Gladiators - Trying Out 'Blood, Sweat, and Cheers'

Pick a gladiator and enter the arena! My stable of 28mm Gladiators

Keith wanted to try out Ganesha Games' "Blood, Sweat, and Cheers" gladiator game at our regular, Sunday evening gaming session. I was excited because it meant that my 28mm gladiators would finally be used in a game. Plus, I am looking for a system that I can use to teach to my 7th grade students when we learn about Ancient Rome and gladiators in class. It has to be easy to teach, and simple enough for the 12-13 year old kids to understand, of course!

My Murmillo, left, against Brian's Hoplomachus, right

Keith spent the weekend preparing, printing out decks and cards for gladiators, along with quick reference sheets. Since there were seven of us, he matched us up in three, one-on-one games. I like that each of the different fighting styles has a different card and stats. There are three basic stats -- Speed, Attack, and Defense, which range in values from 1 to 6. Typically, they seem to be 2 - 4. For example, my first gladiator was a Murmillo, a heavily-armed gladiator who had a Speed of 2, Attack of 3, and Defense of 4. I was matched up against Brian's Hoplomachus, another heavily-armed gladiator with a spear, but whose stats were all 3's.

Thanks to a timely Fortuna's Favorite card, Brian's gladiator goes down before my Murmillo

Speed is critically important, and this is how the game allows the very Roman method of matching heavier armed gladiators (like Brian and mine) against lighter armed ones, such as a Retiarius (trident and net guy). The slower gladiator plays his one or two card choices for his action before the faster one, who can then react and select which cards he wants to play. In the five matches I fought that evening, I was the faster one only once, and it WAS nice being able to react. It took us our first match and partway into the second to really get the system down in our heads. There were subtleties that we did not notice right away, including the fact that after each two-round turn you can discard any of the remaining cards in your hand before drawing up to your compliment of five, again.

Those about to die, salute you! From left, Brian, Keith, Joel, Mike S, Mike W, and Allen

Blood, Sweat, and Cheers is a card-driven game. Your hand of five cards can include any of the following, which is a typical deck in the game:

• 9 Step Cards
• 11 Strike Cards
• 9 Guard Cards
• 6 Glory Cards
• 3 Roar of the Crowd Cards
• 1 Fortuna's Favorite Card
• 1 Imperial Interest Card

Each of the cards allows your gladiator to, in order above, move, attack, defend, use their fighting style special abilities, take advantage of the crowd's favor, swap dice scores with your opponent, and...well, I never saw my Imperial Interest, but I heard it saves you from dying or something. Once we got it down, games went quickly. I learned that Fortuna's Favorite is a VERY powerful card - indeed, it was how I won my first match against Brian. We both attacked, and I rolled a 1 and he a 6. I swapped our dice, and the difference between our scores was 5 or more, so his gladiator was down and out of action. Boom! Just like that, it can end quickly. In fact, Allen and Mike W's first game ended on the second turn of fighting.

Our night's marathon match with Mike W and Allen well-matched

Most matches tended to last 10-20 minutes, though Allen and Mike's rematch went for a half hour or so. With an odd number for the evening, we swapped opponents, which meant we had some of us who played a lot of games and some who played fewer. Mike Stelzer's Thraex (Thracian) was the clear winner, going undefeated in four matches. There is even an mechanism for deciding whether your losing gladiator gets the thumbs up and lives, or whether his appeal for mercy is denied and he is dispatched at the end. Here was our final standings for the evening:

1. Mike S, 4-0
2. Mike W, 3-1
3. Mike D, 3-2
4. Brian, 2-2
5. Keith, 1-2
6. Joel 0-3
7. Allen 0-3

A funny thing happened in the arena tonight: Only Mikes could beat other Mikes (the three of us beat all non-Mikes)

How did I like it? Well, it IS quick, and possible to get many bouts in during an evening's play. The Glory cards do a great job of making each gladiator type different. There is almost no record keeping and you need only dice, a few counters, and cards. You will need action separate deck for each gladiator, which costs either money to purchase or print. Ideally, I would like rules for matches between multiple gladiators on a side. However, no one said they are uninterested in playing again, and most saw possibilities. Mike S loved it, of course - but that tends to happen when you win, right?