Blood on the Sands - playtest AAR from Mister Rab's ludus

[Mister Rab]

This afternoon I ran a playtest of Furt's new gladiator game Blood on the Sands with my sixth formers who were reduced in number to three because of university visits. We've just about come to the end of the module on Roman Entertainment, and they'd helped out all morning on our maths/classics project for the year 8 students from one of our local feeder schools; they deserved some entertainment themselves!

Casting more recent gender stereotypes to one side, the three girls proved to be rather bloodthirsty and keen to fight, maim and kill for the amusement of the editor (i.e. me).

Our pairing was between an Hispanic thraex called Lorenzo and and African murmillo by the name of Ubuntu. Slightly hardier than your average gladiator (both began with Stamina 4), these two were otherwise unremarkable and as good for worm food as any other.

Despite his more cumbersome shield, Ubuntu seized the initiative and charged straight towards his foe, intent on finishing things quickly. Lorenzo waited for the charge then picked his moment and dived towards the murmillo bringing his sica swinging down to clang harmlessly off the large scutum carried by the African.



This had all been a ploy to get the thraex to commit and now Ubuntu wound back his arm to deliver a heavy blow to the chest of his opponent. Lorenzo was already on the move and the gladius caught him flat, barely winding him, glancing aside. Continuing his move, he stepped round Ubuntu going for his flank and catching him on the right leg, again to no real effect apart from pushing the murmillo back a step. The crowd were cheering by now, delighted by the spectacle of two such keen gladiators before them.

Having seen the speed of the nimble thraex, Ubuntu was more determined than ever to see him off before the weight of his shield tired him out. Gathering himself behind the screen of his shield, the African burst forward like a bolt from a ballista, driving the point of his gladius with every ounce of his strength towards the heart of the Spaniard for a killing blow. The crowd gasped as it seemed certain that the murmillo must be victorious..... but at the last moment Lorenzo once more twirled around his leaden-footed foe and viciously raked his blade down the unarmoured right leg of Ubuntu, cutting to the bone and leaving a bright spray of blood across the arena sand. The crowd roared with such ferocity and delight that the editor feared it was an uprising and had the trumpets blown for the amphitheatre to be cleared (okay, so the bell went for the end of the lesson).

Once order had been restored, there was little doubt in anyone's mind who had been the victor: Lorenzo of Hispania, the thraex!



A little more is on the blog, as might be expected  

[Furt]

Brilliant AAR!! It looks like the EM4 playmat and miniatures worked rather well for Blood on the Sands.

Your students got into their roles quick enough! BTW there are rules for gladiatrix (+1 favour, Strength maximum of 5), but they only come up in the campaign.

Can't wait for you to have a go yourself.

[OSHIROmodels]

Good little read 

I'm not that surprised that the girls were a little bloodthirsty, they can be vicious beggars sometimes (my wife certainly is  ).

Looking forward to playing this ourselves 

cheers

James

[Mister Rab]

Thanks chaps, we enjoyed playing and the way the game works really lends itself to a narrative AAR.

Frank - gladiatrix rules, eh? Is it compulsory (as most sculptors seem to think) for them to have their boobs out?  
(I mean the figures, not the students - that would be very wrong  )


James - I reckon you'll enjoy playing, a nice balance of stacking the dice in your favour and knowing when to hold back so you can defend yourself. There was a slight similarity in feeling to the way you might plan the order of your moves and blocks in Bloodbowl. I'm certainly looking forward to you giving in to your usual method of doing things and building a whole coliseum, complete with working trapdoors  

[OSHIROmodels]

James - I reckon you'll enjoy playing, a nice balance of stacking the dice in your favour and knowing when to hold back so you can defend yourself. There was a slight similarity in feeling to the way you might plan the order of your moves and blocks in Bloodbowl. I'm certainly looking forward to you giving in to your usual method of doing things and building a whole coliseum, complete with working trapdoors  

Now that's an idea 

cheers

James

[Furt]

Frank - gladiatrix rules, eh? Is it compulsory (as most sculptors seem to think) for them to have their boobs out?  
(I mean the figures, not the students - that would be very wrong  )

Although all my Foundry ladies have their "parts" showing, I have read somewhere that Romans were actually adverse to female public nudity - a point the director of the Spartacus TV show failed to find in his own research. 
Although I believe gladiatrix only fought against other women, I have broken the rules a little in Blood on the Sands and have them fighting against men, and they bear the same armour as their male counterparts.