Well we’ve hashed it out here, what about you?

This is a pretty age old question… the necessity for a sidearm during a nerf round. There’s the camp that says you don’t need it and there’s the camp that carries one. For some voices on the subject (from the ChANO 2 thread at nerfhaven.com):

“Concerning sidearms – Even after the discussion I was thinking about it. With my hand fuched, I wasn’t able to use my magstrike. I enjoy having something as a backup in case I get rushed. While not a sidearm per se, to me the Shock and Awe of having sprayed that many darts quickly usually gets the kill or gives me time get the reload in to get the kill. Without it I was getting rushed more often. I caught Ryan reloading and he had to ninja sprint away. I chased him down but my NF was empty (he didn’t realize it). Becuase he had nothing to shoot back with he had to keep running. Due to my hand injury, I was not able to get my legs to match his speed. cool.gif Everyone plays their own way and to each his own, but I’m always going to have my NF at my side. It gives me piece of mind, and that’s what matters.”
-Snake

“I can understand their usefulness if you are using a single-shot primary. You need that extra short-ranged shot to dissuade rushing. Turrets, RSCB clips, or just running away negate that need. All of my primaries are capable of firing several shots in a row, and so a sidearm is superfluous. I can, however, see the usefulness of carrying an automatic, as it provides you with impressive short-ranged firepower.”
-Beaver

“Time to lend myself to the sidearm debate. I remembered from the SoCal wars that I attended that I never really used a sidearm; I don’t think I even had a springer pistol, as I borrowed someone’s G1NF for the pistols round at ‘Geddon. Chano I was no different, I knew I had no need for my NF when it wasn’t pistols round. This time it was even better, since the RSCB on my +bow provided a much higher rate of fire than the Uruk-Hai Crossbow normally does. I know for a fact that there was at least one instance where something fucked up on my RSCB (I failed to glue a piece and it was giving me trouble) and instead of dicking around for a sidearm, I straight-up ran. I might not have gotten the hit, but it’s at least as effective to keep you alive. I also know there was at least one instance of Zorn running out of shots on his BBB, pulling out his NF to shoot me, and realizing that it wasn’t primed. He said himself that he could count the instances where he needed it on one hand. I would prefer to just have a primary I knew I could hit with, rather than a primary I felt needed backing up. And if you get the better of me while I’m fucking with my RSCB? Congrats, sir, that was well done. Like when Beaver got me with the fucking SSPB.” – Ice Nine

“That’s my sidearm. My legs. Run like hell.” – Ryan#s

More on this later.

ChANO 2… THE RETURN (or Electric Boogaloo)

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And there we were. 14 guys taking pot shots at each other with foam projectiles on the University of Chicago campus. This was nerf war, this was ChANO… 2 (Chicago Area Nerf Out… 2)!

Once again hosted by Ice Nine and Zorn’s Lemma, this would mark the final ChANO on the U of C grounds, as classes were finishing up and Ice Nine’d be making his way to the west coast. Starting at 10 AM, the foam was primed and we were ready to continue this madness with a bang. From a +bow.

The day’s events included a few things… like running.
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Game types included Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Wingman, Defend the Core, Capture the Flag, and pistols-only rounds. Luckily, the chill from the previous ChANO had gone, and the wind was pretty still.

Highlights included one gent, Daniel Beaver taking the free-for-all round armed only with 2 nitefinders. Later in the day he would use only an Arrowstorm during a round. Ryan#s and Ice9 cemented the mythology surrounding +bows, especially Ryan seeing as how he tagged me seeking cover behind a barricade from a good distance away. Cripes.

– Snake managed to get a few blocks with a crossfire shield, demonstrating that yes, Virginia there is something besides a Manta you can use. To be fair, Crossfire shields are only allowed depending on the war. Maybe in Chicago, we can start the trend.

– Living the “It’s away!” dream when I used my longshot/rocket storm integration to bust the core wide open when Team Caution was on assault during Defend the Core.

– The Vulcan? Still not building a case that it’s proper for the battlefield.

– The wildfire’s “Loud as hell” and pretty good for keeping people away from the core.

– “Indiana Jones” moment reaching for my sidearm and finding it fell out of my holster.

– THE XXL BAZOOKA WAS USED IN BATTLE.

– I even spent a round wearing a clone trooper helmet, defending the honor of the Republic.

