| Event 1 - A $25,000 car event at the Omni Coliseum. |
| Event 2 - The Midville Massacre lived up to it's name. |
| Event 3 - The Circle Of Doom lived up to it's name for a number of the competitors. |
| Event 4 - The Bristol Oval broke a number of records and turned out to be quite a spectacle. |
| Event 5 - DRAGON are feeling down after the Scotio Downs combat turned into a long-winded war of attrition. |
| Event 6 - This event, as predicted, was wheely quick. |
| Event 7 - Wet and wild, at the Gladiator Arena. |
| Event 8 - The Island-Hopping race at Lambeau Fields sets a new record. |
The first event of this season took place in the Omni Coliseum, with both the StellarTurf pitch and race circuit available. Each team was permitted to spend up to $25,000 on one or more cars.
DRAGON and AD were assigned gates close to each other, with BUMS emerging opposite, and HAVOC at one end. The DRAGON pickup quickly got things underway, loosing several volleys of VMG shells at the AD van, as the latter headed out onto the pitch, engaging automatic fire mode for all IDs. As the DRAGON pickup and HAVOC vehicles began a circuit of the race-track, AD's van headed across the pitch, with the two BUMS cars heading his way, firing as they came.
Slightly deterred by AD's littering of the pitch with ice, the BUMS pair exchanged fire with the van, before reaching the other side of the pitch, closing with the HAVOC duo. These four vehicles exchanged fire while the other two teams manoeuvred for position.
The BUMS pair split up, with Switchblade following the HAVOC duo around the track, swapping shots with the non-ram car, which having lost a tyre and wheel, decided to bug out. Switchblade then set about catching up to the HAVOC ram car.
Meanwhile, BUMS' Fantasia was attempting to get into firing position against Ultima Thule, found the DRAGON pickup closing in. Turning to face this oncoming opponent, all looked set for a ground-thumping collision, with both cars firing at closing ranges. A successful hit from both BUMS car's VMGs striking Blur's tyre, but not hard enough to remove it. The collision turned out to be a little one-sided when the fake ramplate on Fantasia crumpled, and the midsize took fairly heavy damage. Adding insult to injury, the Blur managed to set the BUMS car alight. With no fire extinguisher, the BUMS car had little choice but to pull out of the combat – by the time he reached the exit, the driver's ('Lucky' Jim Wolf) body armour had been totally burnt off, without harming him, hence the new nickname.
As Switchblade caught and overtook the HAVOC ram car, and Ultima Thule began to close in for a piece of the action, all the while continuing to litter the track/pitch with ice. With the ram car threatening the BUMS backside, the latter revealed his Spike Dropper. The ram car instantly hit the spikes, detonating them and causing damage to the tyres of both vehicles.
The AD vehicle then found itself confronting the DRAGON car, approaching at speed. The two exchanged shots as the range closed, and the AD van parked itself, preparing for the inevitable ram. As this melee looked to be drawing to a close, the HAVOC and BUMS cars continued their duel, whilst tiptoeing through ice and spike clusters. The HAVOC vehicle's driver sensed an easier kill, spotting the AD van stationary, its attention locked on the DRAGON vehicle, and headed after it.
With the Blur pickup almost on top of it, Ultima Thule fired off one of its few remaining rounds of ice ammo, in an attempt to unsettle the oncoming opponent. It worked. The pickup swerved at the last possible moment, avoiding a 45mph ram, along with the ice, before slamming on the brakes, ready to shoot the stationary vehicle instead, and dropping spider mines and spikes into the path of the approaching HAVOC ram car.
With the three vehicles all within close range, it was unclear what the outcome would be. As the HAVOC car closed in on the stationary van, it ran over the spikes dropped by Blur, resulting in the destruction of all four tyres, which had already suffered from the exploding BUMS spikes. This didn't deter the driver, however. Travelling at 30mph or so, he hit the Arch Diocese van for a T-bone ram – the light-weight ram car seeming to come off the worst in the collision (taking nearly twice as much damage as inflicted). However, the ram knocked the van sideways, onto a cluster of explosive spikes. The blast ripped the van's tyres off and catapulted it into the air, where it somehow managed to land upright, though with no chance of moving, and hence bringing its rearward MG to bear. The kill was split between HAVOC and BUMS, for the ram and explosive spikes, respectively.
