IKEA SKADIS Peg Boards - Nerf Blaster Mounting Part 1

My blasters have spent most of their lives in kit bags or in the case of my Stryfe, a FDL printed mount on the top of a unit. It's not ideal and creates a great of clutter. My LARP weapons have been mounted on some very rudimentary weapon mounts in my hallway but over time they have decayed and need something fresh. I figured that given my hallway is home to the LARP weaponary, a peg board solution to mount both blasters and swords would be in order.

1st Gen LARP Sword Holder - Not ideal

 

IKEA SKADIS pegboards have a reputation for having a wide range of uses but mounts for blasters are fewer. Speaking with my fellow BritNerfers, printed hooks don't seem to have the strength to do the job. There are printed magazine mounts around but I don't fancy paying for a series of STLs. Given there are no open source, free to use systems available, I elected to rectify that. It also gives the option to bake in a hardened design from the outset.

T-nuts!

The SKADIS T-nut project was a golden find over on Printables. I figured that creating a plate you can anchor the T-nuts to and then bolt a mag well to for display would be the way to go. I modified the Captain Slug Talon magazine holder to add a set of screw ports at the base. That then gets bolted into three trapped nuts in the back of the T-nut plate base which can be hung on the SKADIS board. A blaster is then slotted onto the blaster before hooking on to the board.

Gryphon with a test mag well holder mounted on the smaller board

I picked up 2 of the 76x56cm boards from my local IKEA plus some other bits. Getting public transport back from the store meant I had to be creative. I'm reasonably confident the security guy thought I was mental adding parcel tape handles to the packages outside the shop. Still, it meant my hand wasn't cramped to all hell travelling home. 

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Parcel tape and trauma shears can do a lot of things!

IKEA don't supply wall fixing hardware and I didn't want to charge in straight away with bolting things into the dry wall of my flat. Instead, I opted to try Command Strips. Apparently, the large ones can hold 7.2kg for a set of four. I found a blog post that uses 8 pairs for a single 76x56mm so I'm guess that means I've got 14.4kg minus the 2.5kg IKEA states the board weighs leaves me around 12kg to play with. I've trusted these command strips with my tablet mounted to a kitchen cupboard door for the last 4 years so I figure I'd trial it with my blasters for a little while. The trick with getting them to stick properly is to make sure the surface is clean and has time to bond before you put a bond on it. If it goes crash in the middle of the night then I'll know I need to go to the local hardware shop and grab the necessaries.

For pistols and the Spring Thunder, I've taken inspiration from the My3DBase design here and re-created it with SKADIS compatibility. I didn't like their hollow approach, I prefer to have more material supporting the blaster so didn't create a cut away like their design. I don't know how wide their design is but I set mine at 20mm to accomadate my Gecko trigger. For mine, I added an optional blind pilot hole for an M3 bolt to be inserted into the back of the plate to add a little more structural strength if the user wants it. I think for some denser blasters, a little bit of extra steel won't hurt. Heavier blasters would benefit from more walls around the bolt holes to add more material around stress points.

For full length blasters, I'll publish everything in a second post plus updates on how the basic hook comes out once it's printed.

Now I've finished up my degree, it's nice to be getting back into the hobby and sprucing up the flat. I've got smaller peg boards to mount the LARP weapons to and will likely make a small display of character kit, too. I'll keep the blog posted on those updates, too.

Once the bugs are ironed out, these will all be public domain on Printables. Command strips are in the post. Tomorrow is a tactical gear day to start filling orders.

What year is it?!

It's been a hot minute since I've done anything Nerf related and there's a lot of dust on these blasters. Below is an assorted brain dump of thoughts and an account of what's been going on in my absence. Writing a thesis means that writing long form hasn't been appealing but I'm slowly easing back into it now I've submitted it and getting my life back.

