Events: After the Fall: New Hill City

I went to a Live Action Roleplay event not too long ago,  which went over three days and two nights. it was an immersive post-apocalyptic themed event, which was perfect for me.

 

This was billed as a resource and group survival driven event, with three distinct factions, which meant we had to depend on each other, and fend the other off, as the situation required.   

We were to delve into the world of After the Fall.

This LRP group is based in  Melbourne and aimed to have a high degree of costume, set dressing and role playing at this event.

The setting was this:
The year is 2030 and things have changed. The world that we will be playing in is a dystopian American future where corporations have accumulated so much power and influence that the government has been made redundant. There hasn't been a president for 5 years and nobody has really cared. Most of the USA has been reduced to a wasteland as laws are not enforced and infrastructure not supported.  

There are fortified cities that are run by corporations and wealthy individuals but they are few and far apart.

Different parts of the country will have unique dangers. There are irradiated areas and parts where chemical waste has caused nasty side effects. 

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I signed up as a PC (Player Character) for the game so I was to choose to be a member of one of the 3 factions. We couldn't play as an independent character. This was a story of how groups of people survive and interact in this setting. 

There were a small number of NPC's (Non Player Characters) who swaped roles from time to time in order to provide some plot based encounters for the players to interact with but the intent was that a lot of the roleplaying and conflict will be within or  between the factions.
Due to the violent and dangerous nature of the game setting it was recommended that we considered multiple character ideas in case our first characters died or was taken out of play for whatever reason. Sickness, radiation and chemical poisoning as well as a reasonable injury recovery period was expected. 

The internal combat system was with un-enhanced NERF-type weapons (decoration was however required) and LRP approved foam close combat weapons. Generally, unless you had representative armour props, two hits would kill. LRP events are based on an honour system, and the system worked pretty well. Brutally so.

Especially when we consider the resources aspect. I'll get to that. 

The three Major Factions:
The town of New Hill City
Slowly the groups found each other, banding together for survival. People who wanted to make a future for themselves and not just live in the violence of the present. In their travels they found an abandoned town in Kansas, Hill City. 

Taking over some of the buildings they have begun a new life. It is a difficult life on the frontier of chaos but they work hard to make it succeed.
  
The Soldiers of the True Americas:
Born out of an anti-government militia from before the fall, STA has been trying to gather resources and personnel to bring back the good old USA to its previous glory. They are
ruthless and accept that not everyone will have a place in the new world.


The Legion of Steel
Nobody remembers who founded the LOS but they have been terrorising the roads and highways of the Midwest for several years now. Due to their violent lifestyle they have an incredibly high turnover. But there are always more people wanting to join and rampage across the country. They take what they want and kill anyone who gets in their way.


I  opted for the STA, because I like trying out my kit, have a bunch of it already, and wanted to have a couple of different layouts to run about in, and generally like to see how it works in stressful situations.

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I set up as "Ronin" who was heavily supplied, armed and armoured. I also set up as "Coyote" who was lightly kitted, armoured and armed.

The real kicker was the ammunition situation. Even the STA faction, which was military based, had so little ammo that we were rationed only three NERF rounds each. This was a dire situation to be in, especially when you consider the range and hitting power they have, as well as outdoor windage. Fortunately we all had melee weapons as well. I had a dagger and a machete as my backups, as well as a pistol I never bothered to load, along with the NERF rifle I had. I had a scope on it (more to save carrying binoculars than to actually be useful with a NERF gun) and a light at the muzzle end. I took both off when I swapped to my "Coyote" persona.

I wore ATACS-AU as "Ronin" and MultiCam as "Coyote" and I'll talk about that in a future article.

We also all brought gas-masks. I have to say, fighting in a gas-mask is really, really hard. If you have a mask, and intend to use it in the event of a disaster, get it out, and PRACTICE. My "Ronin" character was killed in a bottleneck when blindsided by marauders.


The three factions set up in widely different areas of our site; the STA set up in a wide flat grassland, a circle of tents within a ring of faux-barbed wire, (I camped in my SMr Nube hammock slightly away from the main circle), slightly hidden, because I'm paranoid like that. I wasn't really happy with the wide-open setup we had, but, I wasn't in command ....

