@Craig Stewart 100% agree with you. The concept of "shooting not to loose" is very important and I use it all the time. I don't understand why they did not just put two boules out to ensure the opposing team could not win. Enormous tactical mistake from the red team.

@Kevin ORourke 100% agree on Pierre Maurel. He is a very solid pointer, but a liability when it comes to closing ends with good shots. The "high lob on the jack" tries by Robineau where an attempt at counteracting a bad jack throw (stuck at 6-7m) and not being targeted by the opponent who were shooting well. High risk high reward I guess, but I would favor trying to shoot back at them in this case (trying to shoot directly after a carreau to at least remove one possible point, and hoping for a carreau in return).

@Kevin ORourke Another attempt at landing on the jack by Robineau, successful this time. The "shooting back" tactic was more difficult in this case, as the first shot boule stayed very far away. These guys are very careful not to give an "attack end", as they are the crème de la crème and fear each other's abilities.

I would say it depends on what you call a carreau. If you are talking about staying in place, you can do it either touching the ground first, or directly hitting the boule ("au fer"). - If you touch the ground first, I believe spin plays a role, as (maybe...) does the hardness of your boule. - If you hit directly, I think only "simple" trajectory physics dictates what happens: angle mostly. Looking a bit deeper, some equilibrium has to happen between the target (hardness, weight, nature of the ground) and the shooting boule (hardness, weight, velocity) for this sweet, perfect "elastic collision" to happen. Anyway, if your focus is on hitting more carreau, work mostly on improving your transverse, left-right, accuracy (in French "tirer droit"). You will of course need to work on your longitudinal, before-after accuracy too, to land more often on or just before the target. But there is a little more leniency there to produce a perfect shot. NB: the spin sometimes observed after hitting a perfect, direct hit carreau (in French "patinette" - see some examples) is a bit mysterious to me. I don't know for sure if it's a result of the spin of the throw, or if the collision itself creates a slight backspin to the shooting boule through friction, making it rotate backwards even if the shooter did not apply any spin.

@Siggi Stock Nice to have an empire among us! This is much clearer than the actual FIPJP rules stating (article 16): "However, boules must be replayed if they have been stopped or deviated accidentally from their course between the throwing circle and the jack by a boule or jack coming from another game, or by an animal or any moving object (football, etc.) and in the case defined in article 8, third paragraph" I think this leaves a lot to interpretation. Which may be good sometimes, in order for the rulebook to be as simple as possible. In the case shown by Kevin, the umpire takes the "common wisdom" decision of ruling the non-disturbing leaves be OK to touch, and the trajectory-modifying branches be an "obstacle". Your drawing does not clearly state on this particular case though 😉

@Kevin ORourke I would be happy to help if you ever feel the need. I'm living quite far away from Carcassonne though.

@Kevin ORourke I live in Dijon