High FPS CQB in a church? Only a little way from my house? Interesting proposition. A local church has recently opened up its games to BritNerfers and has run a couple of games. Set over 3 floors of a modern church, it essentially feels like a modern version of the old Student's Union environments I used to play in back in my BUZAN days.
tl;dr Not sure it needs to be >130FPS but it's fun and well run, would recommend.
Equipment review:
This being my first attendance at this venue and being sceptical about the format (see below), I opted to pack light.
Pictured above is the load out from the day. I opted for the skirmish belt and Tempus combo that saw me through 28 Darts Later. The Tempus has had new Krakens put in it and is now only firing 1 in 5 shots sideways rather than only shooting 1 in 5 shots straight. Progress! I still need to fettle with it to work out why it's not shooting lasers but it was fine for the evening. The Mayday and it's 40MAX cylinders are being very leaky and temperamental. I'll do a seperate post on them later but it's looking more and more likely it's going to get relegated to specialist secondary rather than dedicated side arm.
The magazines I took were a complete reload set for the belt so I could rapid swap a complete load if I needed to. I removed the spare dump pouch since I would have access to a safe zone and put it back on my main vest. Otherwise, there were no other changes to the belt from 28DL.
It all fit into my handy dandy Warhammer rucksack which I obtained from Warhammer World in February having made very poor financial decisions. It's an under-rated thing being able to shove a load out straight into a ruck sack rather than having to lug a suitcase around but it's pretty effective. It also forces you to be a little more thoughtful about what you take with you. After Foam Fest, my travel and packing planning is improving which is nice. This load will probably form the basis of my Caves and similar events going forward.
The only thing that's new and unique equipment wise for this event can be seen under the hat in the top photo. Higher energy levels particularly at close quarters create a risk of kinetic dentistry. I picked up an airsoft snood with built in facial and nose mesh to cover me in close quarters against Harriers and the like. It worked very well with it not fogging my goggles at all. I was lucky enough not to take any direct facial hits but I did get a round to the ear in the dark at one point which the fabric was able to mitigate the sting of.
Going forward, I suspect a Nightingale and new holster might be in order if the Mayday can't be fixed. Likewise, the Tempus might get replaced by a Protean in a similar colourway over Christmas. I love the Tempus form factor but serviceability and the mushy trigger are starting to become an issue. I'll keep them under review but they should consider themselves on notice!
Games review:
The folks running it are clearly experienced youth organisers but the game is 18+ because of the energy levels involved. That's pretty neat because it's nice to have a game close by that's catering to the older crowd. Games were well run and varied though did run a little long. A set timer with the ref calling an end to things to keep things fresh would help. I'd suggest some radios or at least a whistle that could be heard across floors to mark start and end of games. We played Blob (or Tribes) and a variant of Tiles which actually worked because it's being run with older players. That's the other advantage of 18+ is that games can be a little more involved and a little more tactical.
I was (and still am) a little sceptical about the energy caps at the venue. There isn't any need for more than Cat C 130FPS in this environment but the organiser has set the caps closer to UK Cat E caps. There's no HPA, Springers are capped at 250FPS, flywheels at 200FPS and there was no full auto on the night but locked out blasters were fine. If the insurers are fine with it and the venue is happy at those energy levels then there's no reason to not attend. Knowing in advance means protective equipment can be worn and it's not a problem. Higher energy doesn't really add much in this environment but it does let folks play with their slightly spicier toys and that's what we're here to do.
I think that as the player base matures and more folks realise there's potential to upgrade their equipment, there might be a review of energy levels if venue damage starts to creep in. This is only the third or fourth open event this group have held and the player base is very green in comparison to some of my regular groups. They're a lovely, open and sporting bunch who are great to play with. Howver, I get the vibe some of them are at the top of the rabbit hole and we'll start to see much spicier kit coming through as folks realise what's available.
For £10 for an evening's game play, I'd certainly recommend it if you're in North London. It's 10m for me on the bus so I'll be back for sure and probably in greater numbers (well, greater darts numbers).
