Sunday, June 26, 2011

Gladiators - Week Three and Four


We blasted through two more weeks of out Galdiator Campaign this past (Savage) Saturday!

Week Three

Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus did not recover any of his wounds… on the plus side, he didn’t succumb to his wounds… so it’s not all bad.

Crixus
and Sura both recovered from their minor wounds…

Game One

Gladiators:
Servious Pompeius and... um... Tiberius...? (Jackson’s first character… unfortunately he died in this game and Jackson erased and reused his card before I got the stats… so… no stats for Tiberius…)

versus

Crixus and Beauteus Maximus.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Servius and Tiberius (left) approach Crixus and Beauteus (right)


Ummmmm… it’s been a long night… someone got a joker here… and Beauteus got ganged up on and wounded…


Here we go – Beauteus and Servius more or less paired off (with no helmets) and Crixus and Tiberius Paired off (with helmets)


Beauteus took down Servius – it was early in the evening and the crowd wanted blood and Servius was not sparred…


Beauteus joined in the melee between Crixus and Tiberius.


Tiberius managed to take down Crixus – delivering him a killing blow before waiting for the crowds response (as bloodthirsty characters do..)


Tiberius, however, was, in turn, taken down by Beauteus. Despite his bloodthirsty reputation, the crowd called for mercy. It was all for naught as Tiberius expired from his grievous injuries…


Game Two

Gladiators:
Sura and Sabrina

versus

Lucius and Varro

The Bout started off with some smack talk – attempts at intimidation – as the combatants closed on each other…


Sabrina managed to intimidate Varro and rushed in to take advantage.


Her impetousness cost her as Lucious joined his partner and they laid a sever beating on her.


In two hits Sabrina was on the ground. The crowd called for mercy and she was left to bleed out

Varro and Lucious rushed Sura and dealt her a serious blow – she took a dive and was also sparred…


Week Four

Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus recovered not one, but TWO of his wounds!? Things are lookingup for Publius indeed!

Sura remained in pretty critical condition (but not dead yet!!), but Sabrina was looking a little better… (recovering one wound)

Game One

Gladiators:
Lucius


Lucious wanted a bit more of a challenge so he fought a Lion, solo… As the lions weren’t enough of a challenge this one was a full wildcard (though with only two bennies…). The game did last a bit longer… with Lucious the ultimate victor.

Game Two

Gladiators:
Sonja, Monotonous, and Gorgeus

versus

Beauteus Maximus, Varro, and Marcus

Again the game started with a bunch of smack talk – but with success like we’ve never seen - it actually got a little confusing for a moment; who had successfully intimidated whom…?!


Gorgeus was actually shaken he was so intimidated… of course, it didn’t help that he was standing next to Sonja (-2 phobia: Women…).


This game was a bit more dynamic with some considerable maneuvering and dancing about…


Sonja ended up battling Varro, Gorgeus fought Marcus and Beauteus clashed with Monotonous.

At one point Monotonous danced away from his melee with Beauteus, to join Sonja battling Varro. Beauteus took the opportunity to engage Sonja – which proved a bad move. She turned and dealt him a serious blow.

Now the Maximus brothers are pretty lads and favourites of the crowd (Very Attractive, +4 charisma) so Beauteus considered taking a dive… then saw the devilish gleem in sonja’s eyes and knew she would show him no mercy – even if the crowd demanded it… He fought on, but not for long


Monotonous deeked out his melee with Varro just in time to join Sonja as she dealt a killing blow to Beauteus.

Varro made a dash to aid Marcus in his battle with Gorgeus – hoping to take him down and level the field a bit…


Monotonous and Sonja dashed over and joined the fray!


Varro went down and was dispatched by Sonja.

Marcus fought on valiantly – against THREE – but was eventually overcome…

Round Up

Well… life is short and brutal for a Gladiator… Servious Pompeius, who came out of the last weeks games with a level-up was pushing up daisies after his first game this week. Sura is now the top survivor – with 5 experience points and having played in three weeks of games – but is now suffering from critical injuries and showing no sign of recovering any time soon.

What will next week bring…? Rumor has it Christian has bought a pair of Pictish fanatics to join his Ludus. Amanda has a retiarius she’s training up for next week. When with John’s Blue Ludus make their appearance..?