The LOS set up in a far distant corner of the site, enclosed by trees and shrubs, and then they build a stockade from pallets and the like, they decorated their area in classic "cannibal ganger" fashion, and it looked a treat. Well done to all of their hard work getting it on-theme.

The New Hill City Townies had the on-site cabins, and rec-hall set up as their town, and tavern, and the difference between cabin-dwellers and tenting-nomads was really apparent. Made for a great feel to the game.


The main push of the game was both survival and resource gathering. This was covered in two ways. Each group was issued "rations" in the form of in-game medical suplies (anti-chem, anti-rad and "healing" meds), random cans of food (beans, spaghetti, stew, fruit-salad) and "non-contaminated water", we even had a jar of Vegemite ). as both our food supplies for the weekend, but also as trade goods. There were also "non-consumable" supplies we were supplied as props.

We could eat well, or be rich, our call.

Caption by Michael Brady

Then there was the ammunition situation. We were one of the most heavily armed factions, but literally had 2-3 rounds each at deployment.

There were in-game mechanics for raiding each other's camps, and also "random dropped items" to be found around the site by the organisers.

Caption by Michael Brady

There was also looting! we routinely looted the bodies of the fallen, (within reason) to collect those in-game resources (no fair stealing other peoples kit), and this also extended to that food and water ration we all had. We also traded for resources, both goods for goods, and goods for service and information.

It was a really fun opportunity both for characterization, but also for negotiation skills.

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We also had a number of people with personal trade items (and skills and services) on offer, to add to the whole experience. I had a collection of KFC moist towelettes and sauce sachets that I traded for some eggs in town, for the STA.

We had some in-game hazards as well, from areas of radiation contamination, including water supplies, which made our characters "debilitatingly sick"

Raiders, chem-clouds, a bio-engineered nanite plague and just human nature all played a part in making this not only a challenge, but a struggle for survival.

In the end, we all had a good time, got to run around as cannibal savages or misfit soldiers, camp and cook beans like real post apocalyptic survivors...

I had a really good time, and will be back for more when their second event comes out later this year. I think I will work more on my loadouts, and also my gas-mask operation too, before the event, as well as trying to get a more cohesive feel between my faction members and small unit tactics in the field.

Events: OzApocalypse - Zombie Apocalypse

I had the opportunity to go and run through the Oz Apocalypse Zombie Experience over the weekend, and wanted to give you my thoughts on it.

There has been quite a bit of controversy around the event, primarily as it changed hands very late in the piece and there was quite a disparity between what the original promoters/organisers (IRL Shooter, who ran Patient 0 in 2013) and the Zombie Apocalypse Survival Experience: LAZARUS event being put on by OzApocalypse and Horror Corp Entertainment. This mostly stems from OzApocalypse "buying up" the Pozible Campaign that for whatever reason IRL Shooter found itself unable to present.

This was NOT the sequel that IRL Shooter had promised, this was an event put on by OzApocalypse that drew on that event, its fanbase, and premise. I think that in several aspects it was not as impressive as IRL Shooter's Patient 0 (it wasn't nearly as large or sprawling, and didn't have the embedded story).

However, it was also superior in several ways. The technology for one, I felt was significantly better.

The irM4's from iCombat sync wirelessly to the smart bandoleer we all wore, which recorded shot data, accuracy, and more.  The irM4's were fitted with a 150 round SmartMag and additional magazine kits can be purchased. If a player is eliminated, their gun shuts off for a period of time preventing cheating! The best thing about the new weapons were that they had CO2 powered sound and recoil. you could feel every shot, hear every rapport.

I knew if my teammates were firing, even over the din of the event space, and that was  a crucial improvement in the experience.

The bandoleers were tied to our irM4's wirelessly, and reported back to a central computer, and more importantly, they tied into the headbands worn by the Zombies, these were similar to the bandoleers we wore, and acted as emitters to make proximity to the zombies damaging. Get too close, and they "bite".

Shoot the sensors and they flash and go solid with a kill, and the actors dropped. All this data was fed back through to the behind-the scenes control and scored were generated, and passed against the membership cards we were given at registration, giving you reciprocal rights at other iCombat sites, and the ability to accrue rank in the network.

