Blood on the Sands **NEW** Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears...

[Malamute]

The walk through of the turns has made a big difference to my understanding of some of the rules following our first matches tonight.bthanks for doing them.

Things didn't fair to well for Astinax the Myrmillo. In his first match he was pitched against a faster and stronger Thraex called El Leon from Hispania. It was all over in one turn with Astinax soon on the floor with a massive leg wound. It was followed up by a killer blow which saw his head neatly severed with one well timed swing from El Leon's Sica...

The trials and tribulations of being a Lanista...

[Elbows]

I pray you did not spend too much coin on the slave.

[Malamute]

I pray you did not spend too much coin on the slave.

 

[Furt]

The walk through of the turns has made a big difference to my understanding of some of the rules following our first matches tonight.bthanks for doing them.

Things didn't fair to well for Astinax the Myrmillo. In his first match he was pitched against a faster and stronger Thraex called El Leon from Hispania. It was all over in one turn with Astinax soon on the floor with a massive leg wound. It was followed up by a killer blow which saw his head neatly severed with one well timed swing from El Leon's Sica...

The trials and tribulations of being a Lanista...

Nick, did you play without reading the example or play after reading it?

Poor Astinax! 

But he does win a prize for being the first gladiator to ever be decapitated in Blood on the Sands!! 

In all our playtesting I have never successfully done significant damage with a Killing Blow, let alone decapitate someone. That's fantastic!! 

"It is no easy task to sever a man's head. You must find the right angle."
―Crixus to Naevia

I believe H.M.Stanley's secutor was killed by a retiarius with a Killing Blow, just a little less brutal. Bloodthirsty lot you playtesters.

[Malamute]

Nick, did you play without reading the example or play after reading it?

Poor Astinax!  

But he does win a prize for being the first gladiator to ever be decapitated in Blood on the Sands!!  

In all our playtesting I have never successfully done significant damage with a Killing Blow, let alone decapitate someone. That's fantastic!!  

"It is no easy task to sever a man's head. You must find the right angle."
―Crixus to Naevia

I believe H.M.Stanley's secutor was killed by a retiarius with a Killing Blow, just a little less brutal. Bloodthirsty lot you playtesters.

Read the example after playing, it made more sense that way

I am hoping we got the killing blow correct with the numbers of dice etc. More next week when we will take photos. Last night was more about head scratching and looking puzzled whilst still trying to look like you knew what you were doing in front of your opponent.

At least Astinax will be remembered for something

[H.M.Stanley]

I believe H.M.Stanley's secutor was killed by a retiarius with a Killing Blow, just a little less brutal. Bloodthirsty lot you playtesters.

Not quite. My Secutor was (rapidly) Spent after Bleeding out to multiple attacks/wound while Prone after expending all his Arena Dice

At least mine lived to tell the tale and is thirsting for revenge ... 

[Furt]

I am hoping we got the killing blow correct with the numbers of dice etc. More next week when we will take photos.

I can do an example of the killing blow if necessary. It is fairly straightforward though.

At least Astinax will be remembered for something

For sure, he will be immortalized somewhere. Funny, a gladiator named Astinax appears in an Osprey image. I have always liked that name and have stared at that image often.

Not quite. My Secutor was (rapidly) Spent after Bleeding out to multiple attacks/wound while Prone after expending all his Arena Dice

At least mine lived to tell the tale and is thirsting for revenge ... 

There is always revenge... 

[Malamute]

 Funny, a gladiator named Astinax appears in an Osprey image. I have always liked that name and have stared at that image often.
 

Now you know what happened to him

[OSHIROmodels]

I unfortunately had to miss out on last night but we will be playing next week 

cheers

James

[Furt]

I unfortunately had to miss out on last night but we will be playing next week 

Looks like you saved some denarii mate. 

[OSHIROmodels]

Looks like you saved some denarii mate. 

 

It'll be arena next week so if I loose, walls come down 

cheers

James

[Malamute]

It'll be arena next week so if I loose, walls come down 

cheers

James

Mustafa Rest, the peoples favourite all the way from Egyptus.

Get the photos up Matey.

[Furt]

Mustafa Rest, the peoples favourite all the way from Egyptus.

  - Well he did come a long way!

