NSBFL 7

[mrdaves]

Shot in da dark:
Pink Panther to pit Kruel Intent
Force Power Turbo has enough power to knock out Flaming Hell against the walls.

[pcbore]

Heat aitch is €˜ere. I can€™t be bothered to make a witty intro, so let€™s just meet who€™ll be fighting today.

Kruel Intent is our 15th seed. This machine was made when some guy thought €œIf Hypnodisc and Cassius had a baby, what would it be like?€ €¦Or something like that. Sorry, my mind just boggled. It€™s been in all series of the NSBFL, bar number 4 and has crashed out in the first round of all but the fifth series where it made it all the way to the third place playoff. In series 6 it again crashed out at the first hurdle, which was named Dead Simple. It€™s basically been seeded for being around forever.

This may be Flaming Hells first series, but it is an oldish machine from one of only two guys to enter every series, Dave Weston. This is a nasty cage spinner which should have a flaming quick spin up time, and provide enough power to send any machine to flame in hell. The armour isn€™t brilliant, but seeing you€™ve got to get past that cage first, that might not be a problem€¦

Pink Panther is hoping to be one cool cat, with interchangeable weapons and those quad sprung skirt€¦ Things. Quite a rarity in that it€™s a tracked machine, Pink Panther should have enough pushing and axing power to more than fend for itself in the warzone, but apparently it€™s easy to shove from the sides.

Lastly is ForcePower Turbo from Andy Jackson. It€™s an invertible rammer with tough as nails armour on the front, but less so on the sides and bottom. With an incredible 60 HP drive chain, Force could Power its way past anything! After series 5 ended, ForcePower won an annihilator to take the vacant 8th seeding, but was dropped out in the first round of series 6 by Annoying Box Rush..

Battle 1

Kruel Intent vs Pink Panther in the Unimmediate Peril arena.

3€¦
2€¦
1€¦..
ACTIVATE!!

Kruel Intent is the fastest off the blocks, and shoots under the front of Pink Panther, who starts off sluggishly! The flipper fires and rolls Pink Panther over! The axe fires and Pink Panther self rights, but is unable to escape as Kruel Intent comes in for a side attack with the flipper! The skirts prove too good for Kruel Intents wedge, and Pink Panther slowly drives forwards! The skirts are digging into the floor and really digging groves into it, so I damn well hope Matt€™s going to pay for that!

Kruel Intent spins around with the flywheel fully spun up, and easily gives the escaping Pink Panther a gash in its side armour! Pink Panther turns around to give Kruel Intent a bop on the bonce with its axe, but Kruel Intent easily dodges and the axe hits the floor! Kruel Intent shoots under the front on Pink Panther again and rolls it onto its back, and again Pink Panther self rights! While spinning the flywheel up again, Kruel Intent dodges around Pink Panther who is trying, and failing, to catch the more agile machine!

Flywheel spun up, Krul Intent attacks the weakened side of Pink Panther, spinning both machines away from each other! Kruel Intent goes straight back on the attack though and goes for the front of Pink Panther again, as the Kruel Intent driver knows he can€™t get under the skirts! The axe comes down and puts a dent in Kruel Intent€™s flipper, but Kruiel Intent goes under the front anyway and again flips Pink Panther over!

Pink Panther self rights, only to receive another blow on its damaged side! The polycarb in that area has just shattered off completely, but the Titanium is looking good. More importantly though, damage has been taken to the paint job! Pink Panther trundles forwards and gives Kruel Intent another couple of thwacks, but this doesn€™t stop Kruel Intent from just driving under again and flipping Pink Panther before retreating to spin up the flywheel!

Pink Panther does indeed self right, and starts slowly chasing after Kruel Intent, the skirts digging long grooves into the floor as it does so! Kruel Intent suddenly stops running and drives at Pink Panther with the flywheel, dodging around the axe and hitting the so far undamaged side! Kruel Intent has decided that flipping isn€™t the way to go as it brings it into range of the axe and has decided to make use of Alex Holt€™s annoying hit and run methods!

Kruel Intent again runs off to power up the flywheel for another attack, but something€™s wrong with Pink Panther! Smoke is literally pouring out from under Pink Panther, and it looks like its ground to a complete stop! The judges call a cease to the action and we go to see what€™s wrong with Pink Panther.