The OzApocalypse website made mention that there was the ability to customise your irM4, but this is a bit of a misnomer, in that there were a second set of weapons, the short barreled, and Picatinny rail mounted short barreled "Commando" irM4's in their armory, fitted with vertical grips, there wasn't really the facility during the Zombie Apocalypse event to do any customization other than adjusting the buttstock and in my case, fitting my own sling, the trusty 215Gear sling.

Other than this it replicates one of the most known assault rifles in the world, the M16/M4, and is used by law enforcement and militaries all over the world.


It has the same form, fit, and function as the real thing and brings the word realism up to a whole new level. I really enjoyed the "Tap, Rack, Bang" functionality. Removable clips, internal sensors and fully functional parts, from mag-release to selector switches . The weapons and sensors made the event for me. No more reload button or hard to hear electronic sounds. You hear and feel every round, in a longer engagement, if you were kitted out with spare mags you could drop your mag and slam a new one home. They bypassed this by assigning everyone a cylume glowstick, and had a reloading station where we were restocked by a technician, but you can see how it could be easily enough facilitated in a more longterm event.

And that's all before we even get to set dressing, gameplay and the actors! I was really happy with what we faced when we passed through the containment doorways.

 When OzApocalypse took the event over, they brought on Horror Corp Entertainment from the US, engineers who specialized in Haunted House and Zombie Apocalypse Experience "in real life" gaming environments. They have three decades of experience in visual, sound, event and multimedia production, creating theatrically-based, interactive horror and genre projects. The event at the Melbourne Showgrounds takes place in a blackened-out, light-controlled battle zone, it doesn’t matter what time of day it is,  – players will step into an ominous world to fight ravenous zombies. The Prop and Set Designers as well as Makeup Artists create a film set style environment that immerses players in the Zombie Apocalypse survival experience.

Combinations of lighting, (and lack of lighting), selected use of smoke, as well as a really harrowing and oppressive sound-scape really put pressure on the player as they navigate a maze or debris and horrific scenes.

I had the good fortune to get to go backstage and saw the interconnected passageways the actors could take to move from area to area, where they would emerge and lay in wait for the passing players, in and around the sets. The hospital area bugged me the most, as I work in them, and have done the graveyard shift...

The maze was a CQB nightmare, with blind corners, concealed alcoves and all manner of cover for the zombies to lurch from and come at us. Importantly though, for all its twists and turns, it was a "safe" environment, from an OH&S perspective and you could easily cope with the 6-8 person teams recommended. We ran it in a team of three, and were like a well oiled machine. I didn't have to worry about anyone actually getting hurt for real during even an intense simulated combat.

We weren't rushed along as we had been in the Patient 0 event, and even though the maze was relatively small, much more in line with a Haunted House event rather than the sprawling warehouse/factory sit utilised for Patient 0, and we went through the maze twice, as a part of the gameplay, I certainly didn't feel any less fearful of my life when zombies came at us from dark corners, or rattled on us from behind chainlink walls as we faced more direct threats.

Back in the registration area, the stark lighting, clean floors and all too living other players was a more jarring experience. I wanted back in to my comforting darkness, screaming and sirens. The one upside of the "real-world" was that I got to fool around with both the Glock training weapons. The Glocks had the same "real features" as the irM4's, removable clips, wireless targeting and scoring, and ammo-counts. Unfortunately due to limited battery capacity, and high accuracy, they weren't really suited to the spray-and-pray zombie hoard threats the game presented with.


A regrettable technical difficulty, but one the organisers preferred to keep it out of the game, but available for range use! I also got to use the notorious pain-belt! It was a really, really unpleasant experience and I heartily recommend it for all gamers. Again, it apparently was not suited to use in the zombie game, but us perfect for PvP shooting. I tried it on the low setting, which was startling and also all the way up at high, which was curse-making, but didn't hamper me as soon as it stopped. Incentive not to get shot, for sure.

So, all in all I was really pleased with the OzApocalypse Zombie Apocalypse event. I was a Pozible campaign ticket holder, and I feel it was pretty amazing that they would offer to honour the IRL Shooter LAZARUS ticket holders at all, which was super generous. It certainly is NOT a sequel to the Patient 0 game, and its really hard to compare the two events as apples and apples. I really enjoyed it, and really look forwards to going back for more.