Alright, let’s look at some things that I learned over the course of the day-

* Zig-zag running, very important if you’re not speedy. Probably would have helped in the aforementioned shot I took from Ryan.

* I knew this was a bad idea, but for one round I was packin’ a spider-man wrist blaster, the XXL Bazooka, and my blastfire. Too many cooks in the broth, and it was hard to keep everything loaded not misfire the spider-man blaster when reaching for my blastfire and vice versa. 2 at most when going into a fight, unless you’re packing pocket blasters.

* I think I need to weight my darts more, my accuracy will thank me.

* Beaver and Snake I think got into a pretty decent discussion about the necessity of sidearms. If you’re good with your primary, you really don’t need it. Even Zorn admitted his NF was only there to take up space. After my 3 gun round experiment, I agree.

* OBSTACLES ARE NICE. I need to rework the legs on mine, but I’ve got pieces to make some more, and this definitely needs looking into.

Anyway, that’s a good bit of what she wrote. ‘Til next time… keep your barrels loaded, Space Cowboy.

The time cometh…

In a few days, ChANO 2 takes place. A few weeks after the first Chicago blaster battle, we’re all geared up for round 2. This time, I intend to make things a bit more interesting than just going in with my single-shot pistol/crossfire shield combo. Being so limited in battle experience lately, I’m not entirely sure how my playing style’s going to evolve. Some things to keep in mind, for sure-

1) Dealing with range, counter rushing after a PAS or the like takes a shot. If they’ve got a magstrike, good luck.
2) Roadie run is your friend, but don’t get tagged in the head.
3) EVASIVE MANEUVERS. I refer to how to avoid gunfire by moving in a zig-zag formation.
4) I’m tempted to test the vulcan out myself, but after the testimonies before I’m not so sure. Maybe from a mounted position?

Either way, some stuff to consider. Until then, I’m just going to let the itch in my trigger finger stay unscratched.
 

So I took the longshot that I’d modded a few weeks ago… and slapped on the air zone rocket storm. Essentially their mortar, I managed to hack and cut to make it it the LS shell! Yes, there is no paintjob so it looks fugly, but it works. Best part? I can either use the rocket launcher as a grenade launcher holding it traditionally, or I can flip it mortar-side up and shoot it like a shoulder mounted RPG.

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Retro-grade!

Taking a look back at blasters of olde-

What we’re talking about today is the Nerf Blastfire. It was part of the Nerf Airjet line back in the late 90s, and I remember wanting to get it because it reminded me so much of the guns I saw on the show, “Farscape.” It was large, five barrels, and semiautomatic. It had a twist, though. There was a large orange button on the top, and if you were primed and ready, if you opted to hit that button instead of pulling the trigger all five darts would shoot out at the same time! I termed a fire mode like this “Alpha strike” taken from BattleTech terminology for a fire mode where a mech will unload its entire ammo supply on something. So does the Blastfire.

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It has a pretty decent range, but I tell you that a kneeslide paired with a meant for an instant hit. Not quite as efficient as a true shotgun would be, but effective all the same. The barrels fire sequentially top to bottom.

What you do is pull the green slide back and forth to ready the chambers. Pump 6 times and you’re locked and loaded. I’d probably say I could get 30 feet out of my stock blaster, and the trigger always fires. Comfy to hold with either one or two hands, this thing has had nothing else like it. The Hornet is the same idea, but the trigger I found too unreliable, not to mention it definitely does not hold as well as the Blastfire. If you get the chance, definitely grab it. Even stock, you’d be glad you did.

ChANO – 2009

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This weekend marked the first meetup for a Nerf battle I knew about that was organized through the Nerf Internet Community and staged in the city of Chicago, specifically Hyde Park. Most of the Chicagoland Nerf Wars I had heard about were organized in the surrounding suburbs, this was a nice change of pace.

11 AM, April 11th. Information Day. It took a member of California’s vaunted Nerf community to set the whole shebang up, but finally it happened. “Ice Nine” from Nerfhaven chose to go to school in Our Fair City and he confessed an itchy trigger finger. Having participated in Nerf Wars in California, he and his roommate, “Zorn’s Lemma” decided to get the ball rolling and put out word MONTHS before on Nerfhaven, inviting all interested fighters and guests. One of whom, was yours truly.

