The Summer Games Of 2023 - Part One

With eight new gladiators added to my collection there was only one way to give them all the outing they deserved - another campaign!

Regular readers of this blog will know that I end up running a gladiator campaign about once a year, and will probably know the format by now. Once again I ran three schools - those of Primus, Secundus and Tertius. Each school could field four gladiators at any time, one each of light, medium and heavy and one extra of any weight. There would be a series of Rounds, with each consisting of three Bouts. Each school would fight in two Bouts. 

The campaign rules are HERE, with some modifications HERE. I ran the campaign with my adjustment to the dimachaerus, as well as my experimental changes to the barbarian and to the hoplomachus as outlined HERE.

Here are the gladiators at the start of the campaign. I spread the eight new ones between the schools, and then added in other ones to make up the numbers. So you'll see new faces, and a few old friends in there.

Primus had the following gladiators:

Velox (Sagittarius), Bellerefons (Murmillo), Baccibus (Veles) and Prudes (Hoplomacus)

Secundus had the following fighters:

Verus (Hoplomachus), Xerxes (Veles), Grumio (Murmillo) and Thalia (Retiarius)

Finally this was the school of Tertius:

Tetraites (Thraex), Culex (Veles), Herminia (Dimachaerus) and Atrox (Murmillo)

So partially because of the limited nature of the new batch of figures, and partially because of the random picks I ended up with every school having both a murmillo and a veles, and two of them having a hoplomachus.

I rolled for the first picks from each school. Primus had to choose their least-experienced gladiator, which was all of them, so a random roll gave us Velox.  Secundus had to pick a light, so chose Thalia. And Tertius had to pick a medium gladiator, and went for Tetraites.

Tertius chose to match Herminia with Thalia, Secundus opposed Velox with Verus and finally Primus chose to send in Bellerefons against Tetraites.

Round 1- Bout 1 - Thalia (Retiarius) vs Herminia (Dimachaerus)

And away we go with the very first fight!

Herminia went straight into the attack. Thalia got a good run of single Glory cards and took the risk by matching the dimachaerus with some sneaky dagger attacks. This pleased the crowd, but did little else, and Thalia was quickly driven back.

Herminia was very much in  control of the fight now, and wounded the retiarius. Then for a few turns the two fighters circled each other warily.

Thalia attacked, but Herminia skillfully blocked it before countering with a flurry of attacks that thrilled the mob and cut Thalia down. The crowd were very much behind Herminia, and showed no mercy to Thalia, who became the campaign's first casualty.

So Secundus would need to find a new gladiator for his school, whilst Tertius picked up 2 Prestige.

Round 1 - Bout 2 - Velox (Sagittarius) vs Verus (Hoplomachus)

A first fight for two of the new figures. Both gladiators had a ranged capability. Indeed Velox would be relying on his, whilst that of Verus was a mostly one-shot affair.

Velox moved quickly to put some space between himself and Verus, and loosed off a couple of arrows as he did so, to no effect.

The archer took too longer aiming one of his shots, and Verus was able to duck past it, knock him down and wound him. The speedy Velox got up, though, and was soon back in action.

Unfortunately Verus got a good run of cards, tripped Velox again and, before he could get to his feet, finished him with a spear-thrust.

The crowd were merciful, so Velox survived and earned 1 Prestige for Primus, whilst Verus' win gave Secundus a very welcome 2 Prestige.

Round 1 - Bout 3 - Tetraites (Thraex) vs Bellerefons (Murmillo)

There would be few gimmicks in this fight; it would be the cut and slash of the thraex against the armoured might of the murmillo. And, once again, it saw two new figures take to the arena.

Tetraites took control of the fight at the start, skillfully driving Bellerefons back and inflicting a light wound on him.

Bellerefons fell, but a desperate attack from the ground actually saw him wound the thraex before he was able to get to his feet.

Bellerefons wounded the thraex again, but Tetraites fought back and a burst of adrenaline saw him lunge at the murmillo and inflict another serious wound.

A deft slash of his sica saw Bellerefons defeated and asking for missio.

