The Tab Tries: Nerf Soc

‘Definitely wear clothes you can move around in and bring a bottle of water!’

These were the instructions given to us by president, Finbar Dean-Stott. At first we scoffed; how strenuous can foam bullets be? Very, is the answer. But amazing. Fucking amazing.

New this year, Nerf Society has been an instant hit, already boasting 100 members. Yet despite it’s strong fanbase, it was all a bit cloak and dagger; even the trusty SU page offered no clues about the foam-based weaponry.

Intrigued, we hopped on the 34 on full alert for some indication of Nerfing  – perhaps a trail of foam clips?

Instead we spotted a suspected member carrying an expertly-crafted cardboard shield. We had no shield.

Meekly, we followed him into Portland building and our impending doom.

Upon arriving we received a warm welcome and a whistle-stop introduction to the world of Nerf.  Relieved after being reassured that shields would not be necessary, we had a nosey at the plethora of artillery…

Ranging from the bog-standard Strongarm:

To the all singing and dancing Overkill:

Impressed, we promptly befriended the man and his overkill to wangle our way onto his team.

The rules of Nerfing are relatively simple, if you are hit anywhere other than below your elbow, knee or head (hence the goggles, you bloody need them) then you ‘die’ to return when your team ‘respawns’.

We started with Capture the Flag, a Nerf classic in which the aim is to  run to the opposing team’s base and grab their flag without being ‘killed’. Sounds easy enough.

But when several agile nerfers bombard you whilst diving for cover behind a leather sofa, shit well and truly gets real.

Teams assigned and bases made, it was time to play.

The first game was a montage of orange, frequent dying and disorientating squeals.

Wiser after our first taste of battle we had sussed the basics of Nerf: don’t try tip-toeing into the enemy base to get the flag, it won’t work. Also, do scavenge as many stray bullets as you can: reloading = survival.

Next up was King of the Hill.

Mission: keep your team’s flag on the hill for 3 minutes without the other team knocking it off.

Hoping for power in numbers, we adopted a flurry of newcomers that arrived.

The apprentices quickly became the teachers as we talked tactics, even slipping in some newly acquired Nerf lingo.

We dominated that hill. This video shows it all really.

The three hour session flew by and The Tab definitely made an impact on Nerf soc…

Verdict: Nerf soc is awesome, particularly if you fancy a really good workout and you’re ridiculously competitive (like us).

We definitely will be back on the foam-battlefield in future.

If you are interested in joining Nerf soc, membership is £5.00 and games are Fridays and Saturdays http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/societies/society/NerfSoc/
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Want The Tab to try your society? Email [email protected] with details of your society.