Better Axe Around

A couple of weeks back, I brought out an old purchase, a Nerf Warlock Axe,  that I hadn't used since maybe February at the latest. I was hosting a Humans vs. Zombies training event of sorts, with the park I picked for the event located just a few blocks from my house. Since I didn't have to travel as far as I normally do for games, I figured that I could bring out some blasters and melee weapons that I don't ever use. There can be plenty of reasons why a weapon falls out of use: they're jam prone, lack accuracy, blow through ammo too quickly, or most of all, since I'm walking to most games, they're too damn big to fit in my bag.

My Warlock Axe, which as stated I hadn't used since February, was definitely too damn big to carry around with me on the street to a game. Prior to this training session, I hadn't really given melee weapons too much thought in general. My load out, mission planning and point of view game wise has always been blaster-centric. As a primary, I go with this: 

Its stock as far as internals go, but it still is very effective. For Tactical Ops and Jericho (which allow  foam knives or nothing at all as far as melees go) I usually complement it with either a sidearm of sorts ( Strongarm or Triad). For HvZ I bring a ton of sock grenades as well. 

At the training session, we did an exercise where 4 humans had to square off against 12 zombies for 10 minutes, or the last human perished. They had to stay within an area that was about 30 square feet. For the first two rounds of this exercise, the humans were allowed to use blasters but for the final round they were allowed melee weapons only. I was part of this human group, dying in about 6 or 7 minutes after being the last human standing. Prior to my demise, I was able to defend myself against zombie attacks well enough that I went on the offensive, chasing down a group of 4 zombies attacking a fellow human. I ran them down and the both of us were able to catch a breath. Sadly, my fellow humans died shortly after and it was the last breather I could take, as I spent the next 2 or 3 minutes running around by myself, whacking zombies with the axe. 

After the round, I was impressed, but still skeptical. I decided that I was going to bring a light load out to my next HvZ game, which you can see below: 

I had structured the game where each mission had two parts: In the first part, the humans would be mobile and have to travel to a safe zone. In the second part, they would be forced to survive for a period of time within the boundaries of a designated area. It was during the second part of this mission where the Axe started getting a lot of use. 

We were held up at a Cannon Battery (complete with an old cannon), with most of my fellow humans huddled together on a ridge, fighting a slowly encircling zombie attack. The zombies would eventually get stunned, but they would put the human's backs closer and closer to the boundaries each time. I decided I wanted no part of this.  Clearing the way with a couple of sock grenades, I got trotted past the stunned zombies and took up a position behind them. They paid me no mind and when they jumped back up to push at the humans once more, I whacked them with the axe. The next time they got up, they paid a little more attention, forming a smallish group to confront me. 

I stood still. When they got close, I immediately struck two of the group as the other zombies looked on. They seemed a little baffled that I was still standing there, so as they stared at me I whacked a couple more before running off. The non stunned zombies in this group waited for their stunned fellow Zs to rise back up before giving chase. 

They also added a couple more friends to their lot, announcing to everyone they could, that they had a lone human in their midst. I planned to fight them all, giving the Axe a solid test in the process. I knew where to lead them as well: there was a concrete bunker that came up against officer's quarters (we were in an old military base), and I planned on retreating into a corner where the two structures met. They kept pursuing me, licking their zombie chops along the way as it must of seemed like I was digging myself more and more of a grave. 

When I got to the corner, I put my back against the wall and stopped. There had been a zombie running on top of the wall of the bunker, who was immediately bummed out that his height advantage was lost. I got surrounded by the zombies, with a player named Sinclair charging me first (It was the first of maybe 100 charges Sinclair aimed at humans that day. He charged at us so much that I dubbed him the Charge Master in honor). With a whack of the Axe he was down and since I was so close to a couple of other zombies, I took a whack at them as well. I fell back to the wall and the remaining Zs, with their options a little more limited with their numbers about halved, charged me and received Axe whacks for their measure. I retreated away from all these fallen Zombies, running in the opposite direction with my Nerf outlook changed considerably. 

So all of this is well and good, but what makes the Axe so special to me now?

Dimensions: The handle is about 20 inches long, with the axe head measuring about a foot wide and long total. I have fairly long arms, so I'm not affected by the relative short length of the handle. If anything, I prefer it. With the shorter length, but considerably wider area of the Axe head, I can cut at angles and in ways that a sword does not allow. The fact that it is foam, not wood and iron makes it incredible light and very easy to use with just one hand. 

Unlimited Ammo: I've died too many times in HvZ hearing the click an empty blaster. With the Axe I can defend myself as long as I can continue to swing my arms. 

Dual Wielding?: Not too into it, believe it or not. I feel off balance, or perhaps just a little too overextended when dual wielding. I feel like I'm covering too much ground, instead of focusing my attention on just one area. The other night, I messed around in my apartment with my Axe in one hand and a pool noodle in the other. 

I stopped myself a few moments later. There I was, in my living room, by myself, flailing about the axe as I stabbed at the air with the pool noodle. I can definitely say that I've done nerdier stuff in my life, but I hadn't felt like THAT much of a nerd in quite some time.

I decided to just go with the Axe. 

A breakdown of Assassin: Team Challenge

Hey everyone!

Once again I'm back after a period of lag with the first post of the week. Last week saw the finale of A Friendly Game of Assassin: Team Challenge, of which I was the organizer, as well as a participant. This five week game saw a lot of action, with the team I was placed on, consisting of Beth, Arthur, Yoshi, his co-worker Nina and Ben from Jericho. But enough about who was on what team, who got killed and how?

Andrew:

I had talked to Andrew about Assassin about a week prior to the game starting and he told me that he planned on allowing attacks to occur in his house, something I had mentioned in a post before. In his mind, he felt that the only way someone was was to be able to get into his house is through the front door, with the help of his landlord.

Arthur, Beth and Ben had another plan.  On the first night of the game, the trio (I would have been the 4th wheel on this murder wagon had I not been out of the city) hopped a fence and found Andrew's back door. Arthur brought a lock pick set (!) and was able to jimmy the door open after a good deal of effort. Andrew wasn't home, so they hung around in his apartment for a few hours before leaving a poisoned item. Andrew didn't take the bait, thus a second trip was needed.

The following night, they returned to his house, once again picking the lock on the backdoor. Arthur walked into the apartment and spotted Andrew sitting on his couch. He took a shot, which missed and startled Andrew. Ben was right behind him though, taking Andrew out with a single shot from his pistol.

Sargun:

I posted about this the day after it happened, but in short Sargun had shown an unusual interest in how I was getting home, to the point of saying that if I needed a lift home that I could call him up and he'd swing by. A very nice sentiment, but since we were playing Assassin I said no thanks. After hanging out in front of my apartment for an hour plus, Sargun almost killed me as I walked through my door. I armed myself and stood in the doorway, still safe while talking to him, giving Sargun the impression that I was going to my place to crash. About twenty seconds after he walked away from my apartment, I ran him down and killed him.

Me:

I posted about this as well. Lauren came to my job in disguise and while I was about 95% sure it was her under the wig, the 5% was enough for me to hesitate and get a sock grenade chucked my way. I laughed and congratulated Lauren on a kill well done.

In life, I was connected to the decision  making process of my team, who kept me in the loop after I passed. But in death, I was filled in on the decision making process of the team who had just killed me as well. I found being able to talk shop and hear about the strategies of both teams just as, if not more enjoyable then going on the missions themselves. I've committed to the next game of Assassin, but following this I'll likely take a break from gameplay and just moderate a couple of games.

Casey & Trevor:

Casey was my team's target at the time of my death and was subject to no less then three assaults on his apartment complex, one of which I went on before I was killed. Originally the plan was to ambush him at a Magic night at a game shop in Berkeley. When he didn't show, we... "infiltrated" ...  his apartment complex. As Trevor is his roommate and was also playing Assassin, I knew that I could goad him out if he sensed I was in the area. Trevor lives for the Nerf kill and if one is potentially outside his proverbial doorstep, he'll at least come out and take a look. Casey will definitely come with him if he's home.

