Munera Sine Missione - Sample Game

Over the last week or so I have been doing the rewrite of my 'Munera Sine Missione' gladiator rules, incorporating changes from the Southern Battle Gamers, as well as odd ideas of my own. It's mostly there (just needs another read-through to remove errors really), so I thought I'd play through and post a game using it so people can get an idea how the game actually works.

'Munera Sine Missione' uses hexes. If you don't like hexes, you won't like this game. Stop reading now. Gladiators take alternate moves, rolling a D6 to determing how many Action Points (AP) they get. AP can be spent to move and attack, in any order the gladiator wishes.

For this sample game I used a Myrmillo (who we'll call Mercurio) and a Retiarius (who we'll call Remus)

We'll start with Remus. He's armed with a net and a trident. Both weapons are best used at a range of two hexes. Remus wears light armour, which gives him +1 to his AP. Light armour gives him an armour save of 1.

Here's Remus. He's from Black Tree Designs.

Mercurio is more heavily armoured. He has light armour, a large shield and an enclosed helmet. The light armour gives him +1AP, but the large shield gives him -1AP, so he has a net +0AP. The light armour has a save of 1, the helmet a save of 1 and the large shield a save of 2, so Mercurio has a basic armour save of 4 (although if attacked from some directions the shield may have little or no effect). He carries a sword.

Here's Mercurio. He's from Foundry. There's a lot of other gladiators behind him.

Both gladiators start with a Strength of 4. To that they each add the score of a D6 - Mercurio rolls a 2 (Strength of 6) and Remus rolls a 4 (Strength of 8).

Both gladiators roll a dice to see who goes first, and Mercurio wins.

The fight is on!

Turn 1

Mercurio rolls a D6 for AP and gets a 1. He advances 1 hex.

Remus rolls a 1, so gets 2AP. He advances two hexes.

Turn 2

Mercurio rolls 5AP, but only uses a couple to advance two hexes forward. It doesn't pay to close too quickly, as if your opponent rolls well they can move in and attack before you get a chance.

Remus rolls 2AP (a roll of 1, plus the bonus), and cautiously advances one hex. With his weapons having a longer reach he's better keeping his distance.

This is the position at the end of Turn 2

Turn 3

Mercurio rolls 2AP. He can't close and attack, but an advance will put him in reach of Remus's weapons. He stays where he is. He can't move back because, with his enclosed helmet, such a move costs him 3AP.

Remus rolls a total of 5AP. He advances two hexes (costs 2AP), which now puts him within attack range. He sweeps with his net (another 2AP) needing a 5 or 6 on a D6 to entangle Mercurio. He rolls a 3, and misses. Mercurio jumps back one hex, and Remus takes a point of fatigue for missing with an attack. With his final AP Remus moves forward one hex, staying within range of his weapons.

Turn 4

Mercurio rolls 1AP and moves one hex forward. He is now adjacent to Remus. Although he can't attack Remus, Remus is now at a disadvantage with his weapons unless he steps back.

Remus rolls 4AP. He steps back (which costs 2AP) and attacks with his net (2AP). A roll of 6 is a hit! Mercurio is entangled.

The position at the end of Turn 4.

Turn 5

Being entangled makes Mercurio easier to hit, and gives him a whopping -3 on his AP roll.

Mercurio rolls a 6, getting a total of 3AP. He uses the first to attempt to cut free of the net, needing a 5 or 6 on a D6. he rolls a 5, which means he escapes the net, but that Remus recovers it (a 6 would have meant that the net was shredded and lost). He then advances one hex so he is adjacent to Remus, and attacks him with his sword for his final AP.

A weapon attack is done with an opposed die roll, the attacker getting bonuses and penalties to his roll. Any difference in the attacker's favour is the number of wounds inflicted, unless the defender rolls equal to or under their armour save. If the roll is a draw or the defender wins then the defender jumps back one hex, and the attacker takes a point of fatigue. If both gladiators roll the same number (before modifiers), then a special event occurs instead. The nature of the event is determined by the number rolled.

