Loadouts 13: Heavy Fire Support Part 2

I haven't done a Loadouts post in a while, so here's a new one.

Scenario Description: Close-mid range team based encounters. General engagement ranges ~7-12m. Player has taken the role of "Heavy", who typically carries larger blasters that are usually more spammable and ammo hungry.
Keys to Victory: Rapid fire blasters with reasonably high capacity, preferably easy to reload. Reasonable range - does not have to shoot particularly far. Must be able to effectively spray darts at opponents, idealistically suppressing or tagging them. Large amounts of ammo. Fearlessly spray opponents, even when under heavy attack.
Alternative primary blasters are those that inspire great fear into opponents and consume lots of ammo/particularly large ammo, such as large shotguns and rocket launchers.
You won't be too capable of run 'n' gunning thanks to the inherent bulk of your gear, but it's not hard to walk 'n' gun, and if you're prepared enough, running with all your gear shouldn't be too hard. Practice is the key to coping with all the stuff you're carrying.
Unnecessary Burdens: Trying to cut down on weight somewhere by minimising ammo or some other useful objects. Face it, if you want to be a "Heavy" you  are going to be carrying a lot of stuff. That is the entire point of your role. If you don't want to be carrying so much stuff you probably shouldn't be a Heavy.

Nerf Dart Tag Swarmfire Usage Tips

Some usage tips for the biggest DT blaster so far. I don't actually own one, but I'm taking care of one for a friend.

1. Make sure you use as good batteries as possible. The Swarmfire, being full auto and electronic, is reliant on battery power for its ROF. With the upgraded spring, the Swarmfire's ROF isn't very good compared to a lot of other blasters, so having the best possible batteries maximises your ROF. You probably still won't match most rapid fire blasters, but any increase in ROF for this blaster is appreciated, especially considering the capacity of 20 darts.
2. Keep at least 10 darts in it at any one time. Because the Swarmfire is full auto it can be very easy to spray off several darts. This is particularly useful when encountering a group of enemies or sudden encounters. For situations like this you'll need to use a number of darts to account for Swarmfire firing delay and inaccuracy, but in most cases you'll be able to take out people with 3-4 shots, so 10 is enough for up to a group of 3-4 people, which is the most you'll encounter in smaller Nerf wars.
3. Always fire in bursts. With full auto blasters like the Swarmfire, it's easy to fire off a few darts instead of just one. This is particularly important in Nerf due to the inherent inaccuracy of most Nerf blasters. Because one shot has a low chance of hitting, firing off several is a much better choice and drastically increases your chances of hitting your target(s). This is relevant to a lot of blasters, but full auto blasters like the Swarmfire in particular.
4. Know which way the turret rotates. This will allow for effective reloading.
5. Know which barrel is 'active', to save yourself from the humiliation of a dry fire.
6. Remember that the Swarmfire has a short fire delay. Remembering to pull the trigger a split second before the intended shot time is key to effective Swarmfire use, because in that delay someone with a manual springer can get a shot off at you.
7. Remember that the Swarmfire is not a clip/mag system blaster. Sure 20 darts might sound like a lot, but after a few seconds of sustained fire you'll be pretty much empty, and then you'll have to worry about reloading. Unlike a clip/mag system blaster, which can just have the clip/mag swapped, the Swarmfire must have each barrel individually loaded so make sure to have backup when reloading.

2012 Nerf Sum Up

To conclude an exciting and awesome year, Outback Nerf wishes you a late Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas) and a Happy New Year, and also wants to congratulate you on surviving the highly anticlimactic and scientifically incorrect 2012 Mayan Apocalypse. Wait. Something's missing. Yes, the 2012 Nerf Sum-Up, where we sumarise all the new Nerf products released this year.

First up, the biggest and possibly best major Nerf release so far, the N-Strike Elite line.

N-Strike Elite

Ever since Urban Taggers first discovered the box art of the NSE(N-Strike Elite) Retaliator and the Rampage, Nerf's Elite series was the main hype of 2012, and it still is now. When initial images surfaced it appeared the Elite line was taking ordinary N-Strike blasters and making them awesome. It is now evident that this is both true and false - Elite is taking some N-Strike designs and awesome-ing them, but is also introducing all new designs, spearheaded in 2012 by the Hail-Fire. The line advertises to shoot up to 75ft/22m (approximently) and are mainly blue in colour with orange, white and grey highlights. Everyone was also introduced to new concepts in Nerf, like direct plungers fitted into old shells, new revovler tech (Strongarm's unique rotating mech), and new flywheel-tech. The Elite clips (mags) also became special because of new styling as well as a new primary feature: their right side is transparent, allowing people to easily see their remaining ammo, which is also helpful when filling/refilling clips (mags). Unfortunately because the right side is transparent, only left handers can make maximum use of this feature,while right handers (the majority of the human population) cannot see their capacity. Nevertheless, they look awesome.