After "infiltrating" the complex and gaining access to the main courtyard area I sent Trevor a text saying that the gym facilities in his building were really nice. His first thought was "Oh, is Connor looking to buy a Condo here?" His second thought was "wait a minute...." He sent me a text back and I sent him a couple more texts describing pieces of the complex. Yoshi and I were able to get inside Trevor's building while Arthur and Beth waited outside. But Trevor spotted Yoshi as we crept past their door and met us in the stairwell of his building, with a brief shootout ensuing.

Another shooout occurred when Casey and Trevor came outside, but with both parties a little uncertain of the legality of the action, namely as Casey and Trevor believed they were in a safe zone. They said that they would waive future protection in the building and we went back to the status quo of before we hit the complex.

Casey met his end in the third attack on his place, as Beth and Arthur attempted to storm the apartment from the front and back doors. It didn't work and they had to fall back outside the building, with Casey and Trevor plotting their next movements. Casey decided to go outside and attempt a flanking move, but was cut down in the process by Arthur.

All of this happened in the very early hours of the morning, with the action stopping some time around 2am. Trevor, a student, very much needed his brain in the morning. But after the surge of Assassin adrenaline, he was unable to get much rest. With much important schoolwork to be done that week, Trevor decided that he didn't have time for work and Assassin, and committed Nerf suicide that night.

Eric & Beth:

Losing two players in one night is tough when your team is only four people. However, when one of your remaining players is dedicated to Nerf assassination as Lauren is, you're never truly out of the running. As stated, I was filled in on what her team was doing after she killed me and though I winced at her plan of killing Beth, a friend and constant teammate of mine, I still thought it was pretty cool.

For the plan to be possible, Eric had to pay the iron price (shout out to Balon Greyjoy) beforehand. If he followed Trevor's lead and leaped into the Nerf void, Lauren would be the sole remaining player on her team and thus the target of the other team. In this game of Assassin, players could defend themselves if attacked, but darts shot in defense would only count as kills if they came from the gun of the target. Lauren knew that Beth was attending an event in Union Square, so she told Eric to wait until maybe 30 minutes prior to Lauren attending to end his Nerf life.

Eric kept his end of the bargain and I informed my former team of his death and Lauren's targethood. Lauren went to the Macy's near Union Square and applied a fake beard with make up before finding Beth. She was able to pass in front of Beth a time or two before pulling out her weapon and taking Beth out.

Yoshi & Lauren:

Lauren had been hunting and obsessing over killing Yoshi since before she killed Beth. She had managed to get access to Yoshi's office and plant some poison items of his desk, yet Yoshi had none of it and disposed of the items with a pair of tongs. This prompted more cross dressing from Lauren and in a similar manly get up, she paid Yoshi a visit on the last day of the game.

In disguise, Lauren waited outside of Yoshi's job (though this wasn't the first time. Beth had pulled effective guard duty for Yoshi while she was alive, spotting Lauren in disguise in the same location). She spotted him leaving his job and started to tail him. She had a small pistol (Jolt or Triad?) and was almost close enough to touch her target, when Yoshi suddenly spun around with a Jolt in his hand. The two shot each other at pretty much the same time. This double death, the first in a game of Assassin I have run, meant her team had died out and our team was victorious.

In the end, the team format was so popular that, next Assassin game aside, future games will use it. However, this next one is going to be nuts: every player for themselves, with each player receiving the dossier of every active player at the start of the game. All players will be considered valid targets. I'm scheduling it to run 3 weeks, but I'd be surprised if it makes it 2.

Tomorrow, I'll be talking about the HvZ game I organized this past Saturday, as well as a reevaluation of feeling regarding melee weapons. At the game, I only brought my Warlock Axe and sock grenades and had one of my better HvZ games in some time.

How did we end up leading the mob?

This was not a question I expected to ask myself. Not that long ago, I wrote a post about my personal preference of employing small squad tactics during games. Yet, despite this preference, at the Humans vs. Zombies, at a few points of the game, I found myself along with my usual squad mates leading the vanguard of a giant group.

How the hell did this happen?

Instead of doing a play by play of the game (as it ran over 4 hours, thats way too many plays), I'll touch on something that didn't occur to me before when playing or writing about group dynamics. Simply put, I didn't think too much about who exactly these groups were made of. More specifically, who wasn't there was just as big of a factor as who was. As mentioned in the post on large groups, I talks about the guys who like leading a large group into battle. Two of the most prominent mob leaders, Skylar and David Madison, weren't at the game. In addition to this, there were other players who are good at managing crowds present, but a good majority of them turned zombie early on. So what ended up happening?

As we stood around talking about what we were going to do, other players started latching onto our group. After all, to an outsider we at least appeared to know what we were doing. So one hanger on became three, which became another whole squad of people following us. Then that squad started attracting hangers on , with these people eventually rallying others to join us.

So my group, normally no more then eight people usually, was now more then twenty strong. I uttered the title of this post as we were heading out on the second mission at the head of a large column. Though we were able to separate ourselves a few times from the big group (using tactics that will remain secret) but in he end we found ourselves leading the pack time and again.
Sure enough, we cant wait to see Dave and Skylar again! <

Game on

Hey everyone!

I'm feeling pretty much normal once again so I'll definitely get back to posting more this week. But more importantly, today The Field, my game that I have been cryptically plugging here and there, became playable. I've already sent out new member packets to a few folks and in honesty, I'm ready to go out and snatch some blocks. I'll post again later today about the fantastic SFSU HvZ game I attended this past Saturday, but until then, since its an actual thing now, check out

The World's First Real World Urban Crime Game!

All systems go for The Field

Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing well, wherever in the world that you're Nerfing. Im still a bit under the weather, but even so I was able to host an awesome session of HvZ: Academy this past Saturday, in addition to wrapping up the details on The Field. The game is going to start accepting registrations this Friday, though I will be limiting game play to San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland and the rest of Alameda county. Players will be able to begin game play immediately after registering here, receive their ID cards and will also get new player bonuses (eight 99% full units+twenty four 50% full units of Cargo, 200k in In Game Currency). These bonuses come with a few delivery options: you'll get more units of Cargo and INC if you pick it up off me, less of a bonus if I meet you somewhere in SF and no bonus if I mail/email your new player kit. This will be a beta test of sorts, but if you live outside these areas and want to play The Field, just drop me an email and we'll talk about dedicating a map to your city, country town, desolate stretch of desert, or wherever you live. Those who live in these places but have ties to the Bay Area can earn themselves tremendous Transport mission bonuses by registering and operating with the people they know out here. For more information, check out The Field's Official Website.
Tomorrow, I'm going to talk about the importance of maintaining composure during games. Its a no brainer that freaking out and running around is detrimental to team cohesion, but no brainer or not it happens at every game I go to. Until then, Nerf on!

Tactical Talk: Getting lost in a crowd

Tomorrow I'm organizing HvZ: Academy, which will be a scenario based, almost training exercise for players looking to sharpen their HvZ skills. Hosted in Lafayette Park, we'll be working out some scenarios or situations players find themselves in, with an equal balance of things I have in mind as well as input from the players present. With this in mind, I figured why not talk shop in preparation for tomorrow's event? As indicated by the title, I'll be talking about the finer points of losing yourself in a crowd of people.

I tend to host my HvZ games in well populated areas, as the crowds become a game element on their own as you have to focus more attention to make sure there aren't zombies lurking in the midst. However, as you also tend to travel in larger groups during these same games, my HvZ games won't be the focus of this post. Nor will Tactical Ops, which is played in more isolated environments. However, Jericho is stealth based and frequently played Downtown, thus near large crowds to lose yourself in. As such it'll be the focus of this post.

I got to thinking about the subject after nearly losing myself in a crowd and not knowing it. I was walking with my girlfriend Courtney and our roommate Maro up Van Ness from Fort Mason after watching the 4th of July fireworks. I don't like being in crowds, especially giant ones consisting of either A) drunk people or B) slow walking tourists. This mob consisted of a blend of both, so I was eager to get past them. My plan was to get off Van Ness via North Point, then walk up the stairs leading to Larkin st and away from the crowd.

Not a bad plan for a person like a myself. The only downside of it was I didn't inform either of the people I was walking with of said plan. Instead, I opted to simply employ the tactics I'll describe shortly. I heard Courtney call out for me and after we linked back up she said that I was just "ten feet away one second and gone the next." Maybe a minute later, in some corner of my mind I connected the experience with a Jericho courier mission and a blog post was born.