In this case, the first attack of the game, both gladiators roll a 4. This means that Remus is knocked to the ground.

Remus rolls a 2 for his AP. He gets a +1 for his light armour, but takes a penalty of -2 for being on the ground, so he has a total of 1AP. He automatically stands up (a free move, regardless of how many AP you roll), but can't attack with either his net or trident because both cost 2AP to use. He therefore uses his last AP to make an improvised attack. This costs 1AP, but has a big penalty - it represents attacking with a kick, head-butt or weapon shaft.

He rolls a 5, modified to a 3 for the penalty. Mercurio rolls a 4. Remus misses, and Mercurio jumps back. Which puts him where Remus wants him. Remus takes a point of fatigue, though.

Turn 6

Mercurio rolls 6AP. He sidesteps forward for 3AP, then moves forward one hex and turns one hexside. He can now attack Remus's side hexside with his last AP, which gives him a bonus on his roll.

Both gladiators roll a 5! Another special event, in this case a lost shield. Remus doesn't have a shield, so it becomes a lost helmet instead. But he doesn't have a helmet either, so it becomes 1D6 wounds, with no save roll allowed. Mercurio rolls a 1, and draws first blood.

Remus rolls 2AP, and jumps back one hex.

Here's Mercurio attacking Remus

Turn 7

Mercurio rolls 4AP. He sidesteps, which allows him to attack Remus from the side again. He rolls a 2, giving him an attack total of 4. Remus rolls a 3. So Mercurio hits for 1 wound. Remus needs a 1 on a D6 to save, rolls a 3 and takes the hit.

Wounds are taken from the gladiator's strength, so Remus now has a strength of 6. At half strength a gladiator is seriously wounded, and get an AP penalty. If fatigue exceeds current strength a gladiator gets penalties for being tired. If strength reaches zero a gladiator loses and must appeal to the crowd.

Remus rolls 2AP again (unlucky). he turns to face Mercurio, and does another improvised attack. He rolls 4, reduced to 2 against Mercurio's 5, so the attack misses. He takes another point of fatigue, and Mercurio jumps back.

Turn 8

Mercurio rolls 1AP, so just advances so the he is adjacent to Remus again.

Remus rolls 7AP! He sidesteps twice and turns, putting him on Mercurio's right side at two hexes range. He then attacks with his trident, rolling a 5 to Mercurio's 6. However he gets a +2 bonus for the side attack, so it's 7 vs 5 - Remus inflicts 1 hit on Mercurio. Mercurio rolls his save; his shield only counts for 1 at this angle. He rolls a 5, and fails, so he takes 1 wound.

Remus doesn't expend his last AP. Expending 7AP or more in a turn causes a point of fatigue.

Both gladiators are now bleeding. Here's the position at the end of Turn 8.

Turn 9

Mercurio rolls 3AP. He turns, advances one hex and attacks. He rolls a 3 against Remus's 4, which is a fail. Remus jumps back and Mercurio takes a point of fatigue.

Remus rolls 7AP. He sweeps with his net for 2AP, and misses, gaining a point of fatigue. He then advances for 1AP, and attacks with his trident. This now costs 3AP because it is his second attack this turn.

Both gladiators roll a 2 - another special event. In this case the defender is knocked to the ground but wit the added penalty that if the attacker ends his turn adjacent to the gladiator he surrenders and appeals to the crowd.

Remus has 1AP left. He takes a point of fatigue (he's now on 6, equal to his current strength), and advances so that he is adjacent to Mercurio. Mercurio must surrender - the fight is over!

Mercurio appeals to the crowd. This is done by rolling 2D6, the score of which is modified for various factors such as wounds, fatigue, whether the crowd like the particular type of gladiator and how much mercy they've already dished out that day. Low rolls are bad.

Mercurio rolls a double six - the crowd love him.

So Remus wins, but Mercurio lives to fight another day. Neither gladiator was badly wounded, although Remus was starting to tire.

I hope you found this walk-through of the game interesting. I will be posting version 2.0 of 'Munera Sine Missione' to the Free Stuff page of this blog once it's finalised.