Another Evening in the Arena

The stars were right, so after nearly a month I could play with my toy soldiers. Or rather toy gladiators. Except that dwarven warrior that represented -what an irony!- an Orc-style pit fighter (being well armoured it was an obvious choice). This time I managed to pack a hard copy of the rules, movement scrolls, arena and even two pit fighters, though unpainted.

Unpainted or proxied, it mattered not. These were ready to die.

I was keen on testing the Undead pit fighter (chaos warrior helmet, tomb king khopesh) as his two attacks looked like the strongest special rule. My friend chose the Orc, probably because of the all the armour and a painted mini (of a dwarf). We statted them up (choosing the same initiative ) Then, the games began. Both fighters dashed forward and employed all their cunning in the effort to outmanoeuvre the opponent.

The fighters almost mirrored each other.

The Undead then ran forward, slammed his massive shoulder plate into the Orc and slashed at the head. Unfortunately, the helmet absorbed the blow...

Game over ... not!  

The dwarf Orc then returned the favour, stunning his opponent. Lead by instinct, the Undead jumped back and waited for the stars all around to fade. Orc was far from nimble and quite shaken himself, which resulted in another little dance.

Tactical withdrawal

The fighters clashed again, and this time it was the Undead that had to give ground. Swing of an axe meant another impressive scar, this time on the leg - but no need for dancing when the enemy's at hand. A dagger found its way around the armour on Orc's arm! With a renewed fury the Undead made a mighty hack from below to the top right which left his opponent in two pieces.

Sadly, no extra XP. Gotta smite the head off the next one.  

The second game was a rematch with the same fighters and same sides (and the same result), so I strongly offered to play against the Undead - to no avail, but at least my friend picked a swift Chaos style fighter.

Third game: Undead vs Chaos

The Chaos style fighter was a considerably more difficult opponent, because even though the Undead had the initiative in the movement phase, he still had to attack through a whirling web of chains and hooks.

Cunning movement, but too slow to strike.

But in the end I outguessed my friend twice in one turn, thus using the adrenaline rush token on the strength stat for the second attack - and head was off indeed!

Summary: Even though the rules are simple, I still misinterpreted some of them (namely ties in initiative), and we occasionally forgot to add a modifier here and there. But - it was fun. I had since almost completed the Empire style conversion, and with a bit of luck I finish the Orc style before the end of August. Unless my ordered gladiators from Crusader Miniatures arrive sooner, of course. 

I like the rules, and I'm looking forward to a sort-of a campaign. Oh, and I discovered that someone even created a variant for Roman gladiators. I may use it as it is, or just cherry-pick what I like. Or wait for Ganesha's Ferrum et Gloria to arrive in October.