Could this be the last round of the campaign? It was possible for two of the schools to reach the 15 Prestige victory level if the matchups and bouts went their way. Let's see what happens!
Primus and Secundus were both given a free choice in this round. Primus decided to put forward the inexperienced Melanippe, hoping to get her matched against an experienced gladiator for the extra Prestige. Secundus put forward Telamonius. Tertius was asked to provide a medium gladiator, so was limited to the Secutor, Priedens, also inexperienced.
The matchups, in the order that they would fight, ended up as follows: Priedens vs Kalendio, Melanippe vs Hero and, finally, Telamonius vs Andromache. Tertius didn't get a chance to field Xanthus for a possible 4 Prestige win.
Round 5 - Bout 1 - Priedens (Secutor) vs Kalendio (Retiarius)
This was a quick, but exciting fight. Priedens advanced, but Kalendio had a hand of Glory cards ready, and immediately netted him. This thrilled the crowd, but they were equally thrilled when the secutor cut his way free. However Kalendio had more tricks up his manica, and a swift dagger thrust defeated Priedens.
Despite the short fight the crowd were merciful to the novice secutor, who earned 1 Prestige for Tertius. Kalendio picked up 2 Prestige for Secundus.
(The +1 Favour that Kalendio got for cutting out of the net saved him on the missio roll. It was close!)
(The +1 Favour that Kalendio got for cutting out of the net saved him on the missio roll. It was close!)
Round 5 - Bout 2 - Hero (Murmillo) vs Melanippe (Dimachaerus)
A first fight for the agile Melanippe, against the experienced and aggressive Hero.
The bout started with a flurry of attacks and parries, before the two gladiators separated to catch their breath and assess their opponent.
Hero then charged in with a bold attack, and knocked down Melanippe. But before he could exploit his advantage she kicked out at him and knocked him down as well. They both got back up.
Melanippe inflicted a flesh wound on Hero, and the back and forth fight continued. Melanippe took a risk; lining herself up for a finishing strike, she opted to dodge. Hero used good fortune to strike and seriously wound her. Before she could recover she was seriously wounded again. One more hit would finish her.
In desperation she struck back and managed to knock Hero to his knees. With her last reserves of strength she rushed in and stabbed him into submission, for an unlikely win.
The crowd really enjoyed this fight, and happily spared Hero who gained 1 prestige for Tertius. Melanippe picked up 3 Prestige for Primus for defeating an experienced gladiator.
Round 5 - Bout 3 - Telamonius (Scissor) vs Andromache (Barbarian)
Primus was now only 1 Prestige from victory, so all Andromache had to do was survive the fight. In fact this meant that she could play for a draw, but I decided that wouldn't be sporting and made sure she actually attempted to win.
Saying that, her initial moves where cautious, as she backed away across the arena, avoiding some early aggressive moves by her heavily armoured foe.
It wasn't good enough. Telamonius caught her a wicked blow, which she failed to parry, and she was down.
But Andromache actually had a point of crowd favour on her side, so couldn't fail the missio roll. She survived to give Primus 1 Prestige. Telamonius picked up 2 Prestige for Secundus.
And that was it! Primus now had 15 Prestige and won the campaign. Here's his victorious gladiators (even Syphax, who never fought).
The final totals were:
Melanippe (Dimachaerus) - 1 Bout
Andromache (Barbarian) - 3 Bouts, +1 Defence
Mongo (Murmillo) - 3 Bouts, +1 Defence
Syphax (Crupellarius) - 0 Bouts
Secundus - 11 Prestige
Margareites (Secutor) - 2 Bouts, +1 Attack
Telamonius (Scissor) - 4 Bouts, +1 Attack
Kalendio (Retiarius) - 2 Bouts
Baccibus (Veles) - 0 Bouts
Tertius - 13 Prestige
Xanthus (Barbarian) - 4 Bouts, +1 Speed
Teucris (Sagittarius) - 1 Bout
Hero (Murmillo) - 3 Bouts, +1 Attack
Priedens (Secutor) - 1 Bouts
I played a couple of small rules changes. I have discovered (and confirmed with the author) a small omission in the rules: When a Roar of the Crowd card is played to add the current Crowd Favour to an attack total, the Favour is then set to zero (neutrality). Amongst other things this improves the survival rate of gladiators, since an opponent's positive crowd favour counts against them in the missio roll. If you use Roar of the Crowd to defeat your opponent, then you don't get an improved chance of the crowd dispatching them afterwards. However I guess you could opt to not spend some of the points if you didn't need them too win ...
The second change is based on a passing comment in the second edition rules - I have been allowing the Imperial Favour card to be played as a wild card - Strike, Step or Guard - so that it has a purpose outside of a campaign. The change is to have it act as a Glory card instead.
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