The Return Of Rufina

I do like this female gladiator figure, but she seems to be one of those miniatures that is cursed. On paper she's should be a reasonably OK fighter. She's a Thracian, and they generally do OK, and whilst she doesn't have the protection of a helmet, the extra mobility she gets should more than offset this. However she seems to lose more fights than she wins.

In an attempt to buck the trend I put her through a solo campaign. She actually rates as a light gladiator under Munera Sine Missione, so would fave medium and heavy foes only.

Her first fight was against Margareites, who fights with a sword and small shield. He was as unskilled and inexperienced as she but, true to form, he beat her in two turns without even raising a sweat. Fortunately the crowd were feeling merciful, and she survived to fight another day.

Her second opponent was Lenia, who fought with a sword and a curved sica. In this fight Rufina swapped her sica for a sword. And it seemed to be a good move ...

... as Rufina defeated her foe almost as rapidly as Margareites had defeated her. Again the crowd were merciful. This gave Rufina a skill. She improved her parrying ability.

Rufina's third foe was the Murmillo Achillia, who was equally skilled in defence, but who was also a favourite with the crowd.

This was a longer fight, as Rufina dodged around her heavier opponent, looking for an opening for her sica. Little by little she cut Achillia, dodging any return attacks, despite gradually tiring from her efforts. Finally she ducked under Achillia's guard, and fatally wounded Achillia. The opinion of the crowd would be irrelevant here, as their favourite bled to death on the sands of the arena.

This win gave Rufina a boost of prestige, and saw her replace Achillia as the darling of the crowd. However after her earlier defeat Lenia had also built up a following and had also practiced her parrying abilities as well. The two foes met again.

This time it was Rufina who was defeated, but the crowd had had enough of mercy - they had her put to the sword.

So the campaign lasted four bouts, and saw Rufina win two and lose two. So maybe she's not as cursed as I thought she was.

It was interesting that all three skilled gladiators ended up with the same two - Parry and Crowd-Pleaser.