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Steel Colosseum is now live on Kickstarter! Steel Colosseum is a competitive team combat arena game for 2-4 players, featuring a series of scraps between two teams of two customisable fighting robots. Designed by Needy Cat Games, Steel Colosseum is also Zatu Games' very first publishing deal.
With this blog, we conclude our introductions and sneak peeks into the exciting robot fighters of Steel Colosseum. And for such a gigantic occasion, it's only natural that we introduce to you a very gigantic robot.
Introducing Juggernaut
Juggernaut is all about demolition. So much so, that it doesn't have much in the speed or agility department. But who needs speed when you're packing endless destruction ability?
If you're having trouble catching up with your opponents, there's no need to worry. You'll have the option of some powerful upgrades - including one that allows Juggernaut to attack first every time. It's also got an incredible amount of armour. You'll have a hard time taking out Juggernaut, even with critical damage!
And if you're somehow still not impressed, Juggernaut can use its wrecker arms to hit two enemies at once. It's so strong that it can even flip them around to expose their weak sides.
- Arena obstacles are a menace to Juggernaut. They get in the way, slow it down, and give its opponents a place to hide. Don’t worry though, the Demolish card is here to fix that, letting you remove obstacles from play entirely. They’ll soon run out of places to hide!
- Bulldoze lets Juggernaut push its engine to the max, giving it a burst of speed. If any other robots get in the way, they’ll lose some armour (and you’ll claim its scrap automatically!)
- Smash isn’t a complicated card, but it’s a perfect statement of intent for Juggernaut. You can’t move, but you can make a +2 attack - that’s a terrifying 4 damage to each target square if you’re using the Wrecker Arms, enough to clear even Sentinel’s front armour in a single hit.
In the World of Steel Colosseum
It was the final bout of the game, and everything was to play for.
All around Raul’s command pod, lights were flashing as notifications blared for attention. Flickering screens of footage scrolled across his vision, interspersed with data barks indicating Juggernaut’s status. It would have been a nightmarish cacophony to many, but Raul was in his element, conducting an electronic orchestra of combat protocols.
Magnetron was laying into Insectoid, and he was going to have to intervene. Once again, he was going toe-to-toe with Lake. This time he was going to make sure he came out on top.
‘How about this to start?’ Raul grinned, cranking the volume on his headset with one hand while his other flicked the activator for Juggernaut’s phase shifter. Diverger’s latest masterpiece filled his ears, and the crowd went wild as the modded teleport exchange system kicked into life.
Suddenly, Magnetron was facing not a battle-damaged Insectoid, but the multi-ton heavy-duty smashing machine that was Juggernaut. With Insectoid transported to safety, Raul could really let loose. His teammate Hanna wasted no time in scuttling her hideous construct after Relay before Indira could intervene.
Lake fired Magnetron’s sandblaster in an attempt to repeat their earlier distraction, but this time Raul was expecting it. The sandblaster’s spray of shrapnel was nothing to the blast of military-grade force from the claymore he’d rigged to Juggernaut’s front quadrant. Magnetron’s armour was utterly shredded, plates skittering away and exposing bare circuitry beneath.
Lake was no slouch. They swiftly deployed Magentron’s attractor in an attempt to pull some protection back to their ravaged robot, and Raul’s proximity alert also notified him that a repair drone was zipping overhead.
‘Not so fast, Lake!’
One of Juggernaut’s arms flicked up with surprising speed, pitching the drone out of the air.
‘Rude,’ Lake cracked over the comm.
‘You know what they say - all’s fair in the robotic combat colosseum.’
‘Oh sure. That well known saying,’ Lake retorted as Magnetron staggered back out of range. But Insectoid was right there, nipping at the scrappy robot with its awful blades. Lake sent Magnetron forward again, deploying a shock pulse to cover its escape.
Raul yowled as disruptive feedback drowned out his music, then winced as he saw several of Juggernaut’s smaller armour plates fly free.
‘That’s not going to stop me,’ he said, reaching out one of Juggernaut’s manipulators and seizing his rival robot.
The spectators roared, and the laser displays flared. Magnetron may have been born here at the Steel Colosseum, but everybody still loved to see Juggernaut end a bout.
‘Sorry Magnetron. I would say this is going to hurt me more than you, but… yeah, it’s not.’
He engaged full forward thrust. There was a terrible scream of rending metal as the demolition drone rode roughshod over Magnetron, crushing it under its heavy treads. The bout siren blared, and Raul sat back, exhausted, pulling off his headset and giving a weary thumbs-up to Hanna in the neighbouring pod.
‘Good bout, folks’ he said over the comm. ‘See you at the next match?’
‘I’ll see you in the pit!’ Lake replied. ‘You’re going to help me hammer some of these dents out of poor Magnetron.’
‘Seems fair. You're on!’ Raul grinned, before standing up to give an over-elaborate bow to the crowd. He’d never get tired of this.
Meet the Robots
There are five other robots to learn about, as well as four operators, so be sure to check out the whole Meet the Robots series. We also have a series of blogs on the team behind Steel Colosseum, which give some insight into how the game was made - and some sneak peeks at what's coming next!
And, of course, you can check out our Kickstarter page to learn everything you need to know about Steel Colosseum.
Editors note: This blog was originally published on April 1st, 2022. Updated on May 17th, 2022 to improve the information available.