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. 

I was going to run a gladiator participation game at this years games day. The problem was simple enough rules, that didn’t involve loads of complications.

The Rules I own so far are:

Rudis 

Blue sky, red sand,

Jugula 

Are you not entertained?

Warhammer historical – Gladiator 

Gladiator wars

I was considering running the Warhammer ones, then by chance I came across a model arena in a terrain forum. This arena had a set of cards next to it…after a few people asked what the rules were. EM4 Ludus Gladiatorius.

I ordered a set on 19th and to my surprise the package arrived on 21st. Bearing in mind it normally takes an extra day to get things here. So a big thank you to EM4 for their excellent service.

The game comes with everything you need, including 5 painted Gladiators 

The mechanics are simple- roll the combat dice and if the swords are greater than the shields then it is a hit. The tokens are for special actions – Savage attack, Feint, Dodge, Doughty defence. Each gladiator gets 7 such special actions and are crossed off when used. When played these are hidden from an opponent until the attack/defence is undertaken, this stops sneaky people changing their action to counter the special action played.

I will try it out with the kids today and see how it plays out. I know that EM4 are working on an upgraded set of rules, but these are nice an simple and ideal for what I want.

The one thing that I think is missing is a retiarius, but I think I have some knocking around somewhere. I should be able to knock up some stats based on the light gladiator in this set. He will probably be able to attack at a distance.

Update: I found my Gladiators and some lions….. just have to paint them now 😱