Having no tyres left, the HAVOC car had little choice but to terminate the duel prematurely, leaving only the BUMS and DRAGON vehicles to duke it out. The BUMS driver had craftily stayed clear of the three-way combat, and now decided enough was enough, and headed rapidly out the nearest gate, with only 2 points of front armour remaining. The DRAGON driver breathed a sigh of relief (having only 2 VMG shots remaining, and reasonably battered front armour), as he collected the first win of the season.
Winning Design
Fnord Blur: Pickup, X-Hvy Chassis, Heavy Suspension, Super Power Plant, 6 Solid Tyres, Driver, Turreted VMG with Incendiary Ammo, Spike-Dropper (B), Spear Mine-Dropper (B) with Spider Mines, Oil Discharger (B), Hi-Res Single Weapon Computer, 4 Links (SMD-SD, SMD-VMG, SD-VMG, All Three), Spoiler, Two 1-Point Hubs (F), Armour: F44 (Ramplate), R31, L31, B41, T30, U22. Cost: $25,000, Acc: 5, Top Speed: 92.5, HC: 2, Weight: 6,598 lb Cargo: 11 spaces, 521lb.
Driver: Oscar, Cyclist-0, Driver-1, Gunner-1; Equipped with Improved Body Armour.
The Midville Massacre was a car-only duel in, you guessed it, Midville, with each team permitted to spend up to $45,000. It certainly lived up to it's name, with no fewer than 3 crew members being killed.
From an interview with Archdiocese's star driver Erik "The Flying Finn" Saarlinen, winner of the recent Midville street event.
FOR PRAISING HIM MAGAZINE: So what was your strategy last weekend, Erik?
ERIK SAARLINEN: Initially I was trying to join up with the team's other car, but when Agnus Dei went up in flames, I found myself trying to win for the team singlehandedly.
I tell you, I didn't fancy my chances. Fortunately, the two BUMS vehicles that had roasted Agnus were safely out of the way when I had to face the Sillycar with its turreted FT and Heavy VMG. I didn't know how I'd do against that sort of firepower, but I managed to get a single laser shot off before side-ramming him. No one was more surprised than I was when I managed to kill the driver.
By this time, the explosion of one of the HAVOCs and the dropped weapons and smoke clouds at 3rd and Oak meant I would have had a problem using my laser effectively in a clogged environment. And anyway, as you know, I like to drive quickly - sometimes a little too quickly; there wasn't much for my style of driving in that little contretemps. I ducked down a side street, specifically hoping to face a HAVOC or two as they pulled out of Oak. I never had to. They went after the BUMS.By the time I reached the edge of the combat zone, the HAVOCs were burning, and I was facing the smallest of the BUMS Firestarters. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't destroy the little runt, and in retrospect I'm lucky that a HAVOC shot a wheel off the larger firestarter. Things might have been difficult if I'd had to face both of them.
I was uninvolved with the end of the battle of Third and Oak as I screeched through the shopping mall - rather too quickly as my side armour can attest - and by the time I made it through to the other side I could only manage a stray shot or two against the third Firestarter. Too much damn smoke. I decided to accelerate round the outside to meet the cars on the other side. This worked much better than expected. A powerful laser shot went through the polished metal armour of that metal-armoured compact, Roamer, and set the plant on fire as I just missed a potentially nasty collision. I was lucky not to set off some spikes that Agnus had left behind - and yes, I can confirm that they were explosive.
This left me against all three Firestarters, a prospect that I wasn't relishing. I knew that they had taken far more damage than me - my armour was only really scratched - but the potential for fire combined with the laser-blocking smoke clouds was fairly nasty. I decided there was only one thing for it - drive as quickly as I thought safe (max about 50 MPH), try and take them on no more than two at a time, and hope the accuracy and firepower of my computer-aided laser told. It worked. As I accelerated around the Midville streets, Firestarters started dropping like flies. The big sedan's armour was breached, and another power plant was set on fire. This one exploded. I shot across the park to breach the armour of the one painted like an old stock Hotshot, and he decided to pull out. Finally, the runt of the Firestarter litter did manage to damage more than half of my armour on a side in a collision, but he came off far worse than I did, and once again he decided to bail due to breached armour. I'm actually grateful that BUMS bailed when they did. The pit team tell me that the Roamer's driver was close to reaching the SillyCar - which could have been a problem if he'd had the time to start it.
FPHM: Sounds as if you were a bit lucky....
ES: Lucky? Of course I was lucky, but then, every successful autoduellist makes his own luck. I'm just glad the team decided to stop playing around with experimental vehicles, like that horrid Icedropper van, and went back to good old-fashioned combat design values.