The Zombie Apocalypse Experience is running for two more weekends, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays while weekdays and weeknights give those who love games like Call of Duty the chance to combat team vs team combat in the BATTLE APOCALYPSE arena, which is the same area as the Zombie Apocalypse event, but with the connecting areas opened up, some walls opened up, and more personal threats, with pain belts available on request, I believe. I'd really recommend you get along and enjoy it, in either its Zombie Apocalypse, Battle Apocalypse or even the kid-friendly FAMILY versions, before it finishes.

AND, thanks to the organisers, I can offer all my readers a whopping 35% discount with the code "COYOTE0415" (thats charlie-oscar-yankee-oscar-tango-echo-zero-four-one-five).

TICKETS: Lazarus www.flavorus.com/ozapocalypse
Battle Apocalypse www.flavorus.com/battleapocalypse
Group Bookings (minimum of eight players) email tickets@ozapocalypse.com

Facebook and Twitter OzApocalypse
Instagram ozapocalypse.com.au

Events: Three years. 430 articles, 472,000 views.

Here we are at the end of 2014. Next year we can expect Marty McFly to ride his hoverboard, and the Events of Neon Genesis Evangelion are to begin. Good times.

Where it all started!

Two year review!

400 posts shout-out

This has been a busy year, I've not managed to post as often as I'd like, due to work and home commitment, but I've been delighted with the responses I've had, both in regular readership, new readers and whole new frontiers.



I'm thrilled to have been taken up as a writer for both BreachBangClear and RecoilWeb, as well as keeping in touch with the folks at Zombease and my fellow Z.E.R.T members.


I like to think my writing style has matured, and my skill levels have increased, both in my survival and preparatory skill sets, but also in my reviewing and planning skill sets. I also seem to be almost singlehandedly keeping the Kickstarter community funded, and gladly.

Thanks to all of you; good prepping, be equipped and ready for anything!

Events: exoskeletons in the news and on screens

Ever since seeing the Power Loader in Aliens, and reading Heinlein's Starship Troopers accounts of the MI Cap Troopers powered suits, I've been fascinated by the idea of powered exo-skeletons and wondered when they would become a reality. The time is now.
I was shown this link recently, of Eythor Bender of Berkeley Bionics bringing two amazing exoskeletons onstage, the HULC and eLEGS. The HULC is a military power-loader type affair, made by Lockheed-Martin and is human wearable, assisting and enhancing a ground soldiers ability to haul gear and kit. The eLEGS from EKSO Bionics are designed to give paraplegic people assisted walking. Both suits have the same lineage and show how the technology we have currently available is moving.

Just this week the symbolic kickoff of the World Cup was performed by a paralyzed, previously wheelchair borne person wearing a similar suit. What makes this so significant is that unlike the HULC suit, and other motor-muscle actuated feedback systems, it was controlled by readings from an EEG cap that sends readable nerve of impulses to systems which then drive the hydraulics strapped to their legs. The system "reads the mind" of the wearer and allows them to, at this stage, stand from sitting, walk forwards and return to sitting.
I lost a friend to motor-neuron disease a number of years ago, and it was tragic to see this pillar of a man gradually loose every function but his wits. Something like this might well have helped him for a time. There are plenty of people with acquired paralysis, be it road-accident injury or combat related, who could benefit from this kind of suit.
We even have an example of this kind of thinking in the movies, in Elysium, where the protagonist is fitted with (albeit in a very visceral, literally bolted on medical way) an exoskeleton. Part prosthetic, part combat-accessory, the suits in Elysium offer a very realistic representation of how this kind of technology might develop, not unlike the visions offered by Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 roleplayings Linear Frames and more recently the powered combat suits that feature in Edge of Tomorrow.

How might these fall into more common usage? Well, apart from medical recovery, and military operations, you could also expect to see this kind of technology in heavy industry, rescue and emergency services, any place that you might want either more power or stamina than a regular person might be able to muster, but less space or more maneuverable than a forklift, or with more autonomy than a wheelchair offers.

Imagine if the rescue workers at an earthquake downed building wore something like these? Firefighters at the scene of a 3-car collision? A trooper who took a piece in the back?
The real ticket will be how light they can make them, how long they will remain powered for and in the end, how much they will cost. There was a time when owning a car was outside the scope of most households, or even a wheelchair. The ReWalk is already a consumer item. Can't be long until Caterpillar bring out a bright yellow Xenomorph squisher...