The state of the UK scene:

I've not been to a game in over a year. I think in the 13 years I've been playing, that's the longest I've been off the field for any given time (excluding COVID) and that's a bit scary. I'm not used to things moving so far ahead of me and not at least being abreast of it. Uni got in the way but I'm pretty much qualified now so I can start getting back to one of my favourite past times: flinging foam. It's been a long two years and recovery post COVID has been difficult and slow for the hobby. Venues are hard to come by because operating costs are rising and discretionary income is dropping. We've got a solid core of Game Organisers in the UK who are holding through which is probably our greatest asset. I'm looking forward to Foam Fest next year with tenative dates being announced this past week. The tempo of games hasn't returned to pre-COVID levels and I expect that recovery will take much longer as we continue to struggle with venue accessiblity.

BritNerf took the decision to open up the Discord server a little bit more and we've seen a small influx of new regular users which is nice. That decision will probably be reviewed in the coming months to see if there's more ways to encourage people to get to games. I've remained active as a forum moderator over there and we've taken on more staff in anticpation of growth. We do need to do more to grow BritNerf, particularly the social side of things but that's a discussion for over there. I'd encourage you to jump in if you're a UK Nerfer and want to chat.

Product development:

I've not been to a game in a while so I'm not sure what needs developing. I'm always open to new suggestions of course. However, play has always been the key driver of equipment development because arms races are natural drivers for innovation. I think once I'm back in the field we'll see more things coming to life in that direction.

Etsy Store:

The Etsy Store will be making a come back in a few weeks or maybe after Christmas. I'm not long finished with my Master's degree and I'm taking a little time to get back into the groove of things. Being chained to the machine for days at a time isn't something I want to think about when I've just spent the better part of 6 months in front of a computer doing my dissertation between the day job. My supply chain is in tact but I might have to revise some prices before I re-open. That and I want to spend some time working over my own kit before I commit to making stuff for others. 

Well, to be honest, the time frame will likely be dictated by the pace of UK games. Historically, the money I've made with the store has funded my travel, ammo and game sundries so bug your local GO to start running UK games that I can travel to and I'll start selling gear faster. ;)

PCB Files:

This is something I really want to get back to. While through hole boards feel a little archaic in the context of the Dart Zone Mk3 and other mass produced electronic blasters being a thing, I think being able to produce resilient parts that are easy to use is worthwhile. There's still a hobby/STEM education element to modding and I think providing that platform is critical. I'd just like to be able to find a reliable UK based supplier in order to be able to shorten the development loop.

Embroidery:

This is really something I'm working hard to make a reality. When I was with BSUK, we did a lot with our machine but I know I can do more and there's plenty of scope for it. There's so much value to add to the community by having an integrated, dedicated embroidery service for tactical equipment. The machine I've got my eye can go further than the BSUK specification (albeit at a higher cost to me!). However, like any good CNC machine it'll be a hobby in of itself so will take time to onboard. The time frame for this kind of project is probably 2025 at the earliest due to the sheer amount of capital needed to outlay the project.And to be clear: I won't ever be a bulk patches supplier. I have a couple of places that will be better placed to do that that I can hook you up for. Orders up to 10-20 will be fine, I suspect but more than that, you'll need to go elsewhere.

Green Cloaks:

Sadly, Green Cloaks fell on its arse this year being unable to run events. A combination of high site costs and declining player numbers resulted in a perfect post COVID storm. The rule set they developed just before the pandemic was a significant upgrade and I'm sad it didn't get the full run it deserved. The system was the largest organised regular Nerf war in the country at its height. I had a draft post about the Green Cloaks paradigm written earlier in the year that mapped the system's influence on the UK hobby and my own gear design choices such was its influence. Honestly, I always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the system. However, I can't deny that I made life long long friends charging across glades at Broadstone Warren. Indeed, the battlefield environment was the gold standard test for equipment reliability and durability and it will be missed. I might bring that post out of draft status at some point when I've had more time to think about it. The cobwebs are clearing and writing about things is getting easier even as I scribble down things now.

