Let's blow off the dust... maybe transform this blog into something else...

Well, I got all nostalgic and decided to begin again with the writing on my blog...

It is the feast day of Saint Xavier, and at my house (a house filled with good Catholic men, titled Xavier house) we have celebrated. We had a feast and some basketball, then today we go play some football, and we finish it off with more food (but no feast.) I pray that Saint Xavier watches over all men who have lived in this house and gives us the courage to be the evangelists God wants us to be.

Nerf has fallen to the wayside in my life, I'm afraid. It has fallen away to airsoft (with no small part from concerned members of my church, whose gym we use as an arena.) What is airsoft? It is like nerf, but more realistic, more spaced out and it hurts worse. I'll put up some helpful links if you are curious. In essence, airsoft allows for one to experience all the fun parts of combat (shooting at people, tactics, cool military gear) without tacking all the other, less fun parts of combat (severe injury, death, PTSD, etc.)
   Kind of in the same topic: Airsoft is now being suggested by military psychologists to help those who come home adapt to the civilian life, and also to help those with PTSD to heal their scars. I cannot tell you how many men (I'm sorry, I have seen few women who do airsoft) I have seen who do airsoft.

airsoftpacific.com 6 part series of airsofters 

"...Exult, all creation around God's throne..."

Truly, This is a most blessed night and a righteously glorious morning! for our Lord and God has risen from the dead! May the name of Jesus Christ be ever on our lips as we celebrate these holy days of the celebration of Easter. how beautiful it is that our God would stoop down to such a level to give us His graces, Sacraments, and even Himself so we can under-appreciate His infinite love for us! What a God have we! no words can proclaim appropriately just how glorious and loving our God is: to have given His Son and Himself to us unworthy, despite our constant rejections, despite our constant failures, despite our infinitely lower nature, and then to give to us even more through the Sacraments!

JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER! ALLELUIA ALLELUIA! 

I feel greedy asking for more, but I ask that God will pour even more blessings upon His wife, The Church! may Her pews break from overcrowding and overuseage! may the blessings of the Sacraments pour down upon us until we die from an explosion of love and grace! may His mercy pour upon all who desire it, and may His sorrowful tears rain down on all who do not wish for His mercy! I pray, with the most fervent heart, that God shout into the ears of the Called, that they may hear and do God's will, and that I be called as well!

THANKS BE TO GOD!

I hope this does not come across in the wrong way... I'll get off my soapbox now...

Pax Christi.

a few rules to lay down...

I will be blunt and to the point as I can with this set of rules for how to conduct yourself in a seemingly harmless nerf fight.

RULE 0: DO NOT BE STUPID
     notice how this rule is dedicated to rule 0. this rule sums up all of the other rules. if you are smart, you do not need the rest of the rules (note: intelligence does not assume smarts.)
RULE 1: CHOOSE YOUR CROWD CAREFULLY.
    my blunt LT says "don't hang with stupid people." the less stupid people you bring along, the less often rule 0 will be broken.
RULE 2: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
    if you have painted nerf guns, are wearing combat vests, or are doing anything that looks out of the ordinary; people will notice and call authorities. It does NOT matter if you are on your private property, have a space reserved, or if you have notified the authorities of your actions. someone who is stupid will notice and become alarmed.
RULE 3: CURSE MURPHY AND HIS STUPID LAWS!
    Murphy's law is always in effect. I had a situation where I reserved a gym at a church grounds (private church property) and there was no Mass occurring at any time that day. someone passed by the gym window, noticed, and complained that we were some sort of "paramilitary" that was shooting guns at each other. this situation was seamless, until a stupid person came unto the scene.

TO CONCLUDE:
    stupid people are everywhere, you cannot avoid them, but you CAN reduce the amount of stupid people who become relevant to you and your nerf fight. take care not to let too many into your battle.

Nerf Tactics: Scenario Tactics: Infected

This comes in many names, but is limited to the idea of some sort of zombie scenario.
from an external perspective, Squad warfare being used with this would be confusing and difficult even when all players understand the rules well.

there is one side that plays as the "zombies." They have an unlimited number of lives (and may or may not be limited in use of certain weapons.)

the other side has only one life per person, but no limits to weapons.

the zombie group starts out as only one or two people. it slowly grows until the zombies far outnumber the humans. the last human(s) to survive win the round.

CONCRETE RULES:
friendly fire will not be tolerated, as all bullets are infected, and will turn all who are hit by bullets into the infected.