[Elbows]

08/05/2013 (05/08/2013 for you weird Europeans...)

Played two games of BOTS tonight with a long time buddy of mine.  Sadly only my phone was handy for pictures, so I'll try to get a camera on standby tomorrow if we get some games in.

Initially I had tried to play this game with my brother (a non-gamer).  He had kinda glazed over and we abandoned it.  Reading the rules you get a little lost, and it's a game in which you need to nut up, put some minis on the table and stumble through a game, before you "get it".  It's not one which is easy to read and comprehend fully.  In the middle of the first game (Caius, Myrmillo v. Biggus Buttus, Thraex) there were many "Oh, okay...I get it now" moments.


Battle is joined.

We were playtesting this for Mr. Furt and have compiled a number of questions/clarifications which will be presented to him upon completion of gaming tomorrow.  We ran two games tonight, and the second went 10x smoother, proving that seasoned players will get the hang of it pretty quickly.

First game:

Rolling characters, Biggus Buttus (Thraex from Gallia) rolled Skill 4, Coward, Skilled, and ...something I've forgotten (yep, three 6's on his first trait roll!).  Caius, Myrmillo from Aegyptus rolled Skill 4 also, and no traits.

Biggus Buttus took control of the game quite quickly, delivering two massive wounds to the Myrmillo's sword arm, forcing him to drop the sword, and suffer immense bleeding.  By the start of turn three, Caius (Myrmillo) was bleeding so profusely from his nearly severed arm that he succumbed to fatigue and surrendered...the crowd mercilessly calling for blood.  Biggus Buttus finished him in the proper way.


(we used various tokens we had handy on the Gladiator boards, which I had laminated so we could use markers as well...my buddy is only in town for a short while and I didn't get all of the tokens cut out, so we didn't waste time!)

Second game:
We decided to pit the Hoplomachus Secundus Chancus against Biggus Buttus (now Fame 1 from having won a fight).  While there aren't proper rules for the Hoplomachus in the playtest rules, we had the armatura and scratched together some simple adjustments from the retiarius' trident (become the Hoplomachus spear) etc.



Secundus Chancus rolled Skill 4 also, and Unlucky.  This fight was far more interesting, with the Hoplomachus having quite an advantage with his spear over the Thraex.  He threw the spear once, missing Biggus Buttus, as blows were traded (each suffering numerous wounds, little bleeding).  Secundus suffered a bloody forehead, and Biggus Buttus was bleeding from numerous slashes to his arms and legs.  At the end of turn two, Secundus managed to run around and pick up his spear (while suffering an outcry of anger from the crowds).  He spun on heel and hurled the speed, striking Buttus in the chest.


^Blood token marks the landing location of the spear should Secundus miss...

Buttus suffered...the spear landing straight in the middle of his chest, somehow missing his vital organs.  


^Four damage dice...four wounds!

My Hoplomachus fared much better than the Myrmillo

In a frantic scramble in close combat both gladiators traded blows (each a scant cut away from being crippled or bleeding out...) and Biggus Buttus succumbed to his wounds.  Due to her performance (5+ crowd favor) he was allowed to leave the arena with his life.  This game was more interesting/exciting than the first, and flowed much better because we were become more acquainted with the rules.

It's quite good, the game.  I think with some official or unofficial modifications to allow more than one player it could be quite the insane/frantic multiplayer game as well.  Overall very fun, and I think we'll try to get in another couple games tomorrow.  Still have a secutor and retiarius I've had to keep at opposite ends of the painting table to minimize the curses and gnashing of teeth.  

Good stuff!

[Furt]

Cool - sounds like you got the rules the second time round - which isn't bad really for a new set.

In my defence, you only have a set of play test rules, which I admit are not as clear as they could be.

The concepts in BotS are simple enough - just proving difficult to translate that onto paper. 

Also, it appears you may not be doing "Bleeding" correctly, as the wounds to the Murmillo arm could only have possibly resulted in 5 bleeding markers. I think he has about 13 there. A wonder he had any blood left in him at all! 

The rules for Hoplomachus are certainly done, I just omitted them from the playtest version, but you are right in thinking they mimic the retiarius' trident. I don't believe the Hoplomachus would throw his main weapon, but it sure sounds like the tactic worked!! 

Thanks for posting this.