Robot Wars Hit UK TV On Sunday!
July 25, 2016 by brennon
While it might not be wargaming news this should warm the hearts of those who watched TV during the 90s and early 2000s in the UK. Robot Wars was back on our screens on Sunday and it was awesome!
I you're not familiar with the show the premise is that a bunch of teams build massive robots with all manner of weapons and tricks on them and then duke it out in the arena. Here are some of the teams competing over the next few weeks.
There have always been arguments over what would be the best weapon of choice but it seems like flippers, big spikes and spinning wheels of death usually do the trick. A self-righting mechanism doesn't hurt either if you've been flipped over.
House Robots
One of the big spectacles of the competition was the introduction of House Robots. These robots controlled areas of the arena and if you strayed near them they would come over and rip you up. Here are the four returning robots...
Dead Metal was always good; as was Shunt. Sir Killalot was basically there for show however but he does look mean! You can watch a video here where they meet them and show off their vital statistics.
If you want to see a better quality version you can find it on the BBC iPlayer.
Robot Wars On The Tabletop?
While there was a Robot Wars board game...
...it doesn't look great. It has some cool elements, like the dials to show the different stats of your robot, but overall its quite dated now I'd reckon. There's also Robo Rally that you could choose as your game of choice?
This is a classic game where you rush around trying to get through checkpoints before being ripped apart by the arena or shot by lasers. It's a lot of fun and has programmable movement as the main mechanic.
Is it time we saw an updated version of Robot Wars for the tabletop?
"There have always been arguments over what would be the best weapon of choice but it seems like flippers, big spikes and spinning wheels of death usually do the trick..."
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always objected to the term robot being used here, but RC diy tools and mobility scooter motor collisions just doesnt have the same ring to it…. Always wanted to enter until i read the team rules and found out that you were basically hamstrung in terms of weapons and effectivness you were allowed to enter, which was a shame as i was planning on building a CO2 powered axe/spike which had a sort of tazer built in, so you could zap the other one with a 20 or 30KV destroy the radio gear/speed controller then really goto town, turns out… Read more »
Is Chris Evans hosting?
Thankfully no – and it got better ratings than his last attempt at telly
Oh right, it’s just I heard he was looking for a job 😛
I’m sure that somehow the BBC will manage to cock up another good show, they’re useless these days.
It is pretty much the same as it was when it finished. I think America has a show now if this is your thing called Battlebots
Wow! what a great nostalgia trip. Loving that Carbide robot with its hum of doom.
I was considering entering, http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/ED-209
Now walkers have not traditional done well in robot wars but I think this one will be different.
I liked the one that failed to get out of its starting position and shook it self to peices
Got to say it failed for me so badly I did not watch it all, turned it off and painted a box of Perry ACW infantry and the Union artillery crews for five guns and base everything, so no contest then really.
Soz, it was I am afraid totally and utterly poorly produced crap.
We wanted to enter using a liquid nitrogen spray and hammer, but they would not let us.
What a great show!
I adored this TV show back in the day! It’s so good it’s coming back. I hope I’ll manage to get a new yamaha rx-v385 av receiver before the show starts. I need to see this at top video and audio quality.