We have the technology, we can improve it!

Events: Tough Mudder #4 March 2014

I did my fourth Tough Mudder in March, which earned me both a green (x2) and a PINK (x3-6) Mudder headband.

It was also my first TM solo, whereas before I'd run it with teams of work-mates, or friends, this time I just tackled it on my own, along with the other 20,000 or so people who did it this time around. It was a slightly overcast and chilly day, and I was very glad that I had set myself up with my gear with this in mind.

This time around, as I had done previously, I geared up in all my "Zombie Control Officer" get-up, some for show, some for practical reasons. The core of my outfit was again the
FirstSpear OAGRE tactical vest which I've worn to all but my first of these adventure runs. This vest has given me both a platform to attach my accessories, but also provided me with a modicum of abrasion resistance, not to mention keeping my shorts on during some of the hairier moments, with its built in belt-attachment loops.

I mounted a set of Platatac twin 40mm pouches to my left side, which I filled with energy bars. On my right side, I mounted a Platatac SR25 pouch for another energy bar, a magnet to switch on and off my Contour GPS camera which has trouble in its waterproof case (see below). I would have also kept my spare battery for the Contour in there too, in a double-ziplocked baggie, as I've done in past, but alas, I couldn't find the damn thing till the week after the event, stuck in the bottom of a cable-jar.

On top of the vest I wore the same Platatac admin pouch as I had previously, with a cyalume stick, permanent marker and a small laminated map of the course. I tracked my progress, marked off obstacles and marked times as I went. I also lucked a large LARP foam fighting knife behind it, for photo-ops and in case any of my fellow competitors wanted to "go zombie" at me. No one did, haha. My loss. Wearing my Z.E.R.T. membership shield, call sign (Q3199) I got a lot of nods from the other costumed participants.

Also on my chest rig, I wore the UVPaqlite for power-fee solar dark-space navigation, and on my shoulder, opposite the ITW-Nexus Picatinny mount for the Contour, my PrincetonTEC Switch MPLS-light, which alas didn't survive the course, and judging from the few photos I found, looks like it came off at least in the first third of the course. Makes me sad, but I guess I'm in the market for a new helmet light...

I wore a Platatac Punisher-2014 CUS shirt under the OAGRE, which kept me cool but not cold, dried quickly and chafing free for all 23km of course.I clipped my bib number to my MOLLE with plastic side-opening ALICE clips.

I wore running skins under my TripleAughtDesign Amphibious Shorts which cut down on abrasions even further, and kept me a little warmer when the wind hit us. They also helped keep my BlackHawk! kneepads on and in place, and again, without the bleeding hamstring regions I've had previously. Skins are definitely an endurance asset. This time around I also opted to wear my BlackHawk! elbow pads too, which cut down on my elbow gravel-rash immensely. A little cumbersome, and made getting hauled up by helping hands a little more challenging, but so worth it. Between the skins, the knee and elbow pads you could hardly tell I'd done the course (apart from the usual behind-the-thigh bruises) just a day or two after.

I had a Source 3L WXP storm bladder on my back again, in an early strapless version of the Platatac Bravo hydration system, which was PALS/MOLLE locked on tight to the OAGRE vest.

This time I also wore my Paleo- Barefoots ANTERA paws with the neoprene inserts, the PAWS dots made a heap of difference, giving me all the grip I needed on events like "Twinkle Toes", which was a wet-beam crossing, and running up the quarter pipe of Everest. I also wore the Paleo-Barefoots BAMANOS paws, giving them their first big outing for me. Unfortunately, in their current form, without a lining, they chewed up my hands quite a lot.

I've passed on feedback to Jörg of GoSt Barefoots, and the roughness I felt when wearing them, especially on the hang-by-your-hands obstacles like the "just the tip" vertical wall-crawl, the "Funky Monkey" monkey-bars and "Leap of Faith" (jump off a platform, over water and climb up a dangling cargo-net, my favourite obstacle of the course.)

I completed the course around 45 minutes faster than my previous times, which included an extra kilometer of "Legionnaire" veteran course, and four extra obstacles. The Powerade / energy bar combination meant that I didn't stop running for water or snacks the entire time. My map was a great morale boost, as well as helping me keep my orienteering awareness up.

