The Covid Games - 7

Thursday night is still wargames night, so Catherine and I played another round of the Covid Games this evening.

Her school of gladiators had far and away the highest Prestige, so the editor of the games expected her to provide someone good to entertain the crowd. Rather than Danaos, who has really been getting far too much exposure, she selected the equally skilled murmillo Hero. He ended up facing one of my gladiators; the spear-armed secutor Alumnus. This would be the top-billed fight of the day.

And here's all of the gladiators parading for the crowd. On the left the dimachaerius Severus (Tertius) would be facing Catherine's retiarius Justina, whilst the opening fight of the day would be between two novices - my secutor Crixus against Tertius's laquearius Silvana.

Silvana did a great job of keeping Crixus at a distance with judicious use of her spear and lasso. She managed to knock away his sword at one point.

But she couldn't keep Crixus at bay forever. He closed rapidly, and lost his shield to her skillful lasso-work, but kept focused on the attack and wounded her a couple of times.

Injured and unable to dodge Silvana was no match for the secutor in a close fight, and was soon down on the sand seeking mercy. But the fight had been too short and the crowd wanted blood. Her career ended at the first fight.

This gave me a point of Prestige and my first win in five or six games. Crixus would also be eligible for a skill.

The second fight saw Justina the retiarius against Severus the dimacherius. Severus was slightly more experienced, and it showed.

Despite some enthusiastic net attacks, Justina was soon on the defensive, as Severus simply ploughed forward, attacking with both swords.

Justina was soon badly wounded. On her last hit in fact. A swing of her net saw Severus lose a sword. Confident he could finish her he left it on the sand, and turned for for the kill ...

... but a last, desperate attack Justina whipped her net around his legs, and saw Severus fall heavily to the sand. By a fluke she had dislocated his knee, leaving him defeated on the ground. The crowd were favourable, though; they'd had some blood already, and both gladiators had fought to their last. They spared Severus.

This gave Catherine two prestige for a win against a more highly skilled gladiator, but cost Tertius a point of Prestige. Justina was also due a skill.

The final fight saw Alumnus and Hero facing off. Both were especially proficient with their weapons, although Hero had the edge in stamina.

Alumnus started with a rapid charge which caught Hero flat-footed and saw him driven back.

Alumnus kept up the pressure, dancing around Hero's unshielded flank and jabbing with his spear. But eventually Hero got in an attack on Alumnus's unshielded side, and inflicted a deep and nasty wound.

Alumnus kept fighting, but was tiring fast from his exertions. Hero was tiring too, but with an edge in stamina he saw Alumnus fall first.

Tonight's feline emperor was Mr Wednesday. He'd had enough of these little playthings disturbing his rest, and ordered Alumnus dispatched. This gave Catherine a point of Prestige for the win, and cost me another gladiator; one with a skill as well. I've now lost five, if you're keeping score.

So after the evening's exertions, Catherine is way out in front with 12 Prestige, Tertius is down to 5 Prestige, whilst I have managed to increase mine to 4. Once again this leaves Catherine topping the bill in the next games, so we'll be seeing either Hero or Danaos in action. Maybe both.

The Covid Games - 6

Catherine went into the sixth round of our gladiator campaign as the top lanista, so was obliged to put her best gladiator forward as the star turn. So, once gain, we would be seeing the hoplite Danaos fighting in the arena.

The rest of the draw saw the following matchups, in order - the whip-armed Rodan (me) vs the dimacherius Severus (Tertius), followed by the myrmillo Hero (Catherine) against the thraex Bremusa (Tertius) and finally the hoplite Danaos (Catherine) vs the thraex Flamma (me).

Neither of the opening gladiators had any skills; this was a straight fight between a couple of novices.

Rodan kept his distance for the first part of the fight, looking to use his whip to gain an opening. He did so, knocking one of Severus's swords away from him. He closed to follow up his advantage, but failed to injure the dimacherius.

Severus rushed to recover his sword, whilst Rodan held off and continued to use his whip.

All this maneuver was tiring both gladiators, affecting Rodan's ability to evade attacks. Severus steeled himself, and rushed in close, pressing Rodan hard for a couple of turns. The combination of light wounds and fatigue forced the whip-armed gladiator to submit. The crowd spared him; the fight had been short but technically interesting, and they felt entertained.