Other future plans:

Obviously, I'll be starting a new job in 2024 and attending wars according to my shift pattern as needed. Career will be the priority but Nerf is a hobby close to my heart (though career gives money for Nerf so I guess it's a win-win). I want to get back into the research and development side of things blaster wise. There are a lot of unanswered research questions that need digging into. I've paid a lot of money for a Master's level education and it'd be nice to use those skills for something that I enjoy outside of work. I'm pretty sure I'm the first person to have meta-analysed chronograph data in the hobby! I'll get some more work on that done and get it published here or on BritNerf soon. I've got a few ideas of how we can put to bed some of the open questions in the hobby particularly around SCARs and porting. 

Elsewhere, I want to keep championing the open source side of things with The Index where I publish my patterns and designs. Ideally, I'd like to start filming tutorials on how to make some of this stuff but it's low on the priority list on account of it being a lot of work for not a lot of reward. I'd love to create a community of sewists in the hobby but realisitically, tactical gear will always be Cinderella to the shiny new blaster that everyone wants. I'm also working on some open source SKADIS compatible blaster mounts because the ones I want don't exist in an open source fashion so I'll make them, I guess.

This has been an open brain dump of my thoughts as I procrastinate opening these suitcases and starting to review my gear. Hopefully I can actually bring some of these projects to fruition in the coming months. That's the joy of blogs, it's public so people can back link you and remind you you said you'd do the thing.

Update on BoffTac Free to use PCB files - 2022 Edition

I posted over a year ago about how I was working on free to use PCB files for folks who wanted to simplify their flywheel blaster systems. I've done some more work on them and now I've published the files for use over on BritNerf.

Full details can be found over on the forum and I'll do a more in-depth write up here when I use these builds but just wanted to make a quick post to ensure I don't forget to publish these out.

Brief reflections on 2021 - The Year of High FPS Nerf

In marked contrast to 2020, 2021 was actually a pretty good year for the UK Nerf scene. Granted, indoor lower energy games only started to come back in the later quarter but our nascent higher energy scene was able to thrive. Outdoor settings are inherently safer for COVID than indoors ones on account of aerosols being blown away by the wind so Foam Flinging Skirmish and Games of Foam were able to provide me with a near monthly diet of games to up my game at. 

Winter DPM Equipment at a chilly November Splatoon

The net result is that my high velocity load out is a great deal more bulked out and refined than it was at the start of the year. Key developments include the full expansion to 27 Talon magazines in  the ready state, further refinement of the Skirmish Belt concept to allow me a versatile engagement order for shorter rounds and the addition of the Tempus dual stage which should give me a theoretical reach somewhere around 220FPS.

 

Reloading under fire and smoke during a sunny Invicta Battlegrounds in September

I feel this puts the hobby at an important departure point overall. What started as playing with souped up kids' toys is rapidly turning into it's own adult orientated skirmish sport. I've alluded to this in previous posts but the breathing space given to the scene by COVID removing the lower energy games for a bit has begun to build a critical mass. Various Game Organisers (GOs) I speak to agree that adults are starting to take notice and want to attend only the high energy stuff so as to have a play space away from younger players.

"Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?" - With enough WP40s? Yes...

That's not to say that Nerf as a hobby won't continue to have a large player base that is youth engagement orientated. A lot of our GOs are youth workers, teachers and folks used to working with young people. It's an area of the hobby will always be larger and more dynamic in it's turnover than it's higher energy counterpart. I am a proud Foam Fest organiser and we've always had the mantra of ensuring that we use Nerf to promote exercise for kids that might not engage with traditional sports. The hobby offers young people the option to engage with the best bits of sport in a style of their choosing: leadership, team work, problem solving and more. For my part, as a masculine presenting presence, it's also important that our GOs and older players present positive masculine role models for younger people that seek them. Good sporting conduct goes beyond just taking tags, it can help shape outlook for those that are new to the hobby or look up to us. Being back in the field after a long break in 2021 really reminded me of the potential of the hobby for this and more. 