These events are a great hobby for me, they test my body, determination and gear.

Here's a shot of me fiddling with my camera, when in its case I need to use a magnet to switch it on and off, which isn't always easily done. Especially when all caked in mud.


I only managed to get a couple of clips from this Tough Mudder, because of problems with the switch. Don't mind the muddy banter ....



I had a really good time, signed up for the next Melbourne event on the day, and made it home in time for dinner.

Events: Two years!

Two years ago, one of my lovely partners, Omega said I should start blogging about all the gear I had been collecting. It had been a whiles since I had done any writing,and I thought I would give it a shot.

For a while I worried about Impostor syndrome, as unlike many of my peers in the blogoshpere, I have never had military service, or LE service. I'm not a paramedic, firefighter, SES worker  nor any kind of professional hero. I'm just a guy, who likes camping, MilSim roleplay and has lived an exciting life in exciting places.  I feel the weight of your scrutiny heavily, and just stick to my guns, knowing that I have an opinion, have critical thinking, and a message to spread.

 I started this blog, in the beginning, with my manifesto such as it was, that I would cover gear, situations, preparation and the mentality of becoming "Apocalypse Equipped". Not with any clear suggestion of impending doom, but rather, "what if...?"

I'm not overly concerned about any given event, I don't really consider myself a conspiracy theorist, or any more connected to the data, but instead, I like to take my day to day life, and see if I can improve it, to suit the tumultuous world around us.

100 posts in, I did a recap, and again at 300 posts (This. Is. BRIGHTON). I was pretty excited when I clocked over at 100,000 page views,  and am constantly amazed at my daily, weekly and monthly  tally of hits.

I owe a lot of thanks to the fine folks who have supported me, either big companies who have sent me gear to review, or individual kit-makers who have cut me a sweet deal, and even just the folks in-store who have been kind enough to hear me out when I've asked "I want to put 'this' into 'that', and be able to hang upside-down ...." or let me guest-post on their blogs.

Last month was my best-tracking month yet, and I had a very gratifying connection with someone who has directly benefited from reading, so I hope that I can keep up the interest, as well as keep on top of my own prepping, and writing!

It's going to be a hot, dry summer here, so I'm sure I'll have lots of inspiration.

Stay safe, Ready For Anything!

Review: Griffin - Mossy Oak Survivor iPhone case

One of the contacts I made whilst at the SSAA SHOT Expo was Peter Ferrigno of Griffin Technology, who showed off one of their pretty hard core iPhone cases. I've covered a couple of cases before, in the Snow Lizard SLXtreme case and the Opt Silicone Armor case.

Being a Sporting Shooters type event, Griffin was displaying the Mossy Oak variant of their Survivor range, Peter was kind enough to send me one to have a play with.  This is a three part case, which Griffin report being compliant to MIL-STD 810G standard.
 
Griffin demonstrations for this case include imbedding it in a block of concrete and hammering it free, which is pretty impressive. The three components of the case are the main body, the removable face-plate, and the belt clip.Here's how the whole case it put together:

The outer cladding is made of shock and vibration-absorbing silicone, whilst a polycarbonate shell provides the outer structure and is also the patterned component, for your Mossy Oak needs.

Inside the outer cladding, the inner structure is again the hard polycarbonate plastic providing inner support and is backed up with foam padding to add to the internal shock absorbance.

A scratch resistant polycarbonate screen cover clips into the main outer cladding at six points to lock into place.






The belt clip attaches via two clasps that lock onto the top and bottom of the phone, and will work either way up, to suit your tastes and how you wear your rig.

You can see here that the back panels of the phone have a couple more polycarbonate sections with the Mossy Oak pattern showing through. You can also see the clever swiveling camera port, which is inset into the backing.

These ports follow the same pattern for all the access points of the camera, and whilst they don't offer submersion-level protection, I imagine that they would shrug off anything but total immersion. This is a weather proof case with a lot of thought put into the needs of the outdoorsman.

Each of the audio port, mute-switch and power socket ports are covered with a thick, snug fitting silicone plug, hinged and deeply set, almost difficult to open, so no risk of accidental exposure.

 I found the home button a little tricky at first, as it needs a good solid press to activate, but once I have the angle down pat, it was a breeze to operate.