FPHM: Three kills in one combat - that's the best tally this season.
ES: But the season's only two events old. I did well this week, but let's wait and see. There's a lot of events still to come, and the other teams have some very good drivers and designers. I'm sure there's a lot of good combat yet to come.
Winning Design
Fidie Defensor: Mid-Size, XHvy Chassis, Heavy Suspension, Large Power Plant, Driver, Turreted Laser, Fake Weapon (B), 4 Solid Radial Tyres, Fire Extinguisher, SWC, Roll Cage, 4 Fake Wheelguards, Sloped Armour (Metal/Plastic) F1/35 (Ramplate), R1/30, L1/30, B1/30, T1/20,U1/5. Cost: $24,302, Acc: 5, Top Speed: 92.5, HC: 3, Weight: 5,724 lb.
Driver: Erik "The Flying Finn" Saarlinen; Equipped with Improved Body Armour and Fireproof Suit.
NOTE: Following his heroic exploits, continuing the duel with his own vehicle ablaze, and even attempting to set off his own mines to destroy a couple of Firestarters, the driver of HAVOC1B was unanimously awarded a $900 bonus.
The third event - a $20,000 multi-cycle duel at The Circle Of Doom arena.
All teams crossed the central line on the turn-table within a fairly short time, permitting them to start scoring. Whilst Archdiocese got off to a rocky start, with a HAVOC attack totally destroying the front armour on one cycle, DRAGON fared much worse, quickly losing two firepower kills to Archdiocese. Within seconds of the start, DRAGON's Madness was forced to flee the arena, having lost all front armour and it's RL, succumbing to a Flame Cloud. The other DRAGON casualty, Cherry Bomb had been set alight when it's LFT was hit, and tried to make it out of the arena; Only yards from safety, the flamethrower exploded, killing the cyclist instantly (adding a mobility kill to the earlier firepower kill for AD).
Meanwhile, HAVOC ran into a little bad luck! Steering sharply to avoid a collision with a BUMS cycle (and the possibility of spikes) the HAVOC Shogun 250 drove through an innocent-looking smoke cloud, which turned out to be tear gas. With no protection, the driver lost consciousness, and his bike rolled into a TV bunker at 50mph. Another dead cyclist, and another double kill to Archdiocese.
HAVOC's misery didn't end there. Having failed to kill AD's Inferno (which left the arena a short while later, having used all Flame Cloud shots), the Shogun 200 cycle was confronted by the remaining DRAGON bike. One shot from the Fuzz Bomb's RR was enough to obliterate the remaining front armour and kill the cyclist. The uncontrolled cycle vaulted and rolled into the arena wall, scoring a double kill for DRAGON.
With the combat drawing to a close, the two remaining AD cycles met the final DRAGON and each of the BUMS cycles in rapid succession. Despite having no front armour on one of these cycles, the AD pair scored a couple of extremely close range hits with their incendiary weapons, first whittling away the DRAGON bike's rear armour, then hitting the RR and setting the cycle on fire. This very quickly ended the combat for DRAGON, with another combined kill for Archdiocese.
Managing to get their damaged cycle out of the arena, AD won the contest as there were insufficient points remaining for BUMS to win. The duel ended with Archdiocese on +7, BUMS 0, DRAGON -3, and HAVOC -4.
In a recent interview, top Archdiocese cyclist Simon Morgan was quoted as saying "The secret to our success was keeping my cycle [Satan] and Lucifer in tandem for all but the last second of combat. Individually, our cycles were - frankly - nothing special, but together we set two cycles on fire, and Peter [Gouldsborough; riding Lucifer] managed to keep my front protected after the armour was shot off so early in the combat. And I suppose that Lucifer's Tear gas SS and Eduarda's [Paz; riding Inferno] front-mounted FCGS played their part too. Especially the tear gas. Poor HAVOC......"
Post-event scrutineering found one of Archdiocese's cycles to be illegal (see below).
Inferno: Medium Cycle, Heavy Suspension, 2 PR Tyres, Cyclist, Medium Power Plant, FCGS w/ Extra Mag. (F), FOD (B), Two 10-Pt Cycle Wheelguards, HD Brakes, Cycle Windshell w/ 10 Pts Armour, Armour: F7, B6. Cost: $4,993, Acc: 10, Top Speed: 127.5, HC: 2, Weight: 1,075 lb.