Assaulting a fort under a smoke barrage, one of my fav shots from 2021

 For higher energy games, we'll see adults of all ages  begin to form cohesive communities and it falls to all of to create the community we want to see. We are early enough in the creation of this thing that there are a lot of us that can shape that future. We often joke about Airsoft's toxicity and attitude but we have to take the hard steps to make our own spaces inclusive and welcoming to new players and those seeking to try it out. It's not easy, it takes real work but I'm proud of my fellow players over the past year. We've seen the best of the community as the game has come back together. From new players turning up with nothing and being lent piles of kit to folks grabbing people's magazines and filling them to get them in the game to just simple lifts from rail heads to sites, it's the little things that matter. At the end of the day, we play with heavily modified or derived toys and if you can't sit down and laugh at yourself and the silly hobby that brings so many of us so much joy then you're not doing it right.

Life will mean the hobby taking a little of a back seat over the next couple of years. I've got my training starting very soon. My ability to attend events will be limited by money and resources. However, I still have the machine and I will still need hobby time to use my hands when my brain and heart are occupied by the day job and study. I've got big plans for a combat jacket of some sort to replace the 18 pattern and maybe come 2024, I'll be back on scene and painting with smoke again. Here's to 2022 and whatever it brings...

End of Season Equipment Review - 2021

Yesterday at Splatoon was probably the last high FPS (and possibly even any game) of 2021. With winter approaching and the winter pressures building in the day job, it was time for a chill event to finish off the year. My usual After Action Report is over on BritNerf itself but here contains a full equipment review for my high FPS load out and all the things that I need to fix over winter. I mentioned in my previous post that this rig was sort of patched onto another rig that was designed for a LARP character and as such it wasn't entirely fit for purpose. With games starting up again and the high FPS scene here in the UK really starting to get it's own momentum, it's probably time for some upgrades to get this thing to work.

Gryphon:

We'll start with blasters because folks seem to think these are the centre piece of any load out. I'd disagree: they're maybe 20% of a load out once you factor soft kit and magazines but that's a discussion for another time. The Gryphon continues to serve. It just does. It needs some lubing on the gear mechanism because in the cold yesterday, it was being a little sticky but frankly this thing just fires. No muss, no fuss. The only thing I'd like to do is some sort of lock out cap on the red dot sight so I can get some actual use from it. Right now, I'll change the CR2032 button battery on the back and then it'll switch on in my back and the red dot will go flat in my bag. I need to find some sort of way of having a lock out block that slides over the top to protect the slide switch. Other than that, it's just trucking along fine. On 2S, it fires sub 130FPS which means I can now full convert to half lengths.

Tempus:

The Tempus is still the new comer to my rig and it's a new design of blaster in field so it has it's own bugs and quirks. My favourite at the moment is that the rev trigger has a tendency to work itself loose. All day yesterday, I would remove the trigger at the end of each game and stick it in my pocket to keep it safe. The problem there is obviously if I needed my hands for something other than supporting the blaster grip, I'd lose the trigger into the underbrush and the blaster would be useless. 

It turns out that wasn't what took it out of action yesterday. I forgot my LiPo alarm for the pack which meant that the cold (5C, 41F) did a number on the capacity of my packs. The pack ran dry after only a couple of rounds. It dropped to 3.5V per cell but was rescued once I'd warmed the packs back up to a more normal 22C in the flat when I got home. I'd left the spare at home so I was back down to using the Gryphon after that point. The front end of the Tempus itself needs rebuilding with new motors and wheels that are properly installed with tolerances and shims used. Two in three of the darts fired would either whirlybird or decap. The former I would attritbute to the lack of wheel balance and the latter to the fact that Gen 2 Worker darts are slightly questionable in their quality. I should also seriously look at reprinting the flywheel cage to clean up the various soldering iron marks and what not that have appeared over time.

Knee pads, shemagh, boonie hat

These three pieces are of soft kit are just fine. My Alta Contour knee pads keep on doing their thing. I had to readjust them for the first time in years yesterday but that was only because I'd played with the straps between events. Once I'd worked them back into the sweet spot, it was like kneeling on clouds again. Sometimes I think I should put them in the wash to see if I can make them look like the nice tidy clean versions that I sometimes see on other players. Then I remember there's like 5 years of Nerfing history baked into that mud and I'm not going to compromise that.

The new scrim net shemagh works pretty well as neck protection. I think I might swap it for a more green version than the current olive/tan but it keeps my neck covered while breaking up my outline.

