I used the system I outlined in this post in order to determine opponents and how skilled they were. However I made sure that the pool of possible opponents incuded the weapons which needed to be tested. Since these include the two parrying weapons - the scissor and the arbelas - I needed to make sure that my chosen gladiator had a long weapon. To that end I chose Ellenikos, who is armed with a long spear, carries a small shield and wears an enclosed helmet and light armour.
In his very first bout he faced the scissor-wielding Mordax. A wrong move with his spear here could see him deftly disarmed. It happened once, but Ellenikos used the morale-boosting effect of the cheers of the crowd to sidestep and recover it.
In a swift bout he downed Mordax, forcing to appeal to the crowd for mercy. They granted it.
This gave Ellenikos a skill. With the spear being disadvantaged at close range, I chose Attack in order to offset this.
As with the previous campaign, you can assume that a sufficient period of time - weeks at least - has passed between each bout to allow Ellenikos to recover and train.
In his second bout he faced the unskilled retiarius, Cupido. This was a scrappy fight, with both gladiators flailing away at each other with little effect. Cupido was the more inept, though, and his limited armour meant that he was slowly wounded to the point where he had to appeal for mercy. The bored crowd couldn't be bothered and let him live.
Ellenikos didn't get a skill from that bout. In his third bout he faced the barbarian Andromache - unarmoured except for a large shield, and wielding a sword. She had the Defend skill, which offset our hero's Attack.
This fight ranged across the arena, and both gladiators seriously wounded each other. Ellenikos eventually knocked his foe to the ground with his shield, and she was forced to appeal. The crowd thought about it for a bit, but decided she had been entertaining and let her live.
Ellenikos scored a second skill from that bout, and chose Agile, on the grounds that he'd been rolling a lot of ones for AP.
His fourth bout saw him up against the little murmillo, Pugnax. Pugnax was unskilled, and the result was inevitable; Ellenikos outmanoeuvred him and outfought him whilst barely raising a sweat. His armour and shield protected him for a while, but it was soon all over. Badly wounded, Pugnax was forced to appeal, but the crowd weren't interested. he was dispatched.
Again there was no skill from that bout. In his fifth bout the odds finally caught up with Ellenikos, and he ended up facing a gladiator more skilled than he was; the formidable arbelas, Telemonius. This was another gladiator with a parrying weapon, but he was also well-protected with armour.
This was a long fight. Both gladiators ended up seriously wounded, and as it dragged on they became more and more tired.
Sadly I was then called away from the game, but I decided that it would be fair at that stage to call it a draw, assuming that the referee stopped it.
Ellenikos has now survived five bouts, and has both the Attack and Agile skill. For his next skills I will start using the two new ones, Veteran and Tactician. In the final bout Telemonius actually had Tactician, but never got a good opportunity to use it; it's a once per game skill, and a suitable opportunity never presented itself.
I will try and continue the campaign tomorrow.
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