This vehicle is illegal, as it manages to fit 6 spaces of equipment onto a 5-space cycle frame.
Archdiocese have released a press statement.
As a consequence, the team have been disqualified, losing all points gained, and the remaining teams have each moved up one position (2nd place now becomes 1st, etc...). This makes BUMS the winner, and their cycles were checked and passed scrutineering.
Skid Row: Heavy Cycle, Heavy Suspension, 2 FPPR Tyres, Medium Power Plant, LL (F) linked to SD w/ Explosive Spikes (B), Cyclist, FOD (B), SWC (LL), Two 9-Pt LRFP Cycle Wheelguards, 9 Points LRFP Component Armour (Cyclist, Plant, LL, SD), LRFP Armour: F14, B13. Cost: $9,573, Acc: 10, Top Speed: 120, HC: 2, Weight: 1,297 lb.
The fourth event - two simultaneous races, in opposite directions, around the Bristol Oval, for Div. 75 land vehicles.
The event started with the clockwise racers (DRAGON's pickup, BUMS 10-wheeler, FG's luxury and AD's can-am) heading towards the anti-clockwise contestants (BUMS minibus, DRAGON's funny car, FG's can-am and AD's formula-one), with no firing/ramming permitted until a team's vehicles had passed each other.
First to pass in the middle were the Feralgrin cars, assisted by a healthy dose of nitrous in the can-am, allowing the luxury to begin firing it's blast cannon rearwards at the DRAGON pickup. The DRAGON and Archdiocese teams passed at almost the same instant, allowing them to begin combat.
With the DRAGON pickup dodging to limit the BC's effect, whilst retaliating with its turreted laser, their funny car and AD's formula-one headed in the opposite, with both cars travelling parallel at 120mph. At the same instant, both cars fired, each removing the front wheel of its opponent [synchronised event number 1]. The formula-one retained better control than its opposite number, who fishtailed wildly, and began heading at speed towards the oncoming BUMS truck. Frantic attempts to avoid a heavy collision resulted in loss of control, with the funny car rolling down the edge of the track, eventually coming to rest, still reasonably intact (wheels excepted), on its roof.
Meanwhile, towards the other end of the main straight, the DRAGON pickup was harrying the rear of the FG luxury, who, in a moment of panic, slammed the brakes on. Not a clever manoeuvre with a ramcar behind. Despite the DRAGON team's intention to use the ram car against the softer race-car targets, the driver could not resist the temptation of the slowing luxury, and promptly rear-ended the FG vehicle. The collision fired off the pickup's bumper-trigger linked MML, and the heavyweight pickup then crashed through the rear of the luxury, destroying the back armour, blast cannon and power plant in the process. Kill number one to DRAGON.
Having finally wound their oversized vehicles up to speed, the BUMS vehicles passed and were able to join in the combat. The 10-wheeler wasted little time, scoring a direct hit on the DRAGON pickup's rear with its x-ray laser. The minbus then headed for the upturned funny car, exchanging a couple of volleys of fire, before the DRAGON vehicle surrendered to avoid the inevitable ram, giving the kill to BUMS.
All the while, the Feralgrin can-am was haring around the far-side of the circuit, at speeds of up to 170mph, overdrive engaged, with the Archdicese racers attempting to match this feat, despite one of them now having only three wheels.
Manoeuvring to avoid the heavy weapon pounding its rear, the DRAGON pickup was forced to slow down, losing the opportunity to ram the oncoming FG can-am. Despite the widely-held belief that the can-am's ramplate was fake, the DRAGON driver didn't want to risk a head-on collision which would have had an impact speed of around 250mph, and was hoping to T-bone the racer.
Passing the DRAGON pickup/ramcar didn't mean the can-am was clear of danger - he now faced the x-ray laser of the BUMS truck. His high speed helped him survive this encounter, too.
Having missed one ram, the DRAGON pickup set his sights on his next victim: the three-wheeled AD racer, heading at speed towards him. Meanwhile, the other AD racer began to tangle with the BUMS minibus, trying desperately to destroy one of the bus's tyres - a tactic which would prove to be his undoing.
Getting close to try for a point-blank shot, the racer left himself wide-open, and was rammed by the minibus. The resulting confetti hampered the minibus, trying to preserve his tyres he manoeuvred awkwardly, leaving himself only one way to go - down the pit entrance, and out of the event, but with another kill under his belt.