When I'm the courier in a game of Jericho, if possible I like to operate remotely. By this I mean simply that if I don't have to do the pickup myself (whether taking a picture or getting an item) I won't. If this is the case, the first thing I will do is disappear. I'll get out of the starting area, traveling by myself and making sure not to come anywhere near the pickup location. Instead, I'll head to within a block or two of the drop off location and hide out.

In Downtown San Francisco, there is a lot to keep track of, so this means hiding in plain sight. The first thing to do, naturally, is to join the crowd. Your insert into this group needs to be sudden and inauspicious. What I like to do is speed up in pace, nowhere near a run, but a steady stride, and walk around the edge of the group. When I see an opening, usually from the side, I'll speed up even more, moving laterally into the thick of the crowd. Once then, I'll continue to maneuver around people in the crowd, before coming back to a slower speed in the middle. If the person following me is outside the crowd, they most likely can't see me. I can just keep plodding along those terribly lengthy blocks on Market street and be lost to the world.

So now that I'm hiding out, I'll either just stay firmly surrounded by human shields, or move to a nice hidey-hole if I come across one. I prefer to stay with the crowd, or move between crowds, because if I spot players from the other team, I can safely observe and report their movements the same as if I was in a concealed location. Anywhere they go, aslong as I stay with mob. If there is just a straggler or two and the risk isn't too high (as the courier in Jericho, if you die the mission ends) for me to take them out, I'll give it a try.

There's something to say about the virtues of losing yourself in a crowd when being pursued. The benefits of such go without saying. The process for doing so doesn't change either, but there is one factor in this situation that can spoil it for you: keeping calm. To the person looking for you, anybody acting agitated, namely by constantly looking over their shoulder or breaking out into a run in the middle of a crowd is going to draw their attention. If they can keep calm and catch up with you, being in a crowd will work against you. However, even if you are freaking out on the inside, if you don't let it show in any visible way, nobody will notice it. You'll be one person in a hundred, or a thousand depending on when and where you are, the needle in a human haystack. If you lose your tail, it'll be possible to turn the tables on them and take them out if you can move to a position to watch them. The moment they doze off or stop to do something you unload.

So in light of this tactical talk, I'm excited about tomorrow's non-game and especially excited to hear any suggestions players have in mind that they want to give some practice. Talk to you next week!

Estoy Enfermo

Sorry for the lack of updates this weeks. My sinuses have been burning since the 4th and its been a little tough to do anything but hang out in bed. That's not really different from most days, but its enough to do  the trick. However, I do want to write something before Saturday's HvZ academy, in addition to showing my updated load out. So I'll get back to you all tomorrow, but until then be well and Nerf on!

Who's this guy?

Hey everyone, its been a few days since I last posted and in that time I've been wrapping up details on the project I eluded to. For my readers in the bay area, if I'm not already in contact with you, drop me a line if you're interested in participating in the beta testing of this project. If so, I'll give you the url with all the information as well as answer any questions you may have during the process.

In the meantime, there are a couple of games coming up in the next few weeks, including HvZ at SFSU, Jericho and my own games of HvZ in Lafayette Park and Fort Mason. I'll be attending and posting about SFSU HvZ (not sure if I'll go to my games though), but sadly I won't be able to make Jericho this month as the games are happening when I'm at work. But what about the man attending the games? Who's this guy? I haven't done a post like this yet, but I don't feel I can go on without doing so. So without further adue, this is me:

Q: Where are you from and where do you live?
A: I was born and raised in San Francisco, where I currently live. I grew up over on Cortland avenue, about a block up from Mission street, went to school in the Mission District and until I went to high school, pretty much did everything in that neighborhood.

Q: Where is your family from and do you have any siblings?
A: My mother is from Belmont, a smaller town in the Peninsula. My father was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and lived there until his early 30's when he came to the US to play music. He met my mom in San Francisco and not long after he went back to Belfast, she went out there, found him and they got married. My older sister Siobhan (they really hit us heavy with the Irish names) was the immediate product of this union, with me coming along a couple of years later.

Q: How long have you been Nerfing?
A: Just since the start of this year. The project I cryptically alluded to above steered me in the direction of the NIC, which manifested in the form of Jericho. I found out about it on meetup.com, but just missed a game by day or two. I was already looking to host games, but I needed to play first. That three hours of game play hooked me. I created my meetup.com group the next day and hosted my first game a couple of weeks later. Ever since I've been organizing games, managing a Facebook community, blogging and creating projects and  then speaking of them cryptically. As of the last month or so, if I go a couple of days without doing something Nerf related, that's a pretty long time.

Q: Have you always been such a nerd?
A: Yes, but I didn't always know it or necessarily acknowledge it. As funny as it may sound, in the late 80's and early 90's when I was first coming in contact with the world, San Francisco wasn't the friendliest town to nerds. At least in my neighborhood it wasn't. When I was a kid, I was too young to know that I was nerding out hardcore when I was memorizing the wing span of birds (subsequently ambushing my mom and bombarding her with the facts), but as I got older and started trying to be a cool guy like all the other guys around me, I noticed how nerdy I truly was. When we were playing basketball,  I would casually discuss how many defensive rebounds or assits a player averaged a season. Or when I was writing graffiti I would talk about to my friends about guys who tagged not even in San Francisco, but back in New York a few years before we were born. In neither instance did I get anything but stares (at best), so I realized I needed to keep my nerdness in check if I wanted to be cool like my buddies.

I started nerding out even harder when I hit 15/16, sitting down and devouring history books in a couple of days, week after week, for the rest of my teenage years. I crossed the nerd threshold, stopped caring about being cool and just did my thing.

Q: What is your favorite Nerf blaster?
A: The Strongarm. Any time I've ever needed it, its served me very well. Its easy to transport, conceal, its very accurate and the 6 dart capacity gives you enough time to create space and reload.

Q: What is your favorite location that you've hosted a game at?
A: The UCSF campus down in Mission Bay. Both Tactical Ops games I've done there have been a blast and the environment the space creates, especially in the Garage can't be duplicated.

Q: Where would you like to host a game?
A: That question deserves two answers: I would love to do an all day event in a giant park, somewhere like Hyde Park in London or Mount Royal park in Montreal. As far as indoor games, I want to do a either a hostage rescue or HvZ game in a high rise building.

Q: What are your favorite countries you've visited?
A: Israel, Ireland, the UK and Canada are all ranked about even.

Q: Favorite cities then?
A: 1) Montreal
     2) London
     3) Belfast
     4) Jerusalem
     5) New York

Q: Someone is sending a Nerf hit squad after you, with orders for your demise. Who is backing you up and what do they have?
A: Ben as a scout, wielding a Retaliator stripped of the attachments. Eric is waiting in ambush with a Rampage: loaded with a 35 dart drum and a blowgun taped to the top (because, as Eric said himself "I'm a spammy muthaf@cka"). Trevor is on one side of me with a Rayven/Stryfe and Beth is on the other with Retaliator and a Strongarm. Arthur is running all over the place either with his Strongarm or just with a sword.

Q: Do you have a Nerf nemesis?
A: I think I have a couple. Yoshi Murai and Andrew Shenck, who I play with here in the city I definitely have a positive, very healthy nemesis relationship with. These guys always want to take me out when we play against each other, so I oblige in returning the favor. Though I have only played with him a coupe of times, Ryan Ramirez, who I play with down in San Jose and up here at games I host, is definitey becoming one. We're always running into each other and at least as of late, I've been able to pull a couple of kind of cool, sneaky tricks on him during games. He's also been able to come back from these tricks and take me out soon after. In the first game I played with him (an HvZ game), he lead a pack of zombies that chased me all through the upper Castro (and its many giant hills) for about 10-15 minutes straight. When I got to the rendezvous point and took a breather, he snuck up through some bushes and tried to get me. He definitely earned my respect then and his many instances of accurate shooting, successful charges and his endless energy have impressed me.

Q: What is your ultimate goal Nerf wise?
A: I want to travel to places with people are into Nerf (or places where they aren't), but the infrastructure for games isn't really established. I would go there, show them how to organize, ultilize the internet and media, give them rule sets for different games and just get regularly scheduled games going. A Johnny Nerfseed if you will.

