9 replies to this topic

[Ice Nine]

With Armageddon coming up, I've been thinking about the war experiences. Since I've started hosting wars without the rest of the U3, I've begun bringing more blasters with me. I've also noticed that some people bring big bags of gear, and other people bring a single blaster and a bag of darts. I thought it would be nice to see what other people do, and how it's changed since their first war.

At my first YANO back in '04, I brought a SM750 and an Uruk-Hai Crossbow and used both through the day. Now, I usually bring a big batch of blasters: a Maximizer, an ESLT, a Sceptor, a Big Blast, and maybe one or two others, like the FAL-1 or a UMB that Gears found at a thrift store. I like having the variety.

Also, at last year's Armageddon, I lent out a few of my blasters, like a +bow and a Big Blast. At smaller wars it doesn't usually happen but big wars like that have a lot of first-timers who may not be fully prepared or maybe just want to try something different.

For clarity's sake, the content on this poll is set to NIC wars (wars hosted on NH or similar), and primary-level blasters. Feel free to answer in a post if you want to share your experiences but they don't fit the questions above.

[Zorns Lemma]

At my first war I only had 3 "primary" blasters (Big Bad Bow, Dart tag head RSCB'd Big Blast, and a Firefly).

At my peak I probably had ~5 primaries between +boids variations, Crossbow, Quadshot, and a Big Blast.

After peaking in war density in ~2010 I've probably tapered down in blasters, carrying a couple of FAL variations mostly as tech demonstration and variety. As I've had to pack lighter and fly to wars while also not having as much time to just tinker and maintain blasters my goal is to have a single blaster that packs into a standard carry-on bag and requires no maintenance (currently an ESLT).

[Snoop Doggy doge]

I think there should've been an all of the above reason for why do you bring an extra primary,

[Langley]

I think there should've been an all of the above reason for why do you bring an extra primary,

Dude, you can just check all the boxes.

[flyingchicken]

My first war was back in April of '09, and the primaries I remember using were my Longshot, my AT3K, my Airzone Arrowstorm, and my BBB. My BBB was the only thing that ended up being usable (and it started my love affair with them).

Nowadays, I bring at least 3 primaries for my own use, but I always have a few more to loan out to people. It's not like I need variety; I'd like to be able to stick to just my Crossbow (which is my perfect primary), but I just love using other blasters for their unique qualities, like an Arrowstorm, or a plugged and singled Big Blast.

I find pistols to be more of a problem. A lot of people just don't have usable pistols, so I have a fleet of (at least a dozen) Nitefinders, all modded similarly, specifically for other people to use. They are also spectacularly named, if I do say so myself (the first 3 pictured here):

Edited by flyingchicken, 04 May 2015 - 07:49 PM.

[sublimedom777]

My first NIC war that I kinda knew what I was doing I probably had my Maximizer and a sub-par BBB and maaaaybe a balls-out E-a-B. By my peak I was supplying 4-5 people per war, with extras for backups. That doesn't count that I almost always have 3 primaries for myself, that people generally aren't allowed to use (Maximizer, S&M 1500, etc)

I mostly bring them for variety, but I have had wars where 5 of 6 blasters have either broken or had something not working right. Here in Pittsburgh we mainly play deathmatch style games, so when we play objective style games it usually requires a different blaster.

[Aeromech]

First war I had two Rainbowpumps. It's expanded greatly from there.

I like to have a variety of blasters. My current loadout is my super effeminate rainbowpump, 2 double rainbows, and then no less than one "experimental" blaster that I want to field test that war. It keeps the game from getting repetitive with the same blaster every round. I also end up lending out basically any blaster that isn't in my hands at the time of that round. I love building, so I always have a surplus, and I often sell these blasters to the guys that I loan them out to. It's a self-sustaining addiction, really.

[Snoop Doggy doge]

Dude, you can just check all the boxes.

Well than...

I usually bring my ret, a pistol, ESLT, for NIC wars, and than at smaller super stock a ton of loaners instead of an ESLT

[Daniel Beaver]

First war was the '08 Minnesota Halloween Nerf Outing, I brought an AT2k and AT3k with CPVC barrels, and bought a Big Blast (which I then used during the war). For the first year or so of nerfing, I usually brought all my blasters (which varied between 5-25). I used a suit bag to hold all of them.

By year two I brought maybe 3-5 blasters to every war. One will be my "this is the blaster I run trains with", one will be "this is the cool blaster I want to try but probably sucks at an actual war", and one will be "this is my reliable speedloader blaster that I can use when when all my other blasters shit the bed". I always lend out blasters, and I always ask to borrow other people's blasters for a round - using a blaster is an experience that is worth sharing. And if your shitty blaster is so unreliable that someone can break it just from using it, well...

[Drev]

My first war was APOC 2014 and I brought my rainbowpump, double rainbow, +bow, bullpup, ESLT, and some experimental blaster design. I used the bullpup, ESLT, and rainbowpump, but used the bullpup the most. Nothing broke, but I didn't get around to using my +bow, which I regret.

My second war was the indoor plains airsoft one, and I brought all of the same blasters, minus the double rainbow, plus another bullpup variant. I was using my writeup bullpup, and it was making a bad sound, so I opened it up and saw that the petg sheath was rattling around. Eventually, I ended up breaking the screw that hold the plunger rod together, because I was being stupid. I then used my rainbowpump, which worked well, but then I switched to my other bullpup. A part was broken, but I put some electrical tape on it and it worked like a charm. I broke a lot of other things that war, so I was glad to have backups. I will always bring backups, because now I know that stuff breaks.

I like a variety of blaster, but I am partial to bullpups. Once you use one, it's hard to go back to really lengthy blasters, with the exception of a +bow. I only used the +bow the last round, but it was awesome.