At the exact instant that the AD can-am was destroyed, his team-mate met the same fate at the opposite end of the arena, with the DRAGON pickup T-boning him, and turning him into confetti [synchronised event number 2]. Kill number 2 for DRAGON.
Unfortunately, the ram removed all remaining front armour from the pickup, and slowed him down so much that the BUMS truck was able to close from the rear. A poor decision from the pickup driver followed: rather than driving off the course in his battered vehicle, he manoeuvred into the path of the truck, and became kill number 5/confetti number 3. Chalk another kill to BUMS.
This left just two vehicles on the track: the BUMS truck, still on lap one, and FG's can-am, now on its second and final lap. Which stategy would be the winner: big weapon/slow truck, or weaponless racer ?
The crowd were stunned when, as the can-am driver engaged his second bottle of nitrous, there was a loud crack, resulting in what appeared to be terminal damage to the racer's engine. Ignoring the damage to his engine, the driver floored the accelerator - his only chance was to use all available speed, knowing his engine would begin to die in only a few seconds.
The need to use all available speed meant the can-am took the first tight bend at over 200mph! His speed did prevent the oncoming BUMS truck from scoring a hit with the x-ray laser, and the racer flew down the back straight, round the final bend and along the home straight with minimal resistance from the truck. The engine began to die before the can-am crossed the line, but he still had sufficient speed to avoid the truck's laser-fire, and come home in first place.
...And, yes, the ramplate was fake, as can be seen below:
Smiling Lady: Can-am, extra-heavy chassis, 4 FP PR slicks, driver only, 300 ci engine with tubular headers, blueprinting, variable-pitch turbo and supercharger, 4 3-pt LRFP hubs, HD/anti-lock brakes, 2 bottles of Nitrous, 5-gallon racing tank, safety seat, HD shocks, no-paint windshield, overdrive, fire extinguisher, airdam, spoiler, roll cage, sloped LRFP armour: F40, R30, L30, B30, T8, U8, fake ramplate. Cost: $62,116, Acc: 25 (20 w/ overdrive), Top Speed: 150 (170 w/ overdrive), HC: 7, Weight: 5,270 lb.
Driver: Jim Jimson.
The fifth event - a demolition derby for trikes at the Scotio Downs track, featuring three Div. 15 trikes per team.
The driver's each lined up in mixed trios on randomly selected start lines, before setting off in a clockwise direction for 5 seconds before combat could begin. This time saw a mixture of tactics, from remaining stationery to blasting up to high speed, depending on the strengths of each trike.
First to come under fire (literally) was DRAGON's Virgin. HAVOC's Armadillo set it alight, and the lack of a fire extinguisher meant the Virgin making a hasty exit. Unfortunately, the exit proved a little quicker than DRAGON anticipated, as BUMS' Big Issue ripped through the back armour, killing the driver. The uncontrolled flaming wreck then exploded, littering the main straight with toasted debris.
Next to come under fire was BUMS' Big Issue, a joint venture between HAVOC's Antelope and DRAGON's Van Helsing setting the big-hitter alight, but the fire was quickly extinguished. Damaged and hurt, the BUMS vehicle left the combat zone, to tend to its wounds.
DRAGON's day then went from bad to worse, and finally onto disastrous. Repeated shots into Tifosi's rear left the driver with little option but to surrender, following its breach and the destruction of the driver's component armour. The kill going to Archdiocese's Gabriel. At the other end of the track, meanwhile, DRAGON's Van Helsing saw what she thought was an ideal opportunity: turning sharply to bring her concealed rocket launcher into play against Archdiocese's Uriel, he lost control. By the time she was able to get going again, she was set upon by HAVOC's Antelope. The resulting fire caused an immediate explosion, sending more burning debris around the top end of the main straight, and ending DRAGON's miserable performance.
But HAVOC weren't having it all their own way. Problems on the main straight (partially due to the amount of debris) ended with Armadillo rolling. A now immobilised BUMS' Tin Can Alley took advantage of the soft underbelly of the rolling trike, its rockets killing the unfortunate driver. This was followed by another driver death for HAVOC, a short time later, after BUMS' Dyke Trike immobilised Archdiocese's Uriel and killed the driver (the gunner was rescued by the appearance of his team-mate. Despite losing his rear armour and power plant, and being unable to exit the track, the HAVOC driver attempted to bail out, rather than surrender. Archdiocese's Gabriel completed Aardvark's destruction with a carefully-aimed shot into the stricken trike.
