Blaster Report - 9/6 Gameplay

It seems like every time I do a game I've got a different setup.  So, for the foreseeable future, I'm going to list details of the blasters I used in the games and report on how things went.  This report is for the game held on September 6th.  The Blasters used were the Demolisher and the Vagabond.

I used the NERF N-Strike Elite Demolisher 2-in-1 blaster as my primary for all of the games except the pistols-only rounds.  My Demolisher was fitted with a 35-Round Drum and a Strike-and-Defend Pistol Stock.  The only modification to the Demolisher was the power supply, as I was using four Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries.  The Pistol Stock had it's AR removed and was using a stock spring.  Pretty light modifications.  I was using normal N-Strike Elite darts of varying codes.

For the games I used the Demolisher with, I found that my performance and accuracy were very similar to other flywheel-driven blasters with power upgrades.  There was a Rapid Red and a Stryfe with Ultrafire batteries that I found myself up against pretty frequently and, while my spool-up time was longer, the power and distance I was getting had me on seemingly even terms.  Ranges seemed to be between 55-65 feet for average engagement distance.  Accuracy was fairly consistent and I only experienced two jams the entire day.  Both instances were mag-feeding related and occurred with older darts, so the blaster itself was very reliable.  I carried 4 Rockets into battle with me and only managed to hit somebody once with it.  The Rockets move slower than the darts so they seem much easier for opponents to dodge.  This was further supported by the fact that my only rocket kill was at an engagement distance less than 15 feet.

The Strike-and-Defend Pistol Stock performed very well both as a Pistol and as a shoulder stock.  It was sturdy and provided a good amount of comfort during battle while aiming the Demolisher.  I only managed to use it as a Pistol when I was reloading and the performance of the Pistol didn't seem bad.  I was only using it when targets were closer than 20 feet and it was fairly accurate.  I did notice that, during one instance, I grabbed a Koosh dart off the grass to fire back at my opponent and it seemed to shoot straighter than the Elite darts.  Throughout the evening, I managed to pick up 4 or 5 other Koosh Darts to load into the Pistol or my Demolisher to fire back and I was impressed every time, so I'll likely be picking some of these up for future battles.

In the last two games of the evening, we switched to a Pistols-only game.  I opted to go for my new NERF Doomlands 2169 Vagabond.  No modifications were made to the blaster and I was using mostly Elite Darts (unless I could manage to pick up a Koosh dart here and there).  The Vagabond's range was impressive right from the start.  The accuracy seemed pretty decent, too.  Since the Pistols games were on the playground area, I didn't really have an issue with range.  Most engagement distances were between 30-40 feet and the Vagabond had no issues there.  I never ended up using the Vagabond's Slam-Fire feature, but single fire had no jams or firing issues.  I did find that reloading the Vagabond seemed easier than other rotating barrel pistols and the design of the barrels seemed to help make quick reloads easier.  The games were fast paced, so the ergonomic issues I had noted before in my reviews weren't noticeable due to the short amount of play time.

It's odd for me to use mostly unmodified blasters, but after using these in the games we had, I was already pretty happy with their performance.  I'll probably do upgrades for them later but I was pleased that they didn't mitigate my success in the games.  I'm also growing increasingly interested in Koosh darts based on my experience with them.  I had already been reading up on them and heard good things but I'll probably be finding some to load up for the next round.

With weather cooling down, I'm hoping to do another game or two with the Nebraska Nerf Legion soon.  I'll use a different setup for those and list my findings with those, too!  See ya next time!