If you have any other questions, just send them to questionsforconnor@gmail.com I'll answer em and toss them up on the site. Until next time my nerf kindred.

Death becomes me

Pretty emo title I know, but perhaps a little emo is in order as yesterday I was assassinated. I was definitely a little bummed to bite the nerf bullet (dart?), but putting aside the fact that I'm out of the game, I'm actually pretty glad someone came by and took me out. Before I get to that, some backstory is in order.

This wasn't the only attack on me this week, but a player named Lauren picked up where her fallen comrade Sargun left off. With Sargun taken out, Lauren was the only player left on her team remaining in San Francisco, so I expected her to come by for me at some point. I mostly know Lauren from Jericho games, but at that I don't know her very well. That means I was blank on her playing style, favorite weapons and overall competence in the realm of Nerf. The last time I saw her, she had bright pink hair, so I figured I should at least notice her first above anything else.

So when she came for me yesterday at my job, I thought I had spotted her. However, this Lauren like person had black hair, a hat and sunglasses on. I grabbed at my Strongarm and waited for her to pass through the door.

Still unsure, I hesitated to shoot. In that one or two seconds of me trying to figure this person out, she lobbed a sock grenade at me and sent me to Nerf Valhalla. I was dead and Lauren was an incredibly happy young lady for drawing her first blood. My death gave me a new perspective on disguises instantly: previously, for some reason, I thought for a disguise to be effective, it has to conceal your identity almost totally. But not so. It merely has to make your rival second guess themselves for a couple of seconds, plenty of time to chuck a sock or shoot a dart.

On top of this, as I mentioned at the start of this post, I'm very happy to have someone come around and take me out. Lauren definitely took some time out for preparations, considered what weapons to use and planned a strategy. On top of that, she executed me without saying a word, simply walking up to me and doing the deed. I'm happy because that means there's another ultra nerd out there playing my games and at that having a great time. With another ultra in the mix, more crazy stuff will happen, thus triggering the ultra nerd instincts in others, resulting in a chain reaction of fun.

I'll still allow attacks at my job for the next Assassin game, somewhere down the line. I will also just shoot anyone who looks like someone from the game. It may create an awkward situation or two, but screw it, I'll live to tell the story. Good luck to all the players left in the game and happy 4th of July!

Super Secret

I have been working on a project for the last couple of months, which I haven't spoken too much about except with those I'm fairly close to. However, in a last rush of action, it looks it I should have it up and running this week. All I will say for now is that is a game one can play every day, regardless of where they are. With Nerf guns.

Preview for HvZ: Academy

Yesterday, I took a trip back to Lafayette Park, which will be the scene of Humans vs. Zombies: Academy on July 13th. "Took a trip" may be a bit misleading, as the park is just up the hill from my apartment. It recently went through a multi-million dollar renovation that took a couple of years to get done (which is purely miraculous in San Francisco, where it can take upwards of five years just to get the permits in  order), so when I got a free moment I hoofed on over and had a gander.

My first thought was that someone had dropped a gold mine in my backyard. On my first pass through, I saw places that could be used as safe zones/storage areas, choke points, open fields, narrow passes, collections of trees and brush and ambush points galore. I felt not that I could host not a game, but games. Tons of them, potentially every week if I had a willing audience (to quote Trevor, I would "need more Super Nerds like us").

Walking around yesterday afternoon, I decided to take a different route than I had the first time around.

When walking along this path, I immediately thought of formation training. In groups large or small, unit cohesion is a major challenge. I thought of a mission where the humans would have to stay and fight along this path en route to a checkpoint, before either returning or proceeding onto a different path. To ensure safety, zombies would have to move out of the way and not block the path when stunned. Once we've done it a couple of times, with the zombies getting a chance to be humans, we'll run it again with only melee weapons. 

These concrete paths criss cross the entire park, with choke points, forks and ambush points along the way

In the middle of the park, on what looks like (or, being a history nerd, am hoping is) an earth mound (Kurgan!), with a flattened out summit, lined with trees and interspersed with picnic tables. I thought of doing both Survival and Break Out types of missions in this summit area. There are a couple of other circular, semi fortified areas in the park where we could do similar missions as well. 

This spot, on the other hand, I plan on using for the final HvZ mission of the day. I want to do a "buddy system" type of mission, where teams of two break out of this grassy area to reach a couple of check points before heading back to safety. The Zombies will be able to stand on the concrete surrounding the grass, but not the grass itself. There are times in the game where you find yourself either completely alone (I hope its not just me) or with just another Human, but this notwithstanding, you still need to survive. Its a situation in the game I've haven't heard too many other folks talk about, so I figure we could give it a try and get some feedback about the experience from the players. 

There are only 8 spots left on the meetup.com listing, which with almost two weeks left before the game is a nice turn out. Since I live so close to the park, Im gonna bring some of my blasters and melees that I almost never bring with me, such as my Stampede, Buzz Bee Range Master (because I still haven't gotten a kill with it), my Axe and Courtney's Zelda sword. I'll definitely be heading back to rack my brain for more concepts and scenarios before the the 13th. 

A Tactical Good Time

This video was shot by Eric Anderson using a camera mounted on his Stryfe. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is a video? In a nutshell, this video shows you the many elements of what I look to bring together in Tactical Ops: team work, communication, dispersed but co-ordinated movement, intense locations and good old shooting fun. That Eric was able to capture all of it in one clip that is less than a minute long is amazing to me.

 Ben and I had a nice turn out of about 24/25 people for the game, with people coming from different parts of the bay area and even from outside of it. Ben lead the Spec Ops Force (SOF) and I facilitated the Insurgents. With everyone settled and the teams selected, we headed down into the heart of the UCSF campus and into the gaming area. In the first mission, we revisited the Meth Lab location, with the SOF having to clear the area completely for victory: clearing means no players are actively defending the area, because they're either dead, stunned or fleeing. In Meth Lab, the SOF were unable to take the area, but this time around they were able to do so in about 10-15 minutes. I missed the definitive action, where SOF, with Trevor and Ben in the lead, pretty much came in and shot everyone at the same time, as I was talking to a police officer. Someone in the area had already called the cops on us, but when I talked to him he said "Its just Nerf guns? Yeah, I don't care about that." He proceeded to admit that it looked "pretty fun" and that he himself used to play paintball with his friends. He told us to have fun and left, but by then everyone was dead.

In the second mission, with their communications network severed, the Insurgents had to do a manual lockdown of the area. This was both figurative and literal: we had to find and open a series of bike locks then take them to a drop off point. Since we lost the lost round, we only had 25 minutes to do this.

We didnt even get the first lock, but we had a couple of nice shoot outs. Down 0-2, we took a break to get organized for the next mission. In between Missions 2 and 3 was something I was looking forward to. When we first started planning the game, I was determined to somehow make two people fight with knives. It took a little while to figure out the context and motivations for said knife fight, but once squared away I awaited it greatly. It did not disappoint as we formed a circle around Arthur and Zac (who I know from playing with down in the San Jose area), Beat It style, with them swinging foam blades at each other. Zac was victorious and earned the SOF an advantage in the next round.

The above video is from the Hostage Rescue mission, taking place in a UCSF parking garage and was the center piece of the game. Is it my most frequently requested mission and location by far. When it looked like a Hostage Rescue might going down, Trevor's eyes lit up and he asked "Is it happening?" I replied "Its happening" and from the video footage, once can see that it definitely happened.

I was the hostage last time, so Eric had brought a little Yoda doll to act as a stand in. Seeing this,  Ben said he would stand in so I could play, staying where we placed him and taking pictures of the action. It took a few minutes for the SOF to make contact, which I spent anxiously covering a stairwell. Once we did make contact, it was pretty much like that video for the whole time, with some moments way more intense then others.
Another one of those moments.

Ultimately, though SOF came within a few feet of him, he remained secure for the round.

The next mission took place in the same location and had three rounds. During the first round, the Insurgents had to clear (death, stun or flee) the second floor of the garage of SOF players in 10 minutes. SOF only had two respawns at their disposal while the Insurgents were armed only with pistols and knives. That 10 minutes felt like 20 and while I thought initially that we were successful in taking them out, we had missed two SOF players who were just coming back from a respawn  as I was calling time.

