En Garde - Gladiators? (Part 1)

Hey, I bought En Garde too! But while it is generic enough to be used for any pre-napoleonic historical period - or even fantasy - I guess I do not have a plan to play it like that in short horizon. Actually, I struggle to find enough time for a trivial painting, not to mention finding enough time and opponents for a proper game. (And neither do I have purchased and painted the two foundry swashbuckler warbands I crave, but that's another story.) The combat in En Garde is what I can use right now, though. It is detailed enough and allows for choices and bluff even in duel - so why not use it for gladiators?

Some changes would have to be made, however. 

1. Partial armour: All point costs are multiplied by six, e.g. basic Rank 1 character costs 6x4 = 24 points. This is because the armour may cover only parts of the body (expressed in sixths), and is subtracted from attack roll only on a successfull armour save roll (i.e. rolling same or under the armour coverage, combined from heaviest to lightest). 
2. Shields would work differently. Both parma and scutum would give a "shield token", which could be used for enhanced defence (and perhaps shield bash?), the latter would also add +1 to defence roll.
3. Defender could reduce the wound score by backing off - which wouldn't gain him much popularity though...
4. More ploys (shield bash, showing off, sidestep...), more weapons (net, cone, flail)
5. Algorithm for audience appreciation (probably positive points for attacks, negative for defence, extra for flashy moves)
6. Possible bonus for flanking?

So these are the main differences just from the top of my head. I'll try to cobble up something less vague, test it and then refine and post, but in the meantime, don't hesitate to throw your suggestions at me.

P.S.: On quite unrelated note, I have finally got Advanced SoBH, which I have more or less played allready in the Fightin' Funghi incarnation, and revised Open Combat which is well worth the long waiting - and I can hardly wait to play it. But I guess I'll just have to :-/

You have my axe!

Or, Why I think you might want to support Hammer and Forge

Reason #0: For those who have no idea what SoBH is

Song of Blades and Heroes is a small scale skirmish game from Andrea Sfiligoi of Ganesha Games. With simple rules and streamlined play, the game can be learned in one play and enjoyed in many following ones. 

The cornerstone of the rules is a character, having two main stats (Quality and Combat) and a number of special rules/traits. Quality of a character represents its willpower, training, attitude and willingness to act. Every time you want the character to act, you have to roll its quality or better on one or more dice - and here comes the beautiful push-your-luck aspect of the rules: Every die that failed to meet the quality means either a possible reaction of opponent's character, or even the end of your turn. This mechanism ensures that you never know how much are you going to achieve with your warband on your turn, and puts you before the choice of playing it safe or -perhaps- achieving more.

There are many expansions and even standalone versions of SoBH, with hundreds of pregenerated characters, but you are free to create your own, using a calculator that can be downloaded from Ganesha Games (or even using a formula, rules' costs, pencil and paper if you're inclined that way).

Reason #1: Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes

These are basically the advanced rules from Fightin' Funghi (reactions! weapon rules! mighty magic!), but without the fluff and few funghi related rules. On the other hand, they include other traits, more rosters and a campaign system probably different from the one in FiFu (with warband advances). 

I have backed the Fightin' Funghi, and yet I mean to have these as an add-on.

Reason 2#: The miniatures

Dwarves, dwarves and more dwarves! And undead dwarves... And extra cool barbarian dwarves! (These made me back at a level higher than just the pdf of the rules.) And some hobgoblins, too.

Oh, and if your pledge is high enough, you get ... wait for it ... even more dwarves, for free!

So, what are you waiting for?