Unfortunately, the countries with really strict toy firearm laws (like Australia) have to receive detuned units, identified by grey-triggers. The detuned versions advertise to shoot 15m (approx. 50ft).

Retaliator ('Elitified' Recon)
Ranges: 50-60ft (15-18m). About 2/3rds of the power for detuned ones, although mine seems pretty powerful getting 14m.
ROF: About 2-3dps. No slam fire.
Accuracy: Decent without barrel, good with barrel.
Capacity: 12 in included clip (mag)
Accessories: Barrel, stock, foregrip, 12 clip (mag), 12 darts

Rampage ('Elitified' Raider)
Ranges: 50-60ft (15-18m). About 2/3rds of the power for detuned ones.
ROF: About 2-3dps on single fire. Can achieve up to 5dps, possibly more depending on user (slam fire)
Accuracy: Very good at 10-12m. Flies off to the sides after aprox. 13-15m
Capacity: 25 in included drum
Accessories: 25 drum, 25 darts

Hail-Fire
Ranges: 45-55ft (13-17m). About 2/3rds of the power for detuned ones.
ROF: Can achieve up to 4-5dps and more dependant on user's trigger finger (semi auto)
Accuracy: Decent, but you don't use a Hail-Fire for accuracy.
Capacity: 24 in included clips (mags) (4x6 clips [mags]), value pack holds 48 (8x6 clips [mags]), can hold up to 144 (8x18 clips [mags])
Accessories: 4x6 clips (mags), 24 darts, various Hail-Fire parts (assembly required)

Stockade (Release only for countries outside US in 2012)
Ranges: 50-60ft (15m). About 2/3rds the power for detuned version.
ROF: Can achieve up to 4-5dps (semi auto).
Accuracy: Decent, much better than Barricade.
Capacity: 20. 10 in blaster, 10 in stock. Only comes with 10 darts.
Accessories: Stock, 10 darts

Additionally the Elite line had an updated Tactical Vest, with the blaster holster being designed to hold the upcoming Elite Firestrike, but otherwise being pretty much the same as the N-Strike Tac Vest.

To complement the Elite blasters, Nerf also redesigned the highly popular 18 clip (mag), and released it in its own blister package.

Nerf released a Hailfire Upgrade kit which basically has 4 more 6 clips (mags) to fill up the Hailfire.

Nerf rereleased the good old Bandolier, this time in Elite styling. It is essentially the same as the N-Strike Bandolier, but comes with Elite stuff and is slightly shorter and thinner.

In 2013 we have a number of Elite blasters to look forward to, some of which are already available in the US. This includes the Firestrike (Elite NF), Strongarm (Elite Mav/Spectre hybrid), Triad (3 shot Jolt), Elite coloured and more powerful Jolts and Reflexes with new designs, the Rough Cut 2x4 (multishot double barrel shotgun) and the Stryfe (redesigned Rayven) as well as an Elite Rayven.

Light It Up Series:
The Light It Up series was officially released on the 3rd of March, 2012 (3/3/12) and its blasters, besides having fluoro green colour have glow in the dark ammo, which is 'charged' by special mags/clips (mags). While the Lumitron is merely a repaint of the then favourite Vortex blaster, the Praxis, the Rayven was an all new design which became popular for its rapid fire and potentially ridiculous ranges capabilities.

Vortex Lumitron
Ranges: 15-18m (aprox. 50-60ft)
ROF: Up to 3dps. No slam-fire.
Accuracy: Good.
Capacity: 10 in light-up mag
Accessories: 10 disc light up mag, 10 GITD discs

N-Strike Rayven CS-18
Ranges: 11-12m (approx 36-40ft)
ROF: Up to 6-8dps, dependant on user's trigger finger (semi auto).
Accuracy: Decent for a CS blaster.
Capacity: 18 in light-up mag.
Accessories: 18 dart light up mag, 18 GITD darts

Vortex
The Vortex line received an extra addition, the Pyragon. Sporting a 40 disc drum and slam fire, as well as slightly better ranges, the Pyragon quickly became a fan favourite among Nerfers.