I looked around at the crowd of players from both sides, who at 10pm had just spent the last 40 minutes   running around a unreasonably hot garage, sweating their backsides off. I knew that a couple of us (deemed Super Nerds by Trevor) would be up to playing another couple of rounds in there (if not a whole game). But I could tell a good chunk of folks wouldn't mind cutting it short. After a quick pow-wow, I decided to move the game along to the final mission.

It was an extraction mission, with the SOF having to move to an LZ (landing zone) and illuminate three lanterns, keeping them on for a full minute simultaneously to be successful. The LZ, lanterns aside, was almost pitch black, so in the end it wasn't that difficult for the SOF to out-maneuver us and coordinate a countdown over the radio. The mission's ending seemed a little abrupt to Ben (which is definitely how missions go sometimes) and we both agreed that a survival style mission was better suited to the location.

Following this, I was almost killed in Assassin, which I talked about in the other post from today. In tomorrow's post, I'll be talking about a park a few blocks from my apartment that went through a multi-million dollar renovation recently. I feel the place is a goldmine for Nerf games and I'll be sharing some pictures and thoughts about the lay out with you all.

Self Defense

Last night, after the Tactical Ops game, I had a nice conversation with Eric and Trevor. One of my favorite things about attending period is getting to hang with people afterwards whether we're talking, joking around or grabbing a bite to eat. It was especially nice to have a good hour and a half conversation, because it didnt end in a shootout as they are on the other team from me in this game of  Assassin.

Maybe 20 minutes after the game ended, I was walking with them to Eric's car when I suggested a "gentleman's agreement" with "no Assassin sh!t" for the duration of us hanging out. They agreed and we stood around and talked at Eric's car for nearly an hour, before he offered to give me a lift home. (prior to this, I had gotten a text or two from Sargun asking if I needed a ride. Beth, who is on my team, alerted me that Sargun seemed a little fixated on my transport options) Once driving, we came across Arthur, one of my teammates and the guy we assumed to be their target, by complete random chance. He was driving with his friends who had just attended my game and Trevor started bellowing at him to roll down his windows. Arthur said no dice and while Eric tailed him for a little while, he decided not to give full chase. It was a little weird being with the enemy as they tried to hit my teammate, but a ride is a ride so I didnt really do anything about it.

Once we got to my place, we sat and talked for another 20 minutes, but I realized it was nearing 12am and I was out of the grace period. It didnt stop me from leaving the car door wide open for maybe 10 minutes. In a Cinderella-esque display, I decided to rush home in the final minutes before midnight. As I was saying goodbye to them for the fourth time, guess who gives Eric a ring?

Mr. Sargun Dhillon.

I decided I really needed to get home and set off. I was still not really paying attention when I got through our metal gate, but as I opened the door into my building and thus safe hood, I  looked over my shoulder and saw the above mentioned Mr. Dhillon with a Triad and a big ass grin on his face. He took a shot, but by that time I had already crossed the threshold and was safe.

I ran inside and loaded my Strongarm.  I realized I left my keys in the door and had to go back to the gate to get them. While still in the safe zone, Sargun re-appeared and asked what I was up to for the night. I said I was gonna go hang out with my girlfriend Courtney who was upstairs. He said that I should get her to come out with us, to which I replied she was already in bed. He said "see ya later" and left, but not before Ben, my teammate and co-host of the game just hours previous, popped out of nowhere and said hi. I was a little befuddled but I went back inside just the same.

Being the dodgy bastard that I am, I pretended to go upstairs. I waited about 20 seconds and went out to metal gate outside and saw Sargun and Ben walking down the street away from my apartment. Sargun didn't seem on edge, so I slipped out of the gate quietly and ran him down.

I let two darts go, which flew into deep shadows, leaving me unsure if he was hit. When I got closer, I tried again but the dart curved right and away. Being so close to Sargun, I barrel tapped him in the chest and ended his nerf life. He pulled out either a phone/walkie talky and alerted someone that I killed him. When I saw the phone, I thought "oh crap, there's more of them?" and jetted for my door. Before I tapped him, Sargun thought my blaster had jammed, so when I reached the gate he asked me if my Strongarm was loaded. At a safe enough distance I pulled out the remaining darts as evidence and went back inside, with Ben giving me a thumbs up.

I called Trevor, said I just killed Sargun and asked if they had set me up. Trevor said that he was still under the impression it was Arthur who was the target, but because he had been pretty out of the loop lately he may have been wrong. Eric, similarly caught up with non-nerf pursuits (having a life is overrated) was similarly not as connected to what was going on Assassin wise.  Eric said he had only heard from Sargun as I was leaving and didn't know about the ambush. I lived, so in the end it didn't really matter.

Safe and sound inside, I texted Ben and asked what he was doing with the enemy. Ben lives down in Daly City, so he said he traded silence for a lift home. Having done exactly the same thing 30 minutes prior, I was really couldn't say anything. Such is the life of Assassins I guess.

add another to the list 

Insurgent Swarmfire

I'm organizing another game of Tactical Ops tonight and I will be fulfilling my traditional duties as the Insurgent's team facilitator. I don't have a lot of Insurgenty (word?) things to wear and though I've reasoned that Insurgents wear civilian clothes anyway, I still wanted something to represent my Insurgenthood. At the same time, I've been trying to find a way to hook up a sling to my Swarmfire. I killed two birds with one stone today when I did this:

I'm calling it The People's Justice. It's got little duct tape notches on the top of the blast to hook my sling in. I'm hoping it dispenses plenty of justice in a couple of hours. Tomorrow afternoon I'll give a write up of the game and the gun. 

Groups: David or Goliath?

How about both?

Alas, there will always be people who prefer to play in large groups. As a reaction to those groups, there are other people who decide for whatever reason that such a playing style isn't for them. In regards to the Way of the Foamed Dart, these are things that simply are and will always be. In the first couple of posts I attempted to lay out the pros and cons of each configuration.In short, large groups are great for newer players and those looking to lead and instruct new players, as well as those who feel more comfortable with the strength the numbers provide. This is coupled with the fact that running with a large group provides a certain type of (awesome) experience and feeling only available in that setting. But all these things hinge on the cohesion the group maintains and once this cohesion is lost the above stated benefits can cease to exist, as players break formation to ensure personal safety.

On the other hand, this hazard can largely be avoided by moving with less people therefore having less pieces in play. You maintain a lower travel profile and also have more flexibility when coming in contact with zombies. Its easier for a smaller group to hide, scout or ambush zombies, where as unless a  large group  has advanced warning, they are generally limited to either attack or retreat. Once again, there is a particular feeling one gets from the game setting itself and those who like an us against the world experience should go for it. That said, the room for error is minimal. In large groups, there are always players getting picked off at corners or caught lagging behind. But whats one person to forty? One person to five or six is a completely different story. In addition to this reality, you have to have a specialized assortment of blasters, placed in the correct formation to be effective. You need to have readily available options for dealing with zombies at close or long ranges, coupled with people capable of using these blasters properly. Most importantly, if you don't keep a constant state of vigilance in all directions, you won't need any specialized weapons: you'll be tying your bandana around your forehead and dropping your blasters off at base.

So in my opinion its a wash: both are awesome for completely different but not opposing reasons. If proper attention isn't paid to utilizing these groups in an effective way, both lead to calamity. But also in my opinion, there is another question at hand:

How can the two configurations complement each other?

I posted the Large Groups edition of this series on the SFSU HvZ Facebook community and got further insight from a couple of players. Chris James, who I know from playing with B.U.R.N. in the San Jose Area and who also makes cool Nerf related videos like this and this, stated that he prefers smaller groups, but sees the larger groups as an asset. Larger groups naturally attract more zombies and create a significant diversion, allowing smaller, more mobile teams to sneak away un-noticed to take care of missions.

