Nerf Rayven turns up in Queensland

Probably the most anticipated foam dart blasters since the Stampede, the Nerf Rayven has finally made it's appearance at most major retailers. I spotted it today at my local Kmart in southside Brisbane. It is unfortunately pretty expensive in my opinion, at $45au so I decided not to pick one up just yet. I'm still yet to see a Lumitron, but i doubt it will be too far off.

Also, this will most likely be my only post until next week, as I am moving house (AGAIN). Thankfully I'm back in to a full size house rather than restriction of being confined to an apartment. That means I'll finally have some space to mod and paint!

Loadout: Nerf pistols

Alright, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you're probably thinking, "Jeez man! 2 weeks and no new posts?! what are you doing?!". I've been concentrating on my riding a little more, and I haven't had much to post about really. I have posted a couple of bits on my photography blog, Rolley Photography if you're bored and want to have a quick read and look at some of my work outside of Nerfing.

But, I've decided to try out an ongoing article that I'm going to call "Loadout" which will look at some of the options for gearing yourself up for foam warfare. This first one is aimed at people deciding what sort of pistol they should use in a foam war, and I've included 6 Nerf pistols which I think are well worthy of mentioning. I will add more in the future, there's plenty more awesome pistols out there. Whether you're looking for a secondary blaster to back you up, or you're wanting to chose which pistol blasters would work well dual wield style, this should be helpful to you. So let's start!

First of all, let's go with the single shots. Shown above are the Nitefinder (top), Scout (bottom), and Proton (right). All of these are really nice blasters, but each one has a strong point that the others don't match. The good old Nitefinder is extremely popular among Nerfers for it's modding potential and comfortable layout. Once modded, it's not unusual to be hitting ranges of 70 feet+. Couple that with the ability to store  pair of darts on the blaster and you have a pistol capable of taking on anyone. Might not be easy, but someone dual wielding Nitefinders can take down anyone within their range, and get away in a hurry. It's problem is that it's power tends to send stock darts in all sorts of directions, so it might only be a good option to someone with aftermarket darts. At the opposite end of the scale, however, is the Scout. It's small size allows it to be holstered easily, and it still has storage for 2 darts. I really like this blaster, but range is definitely limited due to it's reverse plunger setup. So, this is really only the choice for people who want a secondary but don't want to add too much bulk to their setup. You're definitely not taking on the entire field with a scout, but it might be enough to cover you from someone up close while you reload something like a Vulcan. Lastly in the group of singles, I've included the Vortex Proton. Range and accuracy on this thing out of the box is great, but it's size and lack of available ammo to be picked up on the field at the moment isn't great. Maybe the ammo thing will change as Nerfers start using Vortex gear more seriously, but the wide nature of disc blasters is something that can't be changed. This is the sidearm option for Vortex blaster wars or for people that want to be a bit different but still want range and accuracy.

Next, magazines and rotating barrels. Yeah, Nerf calls them clips, but in future this article won't be all just Nerf, so I'm rolling with mags this time around, and it's technically correct anyway. Above are the stock-less and barrel-less Recon (top), stock-less and barrel-less Spectre (bottom), and Maverick (right). These are the blasters for those wanting capacity over the ability for dual wielding. It's still possible to dual wield all of these but due to their size it'd make more sense to just use one larger blaster. Starting with the stripped down Recon, if you were needing a blaster for a pistol round at a foam war but didn't want to bring 2 separate blasters, you could always take a Recon and take it down for the pistol round. you'd have the option of faster reloads and higher capacity but it's a bit bulky to be holstered for use as a secondary, unless you attach a strap. Mod kits available for these make it a pretty decent blaster in terms of range, but you can only use streamline style darts. Moving on to the Spectre. This is much the same usage as the Recon, but this time you'd be trading power for stealth. It is a fairly quiet blaster so you could use this to your advantage. It is a bit skinnier than the Recon so it's possible that it could be holstered. unfortunately this is at the expense of faster reloads, instead of just dropping the mag it must be loaded manually, but you've got 5 shots that you can follow up faster than with a single shot pistol. And finally, you've got the Maverick. 6 shot manually loaded rotating barrel gives it 1 more shot than the Spectre, and though it is shorter it is still a bit fatter. I have actually seen someone dual wield Mavericks with a degree success, and many people recommend the Maverick as a first blaster so it's safe to say it's not a bad choice for those just getting in to Nerf.

