Post Splatoon 10th July 2021 Kit Review

Games are starting up again and that means the development cycle is turning once more, too. I tested a lot of equipment yesterday and have found plenty of things to tweak, improve and generally upgrade. I also played with a bunch of line items that are looking to be deployed for actual sale on the shop.

Better Bangs:

The first and foremost thing is we need better bangs for room clearance. Four out of four times yesterday, I threw a Thunder Snap and it failed to go off. You yell 'Frag out!' and it not goes bang and you feel a little impotent. I'm going to try the Cap Firing Grenade from Vincent Martin to see if they're any good. MkVs are a good use for when you absolutely need to clear the room but they're pricey and pyrotechnic so the risk of burns is higher. I'm planning to carry a few of them in the event I really need a room gone but I'm hoping the cap firing variants will prove reliable enough to be able to clear things.

One slight problem I foresee is that with too many bangers on hand, urban combat might just turn into a game of whoever has more explodey bits on hand. It's something that we'll need to keep a close eye on as things become more available. Smokes are less of a pay to win because the wind can change once deployed but bangers might be slightly more problematic.

Skirmish Belt:

The Skirmish Belt worked wonderfully. After a few minutes of fettling to get it to sit over my Viper belt it proved a rock solid basis for a lightweight skirmish order. I think I need to add a set of side release buckles under the magazine pouches in order to be able to more rapidly attach and detach the top harness over the skirmish belt. It doesn't need the foam lining system, it will serve just fine with the mesh and Cordura with the inner belt loops.

Inverted magazine pouches:

To have a small amount of ammo on me on the Skirmish Belt to produce a skirmish order, I opted to carry two Talon magazines. I've been playing with friction retention and it seemed like a good idea to trial them in the field. I had no problem with them falling out or coming loose, no problem returning them after use. Personally, I don't think I'd ever use them in the inverted position again but they are certainly ready to be deployed as a product for sale on the store. I'll place them the correct way up on my skirmish belt and use them for skirmish order in future engagements.

Eye Protection Problems:

My BOLLE glasses had a real fogging problem yesterday to the point they were unusable at one stage. I had a chat with some folks and I've given them a thorough clean and lined them with dish soap in the hope of preventing them from fogging again. To be fair, nucleation of water droplets onto debris is the cause of most fogging and I've not cleaned these in a while. Hopefully, between that and the amphipathic nature of dish soap should prevent too much grime accumualting and in turn the fogging. The other source of fogging was the need to bring my snood up to my nose to cover my face during close engagements. I'm mulling the option of a 'Commander's Helm'. Taking a full face helm is difficult because I rely a great deal on being able to verbally communicate with other players. Having a visor I can pull down when entering buildings while being able to keep my main eye protection on underneath is helpful. I've looked at some medieval designs and I have some thoughts in mind. I took a couple of real shiners to my face so having flexible protection is necessary.

Helmet Battery Power Bank:

I purchased a 32GB Kingston brand memory card for my helmet camera but it turns out the battery is still naff so it got less than 1hr's footage. I need to revisit the power bank option and get it mounted properly to get back in the game of being able to use it.

Dart Pouch Contamination:

Something I hadn't expected to learn that's really important when you're using half darts is to keep your pouches clear of contamination from other dart types. Yesterday, I had just a few full length darts in the pouch recovered from the field and they were enough to keep getting in the way to refilling them. I needed somewhere else to dump them in order to keep the half dart supply clean and speed up reloading. With a magazine in one hand and darts in the other, you don't have the ability to pick darts from your palm and filter them. Be as disciplined with what goes in your dart supply as your magazine reloads and muzzle discipline.

Water Supply Issues:

I think my hydration bladder has blown a gasket: it managed to leak into my suitcase during my journey home last night. I recommend getting into the habit of draining it before you leave site so as to not to have to dry everything out over night when you get home! I'll need to investigate more closely when I'm not quite so potato after the event.

Friction Fit Talon Mag Pouches - Inverted Edition

 I've been playing with inverted magazine pouches as part of the skirmish order, light section of the load out. The idea is to have two magazines immidiately available for use even if the full rig isn't in use. One of the solutions was to just make a super tight elastic variant but that caused some problems with retention being too tight at the cost of keeping an apeture that was efficient to return to.

I was browsing my fabric supplier and this GripTex stuff showed up. It's essentially a nylon backing on a non-slip synthetic rubber style fronting. It's used in things like slipper socks and the like. It's expensive at something like twice the cost per square metre as my Cordura but you don't need much. That and it's a ballache to machine without a Teflon foot. It needs to be pulled through the feed system because the GripTex will stick to the foot so you've got to guide the piece while reaching around to pull it through rather than the more traditional grip and feed method.

Longer pull tabs mean these can be used inverted because they act as thumb loops to hold the pouch while returning to the pouch. Moving the elastic up means you've got the magazines held against the GripTex which means it's going nowhere. Velcro fronting for pouches but will also have a role retaining aperture shape to make return easier.

I'm going to field test these at Splatoon at the weekend and we'll see how they perform on the field.

Skirmish Belt Update

 The Skirmish Belt needed some firming up after the Invictus game so I originally put some closed cell foam down the core to stiffen it up. The problem remained two fold. The first was it remained too high. What I had originally intended with the Skirmish Belt was to give me a more accessible platform to hold equipment. In the end, I opted to add belt loops to the inside in order to thread my Viper BDU belt through them to hold the equipment at that level. That then solved the second problem of it not sitting securely and sagging. I think the production version will be able to forego the foam core and just settle for foam and Cordura.

It's a very simple modification to the existing belt and I think for any production variant, it won't be difficult to make it look a little less tack-on.

It looks a little goofy with the whole belt over belt thing but retaining the outer belt allowed me to keep the tension on the Skirmish Belt. Even with a full canteen, there's very little movement on the system. You've got a dump pouch, a water canteen, emergency first aid panel and a Firestrike holster (for now). 

Future development will probably come in the form of adding a small pyro panel on the front of the zip pouch so the belt can be used on it's own for building breaching. If you're using pyro, you need far fewer darts and the intensity of the engagement means you're probably heading back to spawn pretty sharpish anyway. Either leaving the top rig at spawn or just picking up mags from it on the way past to keep you in the fight means you get the lower bulk of a skirmish rig.

More reviews to come after Splatoon on Saturday and then it's on to Clash of BritNerf on the weekend of 6th August.