Another strategy uses the same tactic in reverse: smaller squads can go out looking for and drawing in zombies as well. They would not be able to stray far from this large group, but upon making contact with a group of zombies, they can shoot some darts and pick off a couple. If its a big enough group of zombies, there would be no way to make a serious dent in numbers by doing this. However, the smaller group can pretend to freak out, or skip the theatrics and just plain run. Keeping cohesion during a retreat with five or six people isn't that hard to maintain and it still presents a worthy enough target for a group of ten or so zombies. The squad keeps fleeing, taking pot shots, before leading the group of ten zombies into forty something humans laying in ambush. This giant force would be able to either pin down or disperse this group into individual zombies, allowing another small squad or two to handle missions or scout before moving ahead.

Even if neither strategy is tested in the near future, I believe the two configurations should work alongside and compliment each other, rather then wonder or discuss which is the more effective way to go. Ultimately as both can execute the same tactics (scouting, fire support, ambushes, diversions) with different results and benefits, they should be just viewed as their own thing and if both groups are present at a game, they should include each other in dialogue and plan what to do jointly.

Back to the spawning grounds

This Saturday I'm  co-hosting Tactical Ops: Leave No One Behind, a small squad nerf war extravaganza down in Mission Bay. Co-hosting along with me is Ben Ersando, Co-Organizer of Jericho: San Francisco's Urban Spy Game. Ben has brought some ingenious ideas to the table and I have a great feeling about the game in general. We are going back to the location of the first Tactical Ops, which I hosted along with Trevor.

As stated in my second post, I found a few gems during my first walkthrough of the area. This included the "Meth Lab" area, a little courtyard at the intersection of two streets and two paths that has an earth mound and the location, along with the subsequent mission, that people request I do again more then any other:

hawt

This slab of concrete beauty is a parking garage tucked into an obscure corner on the UCSF campus. Trevor spotted it independently of me, and where I just recognized it as a cool spot, he decided that the perfect mission for such a location was a Hostage Rescue. Pre-game we had talked about holding the hostages in the adjacent courtyard area, using the garage stairwells as sniper holes and watch posts. It sounded pretty awesome to us, but there were other missions in the line up that we figured would shine brighter. 

Come game day, we head over to the Hostage Rescue location and we notice that the garage is totally empty. Like empty empty. So empty guys were skateboarding on the ramp that ran down the thing. Repeatedly. We could hear them outside. I'm not one to shy away from last minute adjustments at games, so I said "F' this, lets just do the mission inside?" With everyone saying F' this in universal agreement, I stated that the hostage, who would be portrayed by me, was going to be on the 3rd floor. Come and get me.

It was stipulated that I the hostage couldn't die, as the focus of the mission wasn't to protect my life. I also couldn't make any attempt to flee or do anything except sit where my captures told me. I could be rescued by the Special Ops Force by getting two hand-touched by a player. The Insurgents could recover me in the same fashion.

At the end of the mission everyone was sweating like crazy, raspy from yelling and needing a break to collect all of their ammo. A few people, who's opinions I respect greatly, told me that it was the best mission they had ever played in. Naturally I missed most of the action while preforming my duties as a hostage (I did receive commendation for my hostage abilities, so it wasn't a total loss).

I had a fun time watching otherwise rational, calm people running around bellowing at their teammates and enemies alike. I could look in the eyes of a couple of the players, especially those who had to fight through crazy defenses to get to me, that on some level they weren't really playing a game anymore.

"COME ON! GO! GO!" was what the SOF shouted at me when they showed up. They were very jumpy and on edge, with Ben and Alex leading the pack, scanning in all directions. Now that they had secured me, they needed to take me to an extraction point a couple of hundred feet away.

Along the way they were ambushed, killed and sent to respawn. The Insurgents recaptured me, towing me along and stashing me back in the garage. At that point, there was two minutes left in the mission, no where near enough time for the SOF to recover and put something in action. In an incredibly intense showdown, the Insurgents ruled the round.

So this time, instead of just doing one Hostage Rescue mission, we shaped the entire game around the concept. You can find the official rules here and catch up on the backstory as well as see what other missions we have to offer this Saturday. If you're in San Francisco and not completely tanked by 7pm, come check us out!

Groups: Moving with a Mob

Picking up where we left off with yesterday's post about small squads, I'm going to switch things up and give some coverage to the other side of the coin. But first, a little bit of context is necessary, as there is only really one game played in town that features and promotes the use of large groups. Large groups form up in Jericho, but since the game is based on stealth its not entirely encouraged. Tactical Ops is a squad based game, so by nature there are no big mobs.  That game would be Humans vs. Zombies. In my HvZ games there's a bit of it (Its certainly a bit, as joyous chaos usually kicks in mid round), but the main backdrop for this post features the HvZ game at SFSU, ran by Nate Dizon and Adam Benigno.

As stated, I personally like to play with a small squad no matter the game type. But that's just me. Even when I'm not Nerfing I tend to stay away from big crowds. Regardless, countless players of all grades (Good, Bad and Ugly) have a ton of fun hooking onto a bigger group and dashing out on missions.

There are plenty of reasons to do so.

If you're a noob I down right recommend it. Having more experienced and/or well armed players around you isn't a bad idea if you don't really know what you're doing. They'll be there to recommend equipment ("dude, don't use a Hail Fire if you're only bringing six round magazines."), provide safety and show you all the blindspots that usually kill other noobs. If they're good players they provide a living, real time example of how the game can be played well. I haven't met such a player yet who didn't give good advice when asked.

The feeling you get from running with a big group is a reason in of itself. I remember my first game at SF State. It was back in February and was a week after I ran my first HvZ game out in Fort Mason. I had met Nate at my first game period, but he had come out to Fort Mason to play, bringing a nice group of players with him. It was a nice show of support for a noob like myself and I have appreciated it since. The players he brought out with him were awesome too: most prominent being Nate himself and Mitch, who I only know as Mitch (but who anybody who's ever played at SFSU would immediately recognize. He is a perennial Zombie. At the Fort Mason game, he dumped a bunch of fake blood on his face. He then proceeded to run right through the grassy area and its accompanying Bros, screaming his head off and running at top speed for no reason.). Seeing them in action, I was excited to come out and play a game there at night.

When I showed up Nate was real welcoming and took time out to say hello and talk for a while. When the game got going, there was a weapons restriction rule that limited players to either a melee weapon or pistol. I grabbed my axe and moved to the front of the group. I could feel the anxiousness as the players around me fidgeted in place, the nerd equivalent of Vikings biting the shields. After a pep talk by Skylar Woodies, who I talked about in my fourth Assassin story, the crowd got a little less nervous and a little more pumped up. The Zombies, Mitch included were harassing us just outside of the safe zone, getting similarly pumped up.

Then we were off. We stepped clear of the safe zone and the Zombies charged us. Somewhere in the mix, in the some secluded, pretty dark area, I chopped one in the chest with my axe. Towards the end of the same round, I got another one as a Zombie tried to lunge at our group from the ground. Even with out the axe chopping the atmosphere in that crowd as we moved through the horde of zombies, in dark, tight quarters was electric. I hadn't felt anything else like it in my life and though I have moved onto playing with smaller squads, being in the big group that first time at SF State contributed to my current Nerf mania greatly.

As an organizer, there's another reason to like large groups. Within a group of 20-30 people, naturally there are going to be a few amongst them who stand out. If such a group is to survive, in HvZ, business, politics or any other collection of more than one person, there have to be there to stick out and take the reigns in some fashion. These people, guys such as Skylar, or David Madison (a travelling blues dance instructor with a passion for sneakiness and creating mania on the game field) help get noobs more comfortable and the crowd in general hyped up. I love this as an organizer, because even the people who don't play in large groups feed off the energy that they produce. Needless to say, the overall game environment is that much better when everyone is comfortable, energetic and happy to be playing.

With all that said, I'm going to be going back to Small Squads tomorrow as I give a sneak preview of this Saturday's Tactical Ops: Leave No One Behind. I'll be posting a couple of maps from the game as well as some thoughts and info regarding the process of creating the game itself.

Groups: Small Squad Edition

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a very nice weekend, where ever you are and whatever you did. I'm back in San Francisco, with the reality of the Assassin game finally upon me. I'll be forced out of the house at some point (much against my will but hey such is adulthood), definitely armed and definitely paranoid as all hell.

