The Autumn Games - 1

It's been a while since I ran a gladiator campaign and a longer while since I did one with another person. So last night Mrs Kobold and I started one. We used Blood, Sweat & Cheers.

We each have a school, and there's a third non-player school as well. Because of the way the bouts are structured the non-player school gets run by whichever player doesn't have a gladiator in the fight, with any out of fight decisions being made by die-rolls.

The core rules are HERE, but there's odd bits I've added over time, so I'll probably do a new post. I may even chuck in a few house-rules for Blood, Sweat & Cheers as well, so everything's in once place. 

Anyway, here are the schools.

This is Catherine's:

Amazon (Myrmillo)
Teucris (Sagittarius)
Medusa (Retiarius)
Margareites (Secutor)

My school consists of:

Volubilis (Myrmillo)
Victor (Crupellarius)
Rufina (Thraex)
Sabrata (Velite)

The school of the non-player Tertius is:

Spiculus (Dimacherius)
Scylax (Scissor)
Danaos (Hoplomachus)
Apollo (Velite)

We played one round last night. The Editor of the games asked Catherine to provide a medium gladiator, so that saw Margareites selected. I was allowed a free choice and selected the thraex Rufina. and finally Tertius also had a free choice and picked Danaos.

We then selected opponents and ended up with the following pairings:

Volubilis (Me) vs Margareites (Catherine)
Amazon (Catherine) vs Apollo (Tertius)
Rufina (Me) vs Danaos (Tertius)

I didn't keep detailed accounts of each fight.

Round 1 - Bout 1 - Volubilis (Myrmillo) vs Margareites (Secutor)

A simple sword-fight to start things off. 

Volubilis got the crows on his side very quickly and wounded Margareites. The secutor never really recovered and was soon knocked down and finished off by the myrmillo. The crown were firmly on the side of Volubilis and started the campaign with a kill. 

So I picked up 2 Prestige for the win, and Catherine got nothing. 

Round 1 - Bout 2 - Amazon (Myrmillo) vs Apollo (Veles)

A classic speed vs armour matchup. 

Catherine had some appalling combat rolls in this, and I (playing for Tertius) got a lot of useful cards that meant I could keep the myrmillo at a distance and pepper his with javelins. Amazon staved off one disaster with a Fortuna's Favourite card, but eventually Apollo, buoyed up by the cheering crowd, felled the myrmillo. Again the crowd were not feeling merciful, but some influence from the Imperial family saw Amazon spared. 

Catherine picked up 1 Prestige, whilst Tertius got 2 Prestige. 

Round 1 - Bout 3 - Rufina (Thaex) vs Danaos (Hoplomachus)

Rufina is one of my unlucky gladiators, in that she seems to lose more often than she wins. I selected two of these figures for my school on the hope I could break their curse.

She did good in this bout, getting in a couple of wounding hits on Danaos. Danaos threw his spear, but missed, but then rallied and pressed Rufina hard, knocking her down at one point. However she bounced back, and a wicked slash of her sica finished off Danaos. 

Again teh crowd has no mercy, but one again that quiet Imperial influence saw Danaos spared. Someone important  doesn't want to see expensive gladiator flesh being dragged out of the arena by hooks.

So I picked up 2 Prestige for my second win of teh round, and Tertius picked up 1 Prestige for Danaos.

So at the end of the first round the standings are as follows:

Catherine - 1 Prestige (One loss with Missio)

Amazon (Myrmillo) - 1 Bout
Medusa (Retiarius) - 0 Bouts
Teucris (Sagittarius) - 0 Bouts
Margareites (Secutor) - 1 Bout

Me - 4 Prestige (Two wins)

Volubilis (Myrmillo) - 1 Bout
Victor (Crupellarius) - 0 Bouts
Rufina (Thraex) - 1 Bout
Sabrata (Veles) - 0 Bouts

Tertius - 3 Prestige (One win and one loss with Missio)

Spiculus (Dimacherius) - 0 Bouts
Scylax (Scissor) - 0 Bouts
Danaos (Hoplomachus) - 1 Bout
Apollo (Velite) - 1 Bouts

So at the start of the next round Catherine will have to pick up a new medium gladiator.