I have been working on a Roman gladiator project recently. I recently bought three sets of Foundry gladiators and painted them along with a bunch of Steve Barber Roman spectators.
I also purchased a Playmobile Roman coliseum / arena. My daughter painted it for me.
I bought a copy of Sons of Mars and read through the rules. I think they have a good amount of period flavor, and they seem to be okay. I have been toying with a concept for a die progression system that is tailor made for something like gladiators. Then today in a text conversation with Greg, I hit upon the idea of using mechanics similar to Blood and Swash. I still have some of the details to work out, but I think I am going to call it Blood and Sand. Stay tuned….