This saw Tertius gain some prestige and Severus a skill.

The crowd now settled down to a classic matchup, as the myrmillo Hero took on the thraex Bremusa in a classic big-shield/small-shield fight. Both gladiators has some experience (Hero's prior to the campaign, if you're wondering how you hadn't seen him before).

Hero rushed into an immediate attack, and pretty much set the tone for the bout, driving Bremusa back.

She couldn't get an opening, as he pushed her back to the wall of the arena. At one point he knocked her shield away from her, and she spent an anxious few moments dodging his attacks to recover it.

The referee moved in to ensure there was no foul play, as Hero attacked again and again and Bremusa failed to find her way past his guard.

Bremusa was wounded twice, but it was fatigue that saw her stumble and eventually submit. Once again the crowd were merciful. Catherine gained a point of Prestige for her win and, because Hero and Bremusa were equally matched on skills, gave Hero another skill.

And so on to the top fight on that day's programme; Danaos vs Flamma. Danaos was far more experienced; it was his name that had given the fight its prestige. Meanwhile Flamma was an unskilled and inexperienced challenger, but I was hoping to get lucky and achieve the double of eliminating Danaos and picking up a skill for him.

Flamma took a leaf out of Hero's book, and closed quickly, hoping to push Danaos against the wall of the arena where his spear would be negated.

He tried hard, but Danaos was able to keep the thraex back.

Flamma gained a major advantage, though, when he parried one of Danaos's attacks, and snapped his spear

But Danaos is a seasoned fighter, and was able to keep up the pressure on the novice thraex with just his shield. He smacked away Flamma's sword, and then downed his opponent.

This bout went the full distance, and more, with the referee reluctant to step in and call it a draw. After such an entertaining spectacle, Flamma could expect mercy from the crowd.

He was disappointed. They'd not had any blood yet today, so decided that the novice thraex's time was up.

This gave Catherine another point of Prestige.

So at the end of this rond the prestige totals are:

Catherine - 9 Prestige
Tertius - 6 Prestige
Me - 3 Prestige

Our current stables (with skills) are as follows:

Catherine

Danaos (Hoplite) - Agile, Signature Move - 5 Bouts, 5 Wins
Hero (Myrmillo) - Strength, Signature Move - 1 Bout, 1 Win
Sartornilos (Thraex) - No Skills - 1 Bout, 1 Loss
Margareites (Secutor) - Signature Move - 1 Bout, 1 Win
Xathus (Barbarian with Spear) - No Skills - No Bouts
Justina (Retiarius) - No Skills - No Bouts

Tertius

Helena (Hoplite) - Crowd-Pleaser, Parry - 2 Bouts, 2 Wins
Hermes (Provocator) - Signature Move - No Bouts
Severus (Dimacherius) - Agile - 1 Bout, 1 Win
Bremusa (Thraex) - Agile - 2 Bouts, 1 Win, 1 Loss
Silvana (Laquearius) - No Skills, No Bouts
Spiculus (Dimacherius) - Signature Move, Parry - 4 Bouts, 1 Win, 3 Losses

Me

Pugnax (Myrmillo) - Agile, Strength - 2 Bouts, 1 Win, 1 Loss
Victor (Crupellarius) - Agile, Crowd-Pleaser - 1 Bout, 1 Win
Crixus (Secutor) - No Skills - No Bouts
Alumnus (Secutor with Spear) - Signature Move - 1 Bout, 1 Win
Rodan (Paegniarius) - No Skills - 1 Bout, 1 Loss
Hippolytus (Retiarius) - No Skills - No Bouts

The Covid Games - 5

We went into the fifth round of our gladiator campaign with all three schools on equal Prestige. This meant that the choice of primary school would be a matter of fate - a die roll. Catherine was the lanista selected by the editor to put forward her best gladiator for the next event, and her only choice was the hoplite Danaos, who has fought in three of the previous four games.

