Pish-posh to your firecrackers. We once made a terrible device using 2L soft drink cans, tinfoil (lots), miriotic acid (4 2 gallon jugs), and a bicycle pump. Nothing like a huge cloud of mysterious caustic vapour creeping from the woods into the backyards of our enemies (err that was the plan, instead we were our own victims). For some reason, tinfoil and miriotic acid undergo this cool reaction which makes a mildly acidic vapour. The best results were from combining it with my Grade 8 science fair project (bottle rockets), giving my troops long-range support.
Also the usual bombs using M-80s, kerosene lamps, and the handy but time consuming Tennis Ball Bomb. I don't remember exactly how it was made but it involved an old tennis ball, and a full pack of those easy to start 'one strike' matches studded into the ball, forming a complete layer. For added Power, nasty/explosive/burnable liquids could be placed inside the Ball.
Many squirrels and rabbits learned to fear my name. ...Err scratch that last part to preserve illusions of normalcy.
Living in a very rural area, we were lucky enough to have whole abandoned structures to roam to, including the Old Barn and the Roofless Silo. No 'tree forts' needed when you have barns and silos with ladders, ropes, 'secret tunnels' etc. These would form command centres during a large scale nameless game involving all the boys of the surrounding area, which I will now give the descriptive name of 'Beating Each Other With Big Sticks'. Truly glorious bloody wars were fought in those woods, far from the eyes of meddling parents and the like. There were, in fact, rules for this seemingly chaotic expression of pre-pubescent masculine destructiveness, but these rules became increasingly arcane and complex, involving safe zones, 'time-outs', 'civilians', etc Winter of course forced a change to snowballs.
Much honour was won on those forgotten bloody fields of yesteryear (sniff).
Also the usual bombs using M-80s, kerosene lamps, and the handy but time consuming Tennis Ball Bomb. I don't remember exactly how it was made but it involved an old tennis ball, and a full pack of those easy to start 'one strike' matches studded into the ball, forming a complete layer. For added Power, nasty/explosive/burnable liquids could be placed inside the Ball.
Many squirrels and rabbits learned to fear my name. ...Err scratch that last part to preserve illusions of normalcy.
Living in a very rural area, we were lucky enough to have whole abandoned structures to roam to, including the Old Barn and the Roofless Silo. No 'tree forts' needed when you have barns and silos with ladders, ropes, 'secret tunnels' etc. These would form command centres during a large scale nameless game involving all the boys of the surrounding area, which I will now give the descriptive name of 'Beating Each Other With Big Sticks'. Truly glorious bloody wars were fought in those woods, far from the eyes of meddling parents and the like. There were, in fact, rules for this seemingly chaotic expression of pre-pubescent masculine destructiveness, but these rules became increasingly arcane and complex, involving safe zones, 'time-outs', 'civilians', etc Winter of course forced a change to snowballs.
Much honour was won on those forgotten bloody fields of yesteryear (sniff).
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