Monotonous Monoculus

Again with the Recycling of figures... (Patrick better get painting!? No excuses - shool's out!!)

Painted by Patrick

Monotonous Monoculus – Wildcard Gladiator - Dave
Ag d8, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 9, Toughness 4 (5), Charisma -1, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d10, Intimidate d8,
Edges: Acrobat, Two-Fisted
Hindrances: One Eye, Outsider
Gear: Trident (Str+d6/8* one hand = d6, two hand = d8, +1 Parry, Reach1), Net (+2 to grapple/ entangle an opponent (so, if offhand, net 0) once grappled with net may make fighting attacks at +2. May also be used for “Florentine” in place of a dagger), Superior Light Armour,

Varro

Painted by Jackson

Varro – Wild Card Gladiator - Rick
Ag d6, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d8, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 8 (10), Toughness 6 (8), Charisma -2, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Intimidate d6, Repair d4
Edges: Brawny,
Hindrances: Vow (must pray to gods at beginning of each match – starts “shaken”)
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Average Medium Armour, Average Large Shield

Lucius

Painted by Jackson

Lucius – Wild Card Gladiator - Jackson
Ag d6, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d8, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 7 (9), Toughness 6 (8), Charisma -2, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d10, Intimidate d4, Notice d4, Taunt d4, Repair d4
Edges: Brawny,
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Superior Medium Armour, Average Large Shield

Marcus Arallius


Painted by Jackson

Marcus Arallius – Wild Card Gladiator - Jackson
Ag d6, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d8, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 8 (11), Toughness 6 (9), Charisma -4, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Intimidate d4, Repair d4
Edges: Brawny,
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty
Gear: Spear (Damage: Str+d4, Reach 1), Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Superior Heavy Armour, Superior Large Shield

Gorgeus Maximus


Brother of Beauteus Maximus

(Starting to recycle figures here and Gladiatorial combat, as it turns out, is pretty deadly!)

Painted by Patrick

Gorgeus Maximus - Wildcard Gladiator – Patrick
Ag d4, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d10, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 7(9), Toughness 5 (7), Charisma +4, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Repair d4, Intimidate d4,
Edges: Very Attractive
Hindrances: Bad Luck, Phobia (minor- women!?)
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Superior Medium Armour, Superior Large Shield

Beauteus Maximus

Painted by Patrick

Beauteus Maximus - Wild Card Gladiator - Patrick
Ag d4, Sm d4, Sp d8, St d8, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 9, Toughness 5 (6), Charisma +4, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Notice d4, Stealth d4,
Edges: Very Attractive
Hindrances: Bad Luck, Phobia (minor- women!?)
Gear: Spear (Damage: Str+d4, Reach 1), Superior Light Armour, Superior Small Shield

Sonja the Surly


Sonja the Surly – Wildcard Gladiator - Amanda
Ag d6, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 8, Toughness 5 (6), Charisma -8, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Stealth d4, Intimidate d4,
Edges: Brawny, Improved Nerves of Steel
Hindrances: Mean, Bloodthirsty, Outsider (Pict)
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Average Light Armour, Average Small Shield

Sabrina Galatrix


Sabrina Galatrix – Wildcard Gladiator - Amanda
Ag d8, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 8 (10), Toughness 7 (8), Charisma 0, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Notice d4, Stealth d4, Intimidate d4,
Edges: Ambidextrous, Two-Fisted
Hindrances: Habit (Major – Alcoholic)
Gear: 2x Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Average Light Armour,

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Gladiators Week One and Two


This was the first (real world) week of our Gladiator campaign. It says “Week One and Two” because the games went quicly and we wanted to play on so we played a second week of the campaign.

Week One

Game One – Executing Condemned Criminals

Gladiators:
Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus
Servious Pompeius
Sura
Necrophilius

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The Gladiators close in on the condemned men.

At this point they condemned men went on hold and awaited the approaching gladiators…


Servious Pompeius was the first to charge in and the condemned interrupted – their only success in the whole bout(!) – They surrounded him and started flailing wildly at him…


…it looked potentially bad because help was still a move away… For all their faliling, thought, the convicts were unable to land a blow. Pompeius knocked one on his ass and turned to the others.