We ended up with the following pairings - The retiarius Medusa (me) vs the thraex Bremusa (Tertius), the dimacherius Spiculus (Tertius) vs the secutor Margareites (Catherine) and finally the Gaul Vocorix (me) against the hoplite Danaos (Catherine). Although Danaos was the 'chosen' gladiator for this round, the fight between Spiculus and Margareites ended up as the top-billed bout; obviously the crowd have a soft-spot for Spiculus, who was also fighting for the fourth time in the campaign.

I was quietly confident that Medusa could take down Bremusa.

A deft sidestep saw the thraex trapped in Medusa's net ...

... only for her to immediately slice her way out, down the retiarius and put a sandal to her neck, forcing her to submit.

The crowd booed, and Medusa was dispatched. The Empress Pandora approved.

Medusa had a single skill, whilst Bremusa had none, so I lost a point of Prestige for being defeated by a lesser gladiator, and Tertius gained 2 points of Prestige for for such a 'splendid' win. Public opinion is so fickle.

One of my light gladiators was fighting in the next bout - the naked Vocorix was waving his enormous sword around for the entertainment of the crowd whilst his opponent Danaos showed them his long shaft.

Anyway, they got stuck into each other.

Vocorix dodged around his heavier opponent, but the dice weren't with him; Danaos either saved, or took criticals which knocked him off balance, but where Vocorix couldn't finish him.

And when Danaos was fighting his much greater skill was wearing down the Gaul, who was soon bleeding from numerous wounds.

The bout went on for nine turns, and Vocorix was now hoping the referee would call a draw at the end of the next, when Danaos caught him off-guard and ran him through, leaving Vocorix mortally wounded.

So I lost a second gladiator, but no Prestige, whilst Catherine picked up a point of Prestige.

And so on to the top-billed fight of the evening - the experienced Spiculus against the novice Margareites.

They danced, dodged and parried, but the AP dice weren't with Spiculus, who couldn't translate his skills into decent attacks on his opponent. Margareites played a slow, steady game, wounding the dimacherius little by little.

Spiculus relies on speed for defence, and the wounds were slowing him down. That's not to say he wasn't having some success, but it wasn't helpful; twice he knocked away Margareites' shield, but twice Margareites recovered it before Spiculus could exploit his advantage. Spiculus even got in a spectacular attack, dodging around Margareites' unshielded side to strike one blow and then use the cheers of the crowd to attempt a second, but couldn't take down the novice gladiator.

The bout went past ten turns, and it looked like the referee might call it a draw. Catherine made a concerted effort and Margareites went in for one last attack, thrusting with his sword and then swinging his shield. The latter attack caught Spiculus on the head, stunning him, and forcing him to submit.

Margareites has won a superb victory against a gladiator with two really useful skills. His victory gave Catherine two more points of Prestige, whilst Tertius lost a point. Spiculus was easily spared by the crowd, who didn't want to lose one of their current favourites.

So at the end of the fifth event, Catherine is now far and away the highest ranking school, with 7 Prestige. Tertius has taken second place with 5 prestige, whilst I am no longer the darling of the mob - my appalling performance in these games now sees me with only 3 prestige.

Catherine will be top lanista at the next games, which means that Danaos will be taking to the sands again.

The Covid Games - 4

Your entertainment today will be provided by (from left to right) Helena vs Titan, Pugnax vs Spiculus and Flamma vs Danaos.

As top lanista I had to provide my most highly-skilled gladiator, so I put Pugnax forward again. He ended up facing Spiculus, the dimacherius from the school of Tertius. That would be the top bout on the bill. But firstly the lesser bouts. The day started with Helena (Tertius) against the retiarius Titan (Catherine).

This didn't last long. Helema and Titan approached each other warily. Titan sidestepped and swung his net, forcing Helena to jump back. She turned ...

... and a single thrust of her spear saw Titan down on the sand.

His appeal to the crowd was unsuccessful.

This gave Tertius a much-needed point of Prestige, and Helena a new skill. Catherine lost nothing but pride (and one of the nicer figures in my collection), since Titan and Helena were evenly matched in terms of skill.

The second bout matched Catherine's hoplite Danaos against my thraex Flamma. Danaos was Catherine's choice of contender, and the campaign rules state that he has to be matched by a gladiator as close to him in number of skills as possible. However we allowed this decision to be overridden, since it would have selected the spear-armed secutor Alumnus, and we wanted to avoid a spear vs spear bout. Flamma was the other choice - he has no skills, but the combination of a heavy gladiator vs a thraex was more interesting.