Now I’d organized some battles before within my circle of friends but never went so far as to organize a group from Nerfhaven. This was how I found myself wandering around Promontory Point on a Saturday afternoon. I figured all I had to do was look for the brightly colored weaponry, name calling, and a large group of people. Coming over the hill, I looked down and saw some foam darts laying around. And more. Following the trail, I found them in the middle of capture the flag. Quick introductions and a team assignment later, I was out there with my Disk Shot pistol and crossfire shield in hand.

Until that day it had been awhile since I’d been on the field. Running from position to position, jumping, taking pot shots… it was coming back. Not entirely sure how good I felt about running into six blasters and an N-Force sword camped around the flag objective but whatever, it was the nature of the game and I had to remember how to play, and remember fast.

There was the familiar click of priming handles, the snap of plunger heads colliding along plunger tubes, and the “foomp” from air guns. Darts whistled past my ear crashing into benches and playground equipment. People were yelling, running, and jumping all over the place. At times all I saw were swirls of the yellow and red flags, the grass, the sky, and the various bright colors of the plastic Sometimes all I could hear was the pounding of my heart. Sometimes I opted to sit out so I could take photos and video; it was crazy to make sense of all the action and small struggles that comprised each round. Hunters became the hunted, teams were dwindled, mates disappeared. Unlikely and unarmed heroes rose above the ranks to unlock their achievements for victory.

As the day went on, I was able to attach names to faces. Snake, Ice9, Zorn, Mr.Badwrench, DemonLord, Finnster to name a few. All decent enough fellows. There were maybe close to 20 total, and the darts came flying fast and furious during each round.

Some personal highlights came from running through large crowds of the other team untouched and tagging at least one of them. My “Han Solo” moment chasing a target and then running into his entire team, having to run away and find my front lines again, yelling “TRAIN!” to make sure they knew I was in trouble. Dead man rushes, one of which ended up with me going headfirst into a high powered PAS (pump-action shotgun). Very deadly, very accurate and not the smartest idea. Somehow though, the only contact I heard was the “ptank” it made bouncing off my crossfire shield. When I looked up, I saw the amazed looks and kudos, confirming I achieved the unlikely. A quick shot and a sprint to safety later, I finally got to relish the vindication. Close to that point, I figured I should play a bit more and then call it a day because I couldn’t do anything better for the rest of the fight. For me, the fight was finished.

In addition to the fighting, just seeing everyone’s mods in person was finally seeing money where their mouths were. It was confirmed with my own eyes the ranges these guns got, and damn it was kinda scary to think one day I would be on the other end of that barrel. Spare parts were up for grabs and people were able to trade and sell as needed, as the community helps each other out to get our mods to be all they can be. Or at the least, open up space for new acquisitions.

Living the dream, as they say. Words to practice and thoughts to action. Hey, when in doubt… squeeze the trigger and give it a shot.

ChANO, OUT!

Holy crap… HvZ anyone? Or not…

http://blog.synthesis.net/2008/03/27/nerf-guns-terrorize-college-campus/

So the link above provides a bit about how Bowling Green State University (www.bgsu.edu) have been playing Humans Vs. Zombies (http://humansvszombies.org/about) and unfortunately, the players have been getting in trouble. While I haven’t had the joy of playing this particular game type, I know the weapon of choice for the humans tends to fire foam projectiles. It looks like concerned citizens are phoning in about students running around campus with firearms and in this day and age, it’s not that surprising to be honest.

I remember back in grade school, I once brought a water pistol to class. It was clear blue and plastic, but was found out and warned that I would be in serious trouble for having that at school, as it was considered a firearm. At least, that’s what they told me.

It would take a bit of work to make a nerf blaster lethal. Annoying, sure… painful, yeah… but fatal?

When I was in undergrad I had my fair share of times running around with my nerf blaster, and to be fair I never bothered to check if it was considered contraband by the school rules. I just assumed it being brightly colored was enough to indicate I was not waving anything around that was dangerous. In hindsight, that was pretty reckless.

The point of it all? Check and double check, make sure your school is aware of the appearance of nerf blasters and related products so they can head concerns like these off at the pass. It’s a different world and we can’t take a lot for granted anymore. I like to think that communicating what you’re doing, what you’re using, and what to expect can mean the difference between a blanket ban and a controlled limitation. Be safe and be smart.