Sura was the next in and took one down with a single, mighty blow.


The next round Mediocritus charged in and knocked down another. Before Necrophilius could get there (toiling under the load of his armour…), Servious Pompeius, had dispatched the remaining condemned man and that was the end of the game…


Game Two – The Lion

Gladiators:
Pheidippides Argupoulos

Pheidippides Argupoulos, being “arrogant” thought killing condemned men beneath him and sought something a little more challenging.

Niiiiice kitty….

I threw him in the arena with a lion. I was looking at the lion and thinking; “Wow, they look pretty bad ass…” so I left it a common “extra” lion and charged in.

Parry 10 is pretty tough to beat. Fighting d12 and Strength d10 isn’t anything to sniff at either… The lion got the first attack – pouncing (+4 attack, +4 damage, improved frenzy) and failed to hit… Argupoulos cleaved the poor kitty’s head in two with one blow.

Maybe I need to make lions a bit tougher…

So experience gathered, no wounds taken… we dicided to carry on with the “second week” of our campaign…


Week Two

Game One – Three on Two

Team One Gladiators:
Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus
Pheidippides Argupoulos

Team Two Gladiators:
Servious Pompeius
Sura
Necrophilius



Quickly the teams paired off…


Sura fought Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus.


Pheidippides Argupoulos took on both Necrophilius and Servious Pompeius because he is awesome, at least in his own mind.

There was a bit of trash talking – trying to taunt or intimidate… but after a few unsuccessful tries everyone more or less resorted to bashing on each other. Eventually that gave way to Wild Attacks… slowly whittling away each others bennies.


At one point Argupoulos was shaken… things looked bad as he was unable to recover right away.


Finally Sura landed a telling blow – Mediocritus suffered THREE wounds and decided to take a dive.


The crowd took pity on the downed gladiator who had fought so gallantly and called for him to be spared….


Sura rushed to her team mates aid – but for her troubles she got a bash in the face as Argupoulos turned to see who was harmlessly banging on his helmet from behind.

A turn or two later Argupoulos ran out of awesomeness (or luck… or whatever…) and the three took him down. Not a crowd favourite he was shown no mercy and was dispatched to the roar of thunderous applause!

Rick showed up late part way through this game so I threw him against a lion as well.


Game Two – The Lion

Gladiators:
Crixus

Still thinking the lions a little too “bad ass” I decided to not make him a full wildcard (with 3 wounds and all) but gave him a wild die.


The lion bounding towards Crixus


The lion’s first attack… seriously!? I bennied that… and may have scratched Cixus for one wound.


Crixus recoiled for a moment but gathered his wits and recovered! With apair of telling blows the lion was beat down…

Next time… Lions will be full wildcards…

Round Up

So… Pheidippides Argupoulos is dead, Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus is suffering three wounds and has damaged armour and no money to repair it, Crixus and Sura each took a single wound, and Servious Pompeius managed to eek out 5 experience points and leveld up with Two-Fisted!

We will definitely see a couple new gladiators next week as Patrick will be fielding a replacement and Chrisitan will have to leave Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus in the hospital for at least a few weeks. Will Rick and Amanda fight on with their wounded gladiators? Will Oezalces Fuscina make an appearance? Find out next week!!

Crixus

Painted by Jackson

Crixus – Wild Card Gladiator - Rick
Ag d8, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 8, Toughness 6 (8), Charisma -2, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Intimidate d6, Repair d4
Edges: Brawny, Ambidextrous
Hindrances: Arrogant, Outsider (Gaul)
Gear: 2x Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Average Medium Armour

Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus


Publius Gnaeus Mediocritus - Wild Card Gladiator - Christian
Ag d6, Sm d6, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 4 (+d4 run), Parry 6 (8), Toughness 6 (7), Charisma 0, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d8, Notice d4, Stealth d4, Taunt d8,
Edges: Strong Willed, Brawny
Hindrances: Lame
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Average Light Armour, Average Large Shield

Pheidippides Argupoulos

Painted by Patrick

Pheidippides Argupoulos - Wild Card Gladiator - Patrick
Ag d6, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d10, Vg d6,
Pace 8 (+d10 Run), Parry 10, Toughness 5 (7), Charisma -2, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Notice d4, Stealth d4,
Edges: Fleetfooted
Hindrances: Arrogant, Mean
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Superior Light Armour, Superior Large Shield