Danaos showed his greater skill from the outset. In the first exchange of blows he thrust at Flamma, who parried. But the parry broke Flamma's sword. Danaos then closed in with a shield bash, and knocked away Flamma's shield, leaving him unarmed and relatively unprotected.

Flamma recovered well, retrieved his shield and then proceeded to fight a superb game of maneuver, evading the worst of Danaos's attacks for turn after turn, whilst closing in and using his shield as an offensive weapon when he could. But eventually Danaos's skill caught up with him, and a mighty swing of the hoplite's shield smashed into the thraex's head, felling him.

Flamma appealed to the crowd, who'd had eight turns of entertainment, and spared the novice gladiator.

This win gave Catherine another point of Prestige.

And so on to the top-billed fight of the day - my murmillo Pugnax against Tertius's dimacherius Spiculus. Pugnax was very much the favourite in this fight.

The bookies lost a fair bit on it. Pugnax got in a few minor hits on Spiculus, who kept his nerve and inflicted two successive critical hits on Pugnax, knocking him off-balance with one sword, and then again with the second, forcing Pugnax to submit and appeal to the crowd.

The crowd were merciful again, but Spiculus's win saw Tertius gain two points of Prestige, and my school lose one.

So if you've been tracking the Prestige, all three of us are now on 4 Prestige. This round saw Tertius get two wins, and gain three Prestige; a great come-back. Catherine gained one Prestige, but lost a gladiator. I lost two fights and a point of Prestige. All of the bouts were decided by critical hits.

As for skills, Helena picked up Parry (defence bonus), whilst Spiculus refined a Signature Move (attack bonus).

In the next round the dice will decide which school the editor approaches for their best gladiator. Both Tertius and myself have two gladiators with a couple of skills, whilst Catherine has one. So you'll have to tune in next time to see which celebrity will be spilling blood in the arena for your entertainment ...

The Covid Games - 3

Round three of our ongoing gladiator campaign saw some old favourites back in the arena, as well as some fresh blood. Literally.

As top lanista I had to offer my most skilled gladiator for the games, so Pugnax was brought out again. He found himself in the top-billed fight of the day, albeit fighting a novice gladiator, the thraex Satornilus from Catherine's stable. The second fight saw my crupellarius Victor against a sword-armed gladiator from Tertius's school called Marpesia. But the opening bout was between two unskilled gladiators, Ellenikos from Tertius's school and the diminutive retiarius Titan from Catherine's school.

Ellenikos and Titan maneuvered around each other, stabbing with spear and trident respectively.

Titan tried a couple of sweeps with his net, but Ellenikos dodged them. However Ellenikos was also tiring, and took a few light wounds as well.

At one point Ellenikos fell, and Titan closed in hoping his foe would submit. But he didn't, and the fight continued. Ellenikos managed to rip Titan's net from his grasp. Rather than retrieve it, the little retiarius simply shifter his trident to a two-handed grip and impaled Ellenikos, killing him instantly.

With one of his gladiators dead, Tertius hoped that the next bout would see some success for him. Marpesia faced the heavily-armoured Victor.

It took a mere four turns for Victor to force her to submit. The crowd were unimpressed, and Tertius lost another gladiator.

So on to the main event - Pugnax vs Satornilus. Heavy murmillo faced agile thraex.

Pugnax charged straight into the fight, forcing Satornilus to avoid being shoved into the arena wall. Things went from bad to worse for the thraex, when he lost his sword. For a couple of turns he fought with nothing but his shield and harsh language, but eventually managed to drive Pugnax back and retrieve his weapon.

It was obvious Satornilus was outclassed, and Pugnax wore him down slowly. But the thraex put up a splendid fight and managed to inflict a decent wound on his opponent. After nine turns Pugnax forced his foe to submit, but the crowd were more than merciful; they had been entertained.

I won two bouts, to go up to 5 Prestige. Catherine won one, putting her on 3 Prestige. And poor Tertius languishes with 1 Prestige. Victor was the only gladiator to gain any actual experience, since the other winners were fighting inferior foes in terms of skills. Victor is now a Crowd-Pleaser.