I'm working from the point of specific play style here, so I will be giving it according to your philosophy on taking out your target. Also, check with the authorities before hand about modifying and/or painting weapons. You don't want to go to the trouble of modifying your weapons or pouring your heart out on the baddest paint job you've ever seen just to have it rejected. If you're going to paint it, DO NOT paint over the orange tip. It's a federal mandate to have an orange tip on a toy gun and painting over it will get you in jail, if you're not shot at by a cop who thinks it is real.
If you want to know what each gun looks like, just click on the names of the guns and they will send you to either the official Nerf.com page, or a wiki info page.
Playing Styles-
Concealment
You don't even want people to know you're playing. You want to be able to walk right up to your target, take him/her out, and walk away. You're the type who's going to want a smaller weapon, something that you can fit in your pocket and pull out with ease.The gun recommendations for this playing type:
Jolt EX-1-
This is by far the smallest blaster on the market, with the exception of the Secret Strike AS-1 (which has been discontinued, but your friends may have 1 or 2) this gun is the easiest to conceal, but has the slowest reload time of all the current blasters, this is due mainly to the fact that it loads one dart at a time and has a cocking handle that is rather awkward to get around.
Reflex IX-1-
This weapon is the one I would personally recommend the most for this playing style even though it is a single shot weapon, the charging handle on top makes this for a faster reload just in case you miss on the first shot.
Note that this playing style allows little to no room for error. If you miss on your first shot, your target's probably going to take you out very quickly. I would recommend a small melee weapon as a backup in case things go south. As a matter of fact, you would need one of these for every single playing style. A gun's no use to you if you're facing down someone who's sprinting towards you and firing at the same time. by the time he's up close, if you're not dead yet, you better have something you can pull out.
Flexibility
As the name suggests, this playing style allows for the greatest flexibility in fighting style, you can cover just about any range, from short to long, with an amazing degree of efficiency. If you were an actual soldier, you'd be the normal, everyday ground-pounder. You can move and fire at the same time, and people are afraid of your efficiency in combat. Your biggest advantage is your speed and endurance, being able to identify your target, move into position, and take him out, and everybody's watching you do it.Rayven CS-18-
This gun is semi-automatic and comes with an 18-round clip magazine. Its advantages are its amazing rate of fire for such a mobile gun. Even though it is a bullpup-style gun, it is the heaviest of all the guns of it class, which diminishes the flexibility-style's greatest assets-its speed and endurance. I haven't had much personal experience with this gun, so this is all the information I can provide for this gun in particular.
Raider CS-35 and Rampage CS-25-
I grouped these two guns together because they are so similar, the only difference being the Rampage can use a modular stock system, while the Raider cannot. One might argue that the Raider ships with a larger magazine, but let's face it, if you're spending more than 25 rounds on one target, you probably shouldn't have signed up for this game. Both of these guns are very reliable. They very rarely jam. In addition, the slam fire ability that both these guns have can put A LOT of rounds downrange very quickly.
Alpha Trooper CS-18-
The link to this weapon is to a wiki page rather than the official site because this product has been "discontinued." However, I have seen this gun in stores very recently, and as far as I know, it is still very easy to obtain. This gun is a personal favorite of mine because it is a very balanced weapon, the smaller magazine size related to the slam-firing weapons allowing it to be much more mobile, its accuracy for its slam-firing abilities, and its ability to take modular stocks. (I would HIGHLY recommend the Recon CS-6 stock with an extra magazine fit into it.)
Note: I may be a little biased to this class because this is the class I tend to go for when playing a game.
Intimidation
You're the biggest, baddest son-of-a-gun on the face of this earth and you want every mike foxtrot within a 100-yard radius to know it. Your tactic is to discourage a potential attacker into thinking twice about getting close to you. You do big guns. You can't move around too much, but you can take out some long-range targets with an amazing degree of efficiency. You're all about the ammo, and people can spot you from a mile away. You can put more rounds down range than any other class, but only after setting up first, and you don't move around too much.
Stampede ECS-
This gun is the closest existing example of a SAW in Nerf's open market. It ships with inline clips that hold 18 rounds and can send them all down range in 6 seconds firing fully automatic. It has a foregrip/bipod front attachment and a removable front shield (that I would recommend removing immediately as it really serves no useful purpose) All this flair comes at a great expense though. It is the heaviest gun that NERF makes and takes a fresh supply of batteries in order to operate at full efficiency. It's not all that mobile and takes a bit of time to sight in when it's time to fire. It also has a tendency to jam due to the unreliability of a clip system bing emptied too fast.
Vulcan EBF-25
This was Nerf's first-ever fully automatic gun. It's a belt-fed machine gun that has its own removable tripod. The belt holds 25 rounds. If you have one of these, congratulations, you're one of a few elite members of the Nerf fan club. This is an amazing gun, however, there is a MAJOR issue with this gun. You can't just get more belts with rounds in them, so reloading can be a MAJOR pain. If you're going to have one of these, then you better plan on having a sidearm handy. (I'll talk about sidearms in the next post)
Longshot CS-6-
If you've got one of these, then congratulations, you've got Nerf's best example of a bona fide sniper rifle that's ever been released. Please note, however, that I do not mean the LongSTRIKE, which is a much less accurate gun. Also, if you've got one of these, then I would HIGHLY suggest modifying it. The direct plunger system, which this, and only this, has, is the strongest system that NERF has ever made, and is the most receptive to modification.
So, as you can see, I tend to categorize Nerf players in three distinct categories. All the weapons that I have recommended in this post are bigger, more primary guns (with the exception of the concealment class) I will talk about the recommended hanguns in the next post (which will be much shorter, by the way.)
