{"id":9082,"date":"2019-08-11T10:17:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-11T10:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=9082"},"modified":"2019-08-11T10:22:48","modified_gmt":"2019-08-11T10:22:48","slug":"blood-and-sand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=9082","title":{"rendered":"Blood and Sand"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my copious free time, I’ve continued to think a bit about gladiator rules. \u00a0There are some nice sets of rules already on the market, and I don’t see this as a commercial project. \u00a0I am looking for something quick and easy for one-off games. \u00a0Greg has been looking at distinguishing special abilities to make the various types of gladiators seem different. \u00a0The working title of these rules is Blood and Sand<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I am pretty sure the game will be run on a hexagon grid to make it abundantly clear the gladiator’s facing. \u00a0The discerning gamer who already knows the unbounded joy of Blood and Swash<\/em>, will find some of the mechanics very similar.<\/p>\n

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Above is a sample, working draft of a “character” card for a gladiator. \u00a0Note that gladiators can attack into their front three hexes. \u00a0When a player rolls up the gladiator’s attributes, one of the attributes is Attack. \u00a0That goes in the hex with the dark border. \u00a0The other two hexes have the Attack number modified as shown in the leftmost card. \u00a0Similarly, for defense, the dark hex contains the Defend attribute, and Defend is modified ginghams around the figure as shown on the right two cards.<\/p>\n

Each class of gladiator (heavy, medium, and light) will have a different chart for rolling up attributes.<\/p>\n

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Attribute generation chart (DRAFT) for heavy gladiators, such as Murmillo, Secutor, and Thraex. These are the more armored gladiators with large shields.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Attribute generation table (DRAFT) for light gladiators, such as Scissor, Sagittarius, Retiarius, Laquearius, and Dimachaerus. These are gladiators who carried now shields.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gladiators were most frequently grouped by class (e.g., heavy vs. heavy) to provide the most even, balanced, and entertaining match (sort of like the forced mediocrity created by the draft system in professional sports). \u00a0I’m not exactly sure how that will work in the game. \u00a0Greg is working on the scenarios and matchup. \u00a0Like recent sets of rules like Jugula<\/em> and Sons of Mars<\/em>, Greg has the idea that a player will have a stable (ludus) of gladiators and select the right one for the upcoming match. \u00a0I’m sure that will appeal to many gamers, but for me, I am looking for some quick games to fill and hour, not a campaign where I have to manage resources. \u00a0That sounds like work, not play. \u00a0Also, while the head of a ludus sounds interesting as a gaming mechanism, apparently they were considered about the same as pimps or flesh peddlers in their day.<\/p>\n

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Three Foundry gladiators<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have created a “middleweight” gladiator class that doesn’t seem to have existed formally. \u00a0Gladiators in this class include the\u00a0Provocator and Hoplomachus. \u00a0These are armored like heavy gladiators but carry a much smaller shield.<\/p>\n

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Two Foundry gladiators and a Bad Squiddo shield maiden I plan to use as a gladiatrix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Greg is also researching special abilities for the gladiator types within a class to distinguish them from each other. \u00a0Where Sons of Mars<\/em> has a lot of special abilities, many of those are already taken into account in the attribute generation tables. \u00a0We are looking for things more like a foot sweep tripping attack, and shield bash (using your shield as a weapon), etc. \u00a0More to come on that.<\/p>\n

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Two more Foundry gladiators<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You may note a Speed attribute on the character cards. \u00a0I envision two uses for this attribute. \u00a0First, it is the number of hexes a figure may move when it activates. \u00a0The second use will be to determine the activation sequence. \u00a0Instead of cards, I am thinking that at the beginning of each turn, players will roll d20 for each figure and add that figure’s Speed number. \u00a0The highest resulting number goes first and then on down the line. \u00a0I would like to do a d6, because that will make the Speed attribute more important than when rolling a d20, but I am worried about too many collisions requiring a “roll off.”<\/p>\n

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Two Foundry gladiators and an attacking lion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So that’s where I am today. \u00a0I am waiting for my sand-colored hex-grid cloth to arrive so that I can do the first play test. \u00a0Also, Greg is still working on the special abilities. \u00a0Stay tuned for more information as the concept matures. \u00a0I am hoping to have the cloth and be ready to run a game at Barrage<\/a>, 27-28 September.<\/p>\n

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The gladiatorial arena of Surdu-kahn. Tickets go on sale soon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n