I've never actually played a campus style Humans vs Zombies in all my years of Nerfing. We simply don't have that culture here in the UK - our stuff is very much focused on private games on private land. That has created a unique cultural environment in the UK but at the cost of not having had that experience. Royal Holloway, a College of the University of London, is the exception in that they have done outside invitational HvZ games for the last few years. With the career change, I've been at scohol so not able to attend but finally this year I've gotten around to it. Promoted by Games of Foam and run by the university's Human's Versus Zombies society, it's running tomorrow at their Egham campus in Surrey. It'll be a 2 day event but I'll go for the Saturday to check it out. Between Foam Fest last weekend, this weekend and then Bristol Blast likely next weekend, it's a lot of Nerf in August so I'll be fine with 1 day.
The design philosophy of LARP and HvZ have some considerable overlaps. First, you're not expecting anywhere to be safe so everything you have must be portable on yourself. Second, reliability is king so nothing complex or over the top. I would have opted for the Gryphon but it won't be safe for use on campus hence the Tempus being repaired as best posible to be reliable. I've learned from kettle HvZ games at Bristol Blast and BUZAN that lightweight mobility is key and that pitched engagements with heavy exchanges of fire are not to be expected. To that end, I've opted for the skirmish belt, moved some pouches off my vest and will keep things fast and light as a result.
Regular viewers will notice that I've swapped the location of the medium zip dump pouch with the position of the mag pouches. That removes the steric hinderance that comes from the pouch on the front of my thigh when running while keeping loose ammo sufficiently close by that I can top off after engagements. 5 mags (4+1) ought to be enough for most engagements. There is a full refresh of mags in my back pack in the event of exhaustion but I figure if I'm at that stage, we've made a grave error of some sort. The sling is a quick and dirty single point sling I made to let me drop the blaster while doing other things. The stock strap design was inspired by real steel firearms while the remainder of the sling is just a simple strap assembly linked to the blaster mount. I did consider a 3 point sling for this sosrt of game but don't have the brain power to make it happen this close to an event with everything else going on.
I've moved one of my small zip dump pouches off the vest and onto the other side of the belt to carry mission McGuffins and other bits as needed. It's currently carrying the hat, OTG eye pro and gloves I'll need to keep the sun off, darts out and hands clean from injuries. The holster is empty because the local regulations prevent use of compressed gas blasters and I've not been able to find a replacement for the Mayday. I might borrow something on the day or I've got a handy jolt if not. Finally, there are two socks in the front pouches for when everything absolutely goes sideways and I need a last ditch escape mechanism.
Not pictured is my day rucksack which will contain my 3L hydration bladder, sunscreen, medications, first aid kit, spare batteries and probably my will to live. It's packed such that everything I carry to site will fit in it so I don't have to leave things lying around. It'll make running around as a zombie an interesting experience but I'm very much more a long term stalking zombie than I am a sprinter zombie. It's better to wear humans down than wear yourself down!
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