CVR with that.
We are also wondering whether anyone near us wants to sell us defenses. If you do not have the space and need to get rid of them we will happily buy them.
Lastly does anyone know a place to get cheap carpet? We currently have a little bit of carpet in the area but not enough. to fully cover the area.
Thanks everyone for your answers. Part of the reason for our teams growth is the people here helping us along the way.
Great to hear about the continued improvement! Keep it up!
Defenses: I was not part of this, but as I understand, it was a few hundred dollars worth of wood and hardware for the “team versions”. Unless you’re planning a scrimmage, you only need one tower and one bank of defenses. We backed our tower with a few pieces of pegboard and some built-in cabinets in the room (though if we had a wall that would have done it by itself).
Carpet: We were fortunate enough to get half of the 2015 Bayou blue field carpet that we used this year. Previously we used a piece of carpet that was donated. Check with local carpet vendors (especially if one of them is already a sponsor) to see if they are willing to donate the last dozen feet from a bolt of low-pile commercial carpet.
We’re planning to do at least one post-season event, and we’re a bit far away in any case. Actually, we anticipate keeping both T1GGR and R00 and the defenses for demos for the whole year, and maybe beyond. Stronghold has all the elements to make a good game for demos for several years.
I believe that Home Depot sells the type of carpet used on the field. I believe they may stock it in grey at many locations.
For Regionals the carpet is discarded after every event. So for next year you may want to ask if it any of it is available from the event you are attending.
Here in the PNW district we try hard to make sure that we don’t bring carpet back from its second use. So we will cut it up into halves, quarters or what ever teams want and depending of course on how many teams want some. Unfortunately 3 years in and many teams have already picked up some in previous years and demand is dropping off significantly.
I have heard that’s a thing. We won’t be competing at the SBPLI regional this year but we will be livetrwmsing there so I’m going to ask for carpet. Fingers crossed.
Also, if we were to get the whole carpet would a rented pickup truck from home Depot be able to hold the whole thing.
At this point it is possible that the carpet from that event is already spoken for. Of course the people who want it may not want it all.
A pickup won’t really work for a full field worth or even a 1/2 field worth. The carpet is 15’ wide and over 70’ long and there are 2 pieces that size. You could make it work with a van as most will accommodate 12’ if it extends between the seats.
For the smaller pieces we give away we fold it in half to make it roughly 8’ wide but that really only works until you get to about a 20’ long piece. Beyond that it gets a little unwieldy to roll.
This is our only reason we have not asked for a carpet yet. We have no way of shipping it across the state.
If you havent already, make sure to find an open(ish) spot to have this practice field. Always better than to totally take up a classroom (as week did for our part of a field and pit mockup.)
We were able to procure the entire SBPLI field carpet two years ago. As stated above the carpet is 15’ X 70’+ and HEAVY. You will need a step truck at least that long (15’) as it is impossible to consider folding a roll to fit in a smaller truck. We were lucky to have the staff who were loading the field pieces use their fork lift to load the carpet into our truck and we off-loaded it with 16 people lining the sides of the roll.
The way the distribution of the field carpet (two layers-to protect the floor of Hofstra University Gymnasium) has occurred in the past is that on the Saturday of the event an announcement is made and teams come and ask for the carpet or pieces of it and must be prepared to take it then and there at the conclusion of the event. I don’t know of an instance when it was spoken for prior to the event itself other than Half Hollow Hills’ request several years back when they needed it to run their off season event.
If you have any specific questions regarding the construction of the practice field please PM me and I’d be glad to help you in any way we can.