The referee in Gladiator games

[NickNascati]

All,
     Foundry, Crusader and Brigade all do referee figures as part of their Gladiator ranges.  Has anyone come up with ideas as to how to actually use them?
                                                                                        Nick

[Wiegraf]

I used my farmers and villagers in my  collection as levied skirmishers in a hail caesar game the other day.

They look great.  But I haven't seen a use for a ref in any game to be honest.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

If you were doing a campaign one could perhaps bribe a ref to surreptitiously wound a gladiator?

[Easy E]

I have not seen any rules that use them. 

However, in theory the ref would step in the following situations IIRC....

1. Gladiator's get locked up for too long grappling
2. After a wound is scored, and then the Gladiator's could reset
3. Declare a winner
4. Enforce resets or penalties for cheating- Throwing sand etc. 
5. Force a reset for broken or lost equipment

If I was going to place a ref in a game, some matches could be refereed.  The Ref would need to move within three inches/two hexes/some unit of distance of at least one combatant at anytime, with the Gladiator with the lower "rating" being able to control the position and movement of the ref. 

Games with the ref would do the following:   
1. Potentially decrease the "Threat" rating for Mercy/Missio rolls and allow resets back to center in certain situations
2. Allow resets if a competitor was knocked down, lost equipment, wounded, etc. back to center starting positions
3. The Ref would also block Line-of-Sight, movement, or take-up squares that a Gladiator can not then use

Those are just some random thoughts on how to use a Ref model.

[NickNascati]

Easy E,
           Some good ideas there.

[Carpathian]

Referees or guards sometimes used hot pokers to coax gladiators who were fighting halfheartedly or avoiding an apponent.  "Strike!"   
Players putting on a weak performance might suffer a similar hit from the referee.