Base rules
- A player who is hit by a dart will be downed. Hit and downed can often be interchangeably. If the gamemode allows for respawns, players can either wait for a doctor or go to respawn. A downed player can choose to respawn. Once they leave their location, they cannot be revived by a doctor.
- A medic revives a downed player by placing their hand on the player, counting to 3 (at a reasonable speed). The downed player will be revived once the countdown has been completed.
- A grenade hit forces a player to respawn, and they cannot be revived by a medic.
- A melee tag can also force a player’s respawn. If a melee weapon is not available, the attacking player can simply tag the target player with their hand.
- The shield blocks darts naturally, but it breaks when struck by a bomb. The shield may be used by other teammates depending on the mode.
Gamemodes
Old:
- Kill Confirmed very similar to Freeze Tag/Tag Teams. A player who is hit is taken down and must wait until a teammate can revive them. This is done with a simple tag. All players in Kill Confirmed are medics. To confirm the kill, an opposing player can tag a downed member of their team with their hand. This will remove them from the game. Naturally if an entire team is downed, then that team loses even if none of them are confirmed. The last team with surviving, non-downed players wins.
- Capture the Flag classic gamemode, obtain both flags at your teams flag post to win. If the flag is hit while it is still held, the flag will be downed as well.
New:
- Black Hawk Down assymetric gametype with two teams: the smaller Special Forces (SF) and larger Insurgents (who often go by a variety of less politically correct names).
If all Insurgents are eliminated, the SF wins. The Insurgents win if they eliminate all SF, or capture the SFs flag. The SF players are all medics and revive with a tag, while the Insurgents have a single medic.
Blasters
Here are only the blasters that saw significant combat (that I witnessed)
Regulars
Elite Rapidstrike (various motors, LiPos) a staple for these sorts of games, performed as usual. Excellent for raw dart output but somewhat lacking in longer range accuracy.
Star Wars Stormtrooper Deluxe Bullet Blaster (upgrade Spring) was used as a pump action blaster, like an EAT/Rampage. It is easy to use, and it’s not difficult to beat flywheelers.
Elite Stryfe (various motors, LiPos) the standard semi auto flywheeler, easy to use and control, and also substantially lighter than a Rapidstrike. It produces a lower amount of darts than a Rapidstrike. This is usually not an issue for most users.
Rebelle Rapid Red (Banshee motors, 2s LiPo) as usual, basically a stockless Stryfe. Worked fairly well, but a stock does help stabilise shots.
N-Strike Stampede (~5kg spring, Trustfires ) had the range to compete with most other blasters, and has enough ROF to be usable. Although flywheelers beat it in ROF, that is not usually an issue when used correctly. It worked well, but I prefer a flywheeler.
NStrike Longshot (Remedy Metal internals and pump grip) long-range blaster. To bring the LS below 150fps, a muzzle attachment was added. Without the attachment, the LS averages around 180fps. It is vulnerable to multiple enemies and in close quarters due to its slower ROF than most blasters, especially flywheelers.
Elite Repealiator (pump handles, upgrade springs) is the standard high-end pump action. More expensive to build than EATs or Rampages, but generally ergonomically superior and also more powerful and robust. It is also generally more accurate than flywheelers.
Elite Alpha Trooper uses upgrade springs to perform the standard pump action. Fairly easy to use and decently effective, though the substantially lower dart output than flywheelers can be an issue in combat.
Buzz Bee Ultimate Missile Blast inside Retaliator extremely powerful blaster capable of very long range shots, though at such ranges the darts tend to go wild. Due to the fact that it must be pumped up for each shot and breech loaded, this blaster has a very slow ROF. Certainly not my style of blaster, and generally didnt appear to be particularly effective for actual hits. Very vulnerable at close quarters.
New:
Buzz Bee Sentinel (US spec, stock) these things are absolutely loved by many members of the Nerfing community in the US, and for very good reason. The US spec Sentinel spring can be 2-3x stronger than the stock Aus spec spring. As a result, a stock Sentinel is comparable in power to a spring upgraded EAT. Although the ROF of a stock Sentinel is slowed by the lever action, it still has insane power.