The crowd granted him mercy; they'd seen a good bloody fight with both gladiators wounded and plenty of action. Bellerefons earned 1 Prestige for Primus, whilst Tetraites picked up another 2 Prestige for Tertius.

So at the end of Round One the Primus has 2 Prestige (two losses with Missio), Secundus also had 2 Prestige (one win) and Tertius had 4 Prestige (Two wins). Secundus replaced the unfortunate Thalia with the barbarian Andromache.

In Round 2 the editor asked Tertius to provide a heavy, which saw Atrox enter the arena. Secundus had a free-pick, and opted for Verus, hoping to get him some more experience. Primus had to field a medium gladiator, and went with his hoplomachus, Prudes.

Primus chose to oppose Atrox with the veles Baccibus. Secundus picked newcomer Andromache to face Prudes. And, finally, Tertius sent Herminia to face Verus, also looking to pick up some experience.

Round 2 - Bout 1 - Baccibus (Veles) vs Atrox (Murmillo)

Speed, agility and a ranged attack faced brute strength in this first bout.

Baccibus started well, throwing javelins and keeping out of Atrox's reach. The murmillo stumbled putting him in a dangerous position.

Baccibus closed in on Atrox, who managed to kick the veles' legs out from under him, leaving him on the sand as well. Both gladiators struggled to stand, but the lighter Baccibus got up first and defeated Atrox.

The crowd were not impressed and showed Atrox no mercy. Baccibus picked up 2 Prestige for Primus.

Round 2 - Bout 2 - Prudes (Hoplomachus) vs Andromache (Barbarian)

This was a very quick fight. Andromache went straight into the attack ...

... Prudes drove her back, hurled his spear and the barbarian was down.

The crowd were, once again, unimpressed, and Andromache was dispatched to whatever afterlife barbarians have. Prudes scored 2 Prestige for Primus, who was doing well in this round.

Round 2 - Bout 3 - Herminia (Dimachaerus) vs Verus (Hoplomachus)

The crowd were looking forward to this. Both gladiators had won their first round fights and were now facing off against each other.

Verus attacked first, driving Herminia back and back again. She survived one vigorous attack only by kicking sand at her opponent. The crowd didn't like that, but they did like her skillful parry when Verus attacked again; that's what they'd paid money to see. What they hadn't paid to see was Verus drive forward and drive his spear through Herminia and into the gate behind, ending the bout.

The crowd weren't pleased, having seen three quick fights in this round. However they liked Herminia, and were merciful ... this time. Herminia survived to earn 1 Prestige for Tertius, whilst Verus gave Secundus a welcome 2 Prestige.

Secundus had lost another gladiator - Andromache was replaced with the crupellarius Victor. Tertius replaced Atrox with another murmillo, the mighty Mongo.

Both Herminia and Verus have survived two bouts, so get to increase an attribute by 1. Naturally as a dimachaerus, Herminia increased her attack, making her truly dangerous, whilst Verus opted to improve his defence.

So at the end of two rounds the schools are in the following positions:

Primus - 6 Prestige (Two wins and two losses with Missio)

Baccibus (Veles) - 1 Bout

Velox (Sagittarius) - 1 Bout

Prudes (Hoplomachus) - 1 Bout

Bellerefons (Murmillo) - 1 Bout

Secundus - 4 Prestige (Two wins)

Xerxes (Veles) - 0 Bouts

Thalia (Retiarius - 0 Bouts

Verus (Hoplomachus) - 2 Bouts - +1 Defence

Grumio (Murmillo) - 0 Bouts

Andromache (Barbarian) - 0 Bouts

Victor (Crupellarius) - 0 Bouts

Tertius - 5 Prestige (Two wins and one loss with Missio)

Culex (Veles) - 0 Bouts

Tetraites (Thraex) - 1 Bout

Herminia (Dimachaerus) - 2 Bouts - +1 Attack

Atrox (Murmillo) - 0 Bouts

Mongo (Murmillo) - 0 Bouts

So in the next round there are already experienced gladiators to take down for extra Prestige.