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Chislehurst Cave War review

25/10/2018

 
​When it comes to the wide world of Nerf it's unusual to find a truly unique experience to dive into. The Chislehurst Cave War simply called Cave War is one such experience. The setting gives the evening a remarkable feel as you move around in the dark under torchlight with an echo filled environment ready to disorientate you. The sound of modified flywheels was never too far away and even my new arsenal additions in a Rival Artemis and Kronos created some rather spectacular sounds.

As this was only the second event organised at the venue there were still a few teething problems, these mostly related to the actual size of the complex which are a bit of a logistical nightmare. Throughout though the organisers and marshals kept players as up to date on goings ones as possible. Game rules were explained in a concise and understandable fashion allowing even a new player like me the ability to feel comfortable and able to get involved in the matches.
The rules set felt sensible and I was rather impressed by the insistence on eye protection by not only the organisers but other players as well. The restriction on modified blasters to under 130fps felt justified due to the sometimes close proximity of engagements. I know there are other considerations to the projectile velocity but I appreciated the rule to allow a more universal involvement. 

The Ammo supply was great with a mixture of Rival and Regular ammo available for all to use. These were placed at a meeting point near the game zones entrance. This allowed for easy reloads in-between rounds and the boxes never seemed to run dry despite some heavy consumption blasters on display.

As mentioned above I chose to run with the Rival Artemis and Kronos. These are both Spring powered blasters allowing for a quieter engagement. I prefer this type of blaster anyway as I enjoy the more tactile feedback you get from firing and reloading. Thankfully they did not put me at a disadvantage and I managed to grab a few downs throughout the night. This worked particularly well when engaging a Nemesis user who was using a small hole in a wall to rain rounds down on us. The key was waiting for the reving to stop that way you knew you a few seconds to return fire before the revs and rounds would begin again. At this point the slam fire on the Artemis came in really handy.
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My favourite game type had to be the Rush-like game which was seemingly created a little bit on the fly. Much like in Battlefield games the idea was for the attackers to take one point with the defenders falling back to a separate base when they were downed. It allowed for a concentrated attack effort once the primary area with more entrances was taken. I would love to see this expanded with multiple fallback points created. However this could cause a few logistical issues namely ammo but it could make players scavenge from the floor a bit or even just be a bit more conservative with their shots, either way it would another dynamic to the evening's proceedings.

Unfortunately the Cave Wars are a monthly Saturday event at the moment meaning I will only be able to get involved in an occasional fashion due to work commitments. I will though encourage those able to attend to do so as it really is a great location allowing a truly enjoyable evening.

Below are a few videos shot by other players on the night. They do a great job of showing the atmosphere of the night and some of the gameplay.

To find out more about this Nerf War & others organised by  Games Of Foam Click This Link

Was adding a K26 spring to a Nerf Rival Kronos a wise move?

25/10/2018

 
​​One of the attractions of Nerf as a hobby is the ability to Modify blasters. This is an area where I am very green to say the least. In fact my modding library consists of just one project to date, adding a K26 to a Kronos.
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First things first a little word on the Kronos itself, a full review can be seen here, but my TL;DR take is that this is an amazing sidearm. It Packs a punch for a relatively small package add the use of reload and 'accuracy’ and you really do have an awesome purchase especially at its Phantom Core price tag of £19.99. However its ease of spring upgrade is so basic it feels like a tantalising option to good to resist.

There are a few very good tutorials that I will add below for your convenience they belong to Lorddraconical, Captain Xavier and Out of Darts. Between these three gents the process is chown completely including a few minor mistakes that are ease to do.​
​Next is the spring, here I took the easy choice by buying a pre-cut spring directly from Out of Darts. His website is very easy to navigate and the fact they are pre cut makes installation even easier. The Spring shown on the Right of the picture is the K26, you can see the coils are tighter and the metal is quite a bit thicker. This ends up giving the Kronos a lot more power but does come with a few issues.

The first issue is the draw weight, It is harder to draw not impossible but can be alienating for younger Rival players. I would easily say it pretty much doubles the draw effort needed to prime. Due to this I find I have to alter my hand position to fire. With the stock spring I can hold the Kronos up and fire and reload with the blaster in the same position. With the K26 added I need to change the orientation closer to my body to get a firmer grip on the slide. This decreases the rate of fire by quite a bit and in a fast paced game can be detrimental to your play style.

So in the end was it a wise move this depends very much on what you want to do with your Kronos, if you're using it to have fun and literally decimate targets then the K26 integration gives you a big energy boost without sacrificing accuracy. The downside is the reduction in rate of fire and the big energy boost. Let me explain the extra power is not comfortable to be hit with. It’s not overly painful, I know this as I got my son to shoot me with the upgraded Kronos to test it. But i still would not want it hitting me in the face. This safety aspect is something to consider depending on who you are playing with. Thankfully I found what I think is the perfect solution to the problem I just bought two blasters, one with a K26 and the other stock. ​

Nerf Rival Kronos XVIII-500 blaster, Review

25/10/2018

 

​This Product has a 14+ years recommendation for use. 

​​The second generation of the Nerf Rival has brought about a rather interesting change. Gone are the two colours for blasters and instead we have the Phantom Corps. The black and white paint scheme fells more polished and right down the Rival alley. More importantly though though is the fact that we finally have a Hasbro Created High Impact Round (HIR) sidearm in the form of the Kronos XVIII-500 and I for one could not be happier.

I love a pistol in Nerf not only as a backup but for some game types I will just field pistols as I feel they give me more mobility. Before now my choice has generally been the Hammershot with the Strongarm coming out as a backup. Though both great balsters the lack of Rival initial velocity especially at close range has become a bit of a disadvantage. Enter the Kronos, with a similar feel to the strongarm in terms of the slide priming mechanism you could be forgiven for thinking of the smallest of the Rival blasters as a bit of a reshell. 
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​​Instead we have a breech Loading beast with a 5 shot internal magazine, this is very easy to load as you just the flap shown in Picture one and load away with the slide pulled back. This though can be tricky when in stock form the Kronos can get around 90fps meaning the internal spring is pretty strong. Even with the 14+ age limit of the Rival blasters some users may still find the prime an issue, so it’s best to check before you buy.

The Kronos has proven to be a very capable Nerf war blaster, I have used it at the two most recents events organised by Games of Foam. Both times it has been a very reliable sidearm and in the Battlezone event I even ran it alone and was able to have a few productive rounds. It’s ability to be holstered is a big plus on the practicality side and I honestly felt that reloading from a dump pouch on my hip was quick and easy. One drawback is that the slide has to be back to load. So if you have primed the Kronos you have to either fire the round in the chamber in order to top up or wait until your next engagement.
​The Kronos does come in another iteration the Deadpool Edition, this was provisionally slated as a Gamestop exclusive so those outside the US had to look and drool or play some ridiculous prices on eBay to buy them. (Seriously I saw them for over £200 plus posting at around £50) now though they are up for preorder on Amazon and I already have my name down for a set.

The Kronos is the blaster the Rival range was lacking together with the Artemis I feel complete. For the Flywheelers out there the Kronos would be a great companion on your leg to the Nemesis either as a back up blaster or when you need to be stealthy. Overall though this is just a great weapon to add to your loadout for hours of Nerfing fun.

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