Dart Tag

Nerf Dart Tag has been going since 2003 but hasn't really brought us anything particularly interesting since the Magstrike AS-10 in 2004, and that was never released in the UK anyway.

The start of 2012 heralded the release of Hasbro's newest additions to the Dart Tag line. Although the new Dart Tag blasters were first released in the US in 2011, most of the blasters were redesigned to improve performance shortly after they went on sale. The redesigned blasters sported blue triggers instead of the original orange ones and have superior internals making the blasters achieve greater ranges.


Along with the new blasters also came new tagger darts. The new ones have a blue tip with white 'velcro' whereas the old ones were orange and black. Altogether the new taggers are far superior to their predecessors as they are (in my opinion) 'stickier' and more durable.

Sharp Shot

The Nerf Sharp Shot is a single shot, semi auto blaster akin to the Scout IX-3. It features a priming slide like that of the Scout and has storage for 3 darts under the barrel. One really great feature of the Sharp Shot is that it has a bevel on the opening of the barrel. This makes it far easier to load than any of its N-Strike alternatives and so has a surprisingly high rate of fire for a single shot blaster.

I like this blaster, even more than the N-Strike Nitefinder. The priming slide makes it easier to get darts on target faster and the bevelled barrel is a great design. I really don't like the belt clip it come with. It gets in the way when you don't need it and it's fiddly to use when you do. In terms of range, this blaster in it's stock form has no equal. Mine hit up to 45' straight out of the box.

Speedload 6

 

The Speedload 6 is a 6 shot, semi automatic blaster. Often compared to the Maverick REV-6 due to it's size and capacity, the two couldn't be more different. The Speedload 6 is one of the first dart blasters to have an integrated magazine holding up to 6 tagger darts. This magazine is built into the front of the blaster and the darts are loaded from the top-left hand side. The blaster is primed by a slide above the handle, much like the Sharp Shot. This blaster also supports 'Slam Firing' although I am yet to find any mention of this capability anywhere on the box. This blaster can hit 30-35' in it's stock form.

This blaster is massive. Huge, unwieldy, cumbersome and, well... massive. Far too big to be considered a 'pistol' in anybodies mind but still too small to be anything else. Unless you're built like He-Man, you're not going to win any wars with this beastie. Having said that, It looks awesome.

Quick 16

 

The Quick 16 is a semi automatic blaster with an integrated 16 dart magazine. it is in essence, a remodelled N-Strike Raider CS-35. The Quick 16 is primed in the same way as the Raider as it shares the same type of priming handle. It is also capable of slam fire. Unfortunately, the Quick 16 is incompatible with any of the N-Strike accessories due to the fact that it doesn't have any tactical rails. It is also incompatible with N-Strike stocks, which is a shame.

Alas, the Quick 16 is not available in the UK for some reason. I managed to get my hands on a couple and I can say that they are very, very good. Stock ranges are awful but they can be modded fairly easily. The 16 round mag gives these blasters a really useful capacity without being to cumbersome, although it is a bit of a faff to load.

Speedswarm

The Speedswarm is the first in the Dart Tag range of electronic blasters and it can hold up to 10 darts in the front turret. The blaster cannot function without batteries so it is purely electronic. To fire, you simply switch it on (on/off switch located on top of the blaster), and pull the trigger. It really is that simple. With the trigger pressed the blaster will fire a dart and then rotate the turret automatically. Holding the trigger down will make the blaster fire in a fully automatic fashion. By pulling the trigger intermittently, the blaster can be used in a semi auto mode.

These things are great for dual wielding. It is a similar size and capacity to the N-Strike Barricade RV-10 but has the advantage of not being a fly wheel blaster. Without the constant drone of the Barricade's flywheels, you can be a little stealthier with this. Not that stealth really counts much in a Nerf war.

Swarmfire

 

The Swarmfire is the Mac Daddy of the Nerf Dart Tag range. It features a 20 dart rotating turret and a detachable shoulder stock. The Swarmfire operates in exactly the same way as the Speedswarm on account of the fact that the internals are almost identical. It is a lot longer than it's little cousin making it more of an 'assault rifle' than anything else. Also the 6 'C' cell batteries make it quite a bit heavier.

I love the way that the stock is detached with the little button on the butt. Without it, the blaster isn't quite a one handed weapon and so the stock only really comes off for storage. With the stock on, it is a very comfy and usable blaster. It is quite easily the best primary for Dart Tag games. The combination of ammo capacity and rate of fire make it a winner in my book. The rotating turret setup makes it much easier than most to reload on the fly but it's a shame the plunger tube wasn't a tiny bit bigger as the stock ranges aren't great.