2013 holds only one known Vortex release, the Diatron. It comes in the same awesome colour scheme as the Pyragon, and fires 2 discs at a time, and holds up to 10 discs.

The Pyragon
Ranges: 16m-20m (unusually good, even for Vortex)
ROF: Up to 8dps, dependant on user (slam fire).
Accuracy: Excellent. Curves less than other Vortex blasters.
Capacity: 40 in drum mag
Accessories: 40 disc drum, 40 discs

As a Vortex counterpart to the N-Strike/Elite Tactical Vest, Nerf also suprised us with the Vortex Ammo Belt Kit, with never-before-seen mag holders and some other awesome stuff that comes with the kit.

Dart Tag.
We Aussies also finally got the 2011 Dart Tag blasters, but with strange new BLUE triggers. The models with blue triggers have been shown to be more powerful than their standard orange trigger models, with stronger springs in all. Of course, the downside is that the electronic blasters (Swarmfire, Speedswarm) have reduced ROFs because of the extra load on the motors.

The National Dart Tag League (US) was also not held this year for some reason, though possibly to put more emphasis on the Elite line.

The non-flywheel Snapfire 8 also sneaked onto Aussie shelves, giving us a whole new concept about semi-auto blaster as well as a variable power system allowing for easier trigger pulls but lower ranges, or harder trigger pulls and higher ranges. It has now become a popular sidearm for many because of its semi auto capabilities, decent sidearm capacity and firepower, and of course its small size. It is slated to have a 2013 release in the US.

Ranges: 9-10m (speed mode), 11-13m (power mode)
Accuracy: Decent, not great
ROF: 2-3dps attainable, any more taxes the fingers and risks misfires (semi auto)
Capacity: 8 in turret
Accessories: 8 darts

Sonic Series
The most popular 2011 Vortex blasters (The Vigilon,Proton,Praxis) were also given a green reshell to compliment the other blasters.
-Sonic Praxis
Nerf Wikia pics
-Sonic Vigilon
Nerf Wikia pics
-Sonic Proton
Nerf Wikia pics

Super Soaker
We also got the 2 other motorised Super Soakers: the Lightningstorm(Thunderstorm repaint with better accessories) and the Electrostorm.
-Electrostorm
Nerf Wikia Review
-Lightningstorm
Nerf Wikia Review

Other
The were also the new promotional blasters:
-The Ninja Commando Blaster (Red Furyfire),
-And the Hawkeye Big Bad Bow (Rerelease Purple BBB)

All in all, 2012 was a great year for Nerf, with the release of some of the best blasters you can get from the Elite line, and the best Vortex blaster so far. 2013 looks to be good for Nerf as well, with so many new Elite blasters and the new 'Multishot Madness' series (with particular interest from this blog's authors in the Elite Stryfe and Triad).

Nerf Dart Tag Swarmfire (blue trigger) Review

Today I'll be reviewing a blaster which has been out for a while, the Nerf Dart Tag Swarmfire. This beast of a blaster is generally seen as the flagship of the Dart Tag line (2011 reboot), and it's definitely worthy of that title.

The Swarmfire comes with itself, its detachable stock, and 20 redesigned blue-tip white velcro orange body DT Whistler hybrids.

The Swarmfire was originally released with three other DT blasters (Quick 16, Speedload 6, Sharp Shot) to revitalise the DT line which had been stuck with Furyfires and Hyperfires for the past years. The new DT line introduced new concepts into DT - all new curved and sleek designs (previous DT was primarily angular) full auto (Swarmfire), all new in built mag mechs (Quick 16, Speedload 6), and no tac rails on any blasters, leading some people to cry 'fake' before official proof.

The Swarmfire is the 'big daddy' of the DT line, providing some battery operated full auto goodness. It requires 6 'C' sized batteries to operate, which provide a hefty weight. To counteract the ammo wastage of full auto-ness, the Swarmfire has a capacity of 20 darts, the highest of any DT blaster so far.

2011 Nerf Sum-up

This post will be a round up of everything Nerf in 2011.
Firstly, we have the release of a new Dart Tag range (albeit not in Aus *sad*). They all sport curved sleek shells in black and yellow, and introduce new concepts in Nerf - the quick load slot and battery powered full auto revolvers.