Dead week deathmatch!

It's the weekend before dead week, meaning the homework is finally winding down. To celebrate, I'm holding a Nerf war in North hall. Set aside your end-of-semester projects for an hour or two and come fling some foam throughout North hall's hallways!

• We will meet in the North hall lobby at 8 pm on Friday (tomorrow).
• As per usual, ammunition will be provided in the form of Nerf darts and disks.
• Legal weapons include Nerf blasters, other foam dart blasters, Nerf swords (and other Nerf melee weapons), other foam-padded swords, and sock balls (like those used in Humans vs Zombies)
• Bring any weapons you have and would like to use, but we will also be loaning out quite a few weapons so coming empty-handed is no problem.
• Invite your friends! More players make for more fun for all.

East hall invasion this Saturday night

This week I figured we'll hold our Nerf war in East hall because we haven't had an official war there yet. Also, I think it would be best to hold this one on Saturday night because there's a Rube Goldberg contest on Friday night. Here are the important details:

• Meet in the East hall lobby at 6:30 on Saturday.
• Bring any Nerf weapons you have, but we will loan out blasters so don't be too afraid of getting stuck with what you bring.
• Don't bring standard Nerf ammunition (Nerf darts or disks) because they will be provided.
• Tell anyone who's interested, this was posted a bit late because I've been busy this week so people probably won't have heard about it yet.

Next DordtNerf Nerf War: North hall on Friday

Now that the official Humans vs Zombies game is over I'm ready for some awesome Nerf action. The next DordtNerf war will be in North hall on Friday night. Here are the most important details:

• Meet in the North hall lobby at 8 pm on Friday (11/2/2012).
• Don't bring your standard Nerf ammo: Elite darts, Suction/Whistler darts and XLR (Vortex) disks will be provided.
• Bring your Nerf weapons if you have them, but we will loan out blasters if needed. My roommate and I will bring 11 blasters between us, so we shouldn't run out of blasters to loan out. (Non-Nerf dart blasters will be accepted, but you must provide your own darts as mine may not work.)
• NEW: Thrown socks (such as those used in HvZ) will also be legal ammunition. You may want to carry a few for backups. I will bring my sock balls which are marked and can be used by anyone, but by all means bring your own.

It is very likely we will play Humans vs Zombies as one or more of our rounds. It would be great if each player could bring an HvZ headband, bandanna, or something else that can be tied around a head or arm. This could help differentiate Humans (especially blasterless sock-wielding ones), Zombies and non-players to avoid confusion. If you have extras it would be good to bring them just in case.

Special HvZ rules:

• Headbands/bandannas must not blend in with your clothes or hair; they must be clearly visible.
• Stunned Zombies must A) Put headbands around their necks rather than their heads to indicate inactivity and clear the area or B) Sit down on the ground

Extra note on modifications: Nerf gun modifications are not only allowed at DordtNerf but encouraged. I myself am an avid modder and virtually all of the blasters I loan out are modified for better performance. If you feel this puts your blasters at a disadvantage, I'll be more than willing to help you modify your blasters too. I can perform simple mods for you, teach you how to mod and even help you obtain materials for major mods (upgraded springs, high-voltage batteries, etc.).

Reminder: Sock war today at 3

Don't forget about the 3 pm sock war today! If you want to prepare for HvZ so you don't get eaten by zombies, bring yourself and your socks to the North hall lobby at 3.

How to prepare for the zombie apocalypse

 Here are a few tips on how to survive the game of Humans vs Zombies next week:

Gear up:

Surviving a walk across campus requires that you be prepared for zombie attacks with your socks at the ready.

Train for survival:

Practice your sock throwing skills to make sure you'll be ready to stun zombies when the time comes. I suggest training against other players to ensure you can hit a moving target. DordtNerf is planning a training session at 3:00 Sunday afternoon, meet in the North hall lobby. Can't make it to the DordtNerf session? Organize spontaneous ones with your friends, roommates and neighbors.

Play it safe:

This may seem obvious, but try to spend as much time as you can in safe zones and make sure you are loaded out whenever you travel between safe zones. You never know if a zombie will attack you on the way down the hall to the bathroom! Conversely, as a zombie try to be sneaky about attacking humans as they enter and leave safe zones, especially when they travel unarmed.

Safety in numbers:

It's best to travel in groups, whether you are humans trying to fight of zombies or zombies trying to mob humans. The more people you have, the better your chances of surviving. It might not be possible to take a group with you when you walk between classes, but getting a group together can be a huge help.

Speed:

One of the biggest assets in both human and zombie players is speed. If you can run fast enough, you can run down or escape from your opponents, which goes a long way towards your survival or your ability to infect humans. Be ready and willing to make a run for it--HvZ zombies are not required to slowly creep around, so fast-paced action is not uncommon.