The polycarbonate screen protector was really responsive, and tactile, which was a nice change from the somewhat sluggish response from the SLXtreme case, even with a film screen-guard on my iPhone. The audio was pretty clear, both receiving and making calls, and the front facing camera still worked fine for all my tacticool selfies.

The belt clip deserves some more description too. Fully swivel-able, in stiff slicking fashion, the clasp itself has a latch over the opening end, to lock it closed, to prevent accidental un-clasping when you are belly crawling in the wilderness. It also will lock open, and back, to create a stand, which is a nice addition.


 The all-important PALS/MOLLE test was a great success, and showed that not only did the tongue of the clip fit into the channels nicely, but that it could be swiveled in place for optimum viewing angle, and detached from the backing for use easily, and replaced just as easily.

The biggest drawback I had with the case was that the power socket plug was too small for me to dock with either my in-car music/charger or my desktop docking clock-radio. However, when I was out and about, this wasn't really an issue.

Being a clip-on cover, and the way the access ports close, this isn't a submersible case, which means I wont be strapping it to my chest on my next Tough Mudder, but it IS really weather resistant, which means I can keep using my phone in Melbourne's inclement weather, and not worry about shirting it out.

All in all this is a very rugged and hard wearing feeling case, and I have no doubt that I could hand it to any of my kids and expect to get it back fully functioning, if a little sticky. Perfect for distracting them when taking out zombies or triffids in the front yard!

Events: SSAA SHOT Expo 2013

I went along to my very first SSAA SHOT Expo last weekend and had a great time.

I've watched with envy as the American SHOT Expo's have been reported in the past and it was great to find out there was one in my own city of Melbourne.

Having missed out on the Land Warfare Conference last year I made sure that I would make it to this one.

I wasn't disappointed! Here's me plugging some pixelated piggies at the Australian Deer Association booth.

I met up with a friend of mine who has been working in private security, and we had a good wander around. The crowds were quite something, even for a Sunday afternoon, but I got to see it all. It was great to finally meet Ben Doyle Cox from Platatac as well

 I was able to make some great new contacts, like the fine folks at Alpine Country, distributors for Stony Creek who took a bunch of time out of their day to go through their whole range with me. I look forwards to seeing some more of their stuff soon, and perhaps giving it a go in the field.

McMillan Rifles had the big guns ... .338 Lapua, .50 cal, and all manner of reach out and touch someone shiny.

I had a good long chat with Joh Dahlgren, of  Dahlgren Trading, importers of Swedish hand made knives, axes and  wrecking bars.

These were some very nice pieces; handcrafted from Swedish steels and some very nice handles in American hickory.

I especially liked the four archeological replica style viking era axes.

There were all kinds of fun things in cabinets, and on the walls for us to check out like this Colt .22LR

I was surprised to see so many pistols, considering the Victorian pistol laws, but it was great to see them up close.









We also saw a whole bunch of taxidermy...

A whole bunch of rifles and scopes at the Gun Emporium, a veritable smorgasbord of shooters.

The Outdoor Sporting Agencies stand had a wide range of longarms fro ma variety of vendors.

Lightforce had a great range of on-scope lighting as well as vehicle mounting lights.

The Beretta stand had partnered with Pelican cases, as well as showing off their own large range of irons.













Probably my favourite pieces of hardware were these two bulpup conversions at the Frontier Arms stand.

I really liked these, and were I in the market for a longarm, I would probably look strongly at these.

They also had a cabinet of target pistols seemed a lot more in keeping, and they are gorgeous pieces of precision machinery.




























 I enjoyed checking out the Moroka.30 Stand, especially their Snakebuster Gaiters and meat carrier packs.












I had a great time catching up with the guys at LEGear, especially Josh, for whom I've done some reviews (1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ) in the past. 

I also met the visiting CEO and Vice-President from FENIX who were there with LEGear. Look out for some more from them soon!

Lastly, I dropped in on 5.11 Tactical, and caught up with them too, chatting with Bill over from the US. I had a great time, and got the low down 
on a variety of their products, and scored a set of their Stryke tactical pants, stay tuned for a review soon.








All in all it was a great show, and next time I will have a real agenda, and a plan to cover it all a lot more systematically.