There are a ton more pistols out there for all kinds of uses, but hopefully this is an alright starting point for anyone deciding on what pistol they might go out and buy for their next foam war. Personally, I either go with the Scout because it's easy to carry around as a secondary with my main blaster or if I want more range I'll use a Nitefinder and hang it from a strap. I will continue this article on an irregular basis, feel free to add comments, suggestions, or your own input!

Super Soaker Season!!

First of all I should apologize for my absence, I've been very busy with work over the last few weeks, and finally got some time off so I spent it seeing family and friends. Secondly, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm still recovering from last night's festivities, and summer has definitely struck after all the wet weather we've had in my area, so my recovery is pretty slow.

But, there's one thing Australian summer is awesome for; SUPER SOAKERS! Yep, too hot to go riding like I'd normally do on my day off, and there's tons of people in my unit complex busting out the water guns, so I'm jumping in the action with the pair of Super Soaker Hydro Cannons I got these holidays. If you haven't seen the reviews for these, I suggest following the link to SG Super Soaker. I'm not going to review these, as SG Super Soaker already has that base covered quite well, but they pack a serious punch. Yes, they weigh a ton. Yes, it's a silly idea to try and carry two of them, but let's see them come at me after I drench the hell out of everything in front of me!

Nerf Strikefire review

Throw back a while to the days of the old Dart Tag line by Nerf, and you may remember a Dart Tag set named the "Strikefire" set. It included vests, glasses, and a pair of Nerf Strikefire blasters, one orange, one green. Though a surprising number of people have never heard of the Strikefire, I assure you that this blaster that came with the set, if you can find one, is one of the more useful Nerf pistols available. But let's talk about the blaster itself first.

The Nerf Strikefire is a top-slide cocking pistol type blaster, loaded manually. It can take any kind of dart but was intended for the velcro tipped Dart Tag darts. It's claimed range is 30 feet, but I was surprised to find that it'll do a little better than that, even in stock form. It's also quite accurate, Dart Tag darts fly very straight and would easily tag a player from 30 feet away. Streamlines still get the same range, but as always with stock streamlines they are far less accurate. I haven't modified this unit yet but I expect that I can get some great ranges with it.

Cosmetically, it's also a winner. It has quite nice styling, I especially like the curved trigger guard. The trigger is a cool double groove shape and under the barrel is storage for 5 darts, which is actually very convenient for quick reloads. What I really love about this blaster though, is the ability to attach it to any tactical rail on N-Strike blasters. That's right, you can use this blaster as an under barrel for your main blaster! I have seen one used on a recon before, and that's exactly what I've done with  my "Gear Up" Recon and Strikefire. The clip on the top has a much stronger grip than that of other attachment clips, to the point where you can prime the blaster without it sliding off the rail, just don't do it too fast. There is a trade-off though, in order for this blaster to be used as an under barrel attachment, it obviously had to be made quite small, so big hands will definitely not find this to be a comfortable pistol.

Modification wise, I have not yet opened up the blaster, but being a reverse plunger blaster I would say that modifications would grant an extra 10 or 20 feet, which I'd be pretty happy with. I will do a mod guide for the Strikefire if I decide to go ahead with modding it.

Finalizing, this is a cool little blaster. It will probably become a vintage item in a few years, so pick one up when you see one. It's size and lack of store availability as a single blaster are probably the only things that can let it down as a stock blaster. The ability to store 5 extra darts, attach it to Nerf tactical rails and good out of the box performance would make it a wise choice. 8/10.

Public vs. Private

Nerf and foam dart blasters are always something that people will find ways of customizing beyond all belief, and why not, right? It's half the fun of screwing around with these things, you can make them look awesome. The problem is, however, not everyone is in to Nerf, and while most avid Nerf fans can spot a Nerf gun no matter what's done to it, the rest of the general public can't always. Take the TV show Terra Nova as an example for this, the gun props for that show are all Nerf guns, some modified, some just painted black. Now, Nerfers spotted it pretty quickly, but anyone else watching the show wouldn't have had a clue.

Prime example of what can be taken the wrong way in public.
...It's just a painted Nerf Recon.