Caught in a crossfire between two BUMS vehicles, Archdiocese's Gabriel was quickly immobilised, and the driver surrendered rather than face the inevitable ram through breached armour.
By now, a number of vehicles were running low on ammo: BUMS, in particular. The Dyke Trike exited the arena due to minimal rear armour and totally spent ammo, whilst the immobilised Tin Can Alley's driver bailed out after firing his last rocket. Having bluffed the BUMS team into leaving the arena, Archdiocese conceded defeat to HAVOC, with one mobile trike with no ammo (Raphael), and an immobile trike with breached armour (Uriel), they would be unable to put up too much resistance to the remaining HAVOC trike, Antelope (detailed below).
A rather long battle finally resulted in HAVOC's first victory.
Antelope: Medium trike, extra-heavy chassis, heavy suspension, 3 FP SB PR tyres, super trike plant with PCs, cyclist only, MG with incendiary ammo (F), flamethrower with mag. switch and extra magazine with regular and high-temperature ammo (B), 8-point wheelguards all around, heavy-duty brakes, targeting computer, sloped FP armour: F20, R20, L20, B20, T10, U10. Cost: $14,320, Acc: 10, Top Speed: 120, HC: 2, Weight: 2482.5 lb.
Driver: Simon.
The sixth event - a highway duel, with each team permitted to field $60,000-worth of oversized vehicles.
The vehicles began the event, lined up along the leading edge of two parallel straight road sections, travelling at 30 mph, in the following positions, from left to right:
Predictably, with all the vehicles travelling at the same speed, packed close to one another (every vehicle had at least one opponent at point-blank range), there was a flurry of weapons' fire immediately.
Not surprisingly, given the oversized vehicles' ability to carry heavy weapon loads, and the extreme close ranges, all initial shots were at tyres. The BUMS and Archdiocese buses each lost one wheel, HAVOC lost both front wheels, and DRAGON were lucky to survive this initial onslaught with only heavy damage to one tyre.
As a result of their loses, both the BUMS and HAVOC vehicles began to spin out. This would have resulted in synchronised spinning, except the BUMS crew had fired their rocket booster, shooting them up to 60 mph, which made their spin resemble a Katherine wheel firework ! As this rotation got under way, the DRAGON vehicle manoeuvred to put distance between himself and the big bus, letting loose a flame cloud which engulfed the rear of Archdiocese's bus, failing to set it alight, but proving how thin the armour was in the unoccupied rear.
Having lost both front wheels, the HAVOC truck ground to halt, facing the wrong way down the road, but still able to bring weapons to bear, which they used to good effect on the still spinning BUMS mini-bus, penetrating the side of the latter. Sensing blood, the Archdiocese bus turned towards this new foe, who quickly surrendered, rather than face the volley of 5 heavy rockets pointed his way.
The Archdiocese crew were only distracted briefly, before resuming fire on the DRAGON bus. Both vehicles fired vollies into the other, each removing a front wheel. DRAGON survived this scare, but the bigger bus now had no front wheels, and quickly ground to halt, close to the now-stationary BUMS bus, giving the DRAGON crew a brief respite from their attention.
Meanwhile, HAVOC and DRAGON exchanged a shot or two each, doing a fair amount of damage to each vehicle's rear, before the DRAGON bus passed out of the stricken HAVOC vehicle's firing arc.
Using the breathing space provided by the surrendered BUMS bus, which obscured shots from Archdiocese, the DRAGON vehicle accelerated, putting some distance between himself and his disabled opponents. Despite some exchange of long range weapons' fire, the DRAGON bus survived one last chance to set it alight, and opened up sufficient distance between himself and the next nearest vehicle to win the event.
The remaining places went to Archdiocese (2nd), HAVOC (3rd), with BUMS in last place. The winning vehicle design is shown below:
Blood Bucket: Mini-bus, extra-heavy chassis, 10 PR tyres, driver, 2 gunners, small truck power plant, 2 light lasers (L, R) with laser-guidance link (plus regular link) to 2 MFRs (L, R), HDFCE (B), GG (in 2-space turret) with extra magazine, six 10-pt wheel hubs, six 10-pt wheelguards, 3 (2 space) 5-pt component armour (around each crewman), fire extinguisher, sloped armour: F58, R70, L70, B50, T25, U11. Cost: $59,997, Acc: 2.5/5, Top Speed: 105, HC: 1, Weight: 13,331 lb.
Driver: Ken, Trucker-0, Gunner-2, equipped with Body Armour.