But I've written enough lately about the Assassin game, so I'll give it a break for now and move onto something else. In particular, this is the first in a series of three posts about group dynamics during games, with this one covering small squads.  Ever since a game of Humans vs. Zombies at SF State a few months back (which I mentioned in my load out post ) I've suited my playing style towards moving with a smaller group. Generally speaking its the same people at every game. There's usually about 5-8 of us and after months of toying around we kinda know what we're doing. This rotating cast of characters consists of:

Eric: aka Murtaugh. Weapons tech and blowgun master, Eric usually brings a unique if not downright crazy load out. He's usually on the point, good at noticing and announcing contact, has a quick draw and is really good at getting the team to form together when we're a little slack.

Beth: Super accurate shooter. This is coupled with the fact that if Beth sees you, she will keep shooting at you until you're dead. Beth is usually either on the point or the flanks and is pure murder with a Strongarm.

Trevor: Pure murder in general with a lot of blasters, Trevor favors a Stryfe with an assortment of sidearms. He also likes to wear a desert camo army helmet to games (people ask me why and I usually say "because that's Trevor") The first time I met him, he was enthusiastically describing getting ambushed by a bunch of players in Jericho and killing all of them. My initial thought was "wow, that guy is like a real life  FPS Doug." Thankfully I've come to find him way more mellow off the game field. Trevor stays on the flanks with us, but otherwise he is strictly rear guard, as he doesnt trust anyone else to guard his 6.

Casey: Casey is usually no more then 5 feet away from Trevor when he's playing. They are friends, roommates and go to the same school. Casey is equally effective with a Rough Cut or a Stryfe and has a flair for accessorization, making most of his gear out of duct tape and cardboard, to go along with his brightly colored outfits. Casey also has a flair for charging out on contact, though he can (usually) be reeled back in.

Sargun: Sargun usually has a rifle of some sort (preferring a retaliator as of late) and when both Eric and myself started playing games in the city, Sargun  almost exclusively ended up on the opposite team. He's also Beth's boyfriend, has a fondness for being sneaky and is good for fire support in a tight spot. Sargun usually stays in the middle of the group.

Arthur: Mentioned in my post about using the environment of SF to craft games Arthur still only brings a Strongarm and just enough ammo to fill the blaster ("At the end of games, I'm just like 'give me 6 darts and we're OK'"-Arthur) A very low key guy, Arthur is a tenacious attacker, very quick and similarly agile. He is comfortable staying with the group or striking out on his own to pick people off. Not afraid to use environments in unconventional ways either.

Me: Since I run this blog, there will be plenty of opportunities to talk about myself later (perhaps Connor will start talking in the third person too). I usually am either on the point, 6 or right flank. I feel my strongest suit is spotting targets and creating discreet routes of travel, though I'm pretty overt once I'm spotted ("Oh, Connor's the courier? Stealthy!"-Fellow player Yoshi during a game of Jericho).

Ben from Jericho and Dual Disc Gun Alex will usually go along with us if they're not doing their own thing. Ben brings incredible tenaciousness, bullseye shooting, a ton of speed and an endless supply of energy. Alex, despite being something like 6'5" tall is super hard to hit and some how makes carrying two vigilons at the same time work very well. Any time Alex isn't on my team I can count on a good deal of his slow spinning but straight moving green discs coming my way.

Now that you know us, you can know why 

There are plenty of reasons to go with either configuration (large group/small squad) and in the last blog in the series I'll line up the pros and cons of both against each other. But in regards to Small Squads two reasons why they are my preferred mode of playing immediately come to mind: cohesion and low profile travel. Not to mention for us its a ton of fun. In our opinion, whether its in HvZ or in Tactical Ops (the plug for the upcoming game goes here) we like sneaking around, fighting out of envelopments, having running battles, or the fact that most time out of not we stay close together and ensure each other's safety. There is also something to be said about the feeling one gets when potentially facing down a field of enemies with just 6 people. If a proper blend of fear, adrenaline and mirth resulting from forgetting you're not really gonna die sounds like your cup of tea, a small squad may be for you.

In our opinion, its the lack of cohesion that sticks out the most in regards to the larger crowds. Its logically pretty simple: with more people, theres more people to keep track of. With more people to keep track of, more people are going to get lost in the shuffle. Newer players also tend to gravitate towards the larger groups, which is good. What is bad is that a lot of newer players have a tendency to flee upon first contact, especially in Humans vs. Zombies. Once five or six people in a group flee in all directions, more are sure to follow. For those of who choose to stay and fight, the said fleeing in all directions makes determining who is actually a target pretty difficult, much less shooting one. It usually ends with me just saying screw it and linking back up with a small group of survivors, so I might as well just do that from the start.

There is one thing to consider when moving in a small group though: weapon placement. When playing Humans vs. Zombies, we like to keep a melee weapon up front, on the six and on the flanks. Single shot blasters and Strongarms go in the middle of the group, with rifles everywhere else. If you're playing a game with no melee weapons (such as capture the flag) we like to move someone with a Strongarm up front to provide accurate fire, while some provides suppressing fire from another direction.  This in particular is my bread and butter and I will engage someone or a group firing single shot as I continually flank. Sometimes if I have something heavier, I'll sneak around to a blind spot and charge them firing full auto. I may hit nothing but air, but I'm usually successful at either distracting them for one of the sharpshooters or making them fall back to somewhere else. My other teammates can secure the area in their absence while I watch where they run to.

Modding is certainly not my strong point, but if I can mod my Stampede to make it lighter, it may become my primary. I've seen a couple of people hack it apart, shortening the barrel, removing the battery area and upgrading the voltage. This is what I want to do, but there's a great chance of me destroying the blaster in the process. I say 70/30 if anyone wants to lay a bet.

Tomorrow will be the flip side  where I discuss playing in a larger group. Though Small Squads are my preference, there are just as many reasons to join the mob. See you then!

The Balance

The Assassin game started less than 24 hours ago and my team is already energized. Plans are being discussed, agreed upon and in the coming hours more than likely finalized.

I'm about 50 miles away from it all right now and frankly, couldn't be happier.

Though I will likely miss the first hit of the game (Or will I? Maybe I'm actually sitting at home and this post is a big psych out. Only one way to find out...) and wish I was making it happen with my teammates, Im perfectly content to be here in Sacramento for Courtney's Mom's wedding.

The idea of balance came to me in a kind of un-expected way a few weeks back, when I was in The City and Courtney was here in Sacramento wrapping up last minute preparations for the wedding. When I say balance, I don't mean it in a spiritual/metaphysical sense. Though Nerfing provides me a profound stillness and calm of spirit post game, by balance I mean between Nerfing and not-Nerfing.

As stated, it wasn't even something I had though about before. With Courtney gone, I was loafing around the house that Friday night (not being a drinker and living in a drinker's neighborhood, I tend to do a lot of loafing come Friday), BSing on Facebook.  I started getting messaged from people I met through games and or through my online Nerf community. I had some good conversations with people, BS'd a little bit more and called it a night.

The next day in the early afternoon (what I like to call "the morning") I got messaged by even more people, then got drawn into a pretty good group discussion. I started thinking about it, namely "man, why doesn't this happen more often?"

Then it hit me: you have a girlfriend, dude. Friday night we're together and I'm far away from social media and children's toy blasters. Ditto for Saturday afternoon (unless there is a game, then we hang Saturday night), but these are the prime Nerd computer hours and thus the best time to connect with my Nerd kinfolk. Prior to this, I thought I was on Nerf overdrive, as I've gone to at least one game a week for the last two months (sometimes as many as three a week if I'm hosting something), as well as constantly planning new games, meeting new people and trying to collaborate on Nerf stuff. I didn't think there was much more I could do. If anything, without giving it much thought, I cut back on activity. Specifically if there is two games in a weekend (or day), I would make a point to only go to one and spend the other day with my special lady.

After running all this through my noggin, I was actually happy that there was a balance between Nerf and non-Nerf activities in my life. I have a tendency to dive face first into anything I think is half-way cool and Nerfing is definitely not an exception. More then anything, I was glad that I naturally went about maintaining the balance, without diving overboard and having to be fished out by a girlfriend who wants to see me more then once a week. So, even though this blog is called Nerfing in the City, I encourage everyone out there to do some non-Nerf stuff to compliment and accent your Nerfing. It'll make the time you spend on the battle field, online chatting or posting much more special.