The boonie hat is a great way to keep the elements out when I'm not wearing my main helmet. I could look into maybe adding a camera mount to it for recording reasons but it is fast and light so I'm not sure if I should worry about that.

MICH2000 Helmet:

A new addition now I'm back to playing is a MICH2000 plastic clone with my camera mounted to it with custom power bank at the back. Dipped by the wonderful folks over at Monkeytron Collective and finished with a matte lacquer, this is mostly a fashion piece to top off the rest of my equipment. There's a custom power bank mount at the back supported with Velcro and zip ties while the cable runs to the front to expand the power of the Firefly 6S up front. Over winter, I want to put some DPM cable sheath over the top of the leads and then probably add a torch mount to the helmet itself to let me film both visible light and hopefully IR light, too. I also need to add something to whatever succeeds the 18 pattern webbing to let me carry my SD card holder close to hand to let me swap it over on the regular. Perhaps I could build an SD card holder into the torch mount itself?

Inside, you have this lovely padded system which was nice and warming in the cold whether. It beats the old hard polystyrene that you get in FAST helmets but I'd be wary of it in the summer, getting soaked with sweat and the like. I might also see about swapping the straps out for something greener to complete the look.

Reserve Magazine Friction Fit Pouch:

I've complained about these before with the press snaps being sub-standard. I need to fully refit these pouches which will mean stripping the fabric back and resetting the studs. I'm mostly complaining here again so I remember to actually do it this time.

Gecko & Gecko Holster:

I got a Gecko printed and it's wonderful in hand. It took some fettling to get it to prime smoothly (had to sand some bits) but it works otherwise fine. I've got two spare magazines, one of which is held in a dedicated friction fit magazine holder there I can top it off and swap it with the other one. I actually got tags with this yesterday in close confined areas. It was nice to have a closed loop there - I first realised the merits of spring primed pistols back in Splatoon's Kill House maze years ago and now I have a dedicated closed in side-arm for doing just that.

I still need to do some work on the prime retaining mechanism to get it to settle in place when firing. Currently, I have to support the back of the slide when firing to keep everything in place. There's just a little bit of filing that needs to be done on the green part of the front slide to apparently help that hold in place.

The Gecko holster itself isn't as good as I'd like. On paper, it should be dead easy to build a Gecko holster but I'm really finding it tricky to get a design I actually like. In the terrible photo above you can see the current design. It's a magnet release top flap with a box holding the shape of it in a half-drop configuration. The half drop itself is perfect but the return is slow and cumbersome because of the shape of the holster. I'm honestly tempted just to stump for a fully tooled leather holster for it because I think that might work out better. I'll have a think over winter and see what pops out. You can see the magazine pouch behind it. Obviously, lying flat the two items occlude one another but if you wrap the skirmish belt around then in 3D space things actually work.

Skirmish Belt:

Skirmish belt remains solid as a concept, it can stay. Once you set it for the day, you've got a load out ready to go for light skirmish work. I think the contents of the belt will change but the general concept itself is here to stay.

The water bottle carrier pictured above is an old Maxpedition version and I think it might be time to replace the bottle itself and maybe find a green or DPM version to go on the belt so it doesn't stand out as much. The dump pouch is working fine. It can carry something like 400 half darts and not be over full which makes topping off during the day very, very easy. I experimented with putting grenade holders on the front of it and that didn't work out terribly well.

AirTac Grenades:

We need to talk about the AirTac grenades. The principle is sound but the product itself isn't worth the £20 asking price. I've already lost one to damage from posting them over filing cabinets at Superstore and the design of the head means that don't always land cap down to strike and set off the charge. Without an open source file system, we're stuck with them so any alternative that can be developed I would happily support. The printed MOLLE holder clips not only require tools to install but also will break after light use, even if they are placed up high on a rig to protect them from the worst of rough and tumble.

Going forward, my plan is to create a MOLLE mounting panel that will emulate the effect of the plastic holders including the safety feature. I will also put a slot panel in behind to carry loose charges because one of my biggest problems with these grenades is finding an effective way to carry the charges. I spent a good deal of yesterday not using them because I couldn't readily locate my charge bag on my vest.