Vigilance:

Always be on the lookout for zombies when you're in unsafe zones. Don't let them sneak up on you and infect you while you're not looking!

HvZ training...Sock war!

In case you haven't heard, a zombie apocalypse is coming to Dordt next Tuesday (October 23 2012). Unfortunately this particular stain of zombies is immune to Nerf ammo, so we will be forced to fight with crude cloth weapons--sock balls.

In the interests of preparing for this imminent invasion I am holding a training session where those who are interested can master the use of these archaic weapons. Come with your own arsenal of "textile projectiles," preferably as you will carry them during the 4-day event.

We will fight mock HvZ (Humans vs Zombies) skirmishes (taking long stun time into account) to prepare for the main event, have human vs human battles to practice our aim and probably even play short HvZ matches (with shorter stun times) just for fun.

The session will be held in and around North hall on Sunday afternoon starting at 3:00. Both indoor and outdoor training will be necessarily as HvZ will be played between buildings and inside dorm buildings. Meet at about 3 in the North hall lobby and bring your socks!

By the way, DordtNerf will likely organize Nerf HvZ games of various types throughout the year. We have already played short matches in our regular wars with great success and will probably continue to do so. In addition I may organize events completely dedicated to HvZ and, if we get enough interest, organize a multi-day all campus HvZ game with Nerf weapons. Stay tuned if the idea of fighting zombies with guns and swords piques your interest!

Second DordtNerf War: North Hall on Friday night

One thing I've learned from the first DordtNerf war is that I should set the date farther in advance so that more people can work their schedules around it. I also noticed that it's a long walk through the cold air to bring Nerf equipment over to Covenant, so my next war will be right here in North hall. Hopefully that will make it easier to drag North hall Nerfers into DordtNerf. :P

So I'm setting the date for next Friday (the 12th) in North hall. Meet in the front lobby around 7:00 PM. Bring your Nerf guns, clips, and swords but leave your darts and disks behind. I will once again be providing the ammunition so you don't need to mix yours in. The sole exception is if you use non-standard ammunition such as Buzz Bee darts which I will not be providing for this war.

Remember to spread the word to anyone who'd be interested in Nerfing with us. I recently added a few new features to the blog that can help you share DordtNerf and get notified when wars are scheduled. You can follow DordtNerf by email or through Blogger so you'll get notified when I post and you can share it on Facebook or Google+ so your friends will know about it.

Heartland Break War set: Saturday at 8 in Covenant basement

The Heartland break DordtNerf war will be held on Saturday in the Covenant Hall basement at 8:00 pm. Try to come at 8:00, we will start setting up games once I think everyone is there and we will play as long as we're still having fun. Here are the most important details:

• Come to the Covenant Hall basement at 8 on Saturday night.
• Bring your Nerf blasters if you have any but not Nerf darts or disks (Elite darts, XLR disks and Sonic/Suction darts will be provided).
• Donations to offset the cost of darts are appreciated but not required.

First DordtNerf war: Heartland break war

The first DordtNerf war will be held during the heartland break next weekend.

Blasters:

This will be a Nerf war open to anyone who will be at Dordt over break; you don't even need to own a Nerf gun to participate. If you have any Nerf guns that you'd be willing to loan out you should bring those along to so that everyone can play.

Ammo:

Standard Nerf ammunition will be supplied, no need to get your own darts mixed in:

• Elite darts - fit in any dart blaster and work great in most
• Suction/Whistler darts - work great in any dart blaster Elites don't work in
• XLR disks - work in all Vortex blasters

Any non-Nerf blasters (i.e. Buzz Bee) that don't work with standard Nerf darts will have to come with their own ammunition for this war, in the future I might buy some Buzz Bee darts to supply but for now it's just Nerf ammo.

Along with this ammo arrangement comes a bit of responsibility on the part of the Nerfers who are coming:

• First, you should let me know (through a comment) ahead of time that you are coming and what Nerf guns you are bringing so that I can buy enough ammo to supply them all.
• Second, I would appreciate if Nerfers brought some money along, say a dollar or two, to help cover the cost of the ammo as I will be buying it out of pocket. If I end up with more donations than I spent on ammo in this war, I will use the money to buy ammo for future DordtNerf wars. Donations aren't required, but they would go a long way towards making this affordable for me.

Time and location:

This is my first time organizing a Nerf war in advance, so I need your help to decide when and where exactly it will be. The location will most likely be one of three places: North hall. East hall, or the Covenant hall basement; let me know if you have an opinion between the three. The time is extremely open ended on my end as I have nothing else planned over break, so if anyone has things planned let me know which times work best for you.

Spread the word!

Last but not least, I need you to tell others about DordtNerf and about the war. Post this on Facebook, email it to your friends and neighbors, put up signs on your dorm door. No one will know to come to the war if they don't hear about it!