Modulus (2s or 3s LiPo) being that its motors were still stock, it spun up substantially slower than the other flywheelers around. It wasn’t used much, but I included it because Moduli are very rare to find.
Mega Lightning Bow (rebarreled for Elites) not notably powerful or accurate, was more of just a goof weapon than anything else.
The play area was roughly used.
Although the play area was roughly triangular in shape, it has a lot of cover and functions like a wide rectangle. The central area is also open. Player count was 12 for the majority of the games, which allowed for some good team games. Weather was very good, temperature in the low 20s Celsius with few clouds.
Unlike the previous play area, this play area was mostly flat, with a very slight incline up the east end. Tree cover is also very dense, much denser than the previous area. This area is almost completely shaded and there are a lot of trees, though a lot of them are too thin to take cover behind.
The width of the play area usually results in two fronts of combat one near the open area to the south, and one further up north far in the tree cover. There are a couple particular trees that provide excellent cover for their respective areas and combat is usually concentrated around those. The presence of those two distinct fronts usually results in teams splitting in half. If either half is able to defeat their opposing half team, they are in an excellent position to flank and wipe out the remaining opposing half, assuming the other half of their own team is not wiped out as well. Likewise, any team that chooses to stick together in the middle usually ends up getting flanked and wiped out pretty quickly.
We played a couple of Kill Confirmed rounds to start the day while waiting for the last few players to arrive and get ready. They progressed pretty much as expected, a couple of tit-for-tat skirmishes, which for the most part are draws. One team gets a substantial and usually winning advantage when they are able to confirm their hits. To ensure revival, most players remain in small groups so that it is possible to confirm hits without wiping out the whole group. The new substantial numbers advantage usually leads that team to victory.
Overall, it went about as expected. It was a great warmup gamemode that requires some teamwork.
Approximate CTF play area.
We played a couple of Capture the Flag rounds, and they went quite well. The somewhat unusual flag placement meant that it was much harder to return the flag than usual. The flags are placed so close together, but still quite far apart, that teams often split into two groups to attack the enemy flag and defend their flag. While it is easier to steal the enemy flag, it is much more difficult to return the flag as your flag will always be under attack. Furthermore, defenders of a recently stolen flag have a chance to rush towards the enemy flag to try and prevent a capture.
In previous CTF rounds with the flags on opposite ends of the field, once the flag has been stolen it is near impossible to hit the thief after a few seconds as a couple of seconds is all it takes for them to get back into safe territory. If one team is dominating, which is rare, then there is no safe territory between flags. When the flag is near their flag, the flag runner usually has to capture it. The ability to potentially stop a flag run makes the game much better all round.
Shields had a massive impact on CTF given that they made one player pretty much invincible provided they didnt get within grenade throwing range (and even then, they were at worst on equal footing with a grenadier), but Ill talk more about them later on.
Approximate BHD play area.
Two sets of Black Hawk Down were played. Since we had 12 players, we were split into 3 groups of 4, rotating around the group playing as the SF, with the remainder playing as the Insurgents (making the game 4v8). Each group played once as the SF in each set, which consisted of three games.
The Insurgents held both shields, while the SF team used 3 second revive. This resulted in the SF team being eliminated quite quickly. The combination of superior numbers and both shields made the Insurgents pretty much unstoppable, as the SF team would usually be assaulted on two fronts (one next to the open area, one far into the trees), and usually each front would be headed by an Insurgent shield. The SF team was unable to maintain any defensive position very long and was quickly overthrown by the Insurgent shields and superior numbers.
For the second set, the SF took one of the shields and operated on instant revives. These changes made rounds much more competitive and my group was able to win as the SF. We were the only SF team that won today. In this setup, the SF can hold position far more effectively as they have a shield of their own, and the Insurgents only have one shield. Although the Insurgents superior numbers can still easily overrun the SF, the SFs instant revive can get their players back in the game much more quickly, allowing them to more easily reestablish a defensive position. The SFs shield provides them with reliable cover to push back the Insurgent shield. This is a significant advantage.