To be clear, when they work, they work great but there's a lot of improvement to be made and for a closed source product, this isn't a sustainable ecosystem I want to buy into as a consumer.

Communications:

Reposting the note that my broadcast radio requires a new pouch to secure it in on the haversack so it can be protected from the elements. I also need to buy a new headset and then test it with my two push to talk modules. I don't like the push button PTT that I have on the rig currently so I want to verify that my round membrane PTT is actually faulty or if it's just the microphone on the headset that needs work.

Otherwise, I need to print a nubbin that will let me reach the volume knob on the 888 itself a little more readily because currently it's an arse ache to reach around and turn it on and off. I don't know where the nubbin ended up but it needs replacing. Using two radios is also working fine. I can use the 888 to receive and with the long aerial, it gets a good signal over a wider area. The UV5R can then be pulled off my belt and it's advanced features with screen used in hand to good effect.

18 Pattern Webbing & Haversack:

Way back in the depths of 2019, I realised I would be playing a LARP character that wouldn't have ready access to safe areas or resupplies during weekend long events so I developed a haversack based on the British 37 pattern webbing haversacks for just that purpose. It's MOLLE mounted and can be fudged onto one of my 18 Pattern Webbing Harnesses to allow me to carry everything I need for an event. It might slow me a little and make me a slightly bulkier target but I can survive a whole event with this thing on my back because it carries ammo, smokes, water and food. With the rise of proper Long Games on the UK's High FPS scene, this sort of carriage is becoming more necessary. The Tempus is a hungry blaster and needs a lot of ammo to function. The issue is that this was always a fudge, grafting it onto a webbing harness to try and make it light without really considering the down stream issues.

First, there's the need for repair. The PALS leg holding the sack to the webbing snapped yesterday because I used B-grade thread to put this together. I'll often use B-grade stuff on my own gear to save it going to waste and the compensation tactics I use don't always pan out. Either, this is a quick repair but there is the possibility I can take the bag apart and add some new features that might be quite handy.

The main straps vertical straps are host to the water and radio lines with the single point sling mount over on the left hand side there.  If I'm to replace this, I'll probably create dedicated lines that let me seperate them out and hold them more steadily than the current configuration. Then a big old MOLLE panel at the back will hold the haversack in place. Currently, this jacket with all the various straps can be a little trickier to get in and out of than a traditional vest. I'm just chucking photos up here for future notes and comments. The actual spec of whatever combat jacket or vest I come up with in future is the subject of a later post.

I think that covers most of the equipment worth talking about. My new gloves arrived the other day and served well, they're a direct replacement for the old Blackhawk knock offs that I got from ebay. They served me well for 4 years or so. Going up to the Mechanix gloves would have been a Nice Thing (tm) but for now, I think the cost wouldn't be worth it. Boots worked fine, DPM work shirt and Goretex jacket all kept me warm and dry over thermals. In all, it was a chilly but fun day and I've got lots to be getting on with over the winter time.

Winter Clash of BritNerf - Brief Thoughts on Equipment

Winter Clash of BritNerf was over the weekend of 12th November and consisted of a variety of events at three different venues. I attended two of them: Superstore and Invicta Battlefields. My After Action Reports for Superstore and Invicta can be found over on BritNerf that detail the game play and my general thoughts on the event. This post briefly makes some notes about my equipment for each event and how it panned out.

Superstore - 12th November

Superstore is an old department store that's been converted to an airsoft arena. Close sight lines, 130FPS cap and quite a bit of CQB action. I found the Gryphon on a 2S snuck in under the cap so I was on short lengths for the full event.

Tactical Boff is watching you...

Major equipment changes from my last post include the addition of a full linen shemagh. It's great to be back in the soft coolness of proper linen on my next. With the FAST helmet and camera combination (as long as the SD card remained empty), it sat under my chin nicely and kept my neck protected from incoming darts nicely.