Servious Pompeius

painted by Patrick

Servious Pompeius - Wild Card Gladiator - Dave
Ag d8, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d4,
Pace 6, Parry 7 (9), Toughness 4 (5), Charisma -3, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d4, Stealth d8, Intimidate d6,
Edges: Florentine, Acrobat,
Hindrances: One Eye, Outsider (of unknown origin...?)
Gear: Trident (Str+d6/8* one hand = d6, two hand = d8, +1 Parry, Reach1), Net (+2 to grapple/ entangle an opponent (so, if offhand, net 0) once grappled with net may make fighting attacks at +2. May also be used for “Florentine” in place of a dagger), Superior Light Armour

Necrophilius



Necrophilius - Wild Card Gladiator - Will
Ag d6, Sm d6, Sp d4, St d6, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 6 (8), Toughness 6 (7), Charisma 0, Encumbrance -1
Skills: Fighting d8, Notice d6, Intimidate d6, Taunt d4,
Edges: Nerves of Steel
Hindrances: none
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Superior Light Armour, Inferior Large Shield

A "one-shot" gladiator - my firiend Will happened to be in town visiting for our first Savage Saturday Gladiator Campaign night, so he made up "Necrophilius" to bash about with the others...

Monday, June 13, 2011

Sura the Snake Charmer – Wildcard Gladiator



Sura the Snake Charmer – Wildcard Gladiator - Amanda
Ag d6, Sm d6, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 5 (6), Charisma +2, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d8, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Intimidate d4, Throwing d4, Taunt d4
Edges: Atractive
Hindrances: None
Gear: Gladius (Damage: Str+d6), Superior Light Armour, Superior Small Shield

Oezalces Fuscina – Wild Card Gladiator



Oezalces Fuscina – Wild Card Gladiator - John
Oezalces Fuscina is a Berber from Numidia. He disdains the traditional view of trident users and actually has the word trident as his last name.
Ag d8, Sm d4, Sp d4, St d6, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 9, Toughness 7 (8), Charisma -2, Encumbrance 0
Skills: Fighting d12, Notice d4, Stealth d6, Taunt d4,
Edges: Quick, Brawny
Hindrances: Bad Luck, Outsider
Gear: Trident (Damage: Str+d8, Two hands, +1 Parry, Reach 1), Superior Light Armour, 100 denarii

For Those About to Die…


…we salute you!

I’ve decided to run a gladiatorial games campaign over the summer. All the regular savages have chipped in and I ordered a shwack of Gladiators from Black Tree Design and Crusader Miniatures (I also already had a few from Wargames Foundry and West Wind Productions - mostly women..!?)

This past Saturday we drafted figures and everyone made their first gladiator – which I will be featuring in future posts…

Here are some of the rules I came up with for the campaign so far:

Character Generation

Attributes
All attributes start at d4. You have 5 attribute points to raise them – as per the basic rules.

Skills
You have 10 skill points to spend – as per the basic rules (except a few less – because, really who’s going to take anything beyond fighting, throwing, and intimidation?).

Hindrances
Only certain hindrances will gain you “Hindrance Points”

Arrogant (major) must always attack the “master” in battle.
Bad Luck (major) -1 benny
Bloodthirsty (major) must deliver killing blow immediately, -4 charisma
Elderly (major) -1 pace, -1 Strength and Vigor (cannot be raised again),
+5 for smarts based skills
Habit (major) alcoholic – spirit roll before games fail = hung-over -2 to all trait tests.
Lame (major) -2 pace, run d4
Mean (minor) -2 charisma
Obese (minor) +1 Toughness, -1 pace, run d4 – but you have to find a suitably obese figure!
One Arm (Major) – but you also have to find/modify a one-armed figure!
One Eye (major?) -1 Charisma, -2 to throwing, shooting, etc.
One Leg (major) -2 pace, run d4, -2 fighting, etc
Outsider (minor) Not a Roman -2 Charisma
Phobia (minor or major) as per rules, but must be something you could potentially face:
Wild animals, Gauls, Tridents, etc.
Ugly (minor) -2 charisma
Young (major) 3 attribute points, 5 skill points, +1 benny