The SF team must quickly revive players if they are to be successful. Since theyre already at a substantial numerical disadvantage, losing any of their players makes it even harder to maintain their already relatively weak defence. If an SF player does not get revived quickly, it is likely that the Insurgents can push the SF back quite fast, making the downed SF players unreachable, which often results in the SF team being wiped out soon after.
The Insurgent medic is a critical player to the Insurgent offensive. The medic is the only Insurgent player that can revive. They must be quick as they may be required in two locations at once. The Insurgents are at risk of losing the numerical advantage. They cannot revive each other, unlike the SF. Unlike for the SF, prompt Insurgent revival is not critical to Insurgent success. Unless they are running low on numbers (say 1:1 ratio with the SF), a downed Insurgent will not usually be in immediate danger of being eliminated. The medic is also more important than any other Insurgent and it’s not worth risking his life to save one Insurgent.
Since the Insurgent medic maintains the Insurgents offensive pressure, the medic should be a priority target of the SF with the medic eliminated, the SF can actually take down the Insurgents. The medic won’t usually expose themselves to save someone they are trying to revive, so the medic can be hit while trying to revive other Insurgents. This can all happen very quickly due to the fast pace of Nerf games, and so if the SF can bait out and hit the medic, they can go from being on the defensive to having a substantial advantage within 10 seconds. Without the numerical advantage and their medic, the Insurgents are at a massive disadvantage and will probably be wiped out.
Two of the BHD games saw the Insurgent medic get killed. In the one of them, I was a medic and was trying to revive an Insurgent who had been downed pretty much in the crossfire. Although I was hit as well, the Insurgents still had the numerical advantage 6 to 4, and shortly after me getting hit, the Insurgents were able to force the SF team back with a shield rush. The round was won by the Insurgents, who eliminated the SF team from the chaos. However, I believe that a few other Insurgents were also lost. Even without a medic to revive them the superior numbers of Insurgents were enough to wipe out SF.
Insurgent medic lost. I was part of the SF team. While I was fighting Insurgents, the medic and others, the other half of the team was at the southern edge of the field, fighting the remaining Insurgents. My teammate and I were able to down two Insurgents, after whom the medic ran to revive. We were able defeat the medic before they could revive anyone. From there we linked up with the other half of the SF team, and flanked and wiped out the remaining Insurgents.
While a shield is a formidable opponent, it is no match for several well placed flanking players with the element of surprise. We pinned down and eliminated the Insurgent shield without too much trouble.
Typically in the BHD games, the SF team plays quite defensively, setting up their defensive position quite far back. The Insurgents can choose their attack angle, allowing them to pound away at the SF defenses in all directions. While the SF might be able to take several hits on Insurgents at times, the constant attacks by the surviving Insurgents would allow the medic enough space and time to revive most, if perhaps all, of the downed Insurgents. The SF cannot set up too far back and leaves little for them to fall back on. They also make their flag very vulnerable if they have to return, even though it is a flag that serves more as an anti-coward tool than a true objective. My group played as SF very offensively our shield set up in a very good forward position and pretty much didnt move for the whole game, while I and a teammate charged forward. Half of the insurgents were captured and we were able, using a corridor, to capture their medic and win. We were able engage the Insurgents on our terms down a corridor without fear of flanking, which was key to taking away their ability to position themselves well. We were lucky, in fairness. If either me or my colleague had been hit, it might have been difficult for the other person to revive. We would likely have lost from that position, but thats the risk you take when playing offensively.
Approximate TE starting areas.