PREFERRED TACTICS:
in a close to distant combat situation like this, I find my best success in a group/ squad of 4-5 people. it is not too large that to get tight knit would be a problem, while it also increases your ability to apply saturation fire if the necessity permits.

rule 1 of small group squads: keep on the low down as a squad. the less-experienced people will follow those who have proven themselves in battle in such a situation like this. they give your position away, have less fire discipline, less combat discipline, and will be an overall liability. the bottom line is: DON'T LET THE OTHER HUMANS LATCH ON. they will be your undoing.
       a good way to disappear is in the very beginning, when everyone's focus is on the one guy. this is (from the moment the beginning is sounded) a rapidly closing window that is lost after 10 seconds at the most (5 seconds is an appropriate goal)

Nerf Tactics: Scenario Tactics: Squad Warfare

Squad Warfare is a way of improving teamwork on either side of a conflict. Squad warfare also makes the fight both longer and more interesting. Squad warfare is not exactly a Scenario, but a set of rules by which you can play a scenario.

RULES: they are complex and confusing to write in longhand form, so I'll shorten them down

squads can be any number, from two to 30

In each squad there is/are:

1 Leader, who has infinite "Revivals (Revives)"

(in case of bigger numbers, "medics" who also have infinite "revives" can be installed)

X number of regular grunts (all who are not medics nor leaders) who have 1 "revive"

if all members of a squad are down and cannot be revived, then the squad is eliminated and cannot enter combat for the remainder of the round (unless some arbitrary referee says otherwise)

RULES REGARDING REVIVES:

if you are hit (anywhere) you must go down on one knee with at least one hand on your head and NEITHER hand on the firing end of the weapon (i.e hand touching the grip on your weapon, or finger touching the trigger)

to revive someone, you must place BOTH hands on BOTH shoulders of the one who is down. 

revives only work within a squad (one CANNOT revive an enemy or non-squadmate)

if you have taken down an enemy, it is not technically against the rules to "puppyguard" the down foe, but it is EXTREMELY unsporting and therefore unrequested.

TACTICS:

usually it works best to have the grunts be the ones who save their revives for the Leader or medic. 

for those who are attacking a squad, simple "divide and conquer" tactics have worked all too well, flanking is always a good tactic, as well. other than that, simply "be a better squad than them" is a good mentality for winning.

Nerf Tactics: Small-arms Tactics: Nerf Stampede ECS

just a really cool picture of one

Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS
Length: 2.5'
Rng: S-M
Electronic Automatic
Clip System
Safety Switch, foregrip

this weapon is a really good idea. it really is. an automatic Nerf gun that uses clips and is not as bulky as the Nerf Vulcan. when I saw it being advertised, I nearly peed my pants I was so excited. it had looks, plenty of rail space (for all my fun gadgets), a cool-pseudo-bullpup look to it, AND it even had a shield and convertible bipod/foregrip! even before I fired it, I loved it! all the batteries it required gave it a very nice-feeling weight, and the fact that I didn't need to cock the gun to check my ammo was phenomenal!
Two things I also enjoyed: the safety switch and the clip release (two really small things, I know; but I still like them)

then I fired it. this is where the gun becomes a horror story.
it had little to no effective range. the darts came out slower than a paraplegic convalescent who travels by crawling, and there was a half a second time interval between the trigger pull and the dart actually being fired (this may seem like a trifle until you are in a CQB environment, where a tenth of a second is almost too long). I was heartbroken! I wanted SOOOOOO much for this gun to be the best gun since the Longshot, or even an improvement on the Vulcan, but it doesn't even come close!
even in a field test, I tried using it in combat and ended up feeling embarrassed as an enemy well within normal Nerf gun range was too far away for my stampede to reach!
in short: I love the looks of it, IT HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!, but the performance is pathetic.

The Stampede's low rate of fire and restricted range make this gun at best difficult to utilize unless one was providing cover fire in a CQB environment.

***DISCLAIMER***
I do not mean to insult the engineers, who undoubtedly spent months designing the Nerf guns. I just tell things like they are. I do not know exactly what restrictions are in place to protect the lawsuit-happy, but I do know this: the Stampede could use some better mechanics (it has been done!). if anybody from Hasbro is reading this and does feel insulted, my apologies.

Nerf Tactics: Small-arms Tactics: Nerf firefly rev-8

Nerf N-Strike Firefly Rev-8
length: 15"
bullpup style top-pump action
revolving clip
dart holders on stock
gun lights
medium-long range

I don't care much for this weapon. I'm also not the most open-loadout guy either, I like to keep to the general things that work and that's it. this gun is good. do not think that I don't suggest this, but I will nitpick at this gun. although the gun is short for a good useage in a CQB environment, the cocking mechanism (located on the back of the gun) is unweildly to use and impossible to cock while the gun is at your shoulder. the rotating barrel is compatible with almost any other dart EXCEPT the streamline darts (which are hte only darts i carry). I've never cared for the rotating barrels, because they make it difficult at best to reload in a combat situation. the dart holders on the back of the gun are a good addition and do make up (somewhat) for the lack of a clip system.the lights... COMPLETELY USELESS unless you are trying to draw attention to yourself while in a dark room.

the Firefly Rev-8 is a suitable weapon for both long distances and for close encounters. despite being difficult to cock while in a combat situation, this weapon is a good choice for a nerf arsenal.