€¦And the news is in! The effort of shifting around Pink Panther while being held back by those too good skirts has proven too just much for the motors, which have promptly burnt out. Kruel Intent is the winner!

In other news, the Unimmediate Peril arena is out of commission for the next few fights while repairs go underway on the floor which was badly torn up in the fight.

Battle 2

ForcePower Turbo vs Flaming Hell in the Last €˜Bot Standing arena.

3€¦
2€¦
1€¦..
ACTIVATE!!

ForcePower is almost immediately off the blocks, and charges towards Flaming Hell, who reverses away while spinning up the cage! This doesn€™t keep ForcePower away, but does delay the point of impact and allows Dave to spin the cage up almost fully before the two collide! ForcePower takes the shot well on the front wedge, but is spun off to the side! Flaming Hell takes the opportunity to put a little space between them and spins up the cage while ForcePower is turning around for another attack!

ForcePower again charges Flaming Hell head on, and is again deflected by the cage! Another charge, another deflection, but Dave manages to get Flaming Hell away from the next charge and ForcePower shoots straight past! Flaming hell drives straight at ForcePower€™s rear, but Andy quickly turns ForcePower around! The result is a blow on the side which knocks ForcePower across the arena, and around in circles three or four times!

It€™s a few vital seconds before Andy can regain control of ForcePower, and Dave uses those seconds to spin up while catching up with ForcePower! Andy has no sooner gained control of ForcePower when Flaming Hell comes in with another big hit, this time on the rear leaving a dent in the Titanium and spinning ForcePower around again! This works to Andy€™s advantage though, as ForcePower€™s wedge ends up facing Flaming Hell and all Andy has to do is move ForcePower forwards!

Flaming hell is a little spun up by the time ForcePower connects, but not enough to deflect ForcePower, and so the rammer slams under the cage spinner and pushes it along the arena and into the wall! Flaming hell tries to escape, but ForcePower keeps on top of it and takes it into wall after wall, trying to damage the cage, break the spinner mechanism, anything! It€™s a good thirty to fourty seconds of ForcePower dominating Flaming Hell around the arena, until Flaming Hell finally manages to escape, and ForcePower rams into the wall as it just misses the fleeing spinner!

ForcePower doesn€™t let it lie, though and reverses into Flaming Hell to keep the spinner stalled! Flaming Hell slips away from ForcePower though and the spinner starts doing its thang! ForcePower drives into it wedge first to try and get under again, but to no avail and is knocked away! ForcePower regains control and charges at Flaming Hell, which manages to dodge and clips ForcePower on the side as it does so! ForcePower is spun around a couple of times and crashes into the wall!

Flaming Hell evades another charge, and just misses with a counter-attack on ForcePower€™s rear! ForcePower quickly turns around and rams into the spinner, again hoping to stall it, and is again deflected away with barely a scratch on the front wedge! Flaming Hell is bounced near the wall, and gets away quickly before Andy has quite regained control of ForcePower!

ForcePower charges at Flaming Hell again, but Flaming Hell dodges, and goes to hit ForcePower who also dodges! The two dodge around each other for different reasons. Andy, because he€™s trying to work out a better plan than just ramming in, and Dave because he€™s realised hitting the front wedge is a waste of time, and is trying to get into a position where he can attack the sides.

A better plan not coming to him, Andy drives ForcePower straight at Flaming Hell again and both get bounced away! There€™s a moment of confusion as both drivers regain control, and Flaming Hell manages to get in an attack on ForcePower€™s damaged side, opening up a gash in the armour! ForcePower is able to get back under Flaming Hell before the cage spins up, but Flaming hell isn€™t on the wedge properly and is only pushed forwards a little bit before it spins off the wedge!
ForcePower quickly turns and reverses, and uses the rear to push Flaming hell against the wall! ForcePower drives forwards a bit before quickly turning and driving in to ram Flaming Hell against the wall! Flaming hell isn€™t able to get away and so gets smashed against the wall three or four times before it finally gets away and ForcePower hits the wall! The cage is still working though, and spins up ominously as ForcePower drives in to stop this from happening!

