Battle tested: Shadow Hawk and Alpha Trooper

This is a follow up post from yesterday's Nerf/ Max Force games, I was going to split it in to two posts but I didn't really see much point spamming anyone's blog feed full of posts. I'll start by saying that both of these blasters did really well, and I'll be using them both again in the next wars that come up.

The Max Force Shadow Hawk (review here) I used was unmodified, though I used a different barrel. the barrel I used was my extended Recon barrel that I made when I first got into modding. It's actually useless on a Nerf blaster because it impedes on the dart too much and slows it down. So to make it work on the Shadow Hawk, all I needed to do was take it apart and trim down the inner barrel tube a bit so the Shadow Hawk's barrel adapter fit inside, and wrap some electrical tape around the base of the adapter on the Shadow Hawk to make a firm fit. This trick can be done with any Nerf N-Strike barrel, and allows you to add Nerf attachments to your front end, like the bipod grip or mission light.

flimsy bipod haters can't hate no more...

In action, I found this blaster to be incredible as a sniper blaster. I found that I got used to the pull and release mechanism, and the only time it was a pain was when I had to hold it for a long time. I was able to keep heads ducked under cover easily and some of the shots I landed were further than any of the ranges a Nerf blaster could reach. About the only blaster that could counter-snipe me was a heavily modded longshot, and even then my shots were more accurate. Needless to say I was stoked... Right up to the point when I ran out of pre-loaded clips. At one point I had prepared 2 clips for myself, thinking I'd have time to prepare another, but unfortunately I was wrong, and this came to be this blaster's main downfall. Though, I think by next time, I will either have more clips or a flex ammo belt to solve that problem. Overall, This turned out to be very good at it's job. If you're considering buying a sniper type blaster, but don't want to go all out on a longshot mod, I very highly recommend the Shadow Hawk.

On to the Alpha Trooper. The one I used was the rebuild I've been working on in the little spare time I have (part 1 here, part 2 here), modded to accept the Nerf spectre barrel, and with a rail on the side to accept a mission light, this proved to be very versatile. The spectre barrel doesn't really serve much purpose other than to eliminate the tail spin darts sometimes get after being fired from a blaster with the air restrictor removed, so at times when I needed clean, reliable shots I had it on, but when I needed to move fast and freely, I still had the option of taking it off. The slamfire on this blaster works so cleanly and I did find myself having to use it it tight situations.

on the left, the AT with full kit, in the middle is the modded NF,
and on the right is the mighty shadow hawk.

Combined with a tactical vest, spare clips and my modified Nitefinder as a sidearm, I was able to really put the heat on the other team and the only time I really ran in to trouble was when I was pinned down by myself or was being shot at by someone with a Shadow Hawk, but in both cases I had enough ammo and freedom of movement to get out of bad spots and into some cover very quickly. Despite lacking long range and churning through darts like no tomorrow, The Alpha Trooper is an almost unstoppable force, and great addition to anyone's collection.