Artemisia

Yet more gladiator testing? Does this man have nothing better to do?

Well, these games are pretty quick. That's my excuse. And this mini-campaign was the very tiniest of mini-campaigns. I used Artemisia, who has a sword, light armour a small shield and no helmet. She counts as a light gladiator, so under the Rules of the Arena (in my house) she will only fight those gladiators classed a medium or heavy.

I selected suitable foes for her from amongst my female gladiators, looking to have a bit of a Ladies' Night.

Her first opponent was Marpesia, who was armed and armoured in a similar fashion, but had a helmet. This made her less manoeuvrable, but better protected. Like Artemisia, Marpesia had no skills. Both gladiators smacked each other about, but it was Artemisia who finally fell wounded and sought the crowd's mercy. They liked her, and she lived to fight another day.

Her next opponent was Hippolyte, who had a large shield and a helmet to go with her armour and sword. She was also unskilled, but unlucky dice saw her start with a significantly higher stamina than Artemisia.

Artemisia used her edge in manoeuvre to good advantage. When Hippolyte stumbled, the nimble gladiator slipped round behind her and struck her a terrible blow. It left her bleeding heavily, but she kept fighting.

The fight ranged from one side of the arena to the other. Disaster struck for Artemisia when her sword broke, but she kept fighting, using her shield to push Hippolyte against the arena wall. A mighty blow almost downed her opponent, but she was still left with one wound. She struck back, knocking Atermisia's shield from her hand.

Artemisia was now wounded and her low stamina also meant she was tired as well. She couldn't get to her shield before Hippolyte, stumbling with exhaustion herself, sidestepped and ran her through, killing her instantly.

And that was it. Artemisia lasted two bouts. But I liked her style. We'll see how the Artemisia of a different universe fares another day.