We ended with a couple of rounds of 3 team elimination, with 4 players per team. These rounds were quite chaotic, with one team often getting caught in the middle and being wiped out. Due to the danger of facing two opposing sides and the fact that each team has only one medic, teams performed better when they worked together and were less of a target. My team was in the middle of the green start area and was eventually pinned down by the other teams. Though we were able to get a fair few hits on enemy players, we were unable to hold both teams off and were eliminated quickly. In both the second and third rounds, we ended up in the eastern area near the blue start (despite starting at yellow in the third round). We split up twice to fight the yellow outlying players and engage the green team nearby. However, in both cases, half our players were hit and the team moved up before I could revive them. (I was the medic in all three rounds). As a result, our team would quickly drop to half strength, shortly after which we would be overrun by superior numbers.
The other teams were more cohesive and, although they took a lot of hits due to being immobile, their medical staff was able more quickly to revive their teammates than I was able. Additionally, the other teams seemed to prioritise eliminating my team first over engaging each other in the second and third rounds we were often engaging about 6 players at once despite each team only having 4 players. In the third round, we were able to mostly eliminate the middle team, but suffered losses doing so and were unable to eliminate the full remaining team. Three-team games are almost always like this. It is inevitable that one team will be the aggressor. I expected nothing less really.
MLF shields with Longshot to scale
Let’s now talk about the shields. The two shields are basically identical besides the team identifying coloured tape on the handles. They are a good size. Large enough to cover your entire body when you’re crouching but not so small that it is difficult to hide behind. Shields are immune from darts and will break if they are hit by a bomb. They must be dropped right away and can’t be used again by any other player during the round. The shields were used in both the CTF rounds and the BHD rounds.
The shield breaks only upon contact with a grenade and the player is not taken out. This means that the shield bearer has two lives, even if everyone has grenades. Additionally, since we played with thrown grenades, throwing a grenade requires readying a grenade for throwing which usually means temporarily putting your primary away a massive disadvantage in a firefight. Since the shield bearer is free to use any blaster with the shield, it is extremely hard to get out a grenade and throw it effectively while under attack from a shield. It isn’t difficult for a shield just to dodge a grenade, rendering it ineffective even when it is well thrown. The shields were not a disadvantage given the number of blasters (many flywheelers), but they did make the player more visible and more responsible to the team.
In CTF, the shields were a massive boon as they could be used equally effectively on offence or defence. Offensively, the shields give the attackers a reliable source of cover whereever they needed it, allowing them to progressively push up at will instead of having to move tree-to-tree. The shield made it easier for players to set up close to the enemy flag making it more difficult for the enemy team return any flags. Defensively the shield offers the defenders cover wherever they need it, giving them an additional reliable defensive position.
Effective use of the shield can make or break the CTF game given how powerful they are, and given how hard it is to get a good grenade throw off under fire, a good shield is almost impossible to take out for a regular player.
In the first BHD set, both shields were on the Insurgents team, which on top of the Insurgents having twice the players, made it basically impossible for the SF team to hold a position for more than probably ~45 seconds. This was obviously broken so the second set saw the SF team taking one of the shields. This allowed the SF team to much better hold a position, and significantly reduced the Insurgents ability to push the SF back. The shield is essential for the SF team to be able to hold a position without being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. However, the Insurgents are able push ahead and score some great hits with some coordination and suppressing fire. The shield that is lost first will decide the game. If the SF team loses their shield, it becomes pretty much as with the first set of BHD games and the SF team will most likely get wiped out really quickly. If the Insurgents lose their shield first, then the SF team is pretty much free to push up with their own shield and assault the remaining Insurgents. If the Insurgents lose their medic before the SF team loses their shield, the Insurgents are again put at a major disadvantage as the SF team instantly eliminates any Insurgents who get hit. Even with a shield, the Insurgents have a huge advantage because they don’t have any reviving or respawning abilities.
Overall, Black Hawk Down is an interesting and unique gamemode that I would enjoy playing again. Its a stark contrast to all of the completely symmetric games like CTF that usually require quite a symmetric play area to work properly, and its also playable with odd numbers. Although shields were an added element to CTF and other games, I feel they are too powerful and can give shield players too many advantages without having enough disadvantages.
A link to the same post on my own blog: link