Gear Up and Whiteout Series

Both of these series are limited edition re-paints of existing blasters. I am sad to say that neither series is available in the UK although some people (myself included) have gone to great lengths to get them. They occasionally crop up on eBay, but usually sell for silly money.

 

The Whiteout series is my favourite and is exclusive to Walmart in the US. The blasters feature an 'Arctic' theme colour scheme consisting of white, grey, black and orange. The Deploy CS-6, Longstrike CS-6, Maverick REV-6 and Nitefinder EX-3 are all available in the Whiteout series. It is widely believed that the Whiteout series of blasters are considerably more powerful than their counterparts. Whether this is due to the blasters being made of a stronger plastic than the originals, or whether the internals are actually engineered for better performance is unknown.

The Gear Up series was primarily released in order to promote the Vortex line prior to it's release. The blasters feature an orange and black colour scheme and the darts feature black stripes. The Gear Up series also came packaged with a single XLR disc in an effort to build interest in the Vortex series. It didn't really work as the Vortex blasters had already been sold in many stores across the US. Blasters in the Gear Up range include the Barricade RV-10, Maverick REV-6, Raider CS-35 and Recon CS-6.

Nerf Vortex

It's been a busy year for Nerf, with many new releases across pretty much all of their ranges. We'll start off with the Vortex Range.

The new Vortex line was released in 2011 and differs from the N-Strike line in that the blasters fire their own unique ammo. The 'XLR Disc' is basically a small Frisbee made of a soft, rigid plastic surrounded by a ring of foam. These disks are capable of greater distances than the traditional dart due to their shape and the fact that they spin, stabilising their flight. Although, the discs are capable of great distance, they travel slowly and suffer from terrible accuracy due to their design.

There are currently 5 blasters in the Vortex line.

Proton

The Proton is the entry level blaster of the Vortex range. Single shot with a spring loaded disc tray on the back. Pull the lever with your thumb and the tray pops out. Insert a disc and push the tray closed and the blaster is primed and ready to fire. Obviously this blaster suffers from a terrible rate of fire but that has to be expected. Otherwise this is a really natty blaster. I quite like it as a side arm, although I seldom use it.

Lorddraconical created a clip mod for the proton which greatly increases the ROF.

Vigilon

 

Next is the Vigilon. This blaster is semi-automatic with a built in 5 disc magazine. Pull the lever with your thumb and the cool spring loaded door on the mag slides down. Slam the door closed, Pull back the slide above the handle and fire. From using this blaster, it has been discovered that you can actually increase the ammo capacity by one disc. Simply insert a disc, prime the blaster and then insert 5 more discs.

This blaster is massive. Almost too big to be classed as a pistol but lacks the ammo capacity to be anything else. That being said, the way you reload this blaster wins it for me.

Praxis

The Praxis is the first of the vortex blasters that uses a removable 'clip'. Semi-automatic again, this blaster feels a lot like the N-Strike Alpha Trooper but it is not capable of slam fire. The magazines can hold up to 10 discs and coupled with the range, this can be quite a formidable blaster. Plus it looks the business. The stock is removable but suffers from the same problems as that of the N-Strike Recon. It is really flimsy and I find it a little too short.

Nitron

The Nitron the top of the Vortex range. This blaster is electronic and uses a fly wheel system to fire the discs. Although the Nitron is fully automatic, the ROF is lower than that of the Praxis. The batteries (4x AAA) are located in the stock, just behind the handle. This position helps keep the weight of the blaster fairly well balanced and although the stock is not removable, it is fairly comfortable. The Nitron also features a 20 disc magazine giving it the highest capacity of the Vortex line.

Generally I'm not really a fan of the Vortex range. Their range is very impressive but the speed at which the discs move makes them quite easy to avoid. Unless you fire the discs perfectly level they tend to peel off to the right (because of the way they spin) and they are also very susceptible to moisture. As soon as they get damp your range and accuracy go out the window which isn't good for outdoor wars.

Because the Vortex blasters (with the exception of the Nitron) are powered by a torsion spring, it is difficult to modify them. Several people have managed to relocate the springs to increase power, but I'm not sure that it is really worth the effort.

The Vortex range does look amazing and I really like the colour scheme, but I won't be going crazy for them. Among other things, I don't really want to have to stock yet another type of ammo.

Welcome Back Everyone.

Hello everyone.

My name is UKNerfWar and I have been given the great honour of collaborating on this blog. I hope to bring it up to date and breathe some new life into it. I hope I will do the blog justice. Burntcustard is still around but is currently on hiatus from Nerf. Hopefully he’ll chime in from time to time and keep us updated on his activities. We’ll look forward to hearing from him soon.

On to Nerf. There have been some very interesting things happening recently, far too much to include it all in one post. Over the next few days I shall be posting like crazy in an effort to bring everyone up to speed with what is going on.

Watch this space.