Posted on by maenoferren22

Ludus Gladiatorius- cards

Well this took about 3 hours to get sorted. I decided to do 4 sets of cards to let me allow 4 players at once.

Really pleased with the results. I was going to laminate them, but that will take time away from sorting out the arena.

My life would have been easier if I could have printed on both sides rather than having to do a side fold type which was then glued together.


 I will probably sit them under a couple of heavy books to flatten them a bit more. I decided to decorate them with original mosaics. Each player gets a different set.

Posted on by maenoferren22

Gladiators- almost finished…

Well this half dozen are almost finished, still 3 lions and 3 medium types to get finished too.


So from left to right we have:

Laquearius

Retiarius with a spear and rete rather than a trident.

Standard Retiarius 

Sagittarius 

Velite ( or possibly a venator/bestiaries or even a noxii (cannon fodder)

And the last one…. errrrr he is a parmularius as he is carrying a small shield, but after that is anyone’s guess. He isn’t a thraex as he doesn’t carry a sica, or for that matter wear a helmet. If he had a curved blade in his shield hand it could be argued that he is a scissor. As it stands he is a medium gladiator.

Posted on by maenoferren22

Ludus Gladiatorius Arena III

Working on the dais tonight.

Wooden floor and expensive Persian rugs. The rugs (if full size) would have cost me £3000+ 


Still a load of work to do before Saturday, the time is taken up with waiting for the PVA to dry. I am still waiting on the internal palisade to dry. The carpet on the raised stones is to be draped over, the seat will be covered with cloth and if I have time- cushions.

Update:

I decided to add a stone face to the front wall rather than timber.

Posted on by maenoferren22

Gladiators – slow progress 

Slow progress indeed. With working on the arena at home and trying to paint at work (people forget I am allowed a lunch break) with the phone going and people wanting me these are taking forever.

To be honest though, there is really only the metallics to do and the weapon shafts hair and nets washed and highlighted. I don’t think I am going to bother painting in the eyes. Once these are done I have a Hopolomachus, a few lions and a Dimacherius to finish. All before Saturday.

Posted on by maenoferren22

Ludus Gladiatorius – The Arena II

Managed to get a bit more sorted out tonight.

I have built the palisade on the inside of the wall as well as a pair of gates. I also knocked up some stone steps to reach the dais.


I have to wait until tomorrow to carry on as I want the palisade to be completely dry before going onto the outer wall. To be honest I will probably use either double sided tape or a hot glue gun.

Posted on by maenoferren22

Ludus Gladiatorius – the Arena

As you can tell, Gladiators are my next big thing, well actually they have already been a thing for years. Now as mentioned on a previous post or two Ludus Gladiatorius comes with absolutely everything you need to play the game. But for the Games day I decided to make a simple provincial arena.  

This is being made out of 10mm extruded polystyrene.  For speed I decided to do squares instead of hexagons. 

This will have an internal planked wall (and possibly external) the gates will be under the dais at the back. To be honest for speed I haven’t really bothered with a way in, but this may change 🤣.


Regarding Ludus Gladiatorius. Doug from EM4 replied to my email stating that LG II is sold out and there aren’t that many of LG left either, but that a new version was in the pipeline with ‘lots of goodies’.

I will most certainly be waiting for it to come out, You can never have too many gladiators 👍. 

EM4 has loads of good stuff at really good prices. It is well worth giving them a look for both Painted and unpainted figures. 

http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Pre-painted_Miniatures.html

Posted on by maenoferren22

Ludus Gladiatorius II

Yippee, I have the second set of the rules and it does indeed have a lion and a retiarius, not to mention a  venator/bestiarius an amazon and a poor condemned slave.

Once again a big thank you to EM4 who gave me access to the Yahoo group and allowed me to download the LGII. 

The retiarius type will be useful for my Laquearius types armed with a lasso and a whip.

My Ludus will now be able to field a wider range of types than before.

Posted on by maenoferren22

Gladiators 

I cracked on a bit with these. I really do like the poses of them, however I think you can only get them from Old Glory in the states.


I only ever bought the lights and mediums, but never ever got round to getting some heavies. I will have to see what else is out there in terms of figures.

Posted on by maenoferren22

Ludis Gladiatorius – Game play

Well my eldest and I decided to give this a go this afternoon. We took a gladiator each Caladus a heavy type and Marcus Arillius a light (yours truly  ended up with the light). Although fast it would hurt if he got caught by the heavy.


Marcus is at the top and Caladus is in the bottom. 

Caladus moved first and advanced across the arena to engage Marcus,

Marcus then took his turn and advanced quickly. He was lucky and managed to go first. He rushed at Caladus and used a special action to increase his chance of hitting which failed miserably. Caladus  allowed the blows to connect with his shield and retaliated. Because of the savage attack he had undertaken Marcus had to take whatever Caladus threw at him.

  Luckily he managed to avoid all strikes. This stand off carried on for a good while as the crowds booed and threw threw fruit at the hapless pair. This seemed to spur Marcus on and he managed to get past the shield and draw blood.


Angered Caladus threw caution to the wind and attacked wildly. Sadly the enraged Gaul was so angry that he forgot all of his training and. completely missed his target.


Sadly for Marcus his luck ran out a few Moments later and he ran straight into. Caladus’ sword. Bleeding profusely he fought back managing to inflict another wound on the big Gaul. 


Sensing  his opponent was near the end of the line Caladus used his weight and strength to shower blows on his opponent. Marcus tried to protect himself but sadly the attacks came thick and fast. Thrown to the ground he had to wait for the Editor to decide his fate.


Luckily the home crowd was rooting for him and he avoided the blade to the throat. He would have a few more scars to show off to his adoring fans. Not to mention a nice share of the takings.

Well What do I think?

Both my daughter and I both enjoyed them. She thinks they will be good for the games day, easy to learn and quick play, which will allow drop in sessions.

She is trying to get me to use my alternative gladiators….


Now for the games day I am in two minds whether or not to make my own arena. I think the one that comes is fine, but I really do enjoy making things.

For a speedy game these rules are ideal and I would recommend them for a nice simple (and I don’t mean this in an insulting way) I can see me and the kids are going to be getting to grips with these. Version 2 is out, but sadly I can’t  find the rules anywhere. It comes with a retiarius, a lion and, from what it says on these rules,  some form of campaign setting.

Once again a big shout out to EM4 for their absolute lightning speed delivery. I had asked if they could get it to me ASAP thinking it would arrive mid week next week. Instead 2 days later I am playing with it.

We will see what we go for in terms of figures for the game I am speed painting extra gladiators from the Westwind range for Gladiator wars.

Part of me really wants to go for the Lego as my approach to the Games day is to organise stuff that people can play that wont break the bank, but to be honest a gladiator game that you can play straight out to the box for £ 12.50 with painted figures is an amazing price.  My lego gladiators shown above cost way more than the painted pewter ones.

I will post pictures of the day next weekend.