Gunners: Bill, Trucker-0, Gunner-0, Handgunner-0, equipped with gas mask, LAW, and assault rifle; Mike, Trucker-0, Gunner-0, equipped with fireproof suit, body armour, LasLAW, hatchet, and needle gun.
The seventh event - a battle between cars and boats, at a modified version of the Gladiator Arena.
Battle quickly commenced, with the two oversized vehicles opening up with their big guns (gauss guns, autocannons, x-ray lasers). As the DRAGON cruiser rushed towards the other small craft, he could do little but watch as the Archdiocese boat ploughed into the smaller aquabike, smashing it into little pieces. The Archdiocese boat then lost control, and rolled off the side of the map. The aquabike never managed to get a shot off, and the DRAGON cruiser now had no targets for his heavy torpedoes.
Above this carnage, the land battle raged, with the little luxury coming off the worst from exchanges with the BUMS truck. He was able to use speed to evade some of the x-ray laser shots, but then found himself facing the equally menacing Archdiocese minibus. Due to his speed and the design of the track, the DRAGON car soon found his way forward totally blocked, as the bus laid a trail of flaming oil in its wake. This forced the car to come to almost a complete stop (or run over flaming oil with slicks), which made him a relatively easy target, with both opponents firing at him with at least one of their weapons. With all front and side armour destroyed, along with the front weapon, the luxury fled the arena as the last point of component armour on the driver was removed, but only after he delivered a crippling blow to the BUMS truck. His final blast cannon shot breaching the truck's side armour, hitting the engine. An unfortunate roll resulted in damage to its oil system - within seconds, the truck's engine would die.
The truck managed to open a breach in the side of the bus, evening the score a little, as the two continued trading shots with some fire coming from and directed at the boat, when positions allowed. Shortly after his engine expired, the 10-wheeler surrendered rather than face the inevitable flaming oil attack, leaving the bus, now with both sides breached, and the DRAGON boat, still with intact armour.
The two dodged and weaved for some time, as both vehicles manoevred for position, with occasional shots from the boat entering the bus' crew compartment, chipping away at the component armour around various crew-members. Hampered by its low handling and weak weapon, the boat failed to finish the job of destroying the bus, as its crew, with component armour gradually being whittled away, ran out of ammo, and headed out of the arena.
The final result being confirmed as a win for DRAGON (see below for winning design), with second place going to Archdiocese, with BUMS dragging their heels in last place.
Proper Shafting: Cruiser with Boat Top, Deck; Below Deck: 400 ci Engine with VP Turbo, 3 Gallon Duelling Tank w/ Fuel, 2 Propellers w/ 2 Points Armour each, 2 Linked Heavy Torpedoes (L, R), Bilge Pump, Fire Extinguisher, Pilot; Above Deck: Fake Discharger (B), HMG w/ Explosive Ammo in 3-space Cupola (with Gunner), Extra Mag for HMG (Regular Ammo) and Mag. Switch, Medium Rocket (F) with Bumper Trigger, HRSWC (Gunner to HMG); Sloped LR Metal/Regular Plastic Armour: F12/15 (Ramplate), R9/16, L9/16, B6/14, T9/7, U6/15, D0/6. Cost: $59,697, Acc: 15, Top Speed: 55, HC: 2, Weight: 14,996.5 lb.
Pilot: Todd, Boat Pilot-0, Gunner-nil, equipped with impact armour and life jacket.
Gunner: Ken, Gunner-2, Trucker-0, equipped with body armour, fireproof suit, and life jacket.
Event number 8 - a race for Div. 35 cars over the off-road terrain (with jump ramps and a bridge) of Lambeau Field.
The contestants:
As the flag dropped, the two smaller cars were the quickest away from the line, with the BUMS car showing particularly impressive acceleration. Not to be outdone, the Archdiocese compact ignited his rocket booster and headed for the first ramp.
All eyes were on the two leaders as they made the first jump, but all went smoothly. Using the initial burst of speed from the booster was enough to keep the Wilderness Prophet ahead of the BUMS car as the first lap drew to a close. The DRAGON and HAVOC cars were unable to do anything about the smaller cars ahead.
With lap one complete, Archdiocese's entry was now able to fire, and wasted little time littering the landing ramp with flaming oil and stickyfoam, whilst the BUMS vehicle was still making it's jump. With no choice, the BUMS car landed on the stickyfoam, but the deceleration effect made it easier for him to avoid the flaming oil. Having also now completed lap one, Beach Bum was able to retaliate, though his aim was a little off.