Edges
Most of the edges in the main rulebook are available. I’m also allowing some additional ones from other SW books:

Pirates of the Spanish Main
Dirty Fighter S PotSM pg.32
Really Dirty Fighter S PotSM pg.33
Entangle S PotSM pg.33
Grit H PotSM pg.
Improvisational fighter S PotSM pg.
Iron Jaw N PotSM pg.
Riposte S PotSM pg.
Improved Riposte V PotSM pg.
Spot Weakness S PotSM pg 36


Modern Martial Arts
Accurate Attack (Fighting) S
Bewildering Warrior S
Breaking Blow S
Bring It On S
Bring It ALL On H
Disarm Mastery S
Grab and Hold N
Ground Fighter S
Heightened Senses N
Improved Heightened Senses V
Hi-YAH!! N
Squeeze Play S
Superior Defence N
Unarmed Warrior N



Equipment

Armour
Light (+1) Inferior 30lb 50d
Average 20lb 100d
Superior 15lb 200d
Medium (+2) Inferior 45lb 200d
Average 30lb 300d
Superior 25lb 450d
Heavy (+3) Inferior 60lb 350d
Average 45lb 500d
Superior 40lb 700d

Small Shield +1 Parry Inferior 15lb 25d
Average 10lb 50d
Superior 8lb 100d
Large Shield +2 Parry Inferior 30lb 100d
Average 20lb 200d
Superior 15lb 300d

When wounded check for damage on armour:
If shield and armour always check the lower quality if of equal quality, determine randomly.
Roll d6 for inferior, d8 for average, or d10 for superior
pass = no damage, fail = damaged
damaged armour has -1 protection value until repaired. Cost of repair is 25% cost of armour – or can be repaired by the gladiator with successful repair roll and 10% cost of armour.

Weapons
Dagger Str+d4 1lb 25d
Short Sword Str+d6 4lb 200d
Spear Str+dx 5lb 100d one hand = d4, two hand = d6, +1 parry,
reach1
Trident Str+dx 10lb 200d one hand = d6, two hand = d8, +1 parry,
reach1
Great Axe Str+d10 15lb 500d AP1, Parry -1, 2 hands
Net * 15lb 100d +2 to grapple/ entangle an opponent (so, if offhand, net 0) once grappled with net may make fighting attacks at +2. May also be used for “Florentine” in place of a dagger.


Experience
+1 survived a match
+1 won a match
+1 (per multiple) match versus numerically superior foes
+1 (per rank) match versus more experienced foes
-1 (per multiple) match versus numerically inferior foes
-1 (per rank) match versus less experienced foes

(you always get at least ONE for surviving, though there are conditions that can reduce the experience you get it can’t be less than one)


The Thumb Roll

At the end of a combat when one character has been incapacitated (or taken a dive/begged for mercy/etc.) there will be a “thumb roll” to determine whether the gladiator is to be spared or killed.

(note – bloodthirsty characters will not wait for the thumb roll but will automatically deliver a killing blow to an opponent who is down)

Make a spirit roll; success = spared, failure = death
Modified by:
+/- charisma (outsider, mean, noble, bloodthirsty, etc).
-1 per rank higher than opponent
+1 for each wound you caused your opponent

Take A Dive
You don’t have to fight to incapacitation all the time… After you take at least one wound you can take a dive, or beg for mercy from the audience, but you are at -1 for each wound short of incapacitated for your thumb roll (i.e. -1 is at three wounds, -2 if at two wounds, -3 if it one wound).

Wounds and Recovery
We will assume a week goes by between rounds and thus injured characters will have an opportunity to recover between matches. We will assume they have doctors and a relatively pampered life – so there will be no negative modifiers beyond the wound modifiers.

I may also come up with a random “scenario” table (one-on-one, pairs, teams, vs. wild animals, vs. condemned men/slaves, etc.)

I am also considering using Showdown rules – so there will be a fortune and calamity table (though there may likely be some changes… out of ammo, for example, would be quite useless) and a random events table…

Stay tuned for Gladiator Profiles and reports of the action at the colosseum!