 I also swapped up my eye protection to the lighter BOLLE Viper glasses rather than my older Tracker goggles. The result was a much better experience with less fogging and general problems. Sure, the event was REALLY yellow for all of it but I took two direct hits to the lenses and they didn't struggle. I think I'll be keeping them for future events.

The old 2018 pattern vest is actually still working really well. I think over the winter I'll need to make myself some Talon pouches now that I'm pretty much operating solely on short darts because the old magazine pouch dividers can only take me so far. The proper tactical shirt I have for under it is working nicely and has plenty of pockets and space for patches.

"STAY STILL THEIR VISION IS BASED ON MOVEMENT" - SpectreN7 on this photo

 The AirTac grenades pictured with the orange caps on my vest continue to be a pain in the balls. They're fragile but when they work, they work really well. I feel there are a lot of improvements that could be made with them but they did work to clear rooms nicely. I need to make a proper holder for them, though because the 3D printed one they come with is terrible. I've only used it for two events and there have already been breakages on the clips. I need to find a way of carrying the 'nades and the charge bag on a single panel that I can move around as I need it.

I might also want to invest in some black knee pads if indoor games are starting up again on the regular. I'm currently relying on not having to kneel much but venues are getting more and more varied so I want to be able to protect my knees as I get older.

Finally, the Demolisher rocket and MEGA dart holder is showing it's age and needs replacing. I need a way of carrying spare darts for my shield busting side arm that doesn't see them get squished. It's something to put on the design list.

And yes, there are jokes to be made about playing amongst the corpse of late stage capitalism with this arena...

Invicta Battlegrounds - 13th November

Going back to London between two events might not have been the best idea but I wasn't lugging two sets of gear around. Invicta is a completely different dart game to Superstore. 300FPS cap, outdoors and in the woods. It's a unique venue that lends itself to a different game type than other high energy fields but I still rocked my standard green kit.

"What this situation needs is more smoke..."

This is one of my favourite event photos for a while. We're assaulting a fort that's behind that cloud of smoke. You can see the arc of live pyro mid air from other players and we wanted a dense screen to advance under. We'd cleared the woods to my left of skirmishers and were due to make an advance on a heavily defended position.

This shows off my current gear quite nicely and the theme and look is consistent. New additions are the Gecko holster for my shiny new side arm. It wasn't in service for this event but I took it along in the holster with it's magazine pouch so I could get a feel for where it needs to go. Honestly, it might have to go onto a drop-leg. The draw was a bit meh with it on the battle belt as high as it is and it got caught on the mag pouches. You can also see the dual stage Tempus in this photo which is a massive upgrade to the Gryphon. It still needs some work to get it dialled in but it did a great job on the day. The photo does show some problems with gear remaining in position, however. The current core of the system is webbing straps and those will bend and deform which can mean things get in the way.

This shot shows some of my difficulties with the current set up. This rig was developed in 2018 originally and then patched onto for an event in 2020 where I needed to be in the field for up to 72 hours at a stretch for a LARP. While it's light over the work shirt, there are tubes, pipes and straps everywhere. I've tightened it up as best I can but it's still a little all over the shop. A radio pouch for the transmission radio and probably a new headset are in order since my Bowman appears to have stopped broadcasting. The haversack is a bit loose on the webbing and moves when I run. Carrying an entire event's worth of fighting equipment on me served me well, rarely did I have to return to the safe zone for anything. Food, water, pyro and ammo all in one place works great but I think the concept needs to be refined. I can dump the top rig still to give me the skirmish belt for shorter games but at the same time, the Tempus is a hungry beast and probably demands more than just the two basic magazines I have on the lighter version of this order.

I've been considering the design of a completely bespoke tactical vest for myself to include all the wiring and tube pipes that I think I need. I can then put the haversack on the back and maybe look at making cloak/bedroll carriage a little more intuitive. A pocket for stowing my head set when it's not in use so the wires don't get destroyed in transit would also be handy. I will thrash out a full design brief over the winter and hopefully go in 2022 with gear that has learned the lessons post-pandemic now events are starting up again.

Oh and the boonie hat was necessary because I'm still working on my power supply situation for the new helmet and camera system.