Unfortunately, it's for this reason that sometimes we need to be a little careful about what we do, and think about how it looks in the eyes of the public. Someone running around with a bright yellow and orange toy gun is rather amusing to most people, however, recolour that blaster all black and suit that someone up in a set of cams and a Nerf tactical vest and they're going to create serious terrorism concerns and probably have a police officer or 5 pointing something much less harmless than a Nerf gun at them in less than a few minutes.  Most public Nerf wars in Australia (actually, all that I know of) ban any blaster painted in military or realistic colours, even tan and desert camo paints. Basically if it's not blatantly obvious that you're not a terror threat, you'll need to re-think your setup. I do agree with this completely, I'd sure hate it if I was a war organizer and it got shut down thanks to an old lady freaking out over someone rocking up with a blaster that looked like some kind of anti-material sniper rifle.

This, however is unlikely to get you in trouble.
...Unless you're firing Max Force pellets at non-players.

But don't get upset yet! There's nothing wrong with having you're own wars on private property, so long as you inform your neighbors that you're not a crazy firearm wielding nutter and are actually just using painted toy guns, they probably won't call in the federal police to deal with you and your friends. It might also be a good idea to set no-go zones, in the case that someone passing by and unaware of the foam warfare event spots half a dozen pseudo-terrorists in someone's yard. The private wars I attend are held on a fairly large lot of land which does have a main road nearby, so as a general rule, anywhere within sight of the road is a no-go zone, back behind the treeline is our border of action. There hasn't been any issues to date, and we get to suit up and paint our blasters however we like. So I guess there are advantages and disadvantages to attending private wars or public wars. Private could be more difficult to secure a venue and attendees but pick the right place and you can do it how you want, while  public is usually well organised but you're limited in the type and colour of gear you can bring. If you do both, perhaps have blasters set up for both. I have 2 Nitefinders, both modded exactly the same internally, but externally one looks like a rifle (The NiteSniper), the other is a standard whiteout series exterior. Likewise I intend to paint another one of my blasters in dark colours, but not until I have another to stay stock-coloured. I guess Bazookafied's words on the last post on this blog are good ones to keep in mind: "Don't get tazed, bro!".

Striking fear in to your opponent...

You could probably get arrested for being a terrorist in that outfit...

Yep, that's a Nerf gun. And yes, that's a real holographic sight. and a real radio. Yes, we do sometimes take things way too far, but it's all in good fun. This was the setup for Carlisle at Saturday's 3 vs.3 mini battles. He has about 6 mags available in the front of his vest, 5 mini vortex "grenades" at the back and can communicate freely from anywhere in the area of the game with his brother, thanks to the radio. Couple that with the modified Nerf Longshot and his ridiculously good flanking skills, and coming up against him becomes frightening. Out of all of the games on Saturday, I don't think there was a single moment where I wasn't thinking "Now where the hell have those twins gone now?". This was because I could hear their radios going off from behind cover, as they plotted their way to victory way more often than not. Then suddenly out of nowhere, you've been successfully flanked and tagged by Carlisle, landing multiple darts on you from more than 50 or 60 feet away before you even have a chance to realize what's just happened.

I guess the point of this post is to point out that in games of Nerf, it's not always about the blaster. If you can plan better than your opponent and kit yourself out (even if you have to go overboard) you can outclass anyone, even if they're on a mounted Vulcan and are spraying darts at you like a rain of foam death. Unfortunately for me, this time around I was the one on the Vulcan being trigger happy. It was a fun day, and the 3vs.3 battles were fast and exciting, giving me a chance to try out a fer more of my mods. My volted Stampede went well, and likewise the Alpha Trooper (that I still haven't finished off... part 3 will be posted one day...) but next time I'm going to have to think of something to have up my sleeve...

The Hive Mind: comparing LTX to Light Strike

A new blog popped up recently relating to Laser Tag, run by an author going by the name of Skurj. There haven't been too many posts just yet, but they've all been quality and quantity. The latest post, I think will be of great interest to those in to the laser tag side of things. Skurj has written an extremely in-depth comparison between the popular LTTO/LTX laser tag system which is very popular among laser tag enthusiasts, and the newer Light Strike system. Light Strike has not received many great reviews so far but as far as a comparison goes, this post is a must read.

The Hive Mind: Light Strike vs. LTX - Pure Opinion