With that said, I'm taking a break until  Monday to enjoy life up here. Its like 80 degrees out, which means a lot of if you're used to an ever present layer of fog blocking out the sky. A lot, if not damn near all of Courtney's family is coming out for the Wedding, plenty of whom I haven't met and look forward to sharing a word and a laugh with. Until then, keep Nerfing, not-Nerfin or doing whatever makes you happy.

See you monday!

They can't all be winners...

It catches up to all of us eventually. From those of the gentlest birth, to those most common, we all bite the bullet at some point. Not many people get to write about it after the fact, but such is the beauty of A Friendly Game of Assassin, which will start just a few hours from now.

I remember the first day of the last game like it was yesterday ( it was just a few months ago after all). I had drawn Ajesh, who I mentioned in the first post, but there was also the fact that I was being hunted as well. I had allowed attacks at my job (and will be allowing them again this game) and on that day I expected to get ambushed either at work or along the way.

This had nothing to do with reality, mind you. In my head that first day, with nothing else to go on, I simply transferred my own strategy of striking quick into my Assassin's brain. Walking to work, I clutched a Triad, kept my backpack open and my Strongarm in reach, looking into each hidey-hole, crevice and alley I passed, all while looking over my shoulder after every few steps.

I must have looked like a complete lunatic, which is to say in San Francisco, is fairly normal.

I was on edge like that until I got my first kill about a week later. As stated, before I took down Ajesh and even after Ben, I still figured that when someone came, they would have a semi-intricate plan. But after Tyrone and Skylar, I had a more realistic view: when it happened, it would be quick, there would be little fore thought on the part of the assassin and I most likely would happen when I wasn't paying any attention.

My fifth target was a guy I play Nerf games with all the time, a super-enthusiast named Eric. Eric was the first guy I ever saw use a Nerf blowgun (very effectively at that) and he helped me learned the ropes when I first started organizing. Like the others I respected his prowess. However, Eric had a somewhat bad habit of feeling comfortable around me (don't know what's up with that). A couple of days after acquiring him as a target, we both played at a game of Jericho. Post game, a group of us got some burgers and hung out way longer than the 30 minute grace period that was extended after Nerf games. He exposed himself to attacks a few times after the grace period and genuinely didn't seem to know I was hunting him. Remembering back to shooting Ben following HvZ in Dolores Park, I didn't want to be Dr. Buzzkill again. Even though he gave me a good opportunity post game to take him out, I balked.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks later and I'm hosting the first game of Tactical Ops. Attendance was a little low,  but the awesome players that came out, Eric definitely included, combined with the venue made the game my favorite that I've hosted. I had a plan to bring myself to kill Eric after the game, simply because I hadn't had any chance before and wouldn't get another one for a while. I had a foam combat knife, made out of a flip flop to do the job.

There was someone who was looking to toss a wrench in my plans: Trevor Holminski, the guy I was co-hosting the game with. A very energetic, accurate shooting young man of 18 years old, Trevor wanted to kill everyone in the game. I was part of that everyone, co-host be damned. He had remained silent on the issue of my Nerf murder during the game, but afterwards we had the following exchange:

Him: I'm gonna kill you when the grace period is over.
Me: Are ya now?
Him: Yes.

He offered to show me my dossier, in his possession as proof that I was his target. I told him that I believed him and if he wanted to get me, then come get me.

Trevor disappeared not long after that. I had Eric right in front of me, with my foam knife hidden up my sleeve as I talked to Alex, the guy I mentioned who always dual wields disc guns. He used to work with a frie d of mine from High School and we were having a pretty nice conversation.

"Connor's dead!" Trevor suddenly screamed out, jumping from behind a Winnebago.

He was right, as he had shot me in the chest with a pistol. It was quick and I certainly not paying attention. I was sad I was dead, sad I didn't kill Eric (who was killed by Trevor right after) but still happy with my performance in the game.

And now I'm ready to play again, getting the chance to start tomorrow. Thank you all for reading these Assassin stories, with more hopefully to come. Watch your six out there readers!

Load out: part 1

I've been bringing some combination of this to games lately

Don't worry folks, this post is going to be a fairly short one (the opposite can be said about tomorrow). As I start to draw more readers in, I wonder who you folks are. Where do you live? What is your preferred Nerf War Game of choice? What do you bring to games? Feel free to post in the comments section at the end of this post to chime in on any of the above. 

In my case, my Load out has been framed by three main factors since I got into Nerfing at the start of this year. They are:

1) Cost: "Oh yeah, rents due in a few days, maybe I shoudn't go to Target and buy two Rayvens to dual wield at HvZ."

2) Transport- Really the lack there of. I walk to most games, sometimes take the bus and sometimes can 

catch a ride. This means I more than likely won't be using a Vulcan as a primary with a Stampede as my back up, with corresponding bandoliers for ammo. 

3) Playing style- I'm pretty pragmatic and try to keep an even head when I'm in game, but if I spot an opportunity to have a moment that's at least semi-epic, I'll throw all that "responsible" stuff out the window and go for it. I like to have something light enough to be able to run, flank or do something sneaky with, but still with enough range and firing speed to keep other players at bay. 

Another factor is looking edge itself onto the list: reliability. Namely, as of late my magazine fed weapons (Stryfe, Retaliator and the last time I used a Rampage) having been jamming on me at particularly in-opportune moments, with the Stryfe being the offender du jour. As you can see from the picture above, I'm not loading out a single magazine fed weapon. Handling the magazines has been another headache, especially at games I'm organizing due to all the extra stuff I have to bring. 

My current load out keeps things simple, but still gives me the range and power I'm looking for, as I'm looking to constantly place myself into different game scenarios and never really know what I'll need. Here's a description of what I have and why:

Rough Cut 2x4: The shotgun looking (and acting) blaster in the top right corner. The Rough Cut fills in for my Stryfe when I'm pissed off at it (jamming and getting me killed a few times will do that), as I like its range (about 50 feet in outdoor windy San Francisco) and it can lay down a wall of darts in a couple of seconds. Particularly in Humans vs. Zombies, it can clear an area out pretty quick and make it safe for those behind you to pass. Holds eight darts, can fire one or two darts at a time and can slamfire.

Strongarm: The Revovler looking blaster in the top left corner. Though technically the Rough Cut is my primary, I might get more use out of the Strongarm. Like the Rough Cut, it is able to slamfire. Circumstances during a game of HvZ at SF State forced me to use it as a primary during a game once and I was incredibly impressed, even though I died using it. I was doing a side mission, moving in a small squad (I will definitely talk about the dynamics of small groups vs. big groups in a post soon) and assigned to cover the right flank, we found ourselves constantly followed and attacked by zombies. I didn't miss a zombie inside of 20 feet and reloaded 3 or 4 times during the 30 minute round. In the end, I died because I was out of ammo, which is the only drawback of the blaster (only holds six darts) and why I don't make it a primary. 

Dual Triads: Someone mentioned doing this almost as a joke during a game I was at. I went home, got some tactical rope and tied them together at the cocking levers. I liked using just a single Triad during games, as its very easy to carry and gets maybe 55-60 feet of range outdoors. The first time I got shot with one, I was standing still, about 40 feet away from the shooter. I figured he was out of range do to his tiny gun. I kept standing still and got shot square in the chest, with enough ummph to tell me he could have hit me even further away. The blasters are primed by pulling them in opposite directions and I'm able to unload six darts in a couple of seconds. 

Sling and ammo pouch: With no magazines this is how I transport my ammo. The pouch is wrapped in duct tape around the middle, which prevents the zipper from sliding too far down and dropping the darts. I can carry about 50 or 60 darts in the pouch and the sling is a Nerf bandolier with accommodation for another 20. 

Sock Grenades: A recent, but effective addition. I can carry about 25 of them in this weird green satchel thing I hook onto my belt. I'm no Sergio Romo, but they are good at close ranges in HvZ and from a far you can lob them into crowds indiscriminately and still get some kills. 

If I can find a better way to carry around my Swarmfire then it may replace my Rough Cut. If that happens, I'll build some kind of rig to carry the Rough Cut on my back. 

What about you guys?