Septempber 4,2018
Compact accuracy in a sleek shell that delivers the hits and looks good doing it?
Plus on board dart storage for quick terminator action? Lets do this!
Welcome back dear reader,
I've been rocking the Hawk Eye for about a month now and find it perfectly suited to the sniper pseudo primary role. It delivers long distance hits with the help of Zuru's top shelf (and plentiful) darts. While follow up shots might take a three step reload, the onboard dart storage keeps the good times rolling along.
Even though I'm all about foam blasting, the included recoil gimmick of firing with no ammo is a nice new feature that a variety of Zuru blaster have been sporting. I can not stress enough how cool a play element this is for young foam warriors, particularly those with a habit of firing darts where pets and the environment may not return them in suitably new condition.
My only gripe would have to be the order of operations necessary in reloading. The breach action necessitates that the dart be loaded before any part of priming occurs. It definitely took me a little while to write it into my muscle memory, but once I had, it was smooth sailing.
At a price point that can't be beaten, I highly recommend you check out this small sized sniper for the slaying of cups and long range opponents as well.
X Shot Zombie Guns
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My take on X-Shot flying Bug Attack
July 29,2018
Welcome back Foam Warriors!
Back when I was much younger, there was a skeet-shooting-esque toy set that launched foam
disks via a remote control that gave a really unique element to target shooting. While one…
Welcome back Foam Warriors!
Back when I was much younger, there was a skeet-shooting-esque toy set that launched foam disks via a remote control that gave a really unique element to target shooting. While one can always set up soda cans for some carnival style fun; dynamic and moving targets are just a strictly superior option. The original Sticky Bugs were really awesome for just that reason, but you still needed a smooth surface, like a plain wall or a glass door, for them to walk down. While great for tuning your aim, the Flying Bugs take things to a whole new level; literally, in the form of aerial combat! Once launched with the provided foot pedal, you can knock them out of the sky with any blaster. ZURU includes a powerful clip-fed pistol that does the trick, but I find it's so satisfying to mow them down with something fully automatic.
When we originally dreamed up how we would work these into a mission, it was a challenge to make them useful to both factions. We even briefly considered using them as shieldbreakers as well, but we didn't want to modify the launchers to make them shoot harder. While this is a neat option, I cannot condone sending your Flying Bugs towards opponents. We also pondered the possibility of launching them from even greater heights, such as surrounding buildings, but they really don't need any additional elevation to be practical for our purposes. The bugs can be tricky to aim if you have a specific target in mind, but that was a boon to our game design as it both increased the skills required as well as induced a small element of luck as well. Player feedback involving the Bugs was overwhelmingly positive. Personally, from a human play perspective, I enjoyed the shieldbreaker Sticky Bugs the most, as it encouraged teamwork to get three bugs on a single shield at a time; given how they naturally like to work their way down.
While we are on the subject, I want to take this chance to publicly thank ZURU for their support and sponsorship of EndWar 2018. The game pieces they sent and sponsorship they provided seriously enhanced the value of the event for players and vendors alike. I know I really enjoying rocking my Turbo Advance against Bugs, zombies, and even some PvP action. It performed admirably with only one misalignment, which was easy to fix on the field, so I never missed a beat.
Eventually, the Bugs and I had to come home from EndWar, and over the last few days, I have had to come up with something to do with them. They are too cool to let them sit in one of the storage rooms. I took them out and did some target practice with Stephen (my trusty inflatable Zombie companion), and that's when the inspiration hit me. I will be bringing the Flying Bugs to the South East Nerf Club to try out a new gametype. I'll let you know how it goes in a future article, but here is my general rule-set so that you can try it at home yourselves as well and let me know of any changes you might make:
Bug Assault: Players begin on opposite sides of a cover laden field in equally divided teams of two. A single player must referee the game and also is the designated Bug Launcher. Don't worry, you can trade out between rounds, so everybody gets to play and change up teams. Players attempt to eliminate opposing players via dart tags anywhere on an opponents person, tactical gear, or blaster. Each player may begin with only one life and upon getting tagged must exit the play area. Players may gain additional lives by capturing the Flying Bugz, launched at any time, in any direction by the Bug Launcher.
The objective of this setup is to use materials players will already have available, and the exceptional random element of the bugs to reward them for playing more aggressively than they might otherwise. Normally, in one life game-types, or as I like to call them YOLO game types, players tend to be mighty conservative, trying to maximize position. The added incentive of a bonus life game piece in the form of the bugs floating down onto the battlefield should encourage players to fight for mobile objectives as well as allow players to predict the opposing teams movement. While the ultimate goal remains a clean sweep of the enemy team, the dynamic life based element should allow for new elements of play. I'm not dead set into any rules at this time. I hope you, dear reader, try this out in your personal games and let me know what works best and how you liked it.
Drac Thalassa
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Getting Ready for ENDWAR with the Turbo Advance
June 20,2018
Welcome to the blog! I wanted to start off with a post about my current favorite ZURU blaster, the Turbo Advance.
I decided to use it as my primary for the upcoming Humans Vs Zombies game EndWar. Last year I …
Welcome to the blog!
I wanted to start off with a post about my current favorite ZURU blaster, the Turbo Advance. I decided to use it as my primary for the upcoming Humans Vs Zombies game EndWar. Last year I used an electronic blaster and didn't last too long so this year I really wanted the reliability of a spring powered pump action and the Turbo Advance fits all my needs. It has the ability to reload 20 darts with the flip of a switch and 40 with a quick drum change. On top of that, I have yet to find a dart it
X Shot Scope Zombie
As if that wasn't enough, I decided I had to get more power out of my Turbo Advance as well as dress it up for the occasion in my signature 'Helloween' Scheme, a combination of crimson, black and neon orange (for safety of course). I hope you guys enjoy taking a look at the breakdown and rebuild, which shows just how clever the inside of the Turbo Advance is. Its remarkably easy to understand and tweak the insides to your liking. I give you, my Turbo Turbo-Advance, a personal upgrade for the undead to do battle with in Athens. Who knows? Perhaps it will go home with a lucky reader at the event.
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I stopped in Family Dollar today, to see if there were any oddities in stock. After all, it's far from being a Walmart or ToysRUs, but the low price point mean that it tends to get off-brand blasters. Turns out Nerf isn't the only brand venturing into undead territory.
Interestingly, the original Vigilante claimed 65 ft. ranges. |
X Shot Gun Zombie
Zuru's X-Shot line has a cartoonish take on the zombie apocalypse, as you can see on the packaging. The Vigilante is marked up to $20 for some reason (I've seen it for $10-$14 elsewhere). Meanwhile, the Dual Double Pack is still $10.
Same range claims for these blasters, though. |
X Zombie Shot Xcess
This edition isn't advertised on the X-Shot website, so this is definitely a new promotion. No word yet on whether other X-Shot blasters get the same treatment.
X Shot Zombie Micro Dart Blaster
Note that the only visible difference on the blasters themselves is the replacement of the 'X' stickers with zombies. If you already have these, I personally see no reason to pick up new ones just for that.