Coming to the end of their first lap, both HAVOC and DRAGON could see the mess now strewn at the bottom of the landing ramp, and elected to jump at and angle, to land on the flat surface of island #1. There was little in it between these two, but the DRAGON vehicle failed to get the in-flight shot he had hoped, as he flew over the HAVOC car.
HAVOC landed an instant or two before the DRAGON car, and made his landing a little warm - laying flaming oil ahead of him. As the HAVOC and BUMS vehicles manouvred around the dropped weapons, Archdiocese and HAVOC set off towards the jump #1 for the second time. This time, however, Archdiocese, arriving first again, was able to sprinkle flaming oil and stickyfoam to slow the following HAVOC car.
DRAGON and BUMS dodged around for a while, exchanging shots, with the BUMS vehicle doing fairly heavy damage to two of the tyres on Ivan The Terrible, forcing him to manouvre around smoke to protect his wheels. DRAGON got a little revenge, setting off a mine remotely, blowing away the soft outer to reveal plasticore tyres on the Beach Bum.
Meanwhile, things weren't going too well for the HAVOC driver. Rather than drive through the dropped weapons on the ramp, he attempted to drive around, but eventually lost control of the car moments before it left the ramp. Having put a wheel over the edge, the car drifted off course and went into a spin, heading out towards deep water. Sensing disaster, the driver waited until the last possible moment before bailing out, attempting to jump into the shallower water, but failing, leaving him treading water as his car submerged out of the event.
With the flaming oil on the ramp burning itself out, the BUMS vehicle headed for the jump, laying a carpet of spikes over the ramp, making it totally useless (unless you fancied risking blowing all your tyres), whilst the Wilderness Prophet layed further dropped weapons on island #2.
With ramp #1 out of action, the race seemed to come to a halt, becoming a duel instead. Ivan The Terrible turned around and headed for jump #2, to jump back against the regular race flow. The two smaller vehicles jockeyed for position amongst the dropped weapons, with little damage being done to either opponent.
As the DRAGON vehicle jumped back towards the BUMS car, expecting to land on spikes, the Archdiocese car jumped the wrong way over jump #1. As the DRAGON and BUMS cars passed each other, exchanging fire, the DRAGON car took another hit to a tyre, but survived the scare. As the BUMS car reached the top of the ramp, the DRAGON flamethrower hit its mark.
The BUMS vehicle flew towards island #1, trailing smoke, with the driver trying desperately to put out the flames with his handheld extinguisher. Meanwhile, the Archdiocese car headed towards him. A split second after landing, the BUMS car was rammed head-on by the Wilderness Prophet, followed immediately by the inevitable explosion, leaving just the Archdiocese and DRAGON cars to finish it off.
Jumping back to island #1, the DRAGON car evaded the dropped weapons, but ended up driving into the shallow water. The Wilderness Prophet attempted to ram the larger, heavier vehicle into deeper water, but took a hit from another remote-controlled mine. As the two cars fought for position near ramp #1, with its mess of spikes, both cars suffered tyre damage, as spikes began exploding, with Ivan The Terrible losing a wheel.
The DRAGON vehicle managed to get several good shots in, taking out his opponent's front armour. With a last desperate act, the Archdiocese headed towards the ramp and the DRAGON car. Another accurate blast cannon shot ripped through the smaller car, taking out the fuel tank and killing the driver. The car's momentum took it over several more explosive spikes which removed a second wheel from the DRAGON car, stopping it dead. The uncontrolled Archdiocese vehicle left the ramp, and headed straight into the record books - as the victory conditions were specified as the last vehicle moving, Archdiocese won the event, even though their vehicle, and driver were killed. The first ever posthumous victory in DragonSlayers history !
Wilderness Prophet: Compact, Extra Heavy Chassis, Off-Road Suspension, 4 FP SB OR Solid Tyres, Driver, 150 CI Engine with VP Turbo, 1 Gallon Duelling Tank (with Fuel), Bumper Trigger linked FOJ with HT Ammo (B), linked to Turreted Stickyfoam Sprayer, 100lb Rocket Booster (B), HD Shocks, ABS, HD Brakes, Four 5pt FP Wheel Hubs, Fireproof Armour: F50 (Ramplate), R42, L42, B45, T20, U20. Cost: $34,984, Acc: 15, Top Speed: 82.5, HC: 3, Weight: 4355 lb.
Driver: Enrico Fodde, deceased.
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