Blood on the Sands - First look at the Wargames Atlantic gladiator sprue

[Chris Abbey]

Very late to the party, but I'm definitely looking to try out a Gladiator game.
I've just applied to join Facebook Group.
Is there a rulebook we can buy yet?

[Furt]

Wonderful report Muzfish. Thanks for taking the time mate.

Just a word about the Thraex's Elusive Strike - it is certainly a common trick in their arsenal against a Scutarii (big shield gladiator) but becomes much less useful against other opponents.

Very late to the party, but I'm definitely looking to try out a Gladiator game.
I've just applied to join Facebook Group.
Is there a rulebook we can buy yet?

Hi Chris. Thanks for your interest.  Hopefully BotS will get to Kickstarter later this year. In the mean time there is Quick Start kit available on the Blood on the Sands Player Group Facebook page. This should give the hint of a taste of what to expect from the full rules.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/339066415451207

[Furt]

This is a report from a play tester, Derek Hodge, after playing in a short Blood on the Sands campaign:

Four of us from the South East Scotland Wargames Club have just finished a one game-year Blood on the Sands playtest campaign and I thought I’d share some of our experiences here.
We found the campaign rules to be fairly straightforward and that they really add to the game.  There’s a fair amount of paperwork required, but it’s not that time consuming and it’s well worth the effort.
The campaign adds a whole new layer of decision making to the game which becomes more and more apparent as you play through a few campaign turns (Munera)
The decision making starts right at the start when you roll up your gladiators and allocate them to the different classes. You want to allocate as many of your gladiators as possible to a class where their personal traits will complement their class traits, but that’s not necessarily easy with six gladiators to be chosen.
Some of your gladiators start the game with previous experience and there’s decisions to be made there. Do you concentrate this experience on a small number of gladiators? Or do you spread it about a bit. There’s advantages and disadvantages to either approach.
Then you have to navigate the intricacies of setting up a Munus, deciding who fights who in which match (the composition). There are Munus and match events which can influence your choices and  the occasional opportunity to indulge in behind the scenes plotting with other players.  Events like “ignore match pairings” and “bloodthirsty crowd” can become a big influence on your choices. Who exactly do you put forward when the match has been declared Sine Missione (to the death)?  Your champion? Or some lowly gladiator taking part in their first fight?
Are you going to send your best man into a match with an opponents champion? Or put him up against a low ranking opponent in the hope of gaining some easy experience? But the big boys will have to fight each other come the end of year Saturnalia.
I thought it was one of the best campaigns I’ve ever played in – for a reasonably low effort in administration you can add a whole new layer of depth to what is already an excellent base game.
It was great fun and we will be doing it again.

[Furt]

Chris Abbey had a few play test games of Blood on the Sands in his awesome arena.

The details are on his blog:

https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/blood-on-the-sands-let-the-games-begin/

[Chris Abbey]

Lewis & I tried both the introductory game and the campaign rules, rolling up half a dozen gladiators with unique traits and deciding which to put forward for specific matches. We had a lot of fun. It's an awesome game system, definitely best in class IMHO. Just needs to get published and distributed!!



As Furt said, I did a hobby article on my blog with lots more photos and thoughts. You can read it at: https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/blood-on-the-sands-let-the-games-begin/

[Rick]

I am liking the look of this immensely - it's even inspired me to drag out my provincial arena I've been building for the last few years (well, not building to be accurate!) and I'll be looking to buy the rules once they're released. One question, though; there are 6 types of gladiator in the playtest rules - are any more types planned for the main rulebook?

[Furt]

I am liking the look of this immensely - it's even inspired me to drag out my provincial arena I've been building for the last few years (well, not building to be accurate!) and I'll be looking to buy the rules once they're released. One question, though; there are 6 types of gladiator in the playtest rules - are any more types planned for the main rulebook?

Thanks for your interest Rick. I have learnt there are quite a few people with back-burner gladiator projects.

I hope to have some news to share in the next week or two about the Kickstarter announcement, along with a nice surprise concerning miniatures.

As you point out, there are 6 gladiator types scheduled for the main rule book: Hoplomachus, Murmillo, Provocator, Retiarius, Secutor, and Thraex. These are the gladiator types we know most about.

If all goes well an expansion will introduce 6 further types: Crupellarius, Dimachaerus, Eques, Essedarius, Scissor, and Veles - but these six are not set in stone. We have less concrete evidence available on these types and it will allow for a little more historical license.

A big part of introducing more gladiator types is ensuring they are well-balanced and that they gel with the existing campaign game.

https://www.facebook.com/bloodonthesands

[Rick]

That's really great to hear.

No pressure on getting the rules published, but you are aware Gladiator II comes out on November 15th? 

[Furt]

Ha! Yeah - I'm aware. 

For better or for worse (come on Ridley!), we will aim to launch shortly after the release.

We are getting all our ducks in a row as we speak.

[Rabbitz]

So excited for this game to get officially released

[jon_1066]

[ithoriel]

THIS!!!

[OSHIROmodels]

Nice one mate 

[Furt]

Some of you may already have seen this over on the Blood on the Sands Facebook Group but I thought, considering BotS was born on LAF, that I should show it here too.



After ALL these years Blood on the Sands is finally going to Kickstarter. The image is still WIP but it gives a good idea of where we are going with it. This has been a dream of mine for years and it's hard to believe it is finally becoming a reality.

If any LAFers are interested, please follow the link, and sign-up to be notified when we launch https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bloodonthesands/arena?ref=76ktaa

This would really helps us during the KS planning stage - so it's really appreciated if you do. 

There is another exciting announcement to be made in the coming weeks which I think people in here will be happy about.

[Muzfish4]

Awesome stuff, mate.

Really pleased to see this awesome game progress to this stage.