As before though, both machines are deflected away from each other, and it looks like the front plate of ForcePower is starting to come loose! Flaming hell dodges another lunge from ForcePower, and strikes the side again, spinning ForcePower around a few times! Upon regaining control of ForcePower, Andy again takes it straight into the spinning cage, again getting deflected! It looks like the bolts on one side of ForcePower€™s front wedge have totally broken now!

Flaming Hell spins up as it charges ForcePower head on! Andy turns ForcePower around, not wishing to lose the front wedge, but takes another side hit for his trouble! A tooth catches the gash made earlier on ForcePower and tears it wider! ForcePower regains control quickly but is looking a little sluggish now, and Flaming Hell easily avoids it long enough to get spun up, and attacks the front wedge in an attempt to tear it off completely!

This fails, and ForcePower is able to get under Flaming Hell once more! However it looks like ForcePower€™s drive is failing and so Flaming hell is less rammed and more gently coaxed along the arena! Flaming Hell slips off the wedge and spins up, but it looks like Dave needn€™t have bothered as ForcePower has come to a standstill! Dave gives ForcePower another good whack just to make sure, and ForcePower is counted out!

It wasn€™t the crashing into arena walls, it wasn€™t the blows from Flaming hell. ForcePower doesn€™t exactly look healthy, but in the end it just ran out of power. Flaming Hell burns into the heat final, where it meets Kruel Intent in the Roulette arena!

[pcbore]

Incidently, FP vs FH was a bastard to write

[pcbore]

It€™s the final of Heat letter after G! In round 1, Kruel Intent got through for only the second time in its career, when Pink Panther broke down after a one-way fight. Flaming Hell did damage to ForcePower, but only won thanks to being more economical on the batteries, so it could be said both have been a bit lucky. We go to the Roulette arena now to see which robot€™s luck has run out.

3€¦
2€¦
1€¦..
ACTIVATE!!

Kruel Intent shoots straight at Flaming Hell, who dodges backwards while getting the cage spun up! Kruel Intent catches up and goes for a flip, but is spun away by the powerful cage with an almighty gash in the front flipper! Kruel Intent reverses though, and strikes the still cage with its own flywheel! The two retreat for a moment to spin up their weapons. It€™s Flaming hell who reaches a dangerous speed first and goes on the attack!

Kruel Intent dodges away from the attack and brings the rear flywheel to bear on the cage! With a loud boom, both machines get spun away, and it has to be said neither are looking healthy! Flaming Hell has come off the worst, as it gets bounced over a pit! Luckily for Dave, it fails to open, sending Flaming Hell into oblivion, and instead Flaming Hell is free to spin back up and go on the attack again!

Kruel Intent evades the next attack, but Dave keeps up the pressure and manages to score a side strike on Kruel Intent, spinning the seed away and into the PPZ! Kruel Intent gets out of there immediately before any house robots can go on the offensive, and wedges under Flaming Hell before it can spin up again! Kruel Intent flips Flaming Hell over and onto a pit, but Dave is still lucky and Flaming Hell starts to self right!

Kruel Intent rams into the self righting Flaming Hell and flips it over onto another pit, but once more Dave is lucky, double so as Flaming Hell has been flipped back upright and starts to spin up again! Kruel Intent drives in with the flywheel fully spun up, and once more stalls the cage with its own spinner! However, Kruel Intent is spun over the pit Flaming Hell has just gotten away from and like Flaming Hell fails to drop into the abyss!

Kruel Intent drives in at Flaming Hell again and gets under the machine before the cage is spun up, but a tooth hits the floor and Flaming Hell is bounced off and back onto the same pit! With a whoosh of smoke, the pit opens, but Flaming Hell isn€™t actually on it properly, and the sensor has been set off by Flaming Hell€™s cage! Dave breathes a sigh of relief, but Kruel Intent drives in to shove Flaming Hell in anyway! This doesn€™t quite go to plan, as Kruel Intent hits the cage instead of the robot, bounces Flaming Hell up and both machines end up in the pit!

With both machines down, we€™ll have to go to a judge€™s decision.

