Blasting Their Way to Victory!

Hasbro Malaysia's first official NERF Dart Tag Tournament took place over the weekend of 8 & 9 September 2012 at Allrounder Indoor Soccer Futsal Centre in Section 19, Petaling Jaya. The Kids Category session (ages 8 to 13 years) was conducted on Saturday 8 September whilst the Open Category session took place on the following day. The tournament sessions kicked-off at 2pm on both days, preceded by practice matches in the morning allowing players to test the NERF Dart Tag blasters, scope out the arena and better understand the game format.

Player briefing during practice matches

The futsal centre was abuzz early on Saturday morning as kids showed up with their friends and family to check-in for the tournament and take advantage of the practice match sessions. A full range of the latest NERF Dart Tag blasters were provided to each team together with NERF jerseys in blue or orange to denote teams . A total of 11 teams signed-in to compete in the Kids Category:

Star Blade

Knights

KC1 Heroes

Deathbringerz

Dark Knight Tigers

Death Dealers

Sharpshooters

Dragon

Enter Dragon

Nerf Kids

Assassins

Tagged!

Round-robin matches of 3 minutes duration were conducted whereby each team played off against 3 other teams to qualify for the semi-finals. In NERF Dart Tag games, a player is tagged when a velcro dart sticks to a player's jersey. Tagged players then have to return to their team's penalty area to serve a 10 second countdown before rejoining the match. Match scoring was awarded to the winning team based on number of tags against opposing players and capturing the other team's flag.

Kids Category finals: Team Knights vs. Star Blade

After 16 qualification matches, the 4 teams shortlisted for the semi-finals were the Knights, Star Blade, Death Dealers and Deathbringerz. The first match-up between team Knights and Death Dealers was fairly balanced as players furiously tagged each other and neither team managed to capture their opponent's flags. The Knights prevailed to win with more tags against the Death Dealers. The tournament continued with Star Blade "overkilling" Deathbringerz, bring them to face-off against the Knights. Through teamwork and strategy, the Knights won the match by capturing Star Blade's flag and thereby claimed the Grand Prize plus championship title for NERF Dart Tag Tournament 2012, Kids Category.

Winners of Kids Category Tournament: Grand Prize to Knights (seated front centre), Runner-up Prize to Star Blade (left), and Consolation Prizes to Deathbringerz & Death Dealers (right)

The following day's Open Category Tournament brought 8 competing teams comprising:

Droids

Roughneck Zero

Brats

EIR

Dolphin Dive

1T

Fast Boys

Eagles

Attacking the base VIP to capture the flag

Similarly to the Kids Category, each team played off against 3 different teams to qualify for the semi-finals, starting with the Droids versus Roughneck Zero. Team Roughneck Zero virtually blasted through their opposition, earning maximum scores on each of their matches through "overkills" and flag captures. The other 3 qualifying teams of the Droids, 1T and EIR came through on fairly equal grounds. All teams now played off carefully and calculated with more conservative tactics rather than brazen charges seen earlier in the day. Ultimately Roughneck Zero defeated EIR whilst Droids overcame 1T, bringing back together the 2 teams which kicked-off the qualifiers!

Open Category Finals: Droids vs. Roughnecks Zero again!

Learning from their prior defeat by Roughneck Zero, the Droids successfully fended off the Roughnecks to protect their flag this time around. By time-out, neither team prevailed as the match was a draw based on equal number of player tags. As a winner had to be determined, both teams played off by "penalty shot" with each team's player taking turns to successfully tag a target. Team Roughneck Zero's sharpshooting skills paid off as they claimed the the championship title for NERF Dart Tag Tournament 2012, Open Category and took home a huge hamper of Hasbro prizes.

Penalty shot to determine winning team



Winners of Open Category Tournament winners with Game Marshals & Hasbro representatives: Grand Prize to Roughneck Zero (centre), Runner-up Prize to Droids (left), and Consolation Prizes to EIR & 1T (right).

Hasbro Malaysia's personnel also jumped-in for a standalone match to showcase their skills with NERF and build team comaradie. The extended match saw various tactics and antics including what seemed like a half-time team meeting whilst the clock was still running! Victory was eventually claimed by blue team, despite loosing and subsequently reclaiming their flag.

Taking the shot!

Side activities at the tournament venue included demonstration of the latest NERF blasters such as the N-Strike Elite series with a firing range being setup. Everyone also had the opportunity to test fire the NERF Super Soaker series of water blasters, of which some of the players took the chance to spray themselves to cool off after sweaty tournament matches. An assortment of NERF blasters and accessories were available for sale with NERF guide books and freebies given away to everyone at the tournament venue.

Demo of the new NERF N-Strike Elite range of blasters.

Many thanks to Hasbro Malaysia for organising the tournament and supporting the local NERF community with such generous prizes. Congratulations to all winners for Blasting their Way to Victory!

Check out more photos here at NERF Community Malaysia on Facebook.

It's NERF or Nothin'!

NERF is associated trademarks are copyright to Hasbro Inc. used with permission by Outpost Events as the appointed agency by Hasbro Malaysia to organise the NERF Dart Tag Tournament Malaysia 2012.

NERF N-Strike Elite Rampage Review

Following-up from our previous review of the NERF Vortex Pyragon, our NERF Specialists got hold of the upcoming NERF N-Strike Elite Rampage courtesy of Hasbro Malaysia for our next field test:




The new N-Strike Elite series blasters adopts the orange-blue colour schemes of the preceding N-Strike Longstrike and Raider blasters.

Seen below with the Raider, both blasters look much the same from casual inspection. Afterall, the Rampage re-uses the Raider mold with design improvements internally to provide the Elite range, speed, accuracy and rate of fire.

 

The Rampage comes with a 25-dart ammo drum, this time pear-shaped and less clunky than the Raider's 35-dart whistle-shaped drum. And it includes the new blue Elite darts which contribute to increased range.

Outdoor test firing the Rampage using Elite darts yielded ranges between 50ft / 15m to 60ft / 18m when firing parallel to ground. Firing angled up from ground scored 60ft / 18m to 90ft / 27m. Slam-firing results were between 55ft / 17m to 80ft / 24m. So the 75ft / 23m ranged claimed is indeed achievable.

How much do the new Elite darts actually contribute to range? Testing them in a Raider yielded range around 50ft / 15m, about 10ft / 3m more than using Streamline darts. Unfortunately the dark blue colour of the new darts make them a tad harder to find amongst the park grass, moreso once sunlight gets dim so Elite darts are not recommended for night-time outdoor games.

If you notice something different with the vest in the background of the photos above, you are indeed correct as our NERF Specialists also got hold of the new N-Strike Elite Tactical Vest! Main differences with its precedessor is that this vest uses velcro straps instead of zipper, and replaces the holster with another ammo clip strap and plastic snap hook style clip to hang small blasters or other gear.

The Elite vest set includes new darts for the 2 standard ammo clips, of which 1 side in translucent plastic. Back of the new vest has (sadly) removed the sleeve of N-Force melee "weapons".

 

That's our specialists' 2 sen on the N-Strike Elite Rampage and Tactical Vest. Also check out what John Brenkus has to say about the Elite Series from the NERF Performance Institute:



Test out the N-Strike Elite Rampage and other new blasters at the upcoming NERF Dart Tag Tournament next weekend on 8 & 9 September 2012.

 

As always, it's NERF or Nothin'!

NERF and associated product trade names are copyright to Hasbro Inc.