Second Gladiator Playtest Proves Small Arena

A general melee breaks out in our "Heavies vs. Lights" gladiator game using my 28mm Crusader Miniatures figures

 I have 33 gladiators painted now, more than enough for my very large History classes that I plan to run it for the week before winter break. But what to use for arenas? I figured that I needed at least three (which would be 10 students per arena in my largest class), so I wanted to do something inexpensive -- a scratch-build, of course. I scoured Hobby Lobby for ideas, and found a circular wooden sign that was about 15.5" across. I bought it, marked its surface up with 1.25" hexes (my gladiator bases are 1" hexes), and we gathered for a playtest Sunday evening.

Donal the Gaul, right, a Provocator, mixes it up with a heavier Dimachaerus, Jugula the Numidian

We were seeing if a much smaller arena meant matches would go too quickly. We had six players and played two games using the small arena. All of us felt that it was a good length of game -- especially considering my classes are only an hour long. In the first game we had three teams of two each. Each team had a heavily armored gladiator paired with a lightly armored gladiator taking on the other teams.

3 heavier armored gladiators at top face off against 3 faster, lighter-armored ones at bottom in my small arena playtest

I played Massinissa, a heavily armored Provocator from Numidia. I was teamed up with Syphax, a Carthaginian Retiarius. I don't seem to have a lot of luck at this game, for some reason. In my first exposure to it at Advance the Colors 2019 when Randy Miller an a pickup game, my die rolls were abysmal and my opponents' were on fire. It was similar with Massinissa. Jenny's Laquearius, Gilgamesh, lassoed my Numidian and he was nearly helpless as the other two teams took turns hacking away at him. In the end, Bruce and Brian's team of Simba the Retiarius and Brennus the Gaul were declared the winners, as only one gladiator remained standing to fight them.

Syphax, left, and Simba, two Retiarii, square off while Brennus the Gaul trades blows with a Cruepllarius

In our second game, Keith suggested we do two teams -- one heavy vs. one light. I took Donal the Gaul, a Secutor who was a more truly a medium gladiator (Armor of 7 instead of the Retiarii armor of 9 -- higher numbers are worse in the rules). I figured my two allies, Brian's Simba the Retiarius and Keith's Mikipsa the Velite, needed someone who could trade blows with our heavier foes. It was an interesting matchup, with our lighter gladiators dashing in to strike a few blows, then withdrawing to force the slower, heavier gladiators to use up their action points closing with us.

Mikipsa the Velite, left, is the epitome of a light gladitaor, moving around the arena and tossing his 3 javelins

Jenny's gladiator, Lucius the Scissores, was heavily wounded in the leg early on and was only able to hop one hex per phase. Mikipsa ran around hurling javelins, while Brian and I tried to remain elusive. I had battle royale with Jugula the Dimachaerus. In one turn I scored about 7 blows against him, all turned away by his armor. Simba took advantage of his distraction and struck him from the side, though, and eventually, Bruce's gladiator went down. With one heavy out, another severely wounded, we called it a victory for the lights.

So far, three of my friends (Jenny, Keith, and Bruce) have volunteered to come in to the school that day and help me run the games. That will allow me to run four arenas, which will mean we will have 6-8 gladiators per arena, instead. That should make the game go faster, I think, and hopefully finish within an hour's period.

Keith and Jenny also had another suggestion for what to use for my circular walls of the arena -- quilting hoops. That means another trip to the craft store and hopefully I can find something even more suitable for an arena. Either way, with my gladiators all painted, it's time to begin working on arenas!

"Those About to Die, Salute You!"

My Lead Painters League #11 photo of my first batch of 28mm Crusader Miniatures gladiators

Earlier this year, I made the decision that I wanted to bring a gladiator game to my 7th grade students when we study the Colosseum during our Ancient Rome unit. Since my classes are around 30 students each, that meant I'd need a lot more gladiators. So, I have been painting a lot more up, lately.

So, this round of the league needed a "large figure," so I went out and bought a 54mm gladiator to use in "Who's Got the Big Guy...?"

My first batch were from Crusader Miniatures 28mm line. I really like the look of these figs, and I painted 16 of them up awhile back as part of the last time I entered the Lead Painters league. Since it was part of the league, I took even more time on details - especially the shields, which are all hand painted and came out nicely, I thought. I had two more packs left -- pack ANG003 - Retiarii & Laqueaius and ANG009 - Sagittarius & Velites -- which would still leave me short of the minimum 30 I'd need. Luckily, my friend Keith had a number of unpainted 28mm gladiators, so I picked up 10 more off of him (which are on my painting table right at this moment).

One of my retiarius gladiators from Crusader Miniatures -- Hephaistos

I decided NOT to paint the archer (Sagittarius) because I didn't want to deal with bows, so had seven gladiators in that batch, which I finished just in time for last Sunday's playtest. It was quite the rush getting not only the figs done, but marking out a hex mat using a Litko template. I also wanted to make individualized character sheets for the gladiators with a picture of the miniature on it. I decided to go all out (of course!), and gave them names, as well.

Another lightly-armed gladiator -- Gilgamesh the Laquearius

Of course, after our playtest, I came up with a couple changes I needed to make on the character sheets, which meant going back and adjusting 23 sheets. However, I think I have them down well, now.

Tiberius the Velite was one of the gladiators I ran in our playtest, though he survived he did not do so well

I also am pretty happy with the Arena Games rules, which can be downloaded on Wargames Vault for only $10.  These are the same rules that my friend Randy has run successfully at area conventions for a couple years, now. I did modify them a bit to make them even more simple for my 12-13 year old students. I also wanted them to move fast since we'll have only a one hour class period to play the game.

Mikipsa the Velite was MUCH more successful, Brian causing a lot of damage with him

So, it's been a lot of gladiators on my painting table, of late. When I am finished, I'll have 33 to choose from. There is no "point system" in the Arena Games rules. I like the balance of how the more lightly armed gladiators tend to move fast and get more action points (APs) then the heavier armed ones. However, they take less damage, of course, so there is a balance. Is it 100% equal and fair? Of course, not. However, there is a fair amount of die rolling in this game, so it should even out.

I painted my gladiators in a variety of nationalities, from Africans to North African/Arab to European

I've included some pictures of my first batch of 16 gladiators from the Lead Painters league photos, as well as the more recent batch of seven. Once I finish my last 10, I hope some people can help me identify the manufacturer(s), because Keith had them glued onto bottle caps and primed already when I purchased them.

Donal the Gaul here looks like he was plucked straight from a line of Ancient Gauls (not gladiators) -- I like how his shield game out, though!

Perhaps we will do one more playtest because -- shocker, I know -- we made a couple key mistakes when playing the game the first time. If so, it'll be in the next couple weeks because I want to do this before winter break. So, to paraphrase from the movie Airplane: "Billy, do you like gladiator figures...?"

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?