"Favourite Tactical Gladiator Game" Topic

If you've played any Gladiator games, what is your favourite game that involves tactical maneuver (if any)?

I've long been tempted by gladiator minis, but never got a chance to play in a game that really grabbed me as having much tactical game play. Most seem to be a move the figures into contact and then play a game of throwing dice (or pulling cards), even for multi-figure engagements.

Some games seem to have a strength of building a ludus and/or wagering over an ongoing campaign, but those aren't particular benefits for ad-hoc games at the FLGS or convention play.

I'm looking forward to the current issue of Wargames Illustrated with the quick-start rules for Blood on the Sands and a sprue of plastic figures. If the rules aren't sufficiently tactical for my gaming tastes, at least I'll have a few minis to paint up. I missed a chance to play the game recently at a convention when I was otherwise busy in that time slot.

Nominations and a bit of supporting statement of gameplay please.

Paragon New Gladiatorial Combat Rules

Could you say a little bit about the gaming experience with Paragon please?

There was the Gladiator part of the AH game Circus Maximus. Back around 2018ish there was a set of Gladiator rules and miniatures that came out, whose name escapes me at the moment. I played them a couple of times.

The old Melee game is hard to beat! Simple and fun, it also has a very basic campaign system where if you survive a session, you are awarded experience points that are used to increase your stats!
Here's a quote from the front of the book:

"MELEE is a game of man-to-man combat with archaic weapons. It can be used to simulate combat between single opponents or small groups in any period. Players create figures and send them into combat against a variety of opponents.
Selection of weapons and armor, the strength and dexterity of the fighters, and the tactics the players choose will combine to tell which figures will survive. Successful fighters in-crease their strength and dexterity by gaining experience; losers die.
MELEE can also be used as a tactical aid to the various, fantasy role-playing games.
Players will find that the Melee system meshes easily with most rules, allowing tactical combat to be worked out in a logical manner. The Melee system lets game masters regularize movement and attacks on a small scale, taking one of the biggest headaches out of fantasy gaming.
MELEE is basically a two-player game, but solitaire and multi-player games are possible. Each player may control any number of figures; the only limit to the possible scenarios is your imagination."

More:

When a figure is first created, the player determines its ST and DX as follows: A human figure starts with 8 ST, 8 DX, and 8 extra points to be allotted as the player chooses.
Thus, each figure begins with a total of 24 points – 13 to ST and 11 to DX, or any other
combination adding to 24. Neither ST nor DX may begin at less than 8 for a human figure."

Amazingly, these two stats, Dexterity and Strength, are all that you need!
There are rules for critters: bears, wolves, giant snake. You could easily arrange a Christians vs lions' spectacle!

cheers!

I tried a few sets some years ago, I was never very happy with them so I wrote a fast and fun set of my own. I doubt anyone else would like them but I enjoy them – plus I get to beat up on the rule designer if there are any problems :)

Yes, Melee is great for generalised arena combat; but falls a bit short on historical gladiator flavour.

Would be my current default vote though.

How tactical is the AH game?

Paragon is a perfect old school set – lots of factors and using planned moves to move around agridded board. There are different levels of play which get increasingly mathematical. The retiarius is a killer – both in game terms and in complexity of playing.

It was one of the first sets I ever bought and I'm fond of them but I would guess 95% of people would hate them 😊

Lots of factors is quite old school, and for good reasons.

Paragon's WW1 Dogfight rules were rather good for their time.

I don't see how a gladiator game could be anything but "tactical".
How could it be anything but? Strategic???

For those about to explode, we salute you!

link

John: if it's merely a dice/card game where you admire the figures standing in proximity to each other while you play some variation of craps to determine the outcome.

i.e. I've long wanted a game with tactical movement decision points throughout the game. Commercial offerings have been somewhat lacking in this regard.

I finally had a chance to read through the Blood on the Sands quickstart rules. Don't have WI462 yet with the printed copy, but free download available.
link

Looks like this should finally fit the bill. The quickstart is 1v1, but full games will be 6v6.

I played Morituri Te Salutant a lot in the Gladiator Games édition – it was brilliant fun, fast and felt like a Gladiatorial Combat.

John – non tactical could be for the larger scale epic skirmishes very rarely put on at the Flavian arena with potentially a hundred combatants

"Morituri Te Salutant" or the old "Rudis: The Wooden Sword" by Tabletop games. From around 1980. Both require decisions to be made and not just rolling dice.

Ran a campaign of Morituri about 15 years ago. We had 6 regulars and about that many semi-regulars. Great system. New edition seems to have changed a bit and I don't know how much. Second edition included a few ideas I had that was sent to the author.

Rudis, I played a LOT over the 80s and have played it within the past couple of years. A game with a heap of replay and replay possibilities. Had many players that were not gamers but they would join in from time to time.