Well. I suppose this takes the record for fastest annihilator ever.

From Glasgow in Scotland, representing Team Braveheart, ranked #8, Traffic Warden!

From Pontefract in West Yorkshire, representing Team Picus, Magnitude!

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Braveheart
Booth Blue: Team Picus

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

The final of the penultimate first round annihilators gets underway quickly, like the battles that preceded it in this annihilator. Traffic Warden shows immediate aggression like before, racing across the arena to the blue square, but Magnitude comes to meet the onslaught! Traffic Warden is the slightly quicker and tries to pull a U-turn to face Magnitude side on, but the wedge shaped robot is only slightly slower and with the exact zero turning circle provided by those tracks it turns to face Traffic Warden with expert control and rams forward, putting the lifting tusk under the back part of Steven€™s robot and lifting! The huge width of Traffic Warden means one side stays on the ground though and Steven spins those two wheels furiously and falls off the lifter of Magnitude, now pushing against the raised lifter and clamping onto the sides of Joey€™s robot before Joey can fire the flipper and get it out of there! Joey€™s lifter presses back down on the top of Traffic Warden, but that does nothing and Steven pushes Joey back across the arena with his better horsepower. However, it€™s not an easy job with Magnitude€™s better traction and Joey fires the flipper, flipping them both slightly, but loosening Traffic Warden€™s grip enough for an escape by Team Picus!

Joey backs off to lower the lifter, but it seems the linear actuator was damaged as Traffic Warden rammed straight into it when it was raised and now it€™s stuck in vertical position! This doesn€™t stop Joey using his flipper, but it prevents Magnitude from getting very far underneath and he definitely would have been better off with that lifter. Steven doesn€™t relent now any more than he did before and drives at Magnitude again, but this time Joey is quick to fire the flipper and Traffic Warden is thrown a good few feet backwards across the arena, but not over. This eventually transpires to work against Magnitude though as Steve, still facing the same way, is quick to drive back on the attack and gets to it before the flipper resets. Joey did try to turn away and use the rear wedge to defend himself but Magnitude just wasn€™t quick enough this time and Team Braveheart catch it at a diagonal angle and bring their hydraulic clamps into play on the powerful flipper robot, not getting in to damage the pneumatic rams but getting a very secure grip on their opponent in this round! Steven now begins to wrestle Magnitude towards the pit release button, but it€™s certainly no easy job and Joey struggles as hard as he can with those aluminium tracks, pulling Traffic Warden left to right slightly in the effort, but still getting slowly edged backwards across the Annihilation Stadium and eventually into the pit release. However, time is ticking down and with Magnitude being no easy fellow to push Steven will have to act quickly for that pitting.

And it€™s now that those bolts in Magnitude€™s tracks really come into play, as although Traffic Warden€™s 38HP drive helped it to push Joey€™s machine across the arena Steven finds it hard to convert the power to pull it now, and in the moment Traffic Warden€™s wheels go to reverse Joey takes control for just a split second and jerks away from the pit, slamming Traffic Warden into the arena wall slightly! No damage caused, but it€™s all points should this match go the distance! Fortunately for Steven though Traffic Warden€™s strong hydraulic grip remains undeterred and he guns his drive in reverse, slowly but surely dragging Magnitude into line with the chasm! Joey isn€™t making it easy for him though, and the allotted time for robots to pin or grab their opponents has come to an end! Traffic Warden is forced to release it€™s slippery opponent and Joey immediately resets that flipper turning, to face Steven€™s robot for an onslaught, and with undying determination Magnitude rams straight into the middle of Traffic Warden, getting as much of the wedge as he can underneath Team Braveheart€™s machine and firing that nitrogen flipper to toss Traffic Warden high into the air and over! The big U-shaped robot comes crashing to the steel floor with a worrying slam, but it seems to be fully mobile and now the match is over.

CEASE!

Both robots still mobile after what was a very closely fought back and forth battle; let€™s take it to the judges!

Judges Decision:

Damage:
Traffic Warden ~ 3.5 x 1 = 3.5pts
Magnitude ~ 1 x 1 = 1pts

Aggression:
Traffic Warden ~ 3 x 0.75 = 2.25pts
Magnitude ~ 3.7 x 0.75 = 2.775pts

Control:
Traffic Warden ~ 4 x 0.5 = 2pts
Magnitude ~ 4.2 x 0.5 = 2.1pts

Dominance:
Traffic Warden ~ 4.5 x 0.25 = 1.125pts
Magnitude ~ 4.3 x 0.25 = 1.075pts

Overall:
Traffic Warden ~ 3.5 + 2.25 + 2 + 1.125 = 8.875pts
Magnitude ~ 1 + 2.775 + 2.1 + 1.075 = 6.95pts

A good match there, but it€™s Traffic Warden that joins Nidhogg Cubed, Gehenna, Jinx and PsycloniZer in the final!

Battleboard
Traffic Warden [#8] vs. Under Pressure vs. Magnitude vs. Cyrilium 5 vs. Gravity vs. Macduff the 5th

And so we€™ve made it to the last annihilator before the grand final! But which of the six remaining contenders will join the aforementioned finalists?

Annihilator 6
Back to Rock III [#16] vs. Venus Fly Trap II vs. Spring-BOK! vs. Still Hurting vs. Mobile Failure vs. Axeon 4.0

Thanks for the tactics and comments guys ( particularly the comments :P ), much appreciated Keep 'em coming