Control: Kruel Intent, when not being spun away from weapon attacks, was always under control. However, driving itself into the pit costs it a little. Flaming Hell spent a fair portion of the short fight being flipped and bounced , but was also well controlled. Kruel Intent: 2. Flaming Hell: 3

Damage: Kruel Intent was badly damaged by the blows it took. Flaming Hell€™s cage looks a little damaged, but not very badly. Kruel Intent: 1. Flaming Hell: 4.

Aggression: Both showed good aggression, but both also spent time running away for spin up time. All in all, Kruel Intent showed more aggression, but only just. Kruel Intent: 3. Flaming Hell: 3.

The final result is€¦ Kruel Intent: 6. Flaming hell: 10.

Another seed bites the dust, and Flaming hell is through to the last 16!

[pcbore]

So far through to the last 16 are:

Sonic Boom
Dervish VI
Stratos-Fear
Star 69
MORD
Battle Raptor 3
VGer
Flaming Hell

Possibly not the line-up so far that everyones been predicting, and to answer some unasked questions no I havent been deliberately writing to make everyone wrong

Next time its heat I:

Love Bite (16) vs ROTROTB - Last bot standing

Glasgow Kiss vs Think Tank - The moat

[darkguru]

hmm, last bot standing, that woulda been good for 360, as for Love Bite, i dont know if i can pierce anything of importance with the beak, also, its slow with that big chuffin axe it has.

Im gonna ram the hell out of it, mainly trying to stay to the sides, if power to the axe dies, i will then try and get that beak into play.

[scott]

The Moat.

I cant find stats for Think Tank, though if youre talking about the one that was in RW then it isnt very good. (It lost all its battles.)

Basically Ill use the front to get under it, blam, blam with the axe, then drive it out the arena.

[steven_mcg]

...you mean I finally get to fight this season?! Huzzah!

HEAT I
ROUND 1
1) Love Bite (16) VS REVENGE OF THE REVENGE OF THE BLUDGEONATOR!
Simple enough plan - slip under the sides and hammer til the coos come haem.

2) Glasgow Kiss VS Think Tank
Got to go with Scotty to smash the drummer into the floor.

Great stuff as always, Mr Goacher

[pcbore]

IIRC, Think Tank is a Battlebot. I really cant remember so Ill have to go and check

[pcbore]

It€™s Christmas Eve. I don€™t celebrate Christmas, but I decided to give all you lucky, lucky people a present from yours truly€¦ Failing to think of anything good to give you, I decided to knock up a couple of fights instead:wink:. Todays robostars are:

Love Bite is the 16th seed, a position it got to when it came second in the New Blood of NSBFL X, dispatching Chameleon and Mousey 4 before coming up against Monsoon€™s Back, who will indeed be Back later on in the series. It remains unchanged, a ramming machine with a rear crusher to do some damage.

Revenge of the revenge of the revenging revenge of the um€¦ *Looks at piece of paper* Bludgeonator is a tough machine, with a dustpan shape to sweep away all comers, tough hardox armour and a huge mangle maker of an axe, which is nitrogen powered. Should this fail, it can spin around for a Stinger-esque attack, but with the axe as powerful as it is€¦ Maybe too powerful?

The tracked Think Tank has come all the way from the States to compete, after failing to make it to the televised stages of Battlebots, and in fact only winning one fight via forfeit. However, with its tough looking construction and big drum, the Yanks could pull something out

Glasgow Kiss not only boasts a weird shape, and a paint job that is just plain trippy, but a double headed and powerful axe, and decent Titanium armour to boot€¦ Also to glove and to hat and to€¦ I€™ll get my coat.

Battle 1

Love Bite vs ROTROTB in the Last €˜Bot Standing arena.

2€¦
1€¦
3€¦..
Well I had a drink after work. Bite me.
ACTIVATE!!

Steve lines his robot up and charges forwards, Terrorhurtz style! However, Love Bite is no slouch either and easily avoids the initial charge, and the axe of ROTROTB hits the floor! Thankfully, I€™m using hardox for the last €˜bot standing floor or I€™d be having words with Steve right now. As it is, Love Bite gets under the side of ROTROTB and shunts it across the arena!

