The first thing that one must remember about indoor Nerf is that well picked guns are essential. Several gun characteristics are more important than others when for indoor guns. These characteristics are rate of fire (RoF), ammo capacity, and size. RoF is very important because if you shoot and have to spend 5 seconds reloading, your enemy will have rushed you and killed you. Ammo capacity goes hand in hand with RoF as the less you have to reload the better off you will be. Size is another important factor to consider, you will not be able to hold a bulky gun around a corner effectively. Your gun�s range only needs to be as far as the farthest distance you will have to shoot.

More than one gun is needed to be an efficient indoor Nerf soldier. I recommend three guns a primary, secondary. Your primary weapon should the one you use the most in a war. You should be very skilled with your primary so you can get out of tough situations. The secondary is there to make up for any weakness your primary has. You should be equally comfortable using this gun. The guns you use should be easy to carry and change from one to another. The following is what I use in most indoor wars: Primary: Blastfire; Secondary: LNL. The Blastfire is a semi-auto rapid-fire gun. The LNL is a small accurate pistol used to make up for the Blastfire�s inaccuracy. So when you pick your guns make sure they work well together.

Having the right gun is important so having the right guns for your team is equally important. For a team of five people you should have one �sniper�, three �troopers�, and one �Heavy Weapons Guy�(HWG). The �snipers� job is to pick off crucial enemies (Commanders, other snipers, etc�). He/She should try to stay out of combat as much as possible. The three �troopers� are the key to victory. They are the ones who move up to kill the enemy. The �Heavy Weapons Guy� (for lack of a better name) is much like a trooper, the only difference being that he is more concerned about rate of fire than accuracy. He is the one that will help the troopers get in close enough to kill. While the sniper is eliminating key troops the �HWG� will shoot cover fire to keep the enemy down so the troopers can get to their targets.

I recommend these guns for the following positions. As a �sniper� it really does not matter what gun you use just as long as you are accurate with it. What is important is your sidearm. I would recommend a Ratchetblast or Splitfire. The �trooper� has more rigid requirements. His guns must be versatile and easy to operate under stress. I would recommend my combo above, but change the Blastfire to a SM1500. While the sniper needs accuracy the �HWF� does not, in fact he may benefit from a lack of it. As �HWG� your primary job should be to keep the enemy from shooting your �troopers�. So as you might guess you need lots of firepower, and thankfully Nerf has provided it for us. I recommend Wildfires, Power Clips, Rototracks, etc� When all five elements of the team have guns that compliment each other you are on your way to victory.

Even though you have good guns, with out proper strategy, you will still suffer defeat. Because every situation is different I can only go over the fundamentals of strategy: Cover, Cover fire, Distraction, Surprise, Speed, Agility, Stealth, and Communication. No fundamental is more important than another because with out one you can�t have the others.

The first fundamental I will explain is stealth. Getting into position with out the enemy knowing is stealth. There are several ways to make one�s self more silent or less noticeable. First I recommend camouflage. You can use outdoor camouflage, a dark blue color or an urban camouflage. Another way to increase you stealth is to eliminate noise. This means wear natural materials. This decreases the noise when you walk. If you have zippers that clank up against things cover then with tape. Some noise is very difficult to rid your self of (Gun creaks, squeaks in the floor).

Stealth is added by good communication. Sending messages between your teammates while being completely quite is the best form of communicating, and it is not easy to do. You may want to invest in some good portable radios. Make sure you can plug headphones in so the enemy cannot hear them. Hand signals are a must. They allow silent communication, however, you must be able to see your teammate to send a message. Radios and good communication can be used for other purposes.

Which brings us to our third fundamental distraction. Distraction can be as simple as yelling charge when you enter a room or as complex as placing a radio in the enemy�s ear shot. My favorite is using a powerful flashlight to blind the enemy momentarily. You can achieve the same affect by flickering the light while you attack. If you are lucky enough to have radios try to place one near the enemy and give out false plans. Hand signals can also be good distraction. You can fake sending messages to some one behind enemy lines or give them false information. Distraction is a good way to surprise your enemy, which is the next fundamental.

Surprise is very important because it helps you catch the enemy off guard allowing you to move in and kill. Surprise alone will get you somewhere but you cannot win with it alone. You have to have all the fundamentals to win.

Speed will help you use the time that your enemy is surprised to get up close. There is not much to elaborate on about speed but to enhance it you might try sprinting. Agility is a lot like speed in the fact that there is not much to it. Being able to dodge darts or to block them is a very handy skill to have so play Nerf and practice agility.

Speed and agility are great alone but they are even more useful but if you mix in cover fire you get something that is even better. Cover fire is simply shooting at the enemy making him duck his head and gun out of the way so that he is no longer a threat. When you put up cover fire your teammates or yourself should move to cover. Which is really what you get when you combine these three fundamentals.

There are two different types of cover: soft and hard. Soft cover is trees and bushes. Any gun with good penetration can shoot you if you decide to seek refuge behind soft cover. Hard cover is exactly what the name implies it does not allow darts to get to you at all.

So now that you know all the fundamentals you can create your own strategies and plans. Below is an example of the fundamentals in action.

I can remember one occasion where my team of three where attacking a semi fortified position in the basement. My team stealthily got into position and then burst into the room. Using flashlights to stun them I shot cover fire while my two teammates charged up and cleared the room. The enemy was caught completely by surprise and had no idea what was happening we killed them all with no casualties. So as you can see the fundamentals above do work, but they still require you to be good with your gun and smart.