Disaster Courses

[ErikW]

http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...33&topic=12

This stage had you started "naked" in a shower with your buddy, a stuffed animal. Your gun and mags were placed throughout the course and you weren't allowed to carry them in holders or pockets, at any time (because you were "naked"). The animal had to end up placed somewhere on the end of the stage. There were small steel (some with no-shoots behind them), a drop-turner, stacked partial targets on a swinger, partials with no-shoots, and an array of stacked partials that basically required you to hold the wall with your left hand while you leaned far out and around and engaged them strong-hand. 33 rounds total.

This is what I call a disaster course. You have to recognize these as huge obstacles to overcome without incurring major penalties (including very slow times). Then you have to devise plan to simply avoid disaster. Then you execute that plan. It's not a stage winner, but it keeps you in the running for your class win or overall win.

How do you recognize a disaster stage? Multiple moving targets which require a specific engagement sequence executed at a specific speed. Props you have to carry or manipulate or even shoot with through most of the stage. Forced standing reloads. Magazine-capacity-stretching arrays. Awkward positions. Long and/or difficult shots. The surest sign of a disaster stage is watching a whole squad screw it up badly. When everybody else is having trouble you know it's a problem. Also, an unusually high round count means the stage is worth more points than the others; this disparity makes it important that you do not fall apart on this stage.

How do you plan a strategy that avoids getting burned by the stage? Simplify the course down to its essence. Plan a strategy like you are mentoring a newbie and you're giving them a bare-bones way to get through the stage. Plan for you being more or less brain-dead at the start. Avoid any kind of contingencies. Plan like you are incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. Consider ignoring disappearing targets. Do not stretch your magazine capacity. The right plan will make the stage not feel so overwhelming.

At the start, don't go into your usual hose mode. Execute a disaster stage consciously, not subconsciously like other stages should be. (Remember when you were a neophyte and you shot every stage consciously? Regress.) Only do your actual shooting subconsciously. Shoot Alphas. Make up Ds and Misses. Don't take extra shots on disappearing targets.

FYI, on the above-described stage, most people did it this way... Place animal prop on table, pick up gun, and engage first array. Reload (or forget) with mag on table. Pick up (or forget) prop. Run to end of course and place prop. Shoot a couple arrays. Reload (or forget). Get into awkward one-foot-right-hand position for three targets then get out of the position. Move back uprange to middle of course and engage steel, static, and finally the now-very-slow swinger. (Usually required 2-4 passes.)

I just threw the prop downrange and started shooting the stage very straightforward. I reloaded instead of trying to take 18 rounds (including steel and swingers) with one 20 round mag. I nailed the plates and US Popper because I wasn't in stupid hose mode. I shot the swinger when it was still fast in two passes and took a make-up shot in an extra pass. I reloaded, picked up the prop and placed it where it was supposed to be, engaged the next array, and finished on the awkward position array. I dropped maybe 7 points. I think I took 2nd overall behind a Master Open shooter. So in Limited I took all of the points in the biggest stage by just trying to survive the stage.

See how that works?

[Shooter Grrl]

Okay wise guy - why didn't you tell me HOW to survive not being able to engage those targets

BTW, excellent post!

[Flexmoney]

Erik,

Good observations.

[Ron Ankeny]

Erik:

You make so fine observations. We have an annual disaster match at a neigboring club called the "ditch run". Last year the match (one course of fire) consisted of 72 rounds.

Brag Mode On:

I WON!

Brag Mode Off:

Like Brian keeps saying, "See what you need to see." It really is just about that simple.

[bonedaddy]

Erik,......... so are you admitting that you never practice naked?   C'mon!

[ErikW]

In the Head Games thread, Bruce Gary mentions stage 17 at the Limited nationals. That was the disaster stage of the nationals (both of them). Highest round count in the match, 160 points. Start pulling a beer mug to activate a swinger and a turner (or was it two swingers?). Pepper Poppers behind non-scoring hardcover Poppers which otherwise beg to be shot on the move. A sliding partial target (or was it two) with a no-shoot, engaged on the move. Limited mag capacity allows for only a few make up shots before and after the reload. Hardcovered/no-shoot-covered partial static targets. More Poppers activating bobbing targets and a static that tempts you to throw off your bobber timing.

That stage had a big impact on the Limited match and, in a slightly different form, decided our Open national champion.

Playing disaster stages conservatively may work for me, but I wonder how TGO, Todd, Jerry, et al. approach them. They may see the opportunity to gain a whole bunch of match points, caution be damned.