I think I forgot to grab a nerf BLASTER.

Clearly, it had been long enough. A few weeks later, we were back in Oak Lawn. Third in the series of Snake hosted events and it was game time. Once more we reported out to Centennial Park for a day of foam, fun, and most importantly, the Fight.

It was a turnout of maybe 9-10 rotating people we had ourselves set for the day. Games included Team Deathmatch, wingman, CTF, Defend the Core, and Team Powerball. Come to think of it, spanning that out from 10-4 or 5 really explains why I pass out for 11 hours afterward. But more on that later.

What this day saw was the birth of a +bow vs. all round, the strength of the marauder, and awesome of dart blocks. Minimal injuries, give or take a nutshot or two, but no one bled and no one had to be carted off to an ER… this time. Some random people even joined in from watching us, and they knew what was up. Stefans, Captain Slug, they knew the talk. Walking was a whole ‘nother matter, but we all start somewhere.

Learning my lesson from the freak accident at the last game, I had to pack a paintball mask. It protected the temple and considering I got hit in the face at one point during the day, it was worth it. It really is a bit extreme, but for my own peace of mind I’m ok with that. As for the rest of my equipment I was packing a magstrike, my bbb, a crossfire buckler, and the “Wicked MC” (see previous blog) to rotate in and out over the course of the day. The bbb was inconsequential though, because truth be told I had more fun running around with a high ROF blaster and melee weapon all day. Reports say I took out an entire team. Dare I say it, the first round where I ran straight at the other team and jumped in the middle of them swinging, tagging at least two of them before getting hit totally made the day for me….

…UNTIL I started getting dart blocks here and there. The wider surface area of the marauder definitely helps if you can guess near where the dart’s going to fly, and on at least a couple of occasions I managed to block a wayward shot, to follow up with a charge. If not the Wicked MC, my buckler picked up the slack. It was almost as if there was nothing the marauder couldn’t do. During Team Powerball someone tried to drop a point into the bucket and I swatted it out. If they tried to outrun me, the marauder had enough length to compensate and I still got a hit. It was a good day for the N-Force.

While defend the core with my “Decoy” play style was a lot of fun, Team Powerball was pretty much how we closed out the day. An epic struggle of sorts between two +bow’d and sprightly teams. Running and dodging, getting out of the way of melee weapons, being thankful the other team didn’t know the “Flying V”, and getting a “300” style sword hit was a nice capper.

For future reference, 15 mins. may be a bit too long for DTC rounds. Depending on the # of people maybe, but for our size events 5 minutes may be just as good.

Just some quick etiquette notes to anyone who sees us on location:

1) DO NOT start grabbing at stuff if you don’t know whose it is. That’s just being a douche. And you may be unlucky and not know where it’s been. I’m talking to you, random passersby!

2) DO NOT shoot at other people between rounds. Be nice.

3) Might wanna recheck your strategy if you’re yelling “FALL BACK!” all day long.

4) Why, oh why do you charge at me with swords when I have a pistol? Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that ever watched “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

That’s it for now!

*click*
“RELOAD!”