The axe slams around a few times, and bounces ROTROTB off of Love Bite€™s wedge! Love Bite spins around the get under again, but ROTROTB is lined up, and the hammer crashed down onto Love Bite€™s side, putting a horrible dent in the armour! Love Bite reverses away from another blow, and ROTROTB gives chase!

ROTROTB crashes into Love Bite€™s front , and the two have a shoving match! For a good while things stalemate, but ROTROTB gradually gets edged backwards! Steve decides to remedy matters with a good dose of migraine-ism, and fires the hammer again, but this bounces ROTROTB up a little and Love Bite, suddenly encountering no resistance, shoots forwards and under ROTROTB!

Steve decides against firing the hammer to escape again as he doesn€™t want to waste hits, and lets Love Bite slam ROTROTB into a wall! This bounces ROTROTB off of Love Bite€™s wedge, and it immediately turns to attack Love Bite again! Love Bite gets out of the way, but still gets clipped by the mangle maker on ROTROTB, receiving another dent!

ROTROTB gives chase and soon catches up when Chris tries to line Love Bite up for an attack! The hammer smashes down onto the beak of Love Bite and bends it badly, and Love Bite starts to leak hydraulic fluid! Love Bite takes off down the arena leaving a nice trail of fluid, and ROTROTB carefully follows, with Steve watching out for the trail of fluid, remembering the chaos in last years 5th place playoff!

Love Bite suddenly turns and shoots at ROTROTB, or that€™s what Chris intended anyway, but instead Love Bite spins out of control thanks to its own fluid, and while Chris is trying to regain control, ROTROTB catches up and starts living up to its name! The hammer smashes into Love Bite several times, and soon Love Bite is moving in circles only! The hammer smashes down a couple more times for good measure, and Steve sees there€™s no need for further punishment as Love Bite isn€™t moving€¦ It€™s soon counted out, ending the dreams for another of Chris C€™s machines.

For the record, one of Love Bite€™s wheels was jammed by the armour and chassis being buckled down, the other motor was knocked out of alignment. The Love Bite has been covered up! Revenge of the€¦ Oh, what the hell, I can€™t be bothered typing all that crap again. Steve€™s thing is in the heat final.

Battle 2

Glasgow Kiss vs Think Tank in the Moat.

6€¦
5€¦
4€¦..
ACTIVATE!!

Think Tank moves forwards while spinning the drum up, but Scott is a former champ and not about to take any nonsense from a machine with no real wins to speak, of, and Glasgow Kiss charges forwards and immediately sticks its axe into Think Tank€™s nice flat top! The two battle for supremacy in pushing power for a moment, but only for a moment as Think Tank is edged backwards!

Scott is looking for a quick win, and so withdraws the axe of Glasgow Kiss so as not to be dragged down when he pushes Think Tank into the moat! This turns out to be a mistake, as Think Tank is able to get away and bring the drum into Glasgow Kiss€™s side! Sparks fly, but the armour doesn€™t seem damaged as Glasgow Kiss spins around for another attack, but the axe misses and Think Tank is able to get away to spin the drum up again!

Glasgow Kiss reverses at Think Tank and goes to axe it with the other axe head, but again misses! Think Tank goes in for a side attack and scratches up the pain! Scott sees red, and turns Glasgow Kiss around a little, and the axe slams into the top of Think Tank! The axe retracts and slams down again, but this time it€™s pierced one of the rubber tracks of Think Tank!

Think Tanks tries to get away, and Glasgow Kiss reverses away from Think Tank at the same time, pulling off the pierced track of Think Tank! Think Tank is in a deep pile of soft brown stuff now, and I ain€™t talking about melty chocolate! Think Tank can only move forwards so much before it turns itself, and Scott uses this to his advantage, as he takes the time to perfectly line up Glasgow Kiss, and gets under the side of Think Tank! Think Tank is unable to escape, and is dumped into the moat without ceremony! Then for a laugh, Scott pushes in the removed track as well.

Think Tank couldn€™t Think its way out of a paper bag! Glasgow Kiss smooches its way to the heat final!

Perhaps a funny heat final line up would have been Love Bite vs Glasgow Kiss€¦ But it€™s not, it€™s Revenge of the Etc vs Glasgow Kiss, and they will fight in the Moat!