Campaign ReportLudi of Franck and Julia
Year I / Munus I : Arena with a merciful crowd
Game I : Hades vs TacitusAfter the morning venationes, an impatient crowd is waiting for the gladiators to arrive. The first fight of the day pits two Provocatores against each other: Tacitus, a fiery young Parthian prisoner of war (Traits: Fierce and son of Fortuna) and Hades, an auctoratus from the equestrian order eager to prove his worth on the arena sand (Traits: Agile and Adored). The crowd roars with pleasure as he enters the burning sand.
Neither competitor seems impressed by the other one (despite the trait of Tacitus) or by the stakes and both calmly make their way to the center of the arena.
Provocatores fighting
Round 1Tacitus is the first to start the hostilities. He attacks several times ineffectively his opponent who takes the opportunity to provoke him, but Tacitus keeps his cool.
Hades, violently mistreated, doesn't have the possibility to retaliate, but he manages to play with the crowd in order to mitigate his displeasure of not having seen him attack.
Round 2Tacitus goes up to the contact and tries a circling attack that tires his opponent. He then slides down his left flank and tries to aim at a specific spot but his blow is easily parried by Hades.
The two fighters then take a moment to breathe, then Hades rushes on his opponent. His speed surprises Tacitus who is wounded in the belly. Fortunately, the wound seems superficial. The public roars with pleasure and encourages the auctoratus. This one wants to force his advantage and advances to place a heavy strike. But it is without counting on the technique of Tacitus. The Parthian POW succeeds in a superb defense. Hades got tired for nothing.
Round 3Hades tries to regain the ascendancy and slides on the side of Tacitus, but he defends himself well. Two new attacks are again countered by the Parthian shield but Tacitus approaches dangerously the wall of the arena.
Tacitus, seeing that his opponent is getting tired, tries to place a relentless attack, but fails. He then decides to provoke him and succeeds in destabilizing him with some insulting words (1 temporaly forfeited die).
Round 4Tacitus takes control of the fight and tries to put his opponent out of breath a little more, but fails again.
Hades feels his strength leaving him quickly, after a short breath, he fails twice to hit his opponent who defends very well today.
Round 5Tacitus moves to the left side of his opponent to get around him and hits him on the side without success. He then tries to tire his opponent by pressing him (relentless attack) and succeeds in hitting his left arm. Hades suffers a flesh wound and additional fatigue.
Tacitus is now unleashed, he strings together attacks, one is parried and the other hits the helmet of Hades, without success.
Hades is badly beaten, but to the general surprise, he makes a superb move and wounds Tacitus in the head despite the helmet. Benefiting from two favor tokens, he then plays with the crowd and wins their fervor.
Round 6Tacitus seems to have lost his ascendancy while Hades is tired (one die forfeited) and, again, the Parthian is not far from the arena wall.
Hades the auctoratus, moves, attacks, moves again and attacks again despite the fatigue, but Tacitus holds on. He defends wonderfully. Taking advantage of a brief resumption of breathing by Hades, the Parthian connects a circling attack and a driven attack. The latter hits is bull's eye and inflicts a terrible wound to the stomach of the Roman Provocator (slow kill), forcing him to give up immediately.

Some shouts of despair came down from the stands, Hades was clearly the public's favorite but the crowd applauds both fighters for the good show they delivered.
The crowd, particularly merciful today and satisfied with this fair game, let Hades leave the arena and try to heal his nasty wound.
Victory for Tacitus (Lanista : Franck).

Tacitus : fame 4
+1 fame for entering the match
+2 fame for winning the match
+1 fame if you ended the match with two favour tokens (removed of the sheet before the picture).
Hades : fame 2
+1 fame for entering the match
+1 fame if you ended the match with two favour tokens
Injury : Vitals not healed - start the next game with a wound at the affected location
Year I / Munus I : Arena with a merciful crowd
Game II : Mordax vs ArmipotensAfter a few fights from other Ludi, it's time for the second pair of fighters of the Lanistae Franck and Julia to face each other.
This time, the fight is between another big Parthian prisoner of war named Armipotens (means « belligerent ») (traits : large and Son of Nemesis) using the Hoplomachus armatura and a huge german "mountain" prisoner of war named Mordax (traits : strong and large) fighting as a Murmillo.
If the two fighters are nervous, because the public is now unleashed, they do not show it and they challenge each other without trembling.
Round 1The massive German POW, aware that his strength can quickly put an end to the fight (
rolls on wound table +4 = +1 Brute class trait, +1 Strong trait + 2 Large trait!!!), rushes directly at his opponent and attacks him with ardor (Impetus attack). His attempt fails, well blocked by the spear of the Hoplomachus. His next attack is, again, easily parried by Armipotens.
The Parthian knows how dangerous the German is, so he prefers to use his reach and avoid contact (extended lunge). But Mordax is an iron fortress. He parries the blow and his equipment allows him to take the next blow without flinching.
Round 2Armipotens keeps the initiative and turns around his opponent looking for an opening, he suddenly places a powerful attack that explodes the right arm of the Murmillo! The public exlaims as the German drops his sword under the power of the impact (slow kill + disfavour token).
The Hoplomachus presses his opponent (flank attack), he knows that he can finish the fight, but by miracle, the German parries the blow with his shield. A driven attack then forces him to back off. He breathes with difficulty and is no longer able to attack as his lead arm gushes blood, the crowd whistles at him as he catches his breath (one more disfavour token). But we don't know how, he managed to provoke the Parthian (1 forfeited die).
Round 3Somewhat stubborn and aware that he hasn't proved anything yet, the German doesn't even think of giving up and rushes on his sword. Although hampered by the Parthian, the Murmillo managed to recover his weapon and place an attack parried by his opponent.
Armipotens uses another extended lunge special attack, forcing Mordax to parry, then move around and tries another attack that tires his opponent after having provoked him.
Mordax wavers, but that's nothing compared to what awaits him because the Hoplomachus manages an unstoppable attack (double 6 rolled) that inflicts a new wound on the lead arm of the Murmillo. His arm is now disabled and he must appeal to the crowd while he bleeds…

Because of his poor match, the public is not kind to him and scolds for his death.
Appeal roll : dice 7+1(merciful crowd)-2(disfavour tokens) = 6
Mordax is put to death.

(fast!)
Victory for Armipotens (Lanista : Julia).

Armipotens : Fame 4
+1 fame for entering the match
+2 fame for winning the match
+1 fame if you ended the match with two favour tokens
Question : does a slow kill benefit +1 fame (is this considered a kill wound) ?
Thoughts : The atmosphere of the Bots I knew is still there, because the game really tries to take into account the historical and cultural dimension of the gladiature.
I like the changes that have been made to the previous version. The disappearance of skills and the defense system with dice and parry tokens are good things.
The artworks are great and the overall design of the different sheets really nice. We didn't have any problems understanding the game because the rules are pretty straightforward and well written but we need to play more amaturae and different traits. We haven't played enough to test the balance of the whole system yet, but we've had a lot of fun and, once we understand the rules, the games move pretty quickly.